The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-12-14
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
BY ROGER POCOCK
Copyright By BobbsM Merrill Company
By ROGER POCOCK

mourning over the total depravity of
Captain Avery. Sorely repentipg his
| sins, they resolved to amend their
! lives, and see what they could steal
| in Madagascar. Landing on that great
island they dismantled their sloops,
taking their plentiful supply Of guns
and powder ashore, where they
camped, making their sails into tents.
| Here they met with another party Of
English pirates who were also peni-
tent, having just plundered a large
and richly-laden ship at the mouth Of
the Red sea. Their dividend was three
thousand pounds a man, and they were
resolved to settle in Madagascar, in
stead Of going home to be hanged.
The two parties, both in search Of a
peaceful and simple life, made friends
with the various native princes, who
were glad of white men to assist in
the butchering of adjacent tribes. Two
or three pirates at the head Of an at
lacking force would put the bOldest
tribes to flight. Each pirate acquired
his own harem of wives, his own horde
of black slaves, his own plantations,
fishery and hunting grounds, his king
dom wherein he reigned an absolute
monarch. If a native said impudent
words he was promptly shot, and any
attack of the tribes on a white man
was resented by the whole community
of pirate kings. Once the negroes
conspired for a general rising TO wipe
out their oppressOrs at one fell swOOp,
but the wife of a white man getting
wind of the plot, ran twenty miles
in three hours to alarm her lord. When
the native forces arrived they were
warmly received. After that each Of
their lordships built a fortress for his
resting place with rampant and , the
set round with a labyrinth of the "ar-
entanglements, so that the barefoot
native coming as a stranger by night,
trod on spikes, and sounded a loud
alarm which reused the garrison.
Long years went by. Their majes-
ties grew stout from high feeding and
lack of exercise, hairy, dressed in
skins of wild beasts, reigning each
in his kingdom with a deal of dirty
state and royalty.
So Captain Woods found them when
he went in the ship Delicia. TO buy
slaves. AT the sight OF his forty-gun
ship they mid themselves in the woods,
very suspicious, but presently learned
his business, and game out of the
woods, offering to sell their loyal ne
gro subjects by hundreds in exchange
for tobacco and suits of sailor clothes,
tools, powder, and ball, They had
now been twenty-five years in NADIA
gascar, and, what with wars, acct
dents, sickness, there remained eleven
sailor kings, all heartily bored with
their royalty. Despite the attach
ments of their harems, children and
swarms Of grandchildren and depend
ents, they were sick for blue water,
hungry for a cruise. Captain Woods
observed that they got very friendly
with his seamen, and learned that
they were plotting to seize the ship,
hoist the black flag, and betake them
selves once more to piracy on the
high seas.
After that he kept their majestic,
at a distance, sending officers ashore
to trade with them until he had COM
pleted his cargo of slaves. So he
sailed, leaving eleven disconsolate pl.
rate kings in a mournful row on the
tropic beach, and no more has ever
transpired as to them or the fate OF
their kingdoms. Still, they had Jared
much better than Captain Avery with
his trea sure of ROYAL diamonds