Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight

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Title: Pieces of Eight
Author: Richard le Gallienne
Release Date: February 10, 2006 [EBook #17741]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: Cover]
PIECES OF EIGHT

_Being the Authentic Narrative of a Treasure Discovered in the
Bahama Islands in the Year 1903--Now First Given to the Public_

BY RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
[Illustration]
Frontispiece
[Illustration: "'YOU YOUNG FOOL!' EXCLAIMED CHARLIE, 'THE
WATER ROUND HERE IS THICK WITH SHARKS!'"]
A.L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York
Published by arrangement with Doubleday, Page & Company

Copyright, 1918, by
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
_All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages,
including the Scandinavian_
COPYRIGHT, 1917, 1918, BY THE BUTTERICK PUBLISHING
COMPANY

LIFE BEING OF THE NATURE BOTH OF A TREASURE-HUNT
AND A PIRATICAL EXPEDITION, I DEDICATE THIS
NARRATIVE TO THE FOLLOWING SAILING COMPANIONS OF
MINE ON THIS ENTERTAINING OLD PIRATE CRAFT WE CALL
THE EARTH, IN THE HOPE THAT EACH MAY FIND HIS
TREASURE, AND, AT LEAST, ESCAPE HANGING AT THE END
OF THE TRIP--TO WIT: HARRY DASH JOHNSON, SAM
NICHOLSON, BERT WILLSIE AND CHARLEY BETHEL, ALL

ENGAGED IN ONE OR ANOTHER OF THE PIRATICAL
PROFESSIONS.

PROLOGUE
_(The following MS., the authorship of which I am not at liberty to
divulge, came to me in a curious way. Being recently present at a
performance of "Treasure Island" at The Punch and Judy Theatre in
New York City, and, seated at the extreme right-hand end of the front
row of the stalls--so near to the ground-floor box that its occupants
were within but a yard or two of me, and, therefore, very clearly to be
seen--I, in common with my immediate neighbours, could not fail to
remark the very striking and beautiful woman who was the companion
of a distinguished military-looking man on the youthful side of middle
age._
_Still young, a little past thirty, maybe, she was unusually tall and
stately of figure, and from her curious golden skin and massive black
hair, one judged her to be a Creole, possibly a Jamaican. Her face,
which was rather heavily but finely moulded, wore an expression of
somewhat poetic melancholy, a little like that of a beautiful animal, but
readily lit up with a charming smile now and again at some sally of her
companion, with whom she seemed to be on affectionate terms, and
with whom, as the play proceeded, she exchanged glances and
whispered confidences such as two who have shared an experience
together--which the play seems to bring to mind--are seen sometimes to
exchange in a theatre._
_But there was one particular which especially accentuated the
singularity of her appearance and was responsible for drawing upon her
an interested observation--seemed, indeed, even in her eyes to condone
it, for she, as well as her companion, was obviously conscious of it--the
two strange-looking gold ornaments which hung from her delicately
shaped ears. These continually challenged the eye, and piqued the
curiosity. Obviously they were two old coins, of thick gold, stamped
with an antique design. They were Spanish doubloons!_

_As, in common with the rest of the audience, I looked at this
picturesque pair, my eyes forsook the lady of the doubloons, and
fastened themselves with a half-certainty of recognition upon her
companion. Why! surely it was ---- ----, an old dare-devil comrade of
mine, whose disappearance from New York some ten years before had
been the talk of the two or three clubs to which we both belonged. A
curious blending of soldier, poet, and mining engineer, he had been
popular with all of us, and when he had disappeared without warning
we were sure that he was off on some Knight-errant business--to
Mexico or the Moon!_
_He was, indeed, wearing that disguise of Time, which we all come
involuntarily to wear--an unfamiliar greyness of his hair at the temples,
and a moustache that would soon be a distinguished white; yet the
disguise was not sufficient to conceal the youthful vigour of his
personality from one who had known him so well as I. The more I
looked at him, the more certain I grew that it was he, and I determined
to go round to his box at the conclusion of the second act._
_Then, becoming absorbed in the play, I forgot him and his companion
of the doubloons for a