The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1922-09-08

But when we must proceed on one
of our abordages, the heart of Francis
Burke was in his boots; the little egg
shell skiff in which we must set forth
the horrible heaving of the vast bill
lows, the height of the ship that we
must scale, the thought of how many
might be there in garrison upon their
legitimate defense, the scowling heav-
ems which lin that climate) so often
looked darkly down upon our exploits,
and the mere crying of the wind in
my ears, were all considerations most
unpalatable to my valor. Besides
which, as | was always creature of
the incest sensibility, the scenes that
must follow on our success tempted
me as little as the chances of defeat.
Twice we found women on board;
and though have seen towns sacked,
and of late days in France some very
horrid public tumults, there was
som ething in the smallness of the
numbers engaged and the bleak, dan
gerous sea-surroundings that made
these acts of piracy far the most re-
voting. | confess ingenuously l
could never proceed, unless I was
three parts drunk; it was the same
even with the crew; Teach himself
was fit for no enterprise till he was
full of rum; and it was one of the
most difficult parts of Ballantrae's per-
Torrance to serve us with liquor in
the proper quantities
Even this he did to admiration be- |
ing upon the whole the most capable |
man l ever met with, and the one of |
the most natural genius. He did not
even scrape favor with the crew, as
did, by continual buffoonery made
upon very anxious heart; but pre-
served on most occasions a great deal
Of gravity and distance; so that he
was like parent among a family of
young children or a schoolmaster with
MS boys. What made his part the
harder to perform, the men were most
nveterate grumbIers; Ballantrae's
discipline, little as it was, was vet
rksome to their love of license: and
What was worse, being kept sober
hey had time to think. j
Some of them accordingly would j
all to repenting their abominable
rimes; one in particular, who was a {
God Catholic and with whom | would i
ometimes steal apart for prayer; |
bove all in bad weather, fogs, lash
lg rain and the like, when we would I
e the less observed; and l am sure |
o two criminals in the cart have [
yer performed their devotions with | i
ore anxious sincerity. But the rest, \
aving no such grounds of hope, fell e
} another pastime, that of computa- a
on. All day long they would be tell il
g up their shares or glooming over s
e results. | have said we were h
city fortunate. i,
But an observation fails to be
ade; that in this world, in no bust
'ss that | have tried, do the profits .,
Sc to mans expectations. We
und many ships and took many: vet
W of them contained much money. VI
cir goods were usually nothing to a
+ purpose-what did we want with OF
cargo of plows or even of tobacco? &C
and it is quite a painful reflection &C
W many whole crews we have made st
walk the plank for no more than til
'ck of biscuit or an anker or two ce
spirits. ho
the meanwhile, our ship was Is
wing very foul, and it was high co
lie we should make for our port de WI
renage, which was in the estuary Gu
a river among swamps. 1t was sic
'nly understood that we should
n break up and go and souander
proportions of the spoil; and this he
de every man greedy of little me
re, so that our decision was de. -
ed from day to day. upt
What finally decided matters was pal
rifing accident, such as an ignor. dar
person might suppose incidental 7
our way of life. But here must fer
lain: on only one of all the ships lit
boarded-the first on which we der
Id women-did we meet with any nea
nlne resistance. On that occasion nea
had two men killed, and several and
red, and if. it had not been for if "
galiantry of Ballantrae, we had thei
'ly been beat back at last gre;
Verywhere else, the defense DIES,
ere there was any at alb was our