"He bore a charmed life. O'er earth and sea No fiend so feared, no spirit dread as he."
An hour after sunrise the pirate vessel had gained an offing, and, under all her light canvass, wafted by a fresh wind from the northwest, was running the coast down, leaving the Highlands of Neversink on her starboard quarter. On her deck stood Kyd, with his glass in his hands, with which every few minutes he would sweep the horizon, and then turn and walk the deck. It was a bright, sunny morning; the crested waves leaped merrily about the prow and glanced in the sun as if tipped with gold.
The vessel was a low-built brigantine, with a flush deck, on either side of which was ranged a battery of six carronades—in all twelve guns. Eighty men, half of whom were blacks, that composed her crew, were variously occupied forward and in the waist, though many of them were lying listlessly between the guns. They were a desperate band, with hard looks, and the aspects of men accustomed to crime and inured to danger. Every man was armed with pistols and cutlass, while racks of these weapons, with the addition of boarding pikes and harquebusses, were ranged about the masts and bulwarks. Order and discipline prevailed throughout the wild company, and, save the bucanier-like character and build of the vessel, it differed not materially in its internal arrangements from a king's ship. The bold spirit that kept these inferior and scarcely less fierce beings in subjection walked the deck with a determined tread, now bending his eyes in thought, now lifting them, flashing with excitement, towards the sea, and rapidly scanning its wide circle. He was dressed in the same picturesque costume that he wore when he first appeared in the presence of Kate Bellamont at the White Hall, though his sword lay upon the companion-way instead of being sheathed at his belt. After taking a longer survey than usual of the horizon, and turning away with an exclamation of disappointment, he was addressed by a short, square-built, swarthy man, with large mustaches and long, matted hair that hung low over his eyes and descended to his broad shoulders, who had hitherto been silently pacing the leeward side of the deck.
"What's in the wind, captain? You seem to steer as if in chase! You gave your orders so briefly to get under weigh, and have loved your own thoughts since so well as to forget to speak. I have not even asked our course."
"We are full three leagues from our anchorage, and, if you have no objections, suppose we open our sailing orders."
"You are right, Loff," said Kyd, smiling at the blunt address of his first mate, "Listen," he said, walking aft, followed by the mate, where they could speak without being overheard by the helmsman. "Now learn my plans!"
"I have half guessed them."
"What?"
"Some Indiaman, ballasted with guilders, you have heard of in shore."
"Far better than a Spanish argosy. I pursue a rival. Thou art no stranger to an amour pursued by me some years ago with a fair and noble maid of Erin. Before I took the seas I was her only and accepted lover. She is now in the port we left this morning."