[Transcriber’s Note: There isn’t an Appendix A, either in this volume or in Volume 2. The term ‘periagua’ was originally used to describe the long, narrow dugout canoes used in the Caribbean and in Central and South America. By the date of this book, it was also applied to small, flat-bottomed sailing vessels.]
The captain of the schooner himself stood in the stern, cool and collected, with determination marked on every feature. The boat approached nearer and nearer—two strokes more, and she was alongside.
“Now save yourselves or perish:” so saying, the captain drew a plug from the bottom—the water gushed in—the boat began to sink; with the courage of desperation, the pirates sprang on to the sides of the vessel. Their swords glittered in the air, their pikes were worked with the rapidity of lightning, the shouts of the attacked, the yells of the pirates, the splash of the killed, as they fell headlong into the deep, rose wild and appalling on the ear.
The men of the ship received this new attack with firmness: but they had already fought long; they began to yield; their blows fell less rapidly.
“On—on!” cried the captain, and in a moment he himself was on the deck. With a wild yell the pirates followed. The men of the ship now cried for mercy: but the slaughter went on. Revenge directed every blow—every stroke carried death. The voice of the chief was at last heard above the confusion and death-cries.
“Enough: spare and secure your prisoners.”
The word arrested the sword that was raised to deal the last fatal blow, and stayed the pike that had destruction on its point. Every pirate gnashed his teeth because his vengeance was stopped—but who dared disobey?
“Cut the halliards:” ’twas done; and the masts of the ship in a moment stood bare, and she lay floating like a log on the waves.
The deck was crimson and slippery with blood; the sailors of the ship, that had defended her so bravely, lay in heaps, dead and dying.