The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-08-18
that had left him.

He was alone, SO he believed, upon
the island, and all OF the mortal fear
slowly creeping upon him already APP
peared in his awful face, clearly ex-
hibited by the light Of the setting sun
streaming upon his left hand, for he
was chained facing northward-that
is, seaward. Ks lie fancied himself the
only living thing upon that island, he
took little care to conceal his emo
tionS-inue2d, ii was impossible for
him any longer to keep up the pretense
Of Indifference. His nerves were shat
tered. his spirit broken. Rctribution
was GogginS him hard. Vengeance was
close at hand ut last. Besides. what
mattercd it? He thought himself alone,
absolutely alone. But In that fancy
he was wrong, for in the solitary lit
tie copsc of bushes of which mention
has been made there lay hidden n man
An ancient sailor. His single eye
cleaned ns fierccly upon the bound,
shackled prisoner as did the setting
SIN itself
Old Benjamin Hornigold, who had
schcmed and planned for his revenge,
had insisted upon being put ashore on
the other side of the island after the
boats had rowed out Of sight Of the
captive. that he might steal back and,
himself unseen, watch the torture Of
the man who had betrayed him and
wronged him SD deeply. Alvarado had
complied with his request and had fur
ther promised to return for the boat
swain in two days. They calculated
nicely that the already exhausted pris-
oner would scarcely survive so long.
and provisions and water ample for
that period had been left for the sus-
tenance of Hornigold-alone.
Morgan, however, did not know this.
He believed his only companions to be
the body Of the half breed who had
died for him rs he had lived for him
and the severed head of Teach, q new
er comrade who had not betrayed him.
The body lay almost at his feet; the
head had been wedged in the sand so
that Its sightless face was turned to-
ward him in the dreadful, lidless staring
gaze Of sudden death.
They had said to the buccaneer as
they fastened him to the rocks TINT
they would not take his life, but that
he would be left to the Judgment OF
God. What would that be? He
thought he knew.
He had lived long enough on tho
Caribbean to know tho habits of that
beautiful and cruel sea. There was O
little stretch of sand ut his feet, and
then the water began. He estimated
that the tide had been ebbing for an
hour or soowhen he was fastened up
and abandoned. The rock to which he
had been chained was still wet, and he
noticed that the dampness existed far
above his head. The water would re-
cedc and recede and fecetle until per-
haps some 900 feet Of bare sand would
stretch before him, and then 1t would
turn and come back, back, back.
Where would it stop? How high would
1t rise? Would it flood in In peaceful
calm as 1t was then drawing away i?
Would 1T come crashing in heavy as.
sault upon the sands as it generally
did, beating out his life against the
rock?
OF the two he thought he should pre-.
fer storm. He would be beaten to
pieces, the life battered out Of him hor-
ribly in that event, but that would be
a battle, struggle-action. He could
fight If he could not wait and endure
1t would be terrible death, but it
would be soon over, and therefore he
preferred it to the slow horror of
watching the approach of the waters
creeping i'll and up to drown him. The
chief agony of his position, however,
the most terrifying feature in this
dreadful situation to which his years
Of crime had at last brought him, was
that he was allowed no choice
So long as 1t was light Morgan in
tently watched the sea. There was q
sense of companionship In 1t which
helped to alleviate his unutterable lone
illness. And he was a man to whom
loneliness in itself was q punishment.
There were too many things in the past
that had a habit of making their pres
ence felt when he was alone for him
ever to desire to be solitary. Present
ly the sun disappeared with the star
tling suddenness of tropic attitudes, and
without twilight darkness fell over the
sea and over his haggard face like
veil. The moon had not yet risen, and
hS NOuii otC iObIluS. iueTc were II
few faint clouds on the horizon, he had
noticed, which might prespge storm.
1t was very dark and very still, as
calm and peaceful tropic night as
ever shrouded the Caribbean. Farther
and farther away from him he could
hear the rustic Of the receding waves
as the tide went down. Over his head
twinkled the stars out of the deep
darkness.
Then the moon sprang up as sudden
ly as the sun had fallen. Her silver
radiance flooded the armament. Light,
heavenly light, once more! Far away
from him the white line of the water
was breaking on the silver sand.