The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-17


less and remorseless quarrel with the
Spaniards they had some semblance OF
right upon their side. Their bloody har-
ryings of the cities of the Main were not
more barbarous than the inroads OF Spain
upon the Netherlands, or upon the CARDS
in these same American lands.
But there came day when the fleets
of the Buccaneers no longer mustered at
the Tortugas, and the solitary and out
lawed pirate took their place. Yet even
with him the tradition of restraint and of
discipline still fingered, and among the
early pirates, the Avorys, the Englands
and the Robertses, there remained some
respect for human sentiment. They were
more dangerous to the merchant than to
the seaman.
But they in turn were replaced by more
savage and desperate men, who frankly
recognized that they would get no quarter
in their war with the human race and
who swore they would give as little as
they got OF their histories we know
little that is trustworthy. They wrote no
memoirs and left no trace. save an occa-
sional blackened and bloodstained derehct
adrift upon the face of the Atlantic. Their
deeds could only be surmised from the
long roll of ships who never made their
port.
Searching the records of history it is
only here and there in an old-world trial
that the veil that shrouds them seems Tor
an instant to be lifted and We catch a
glipse of some amazing and grotesque bru-
tally behind. Such was the breed OF Ned
Low. or Cow the Scotchman and OF the
Infamous Sharkey, whose coal-black bar
que. the Happy Delivery, was known
from the Newfoundland Banks to the
mouths of the Orinoco as the dark lore
runner of misery and of death.
There were many men, both among the
islands and on the main, who had blood
feud with Sharkey, but not one who had
suffered more bitterly than Copley Banks
of Kingston. Banks had been one of
the leading sugar merchants of the West
Indies. He was a man of position, mem
Der of the Council, the husband OF Per-
cival, and the cousin of the Governor OF
Virginia His two sons had been sent to
London to be educated, and their mother
had gone over to bring them back On
their return voyage the ship, the Duchess
of Cornwall, fell into the hands OF
Sharkey. and the whole family met with
an infamous death.
Copley Banks said little when he heard
the news, but he sank into morose and
enduring melancholy. He neglected his
business, avoided his friends, and spent
much of his time in the low taverns of
the fishermen and seamen. There, amid
riot and deviltry, he sat silently putting
at his pipe. with a set face and smolder-
ing eye. 1t was generally supposed that
his misfortunes had shaken his wits, and
his old friends looked at him askance,
for the company which he kept was
enough to bar him from honest men.
From time to time there came rumors
of Shakey OYER the sea. Sometimes it
was from some schooner which had seen
a great flame upon the horizon and APP
preaching to offer help to the burning
ship had fled away at the sight of the
sleek, black barque, lurking like wolf
near a mangled sheep. Sometimes it was
a frightened trader, which had come
tearing in with her canvas curved like
ladys bodice, because she had seen
patched foretopsail rising slowly above
the violet water line Sometimes it was
from coaster, which had found water
less Bahama Cay Uttered with sun-dried
bodied.
mate of a Guineaman, and who had es-
capped from the pirates hands. He could
not speak-for reasons which Sharkey
could best supply-put he could write,
and he did write, to the very great inter
est of Copley Banks. For hours they
sat together over the map, and the dumb
man pointed here and there to outlying
reefs anu tortuous inlets, while his com
cot in ci1a
unvarying face and his fiery eyes
One morning, some two years after his
misfortune, Copley Banks strobe into his
own office with his old air of energy and
alertness. The manager stared at him in
surprise, for it was months since he had
shown any interest in business.
Good morning, Mr.. Banks" said he.
Good morning Freeman. 1 see that
Ruff1ing Harry is in the bay
Yes, sir; she clears for the Windward
Islands on Wednesday,
81 have other plans for her, Freeman.
have determined upon a shaving venture
to Whydah"
But her cargo is ready, SIR
Then it must come out again, Freeman.
My mind is made up, and the Ruffiing
Harry must go Shaving to Whydah.'
All argument and persuasion were vain,
so the manager had dolefully to clear the
ship once more.
And then Copley Banks began to make
preparations for his African voyage. 1t
appeared that he relied upon force rather
than barter for the filling of his hold, for
he carried none of those snowy trinkets
which savages love. but the brig was
fitted with eight nine-pounder guns and
racks full of muskets and cutlasses The
after sailroom next the cabin was trans
formed into powder magazine, and she
carried as many round shot as well
found privateer. Water and provisions
We're shipped for long voyage
But the preparation of his ships com
pany was most surprising. 1t made
Freeman. the manager, realize that there
was truth In the rumor that his master
had taken leave of his senses For. I'M
de-. one pretext or another he began to
dismiss the old and tried hands who had
served the firm for years and in their
place embarked the scum of the port