Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-31
IC E 30 N D.
By W. CLARK RUSSELL,

Author of 'sTns Ivreck of the G,osue,,or' f,a "Jock s Co1trtship," My Wdtch 6e- lo,r "' The Lady Maud Etc. kept silence for some moments, lost in thought.
 "Pray," said I, breaking in upon him, ''what ship is this?" He started, deliberated an instant, and an- swered ''The Boca del. Dragon IA Spaniard!' He nodded.
 "She was pirate!" said l.
 "How do you know thatg" he cried, with Eldden fierceness. ''Sir," said l. "I am a British sailor, who has used the sea for some years, and knows the difference betweeIF handsplke and a poop lantern. But what matters? She is a pirate no longer" 1 He let his eyes fall from my face, and gazed 1 round him with the air of one who cannot l yet persuade his understanding of the reali- ties of the scene he moves in. ''Tut!' cried he, presently, addressing him. self 'what matters the truth, you say? Yes," said he, "the Boca del Dragon is a pirate You have of course rummaged her, and guessed her character by what you found?'
 'I met with enough to excite my suspi- cion," said I. ''The ships company of a craft of this kind do not usually go clothed ill lace and rich cloaks, and carry watches of this kind,' tapping my breast, ''in their fobs and handfuls of gold in their pockets"
 ''Unless'- said he.
 'Unless,'' answered, ''their flag is as black as our prospects,"
 "You think them black9' cried he, the look of resentment that was darkening his face dying out of it. "The vessel is sound, is she not?'
 replied that she appeared so, but it would be impossible to be sure until she foated. ''The stores?'
 "They are plentiful"
 "They should ber' he cried; "we have the liquor and stores of a galleon and two caracks in our hold, apart from what we originally laid in for the cruise. Everything will have been kept sweet by the cold"
 ''May I ask your name!" said I. "Jules Tassard, at your service," said he, ''third in command of the Boca del Dragon, but good as Mate Trentanove, and good as Capt. Mendoza, and good as the cabin boy Fernando Prado-for we pirates are re- publicans sir; we know social distinctions save those we order for the convenience of working ship. Now let me tell you the story of our disaster. We had come out of the Spanish Main into the South seas, partly to
 
 which were after us and others of our kind and partly because luck was against us, and we could not find our account in those waters We sailed in December two years ago.
 ''Making the year?" interrupted.
 He started, and then grinned again.
 "Ah, to be sure!" cried he, "this is 1901 |; but to keep my tale in countenance," he went on in a satirical, apologetic way, 'let me call the year in which we sailed for the South sea 1751. What matters forty or fifty years to the shipwrecked? Is not one day of an open boat, with no society but the devils of memory, and no hope but the silence at the bottom of the sea, an eternity? Fill me that pannikin, my friend. I thank l you. To proceed we cruised some months in the South sea, and took number of ships. One was privateer that had plundered a British Indiaman in the Southern ocean, and had entered the South sea by New Holland. This fellow full of fine clothes, and had some silver in her. We took what we wanted, and let her go with her people under matches, her yards square, her helm amid ships, and her cabin on fire. Our maxim is No witnesses!' That is the pirates philos-