The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-01-15


of great price, and even he was most keen
after the precious stones. thought the |
poor ladies would suffer much more if the
men became drunk; and I shouted out: 1
The Spaniards have poisoned the wine;
drink no w1nev And Morgan heard me,
and winked, and called out, Yes, the wine
is poisoned: drink no winev Not that he
cared for what the men might do in their
drink, but because he thought the little
drink, and that other Spaniards might come
in numbers and destroy both him and them
when in that State
Now after a time he and his associates
gathered together to make dividend of the
spoil that they had gotten. And truly, if
there we're many men, there was also very
much and exceeding booty that had been OBJ
tanned. And when the dividend was made,
it was declared to each man that he should
receive two hundred pieces of eight. Where
at there was great murmuring among the
men; each man expected that he would re-
ceive at least four or five hundred pieces,
which he deserved for his perils, hard fight
ing and wounds. They said he had kept |
BACK too much money, and had put too lit
tie value on the precious silks and stones.
To me, indeed, thought he would have
been more kind; for | had ever fought very
close to him, and indeed, had Iearly saved
his life once or twice, when menaced, at the
peril OF my own. But he, in his hard voice,
only said: Harry, here be thy share;" and,
indeed, it was worth the life of any man to
murmur against him openly at any time.
But, nevertheless, men spoke low to one
another, and looked sullen, and there were
combinations among the crews of the other
vessels. Then John Morgan crowded all
sail and went off. He had kept well to the
front, and his ship was the fastest sailor of
all Then did the other pirates give chase
after him; but he showed them pair of
clean heels, and left them far behind. And
indeed there was not much of 'honor among
thieves in this case, if indeed there is in
any case.
But he, sailing away, came that evening
to the nelghborhood of the pleasant caves,
and here he went off in boat with only me
and boy with him. His ship should cruise
for time under the command of the first
mate. And here he LACED and lounged mighti-
ly. 1t was easy to see that he had his share,
and more than his share, of good things.
But it was the fate of this man that he
should quarrel with the friendly Indians,
who had always been peaceable and true TO
him, and helped him with his vessel, and
tended cattle for him, and brought him fish
and fruit. He was not man who could
live in peace unless he knew he had enc
AA'ASo w hSho, uoI COuu nc ever uldkG ell
tirely his friends those who lived closest to
him, even such one as myself. Now these
Indians trembled before him exceedingly,
especially when he made his thunder and
lightning, as they called the firing-off his
musket. which they saw had deadly effect.
They were simple folk. Now there was a
witch who lived in a hut nigh unto point
in the isle Of Cuba, whittier our boat could
go in pleasant day of summers sailing.
Indeed, to hear such mutterings and to see
such eyes was to know for certain that she
was witch who ought not to live. | do
not know that John Morgan quite knew
that she was witch. for, indeed, his mind
was not set on deep questions of this ma
ture. But he thought that the old woman
was rich, for SO he heard from the Indians:
and, indeed, he lad seen rich string of
pearls and other precious things, and he
had in vain tried to entice them from her by
strips of cloth and glass beads. Neither
would she consent to give them up; for, in
deed, they had not been found by the In
dams, but had come from a Spanish wreck.
and were used by her as charm in her in
fernal business. But John Morgan was not
man to be baked in his lust by man, wo-
man or devil; SO seeing her one day wear
ing the string of pearls, he chased her into
a wood and opened upon her with drawn
knife. AS he stretched out his arm toward
her throat she seized it by her right arm,
and liked her evil eye upon him, and cursed
the right arm that was raised to slay her.
None OF which things did move John Nor
gan, for he cut her throat from ear to ear,
and made off with the treasure.
But that very night, as he lay abed in his
little house il the cayo, there came a slight
pain in the arm of John Morgan. And
when he tried to sleep he could not sleep
soundly by reason of that pain, but had only
broken fits of sumber. But, indeed, never
more did he sleep again as in old times.
For, always, he would awake with frightful
dreams-which thing had never happened
to him before in all his wickedness-and
there were great perspirations on him, and
ungllngs OF the flesh even to excruciat-
Ing torments and an Inaciation. and it,
was PLATO to see that his right arm was
whitening away, cursed by the Evil Eve. He
said he felt the old woman eating aWay his
heart and brain. Sometimes he would 90
and look on little box in which thought
rightly that he kept his treasures; but he
would only sigh and groan nightly over it.
And all this time we saw nothing of our
friendly Indians, or those who erewhile had
been our friendly Indians. And | think
that the fear of them was heavy upon the
mind of John Morgan. And now he was
very weak and feeble, and could hardly par
take OF the turtle broth which had made
for him. And once he wept piteously over
his shrunken arm; and weep 1 never saw
him do in all former times; and day by day
it shrank more and more, the bone being
evidently decayed and dead. Aud even the
young boy who was with us could have
struck down John Morgan if he had been SO
minded. And, indeed, it was plain to see
that the great John Morgan was perishing
bit by bit through the witch. But it was
not destined to him 10 die in his bed as a
Christian man; for one evening, as he lay
on couch covered with puma's skin, out
side his door, by the side of the pleasant
stream, we saw angry eyes glaring at us
through the wood. Then file of Indians
came through the secret path-not secret to
them, for before now they had come to him
hither on his behalf and behoof-and rails
ing great shrieks ran at him with spears
and instruments of sharpened wood, I.
who knew all the intricacies and WAYS of
the place, bounded off at once and Law hid.
But they cut John Morgan limb from limb.
and disembowelled him, and burnt his
body, and threw his ashes to the winds
And so came to his end John Morgan. As
for the poor boy, 1 never saw ANYTHING of
him afterward; but once heard strange
story that the Cuban Indians had an Eng
lishman among them who was a king of
kings. and as much an Indian as any of
o-Sni, hoi1hOi Couiu uc speak one WORD OF
the English tongue
After had seen those Indians 90 off in
their boats or canoes l returned to The
house, which, indeed, found devastated
and in some places fred. Our beeves had
been taken from the savanna beyond the
woods with the costly stuffs and nearly all
the good things and the fire-water. But |
found the precious box hid away where no
man could easily find it, and 1 knew its
whereabouts at least. And then 1 found
the accursed necklace, to OBJ ain which had
withered the arm and finished up the life of
John Morgan. And could not prevail on
myself to take that necklace, but 1 digged
deep and buried the accursed thing in the
ground. But felt no scruple in taking the
precious casket; for had he not cheated me
out of my dues as well as others? And be-
ing the only one who abode constantly with
him. had sort of right to consider myself
as his heir.
And here I continued not MANY DAYS.
having indeed enough to eat and drink, and
clothe myself withal but not having anv hu-
man creatures to speak to, and not even a
dog for company, which may be very good
company indeed. But before very long |
spied, one day, ship about two leagues to
sea. Fortunately our boat was safe, hidden
beneath boughs il little creek. 1t might
be an enemy or pirate, but also it might be
a fair-dealing vessel; and better it were to
run anV risk than RI bacopo Ill ,,d A. -.