The Madman and the Pirate | Page 6

in his eyes.
He did not speak or move when Rosco entered and sat down on the head of a cask near him.
"Zeppa," he said, with intense earnestness, "as God shall be my judge, I did not mean to--to--throw--to do this to your boy. It was done without my knowledge."
"Hah!" burst from the stricken father; but nothing more, while he continued to gaze in the pirate captain's face.
"Indeed it is true," continued Rosco hurriedly. "I had no intention of letting murder be done. I would not even slay the captain who has used me so ill. I would give my life if I could alter it now--but I cannot."
"Hah!" gasped Zeppa again, still keeping his eyes fixed on Rosco's face.
"Don't look at me that way," pleaded the pirate, "as if I had done the deed. You know I didn't. I swear I didn't! If I had been there, I would have saved Orlando at the cost of--"
He was interrupted at this point by the repetition of the cry which had before reached him in the cabin; but how much more awful did that despairing cry sound near at hand, as it issued full, deep-toned, and strong, from the chest of the Herculean man! There was a difference in it also this time--it terminated in a wild, fiendish fit of laughter, which caused Rosco to shrink back appalled; for now he knew that he confronted a maniac!
For some minutes the madman and the pirate sat gazing at each other in silent horror. Then the latter rose hastily and turned to leave the hold. As he did so, the madman sprang towards him, but he was checked by the chains which bound him, and fell heavily on the deck.
Returning to the cabin, Rosco went to a locker and took out a case bottle, from which he poured half a tumbler of brandy and drank it. Then he summoned the man who had been appointed his second in command.
"Redford," he said, assuming, by a mighty effort of self-restraint a calm tone and manner, "you told me once of a solitary island lying a long way to the south of the Fiji group. D'you think you could lay our course for it?"
"I'm sure I could, sir; but it is very much out of the way of commerce, and--"
"There is much sandal-wood on it, is there not?" asked Rosco, interrupting him.
"Ay, sir, plenty of that, an' plenty of fierce natives too, who will give us a warm reception. I would--"
"So much the better," returned the captain, with a cynical smile, again interrupting; "we may be able to obtain a load of valuable wood for nothing, and get rid of our cowards at the same time. Go, lay our course for--what's the island's name?"
"I don't know its right name, sir; but we call it Sugar-loaf Island from the shape of one end of it."
"That will do. And hark ye, friend, when I give orders or ask questions in future, don't venture to offer advice or raise objections. Let the crew understand that we must be able to pass for lawful traders, and that a load of sandal-wood will answer our purpose well enough. It will be your wisdom, also, to bear in mind that discipline is as useful on board a Free Rover as on board a man-of-war, and that there is only one way to maintain it."
The pirate captain pointed to a brace of pistols that lay on the table beside him, and said, "Go."
Redford went, without uttering another word. His was one of those coarse natures which are ever ready to presume and take advantage when there is laxity in discipline, but which are not difficult to subdue by a superior will. He forthwith spread the report that the new captain was a "stiff un," a fact which nearly all the men were rather glad than otherwise to hear.
For some days after leaving Ratinga a stiff breeze enabled the schooner--which had been re-named by its crew the "Free Rover"--to proceed southward rapidly. Then a profound calm succeeded, and for a couple of days the vessel lay almost motionless on the sea.
During all this time the poor maniac in her hold lay upon his blood-stained couch, for no one dared--at least no one cared--to approach him. At meal times the cook pushed a plate of food within his reach. He usually took no notice of this until, hunger constrained him to devour a little, almost savagely. No word would he speak, but moaned continually without intermission, save when, in a burst of uncontrollable anguish, he gave vent to the terrible cry which so weighed on the spirits of the men, that they suggested to each other the propriety of throwing the father overboard after the son. Redford's report of his interview with the captain, however, prevented