Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-11-11
CHAPTER Y
The RENEGADE

OW it came to happen that Sakr-el-
Bahr, the Hawk of the Sea, the Moslem
rover, the scourge of the Mediterranean
| the terror Of Christians and the beloved of
Asad-ed-Din, Basha Of Algiers would he one
and the same as Sir Oliver TressiIian. the
Cornish gentleman of Penarrow, is at long
length set forth in the chronicles of Lord
| Henry COade.
Sir Oliver was one of a score of men who
| were rescued from the sea by the crew of
the Spanish vessel that had sunk the SwaI-
! low; another was Jasper Leigh, the skip
per All OF them were carried to Lisbon
and there handed over to the Court of the
Holy Office. Since they were heretics all
or nearly ALT was fit and proper that the
Brethren of St. Dominic should undertake
their conversion in the first place
SIR OIVer came of a family that never
had been famed for rigidity in religious mat
| ters' and he was certainly not going to
purn allYe II the adoption of other mems
opinions upon an extremely hypothetical fu-
ture state would suffice to save him from
the stake He accepted Catholic BAPTISM
WIN an almost cOntemptuous Indifference
AS Tor Jasper Leigh, it will be conceived
that the elasticity of the shippers conscience
was no less than Sir divers, and he was
certainly not the man to be roasted for a
trifle Of faith
No doubt there would be great reioicinoe
IN the Holy House over the rescue of these
Two unfortunate souls from the certain ner-
dluon that had awaited them. 1t followed
mat as converts to the Faith they were
warmly cherished and tears of THANKSGIVING
were protusely shed over them. SO much
for their heresy. They were completely
purged of it. having done penance in proper
form at an Auto held on the Rocio at Lis
oon candle in hand and sanbenito on their
shoulders The Church dismissed them with
! her blessing and an Injunction to nersevern
IN the ways of salvation.
| Now this dismissal amounted to reinc
| ION IneN were, as a consequence thrown
| back upon the secular authorities and the
| secular authorities had yet to punish them
! Tor thelr otfense upon the seas. No offense
| could be proved, it is true. But the courts
! were satisfied that this lack of offense was
| put the natural result of a lack of Oppor-
! tunlty. Conversely, they reasoned it was
! not to be doubted that with the opportunity
! the offense would have been forthcoming
| Ihelr assurance Of this was based upOn the
tact that when the Spanard fired across the
! BOWS of the Swallow as an invitation to
neaVe to- she had kept upon her course
mus, with unansWerable Castlian logic was
! the EVIL conscience of her skipper proven.
captain Leigh protested on the othor
hand that his action had been dictated bv
! ms lack of faith in Spaniards and his firm
! oeuet that all Spaniards were pirates to
De avoided by every honest seaman who was
! conscious of inferior strength of ornaments
1t was a plea that won him no favor with
| MS narrow minded judges
Sir Oliver ferventIy urged that he was mo
! member of the crew of the Swallow that no
| was gentleman who found himself aboard
! ner very much against his will, being the
! victim of villainOus piece of trnnannino
| executed by her venaI captain The court
| heard his plea with respect and asked +o
! KNOW his name and rank. He was so very
lHol5cfeet as to answer truthfuIIy The result
| was extremely educative to Sir Oliver: if
! showed MN how Systematically conducted
! was the Keeping Of the Spanish archives The
| court produced documents enabling his
| Judges to recite to him most of that norton
| OF his life that had been spent upon the
| seas and many an awkward little circum-
stance which had slipped his memory long
| since, which he now recalled and which
certainly was not calculated to make his
! sentence lighter
Had he not been in the Barbados in such
year, and had he not there captured the
SaIeon Maria de la Dolores? What was that
! Dut an act Of YillainOuS piracy? Had he NOT
scuttled Spanish carack four years AGO in
! the bay OF Funchal? Had he not been with
! mat pirate Hawkins in the affair at San
Juan de UIlOa? And so on Questions
poured upon him and enguIfed him.
He almost regretted that he had given
/ hlmsef the trouble to accept conversion and
! an that 1T entailed at the hands of the
/ Brethren of st. Dominic. 1t began to apDear
/ to him that he had but wasted time and es
/ capped the clerical fire to be dangled on a
| secular rope as an offering to the yengaful
! gods Of outraged Spain.
80 mucn, however, was not done The
9alleys in the Mediterranean were in urgent
need OF men at the time and to this circum
stance Sir Oliver, Captain Leigh and some
others OF the luclless crew Of the Swallow
! owed their lives, though it is to be doubted
/ whether any Of them found the matter one
! Tor congratulation. Chained each man to
fellow ankle to ankle, with but short
length OF links between. they formed part
/ OF considerable herd Of unfortunates who
/ were driven across Portugal into Spain and
then southwark to Cadiz.
The last that Sir Oliver saw OF Can+ain
Leigh was on the morning on which they
SET Out from the reaking Lisbon goal There
after throughout that weary march each
knew the other to ha somewhere in that
Wretched regiment OF gaIley-sIaves; but thew
never came face to face again.
In Cadiz Sir Oliver spent g month in 2
vast Enclosed space that was open 10 the
Sky. but nevertheless Of an Understandable
fOulness, place OF filth. disease and suffer
ing beyond human conception
At the end Of that month he was one of
those picked out by an officer who was
manning a galley @that was to convey the
lnfanta TO Naples. He owed this TO his Wig
orous constitution which had successfully
wirhscoOd the infections of that mephitic
place OF torments, and to the fine thevs