Evening star., 1924-11-14
Continued from Yesterdays starr
BRIDGE.

And meanwhile in the Caribbean
the Spanish Admiral Don Miguel de
Espinosa might be said-to use
term not yet invented in his day
10 have run amuck. The disgrace
INTO which ne had fallen as a result
Of the disasters suffered at the hands
IF Capt. Blood had driven the ad-
'liral all but mad 1t Is impossible.
i we dispose our minds impartially,
10 withhold g. certain sympathy from
Don Miguel. Hate was now this un
fortunate mans daily bread and the
hope OF vengeance an obsession to his
mind. AS a madmen he went raging
UP and down the Caribbean seeking
an enemy, and In the meantime, as
an hors 'oeuvre TO his vindictive ap-
petite, he fell upon any ship of Eng
land OF Of France that loomed above
his horizon.
l need say no more to convey the
fact that this iilustrious sea captain
and great gentleman OF CASTLE had
lost his head and was become a
Iirete in his turn. The supreme
council of CASTLE might anon con-
d. mn him for his practices. But how
should that matter to enc who al
ready was condemned beyond redemp-
tion? On the contrary. if he should
live to lay the audacious and in
fable Blood by the heels, it was pos
$ihle that Spain might view his pres
cnt irregularities and earlier losses
with a more lenient eye.
And so, reckless of the fact that
capt. Blood was now in vastly supe-
rio- strength. the Spaniard sought
him up and down the trackless seas.
Fut for whole year he sought him
vainly. The circumstances in which
eventually they met and very curl
Gus.
An intelligent observation OF the
facts Of human existence will reveal
10 shallow minded folk who sneer at
the use Of coincidence in the arts of
flction and drama that life itself is
little more than series OF coinci-
dences. Open the history Of the past at
whatsoever page you will. and there
YOU shall find coincidence at work
bringing about events that the merest
chance might have averted. Indeed,
coincidence may be defined as the
very tool used by fate TO shape the
desttnies of men and nations.
Observe il now at work in the
sfairs Of Capt. Blood and of some
others.
on the 10Th September of the year
16Ss-a memorable year in the an
nails OF England-three ships were
afoat upon the Caribbean which in
their coming conjunctions were to
work out the fortunes Of several per-
sons.
The first Of these was Capt Blood's
flagship. the Arahella. which had been
separated from the buccaneer fleet in
n hurricane off the Lesser Antilles In
somewhere about Il degrees n. lati-
tude and II longitude she was beat
ing up for the Windward Passage
before the intermittent southeasterly
hreezes OF that sitting season, hon.
ing for Tortugas. the natural rendez-
Nous of the dispersed vessels.
The second ship was the great
Spanish galleon, the Milagrosa, which,
accompanied by the smaller frigate
Hidalga, lurked off the Caymites to
the north Of the long peninsula that
thruSts out from the southwest cor
uer of Hispauiola- Aboard the Mila-
grosa sailed the vindictive Don
Miguel.
The third and last Of these ships
with which we are at present oon-
cerned was an English man. of-war,
which, on the date l have given, was
at anchor in the French port Of St.
Nicholas, on the northwest coast Of
Hispaniola. She was on her way from
Plymouth to Jamaica and carried on
board a very distin guished passenger
in the person Of Lord Julian Wade,
who came charged by his kinsman,
my Lord Sunderland, with a mission
OF some consequence and delicacy, di-
rectly arising out of that veXatious
correspondence between England and
Spain.
The French government, like the
English, excessively annoyed by the
Lepredations OF the buccaneers and
the constant strainiuE of relations
with Spain that ensued, had sought
in vain to put them down by enjoin
ing the utmost severity against them
upon her various overseas governors.
But these cither-like tho Governor
of Tortuga-throve out of scarcely
tAcdt partnership with the fllbusters
ur-like the Governor Of French His
pariola-felt that they were to be