Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1919-03-26

| had the cIue-jealousy, the mad, un-
!, reasoning jealousy of his race.
| had no false conception as 70 'nls
no vagrant thought that her interest,"
! in me was any more than passing
! fancy, born of sympathy and ue-
/ sire to aid. Nevertheless, as she had
| thus already served me, | now owed
her service in return, and here was the
first call. If conditions made 1t pos
sible it was my plain duty to place
myself between these two.
In the intensity of my feelings l
must have unconsciOusly spoken
| aloud. for shaggy head suddenly
popped out from the berth beneath
where I lay, and Haley's interested
voice asked solicitously:
"Hy. thar; whut's up, mate? Ye
was mutterin' way thar an not dis
turbin' me none, till We got ter talkin'
bout sum Teller called Sanchez. Then
sorter got bit interested. knowd
tibet cuss onct," and he spat, as
| though to thus better express his
feelings. 1.-THE ID Ornary pirate.
/ laughed, my whole mental mood
changed by this remark.
sDo you refer to Black SanchezY
I've heard of him; were you ever In
his hands?"
"Wus II" he laughed grimly. T
he'd eight months of it, mate, and a
greater demon never sailed. The
things l saw done ye'd never believe
no human bein' could do. If ever thar
wus two people in one skin, sir, it's
tibet Black Sanchez. When he's playin'
off fer good he's as soft an sweet
as a dandy in Piccadilly, an when
he's real he's like devil in hell"
"Were you a prisoner-or did you
sail under him?'
'Both, fer the matter o. tibet. He
give me the choice ter serve er walk
the plank. l wus eighteen, an he'd
an O. mother at Deal"
81 see; but later got away?"
Gay, I did thet," chuckling over the
recollection. "But / he'd ter wait
eight months fer the luck" My neigh
Dor went on to tell at great length
the story of his escape.
interested in his story, "who claimed
to have seen the fellow; he described
him as being a very large man, with
intensely black, hawklike eyes and a
heavy black beard almost hiding his
! face"
maybe he looked like that when he
saw him, but he amt no bigger man
than 1 am; he won't weigh as much
| by fifteen pound. Fact is he mighty
| seldom looks the same, fer thets part
| o. his game. I've seen him in all sorts
| o. DISCUSSES. It's only his eyes he
| can't hide, an thar's been times when
| thought they wus the ugliest eyes
] ever saw. He's sure an ornary devil.
an when he gifts mad, I'd rather be
afrOnt Of tiger. Besides fightin's his
trade, an no weaklin' amt gOin' ter
control the sort O. chaps he's got ter
handle. Most of 'em would murder
him in a minute if they dared Oh,
he's bad all right, but yer wouldn't
exactly think so, just ter look at him.
What, then, does he really look
/ like?'
ooh, sorter swashbucklin' Spanish
don-the kind whut likes ter dress up
an play the dandy. He's got a pink
an white complexion, the Castilian
kind, yer know, an wears little mus
tache, waXed up at the ends. / heard
he wus about forty-fve; / reckon he
must be thet, but he didn't look older
than thirty
Haley dropped off to sleep, but my
mind continued to wander until it con-
jured up once again this West Indian
pirate. His name and the story of
his exploits had been familiar to me
ever since | first went to sea. While
only one among many operating in
those haunted waters his resourceful-
ness, daring and cruelty had won him
an infamous reputation, name of
horror. In those days, when the curse
of piracy made the sea a terror no
ordinary man could ever have sue
ceeded in attaining such supremacy
In crime.
Black Sanchez-and Haley pictured
him as dandified, ordinary appear
ing individual, with white and red
complexion, small mustache and
flashing dark eyes-a mere Spanish
gallant, without special distinction.
Why, that description, strangely
enough, fitted almost exactly this fell
low on board, this other Sanchez.
The suspicion which had crept into
my mind was so absurd, so unspeak-
ably silly and impossible that I
laughed at myself and dismissed the
crazy thought. Chuckling over it I
finally fell asleep.