“I found the old widow in her old place—she was the same as ever. I was welcomed and wondered at as soon as I discovered to her who I was. I found her, but the dear one I had sought I never found. When she was told that I had left her, her heart seemed smitten with a sudden melancholy—her cheerfulness departed for ever—and day after day she pined till her smile was turned into darkness, and her pure spirit floated among breakers, struck, struggled, and went down. The news almost made me mad. I became as savage as a tiger; the last touch of humanity seemed to have fled from my nature; and from that moment I commenced an unrelenting warfare against my fellow-men. I was right. They had no sympathies for me, and why should I have any for them? All sought my destruction, and I destroyed all in return. But wherever I looked around the world I observed the same fierce enmity prevailing. All were waging war upon each other. The powerful crushed the weak—the rich trampled on the poor—and the idle preyed upon the labour of the industrious. It was well for them to boast of such things as justice and mercy, and love and virtue, and charity and religion: I laughed at them and their fine catalogue of hypocrisies. I saw the thin veil of spotless lace with which they sought to conceal their own rottenness and filth. I scorned their hollow professions; I hated their mean vices.
“I quickly left a place that had become detestable; and for the first time since my boyhood I visited that part of the coast near which was situated the dwelling of my family. Here I learned that my affectionate parents had long since mingled with the dust, leaving their hopeful heir, hated by all the neighbourhood for his detestable deeds and tyrannical disposition, the inheritor of their property. Finding that he had committed offences that deserved summary punishment, without asking his permission I brought him to trial: his guilt was undeniable; and I thought the ends of justice would be best accomplished if I turned him over for punishment to the people whom he had so cruelly wronged. What they did with him I do not exactly know, but I never heard of him afterwards. I then took possession of the old house,—had many alterations made in it, the more completely to fit it for my purpose—managed the approaches so as to render it inaccessible to all but friends, and used it as an asylum after my piratical expeditions. By Boor’s assistance I carried on the same game which had made me famous in the Indian Seas, and with the same effect. The mere mentioning my name struck terror into the hearts of merchant-captains and their crews—all the feeble were frightened, and all the bold were in pursuit. But Boor by this time had become rich, and fancying that his connection with me was too hazardous to be continued any longer, after some fresh act of daring upon my part, when the whole coast seemed up in arms against me, as I ascertained, he gave secret information as to where I was most likely to be found. An expedition of several well armed ships was immediately fitted out, of which I had timely notice from another quarter, and sought to avoid; but when I thought I had given them the slip, and was bearing down upon what I imagined was a rich merchant vessel, I discovered that I was approaching into the very net from which I was most desirous of escaping; and was obliged to put up every stitch of canvass, and make use of every manœuvre in the hope of getting away. My ship was a splendid sailer; but I found myself held in chase by vessels whose powers were equal to hers, and I should have inevitably been taken or killed in the struggle: but in the night a terrific storm came on; and as I was creeping along-shore, with the hope of avoiding the ships in chase, knowing that they would keep out at sea, she struck on a rock, in a short time went to pieces, and of all the crew none were saved but myself, my lieutenant, and my clerk.
“This catastrophe would have been enough to have damped the energies of any man; but I was made of different stuff. I had got some money about me, which I knew would be a letter of recommendation in any part of the world; so when we got on shore we lived in some sort of style, and there I fell in with one Captain Compass—a foolish, communicative creature, from whom I learned that he was going to Columbus, with the intention of endeavouring to get the command of one of the ships belonging to Master Porphyry the rich merchant, to whom he had strong letters of recommendation. By mutual consent we travelled together, and at the first favourable moment I took charge of his letters, and my lieutenant took charge of him. I lost no time in presenting myself with my credentials to Master Porphyry, by whom I was placed in the command of the Albatross—a vessel which, from the first moment I saw it, I had the strongest inclination to appropriate. I found that nothing could be done during the voyage to Africa; but upon my arrival at Caffreton I sought my old associate Boor, by whom I had been given over as lost, but whom the prospect of getting a rich cargo on the most advantageous terms induced to assist me as far as he was able. When my arrangements were completed, I called upon him, as he thought, to settle about the amount to be paid, but as I knew to put into execution a plan I had devised to punish him for his treachery. I was shown as usual into a little room at the back of his office, in which I had noticed a large iron cupboard wherein he secured his valuables. He kept haggling with me some time, and at last the price was agreed upon, and he gave me the money. Before he had the slightest suspicion of my intentions, I suddenly caught hold of him by the throat till I had squeezed the breath out of his wretched body: his struggles were feeble, and he hadn’t time to utter a cry. I quickly thrust the lifeless carcass into the iron cupboard, locked it, put the key in my pocket, and walked away as if nothing had happened.
“Of what followed after I got on board, none of you here want being told; and I have only to add to those who are now my prisoners, that Master Porphyry I keep alive, because I consider it my interest to do so, and tell him, that if he falls into my plans he will insure his own safety and that of his companions; if he opposes them, he must expect to meet with the fate of hundreds who have preceded him.”
Oriel Porphyry looked proudly, and made no reply.
“Well, captain, that is the most interesting ’munication that ever was—isn’t it, Master Log?” inquired the lieutenant.
“Interesting—interesting!” exclaimed the captain’s clerk, aroused from his sleep, and rubbing his drowsy eyes—“most interesting—most cruelly interesting—upon my word most ferociously interesting, Mister Scrum—I mean Lieutenant Rifle.”