and somehow trusting in his own destiny, which always whispered to him
that he would eventually kill Nicholas, he did nto care, but walked
gaily with M cCallum through the woods to the house. This was a large
wooden bungalow, built high upon a slope, the back of which afforded a
dry store for cattle fodder. It was a hot day, and by the time they
entered the front veranda, they were ready for food and drin k. But Syn
resolved that there would be no food or drink for him in that house.
Black Nick’s capture was what he had come for, and that would be more
than meat and wine. He was chancing no drugging from McCallum’s
hospitality. They entered a spacious living-room, with table laid for
three. “That is Black Nick’s usual seat,” said the host. “If you sit
there opposite with your back to the door, he will not see you in that
high-backed chair. The lazy devil is always late, so we will sit down
now, and I will send a servant to tell him dinner is served. Then you
may do what you like. You may prefer to kill a man before or after
dinner. I suggest after, for personally I am hungry. So long as you do
kill him, if’s of no odds to me.”
“I shall be obliged if you se nd for him,” said Syn, taking his seat
while McCallum ordered one of the servants to fetch Black Nick.
Syn heard the door open behind him, and a heavy stop care round the
table. Although he was alert to treachery, Syn never doubted but that
this was Black Nick, and he was something astonished to see confronting
him a Spanish Officer fully armed. “I arrest you, sir, in the name of
the Governor of Havana for piracy on the high seas. Come in, there.”
A tramp of feet behind him made Syn glance quickly be hind him to see
a file of guards.
McCallum laughed. “It is quite true, Captain Clegg, that Black Nick
is afraid of you. So much, that he ran away to sea s a pirate, rather
than fight you to recover his ship which you stole so cleverly. But I am
a man of different kidney. You do not steal my ships and treasure and go
scott free. Now, yo9u shall hang on the Havana docks.”
“So the Governor of Santiago lied to me when he said that Black Nick
was with you in Havana,” said Syn calmly.
“Of course he did,” laughed the planter. “May not a Governor lie to a
thief?”
“So much the worse for the Governor of Santiago,” replied Syn.
“Come, sir, said the officer. “My men wait to escort you to the
Town.”
“You had best hand over your sword,” said the planter. “And let us
get clear before his men know of this and attempt a rescue.”
Syn rose and drew his sword, but had no intention of handing it, to
the officer. The twelve guards behind him were cavalry men with drawn
sabres. As he was quickly weighing up his chances, ne noticed blue smoke
curling along between the floor-boards. He also heard an ominous
crackling of burning wood, and felt a strange heat under his soles. “I
can assure you that my men will rescue me,” he said. “Oh, yes. Alive or
dead. If dead, G od help your town. They will spare nothing.”
“That is for us to prevent,” replied the officer haughtily.
As he spoke, he staggered back for a flame leapt up through the bloor
and caught the table -cloth, while screams of “Fire” echoed through the
house. But that was not so terrifying as the half-naked red figure,
which dashed into the
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room and with a double swing of a tomahawk, severed the necks of the two
soldiers nearest to Syn, and then leapt upon the table, in the midst of
the flames crying out “Shuhshuhgah”.
“Shuhshuhgah,” echoed Syn with a mighty laugh, as he drove his sword
through the neck of another soldier. “I scalp you. You good enough. You
officer,” cried the Redskin, swinging a blow at the captain of the
Guard.
The planter dashed for the safety of the veranda, and jumping the
rails to the grass below, ran for the woods, while Syn drove the
frightened soldiers before him with his sword. And then, with a shout,
the faithful Mipps, having disregarded orders, rushed through the smoke
at the head of his boat’s crew.
The soldiers broke and ran with the pirates after them, and as Syn
rushed for the veranda, he saw Shuhshuhgah in the blinding smoke calmly
scalping the dead officer. Before he could finish this operation, Syn
had dragged him clear of the burning house.
“I fired the house,” said the Redskin. “Heard that officer talk last
night about the trap for you. Came up to join you. Saw fodder under
foot. Fired it. Easy.”
“Back to the boats, and we’ll talk when on ship,” said Syn.
That night the pirates sacked Havana, seized the Governor and hanged
him on the docks where he planned to hang Clegg. They then set sail for
Santiago, “for I’ll have no Governor of a mere town lying to me, ” cried
Clegg. So, was Santiago sacked and another Governor hanged.
A suitable island was found for their treasures to be hidden in, and
for the careening of the Imogene, and from his secret base they sailed
and sailed again, taking their toll of ship after ship. Even pirate
ships were not secure from them. Indeed, the crew noted that their
Captain attacked these with the greater spirit, for on one of them he
always hoped to meet with Nicholas.
Chapter 18
Mutiny
During the twelve years or so that the Imogene kept the seas and
ruled them, there were few Government interested in shipping who had not
posted large rewards for her captain. But Clegg and his loyal rascals
went on plundering and outwitting all her enemies. All those years he
had counted upon the good faith of his crew. Believing in each man, who,
to his profit, had sailed so long with him, he had only once been
troubled with mutiny. On that occasion, off , he ran the ringleader
through the neck in a fair fight. He heard no more of it after that. The
only other case of treachery was the Negro who stole his Virgil,
thinking it a book of magic, and deserted. Against this, he had twelve
years of faithful service, until a mysterious discontent arose, and he
demanded explanation.
“This ship is haunted by a devil,” faltered a spokesman. “He speaks
to us in the night watches, warning us against you for our safety. He
says you once blew up your own ship, sacrificing all to steal their
treasure. He says you will do it again to us.”
Mipps answere d this: “Clegg never blew up his own ship in this life.
You might as well accuse me of such a thing. Who is this funny croaker?”
“He comes at night from the hold, like a stowaway, and we fear him,”
replied the man nervously. “He says we must maroon the c aptain or die.”
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‘I’ll have neither ghost, devil nor stowaway aboard my ship unless he
signs our articles,” cried Syn. “Down to the hold, you dog, and rout him
out. I have a wish to see this devil face to face.”
“Here, and you remeber me. I speak now.”
Syn turned at the dreadful voice behind him, and face the mulatto. He
recognized him at once as the sole survivor of the Sulphur Pit.
Immediately the rascal began to prophesy dreadful things against the
ship and crew unless they disposed of their captain by making him walk
the plank or by marooning.
“Seize him and lash him to the mast,” cried Syn.
Shuhshuhgah and Mipps were on him in a second, and Syn helped them