Pirate Gold | Page 5

whom it may concern."
Bowdoin began to count it, and the clock went on ticking; one piece for
each tick of the clock. He did not know many of the pieces; and
McMurtagh, as they were held up to him, broke the silence only to
answer arithmetically, "Doubloon,--value eight dollars two shillings,
New England;" or, "Pistole,--value the half, free of agio." When they
were all counted, McMurtagh opened a new page in the ledger, and a
new account for the house: "June 24, 1829. To credit of Pirates, or
Whom it may concern, sixteen thousand eight hundred and
ninety-seven dollars."
"Pirates!" he muttered; "it's a new account for us to carry. I'll not be
sorry the day we write it off."
Bowdoin, in the frivolity of youth, laughed.
"And now," said McMurtagh, "you must tie up the bag again and seal it,
and I must take it up and put it in the vault of the bank."
"And the little girl?" asked Bowdoin. "We can hardly carry her upon
the books."
"For the benefit of whom it may concern," said the clerk absently.
Bowdoin laughed again.
McMurtagh looked at her and gasped, but this time silently. She had
clambered down from the stool, and was gazing with delight at the old
pictures of the ships; but, as if she understood that she was being talked
about, she turned around and looked at them with large round eyes.
"What is your name?" said he; and then, "Como se llama V.?" (for we
all knew a little Spanish in those days.)
"Mercedes," said the child.
"I suppose," ventured Bowdoin, "there is some asylum"--

McMurtagh looked dubious; and the little maid, divining that the
discussion of her was unfavorable, fell to tears, and then ran up and
dried them on McMurtagh's business waistcoat.
"You take the gold," said he dryly; "I'll carry the child myself."
"Where?" inquired young Bowdoin, astonished.
"Home," said McMurtagh sharply.
McMurtagh was known to have an old mother and a bedridden father (a
retired drayman, run over in the service of the firm), whom he lived
with, and with some difficulty supported. Yet little could be said
against the plan, as a temporary arrangement, if they were willing to
assume the burden. At all events, before Mr. James could find speech
for objection, McMurtagh was off with the child in his arms, seeking to
soothe her with uncouth words of endearment as he bore her carefully
down the narrow stairs.
James Bowdoin laughed a little, and then grew silent. Finally, his
glance falling on the yellow piles still lying on the floor, he shoveled
them into the bag again and shouldered it up to the bank. There the
deposit of specie was duly made, the money put in the old chest and
sealed, and he learned that the pirates had been committed to stand their
trial. And he and his father talked it over, and decided that the child
might as well stay with McMurtagh, for the present at any rate.
But that "present" was long in passing; for the pirates were duly tried,
and all but one of them found guilty, sentenced to be hanged, and duly
executed on an island in the harbor. There were no sentimentalists
about in those days; and their gibbets were erected in the sand of that
harbor island, and their bodies swung for many days (as these same
sentimentalists might now put it) near the sea they had loved so well;
being a due encouragement to other pirates to leave Boston ships alone.
Pity the town has not kept up those tactics with its railways!
All the common seamen were executed, that is, and Manuel Silva, the
second in command, who had left the little girl with McMurtagh. The

captain, it was proved, had been polite to his two lady captives: the
men safely disposed of, he had placed the best cabin at their command,
and had even gone so far out of his way as to head the ship toward
Boston, on their behalf; promising to place them on board some
fishing-smack, not too far out. Silva had not agreed to this, and it had
led to something like a mutiny on the part of the crew. It was owing to
this, doubtless, that they were captured. De Soto, it was known, was a
married man; moreover, he was new in command, and not used to
pirate ways.
However, this conduct was deemed courteous by the administration at
Washington, and, feminine influence being always potent with Andrew
Jackson, De Soto's sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life;
and shortly after, being taken to a quiet little country prison, he made
interest with the jailer and escaped. It was reported that he shipped
upon an African trader; and, going down the harbor past the