The Ruby of Kishmoor | Page 4

Momentous Adventure with the Stranger with the Silver
Ear-rings
V. The Unexpected Encounter with the Sea-captain with the Broken
Nose
VI. The Conclusion of the Adventure with the Lady with the Silver
Veil
Epilogue

Prologue

A very famous pirate of his day was Captain Robertson Keitt.
Before embarking upon his later career of infamy, he was, in the
beginning, very well known as a reputable merchant in the island of
Jamaica. Thence entering, first of all, upon the business of the African
trade, he presently, by regular degrees, became a pirate, and finally
ended his career as one of the most renowned freebooters of history.
The remarkable adventure through which he at once reached the
pinnacle of success, and became in his profession the most famous
figure of his day, was the capture of the Rajah of Kishmoor's great ship,
The Sun of the East. In this vessel was the Rajah's favorite Queen, who,
together with her attendants, were set upon a pilgrimage to Mecca. The
court of this great Oriental potentate was, as may be readily supposed,
fairly a-glitter with gold and jewels, so that, what with such personal
adornments that the Queen and her attendants had fetched with them,
besides an ample treasury for the expenses of the expedition, an
incredible prize of gold and jewels rewarded the freebooters for their
successful adventure.
Among the precious stones taken in this great purchase was the
splendid ruby of Kishmoor. This, as may be known to the reader, was
one of the world's greatest gems, and was unique alike both for its
prodigious size and the splendor of its color. This precious jewel the
Rajah of Kishmoor had, upon a certain occasion, bestowed upon his
Queen, and at the time of her capture she wore it as the centre-piece of
a sort of a coronet which encircled her forehead and brow.
The seizure by the pirate of so considerable a person as that of the
Queen of Kishmoor, and of the enormous treasure that he found aboard
her ship, would alone have been sufficient to have established his fame.
But the capture of so extraordinary a prize as that of the ruby--which
was, in itself, worth the value of an entire Oriental kingdom--exalted
him at once to the very highest pinnacle of renown.
Having achieved the capture of this incredible prize, our captain

scuttled the great ship and left her to sink with all on board. Three
Lascars of the crew alone escaped to bear the news of this tremendous
disaster to an astounded world.
As may readily be supposed, it was now no longer possible for Captain
Keitt to hope to live in such comparative obscurity as he had before
enjoyed. His was now too remarkable a figure in the eyes of the world.
Several expeditions from various parts were immediately fitted out
against him, and it presently became no longer compatible with his
safety to remain thus clearly outlined before the eyes of the world.
Accordingly, he immediately set about seeking such security as he
might now hope to find, which he did the more readily since he had
now, and at one cast, so entirely fulfilled his most sanguine
expectations of good-fortune and of fame.
Thereafter, accordingly, the adventures of our captain became of a
more apocryphal sort. It was known that he reached the West Indies in
safety, for he was once seen at Port Royal and twice at Spanish Town,
in the island of Jamaica. Thereafter, however, he disappeared; nor was
it until several years later that the world heard anything concerning
him.
One day a certain Nicholas Duckworthy, who had once been gunner
aboard the pirate captain's own ship, The Good Fortune, was arrested in
the town of Bristol in the very act of attempting to sell to a merchant of
that place several valuable gems from a quantity which he carried with
him tied up in a red bandanna handkerchief.
In the confession of which Duckworthy afterward delivered himself he
declared that Captain Keitt, after his great adventure, having sailed
from Africa in safety, and so reached the shores of the New World, had
wrecked The Good Fortune on a coral reef off the Windward Islands;
that he then immediately deserted the ship, and together with
Duckworthy himself, the sailing-master (who was a Portuguese), the
captain of a brig The Bloody Hand (a consort of Keitt's), and a
villainous rascal named Hunt (who, occupying no precise position
among the pirates, was at once the instigator of and the partaker in the
greatest part of Captain Keitt's wickednesses), made his way to the

nearest port of safety. These five worthies at last fetched the island of
Jamaica, bringing with them all of the jewels and some of the gold that
had been captured from The Sun