Evening star., 1924-10-20
CAPTAIN BLOOD
Bv RAFAEL SABATINI
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
3u RAFAEL .SABATINI
CHAPTER ~.
Human ,Merch n ndisc.

Mr.. Pollexfen was at one and the
same time right and wrong-a con-
dition much more common than is
generally supposed
He was right in his indifferently
expressed thought that a man whose
nien and words could daunt such
Il lord of terror as Jeffreys. should
by the dominance of his nature he
able to fashion himself considerable
destiny. He was wrong-though
justifiably so--in his assumption that
Peter Blood must hang
| have said that the tribulations
with which he was visited as a re-
suit of his errand of mercy to Oglc-
thorpe's farm contained-although as
vet he did not perceive it, perhaps
rwo sources of thankfulness: one that
hc was tried at all: the other that his
trial took place on the 18th of Sep
1ember. Tutil the 18th the sentences
passed by the Court of the Lords
commissioners had been carried out
literally and eNpeditiouslA. But on
he morning of the 10th there ar
lived at Taunton a courier from Lord
Sunderland, the secretary Of state,
with a letter for Lord Jeffreys where
he was informed that his majesty
had been Eraciously pleased to COM
'nand that eleven hundred rebels
-houlh be furnished for transporta-
rnn to some of his majcsty'S south
n plantations. Jamaica. Barbados,
- any of the Leeward Islands.
You are not to suppose that this
command was dictated by any sense
of mercy. Lord Churchill was no
more than just when he spoke of
he kings heart az being as insensible
~ MARBLE 1t had been realized that
in these wholesale hangings there
was taking place a reckless waste
of valuable material. Slaves were
urgently required in the plantations.
and a healthy, vigorous man could
I've reckoned worth at least from 10
20 Is pounds. Then, there were at
court many gentlemen who had some
claim or other upon his majcsty's
bounty. Here was a cheap and ready
way to discharge th9se claims. From
amongest the convicted rebels IA Ger
tain number might be set aside to be
bestowed upon those gentlemen, so
that they might dispose of them to
their own profit.
Ny Lord Sunderland's letter gives
precise details of the royal muuif-
iceuce in human flesh \ thousand
prisoners Were to be distributed
among some eigth "nurtiers and
others, whilst a postscriptum to his
lordshipS letter asked for ii further
hundred to be held ut the disposal
Of the queen Srhcsc prisoners were
"a be transported at once to his
rnajesty's southern plantations and
to be kept there for the space Of 10
years before being restored to liberty,
thesparties to owhom they were as
signed entering into security to see
that transportation was Immediately
effected.
We know from Lord Jefrreys secre-
fary how the, chief justice inreigh ed
that night in drunken frenzy against
his misplaced clemeHey to which his
majesty had been persuaded. We
know how he attempted by letter to
induce the king to reconsider his
decision. But James adhered to 1t.
It was-apart from the indirect profit
he derived from it-a clenency full
worthy Of him. He knew that to
spare lives in this fashion was to
convert them into living deaths.
Many must succumb In torment 10 the
horrors of West Indian slavery. and
g be the envy of their surviving
companions.
Thus it happened that Peter Blood
and with him Jeremy Pitt and An
drew Baynes, instead of being hanged
drawn, and quartered as their sem
tences directed. were conveyed to
Bristol and there shipped with some
80 others aboard the Jamaica Mer-
chant. From close confinement under
matches, ill-nourshed and foul water,
a sickness broke out among them, Of
which IL died. Among these was the
unfortunate yeoman from Ogle-
thorpe's farm. brutally torn from his
quiet homestead amid the fragrant
cider orchards for no other sin but
that he had practiced mercy.
The mortality might have been
higher than it was but for Peter
Blood. At first the master of the ia
naica Merchant had answered with
uaths and threats the doctors expos
tulations against permitting men to
perish in this fashion, and his insist
rnce that he should be made free of
the medicine chest and given leave to
minister to the sick. But presently
Capt. Gardiner came to see that he
might be brought to task for these
TOO heavy losses of human merchan-
disc. and because of this he was be-
1atedly glad to avail himself of the
skill of Peter Blood. The doctor went
10 work zealously and zestfully, and
wrought SO ably that, by his minis
trations and by improving the condi
ton Of his fellow captives he checked
the spread of the disease.
Toward the middle of December the
Jamaica Merchant dropped anchor in
Carlisle Bay. and put ashore the AZ
II these unfortunates had imagined
AS many of them appear to have
done-that they were coming into
some wild, savage country. the pros
nect, of which they had glimpse be-
fore they were hustled over the ships s
side into the waiting boats, was
enough to correct the IMPRESSION
They beheld II town of sufficiently i'm
posing proportions composed of
hnJ hull
of architecture. but without any Of
Tho huddle usual in European cities.
The spire of a church rose dominant
ly above the red roofs. fort guarded
the entrance of the wide harbor. with
guns thrusting their muzzles between
, the crenals and the wide facade Of
government house revealed itself
dominantly placed on a gentle hill
above the town. This hill was vivid
~ green as is an English hill in April,
and the day was such day as April
gives to England. the season of heavy
rains being newly ended.
On a wide cobbied space on the sea
front they found a guard Of red-coat-
cd militia drawn up to receive them
and crowd-attracted by. their ar
rival-which in dress and manner diff
fered little from crowd in a seaport
at home save that it contained fewer
women and a great number of ne
2roes.
To inspect them. drawn up there on
tho mole, came Gov. Steed, short
stout, red-faced gentleman, in blue
taffetas burdened by a prodigious
amount of golI lace. who limped a
little and leaned heavily upon stout
ebony cane. After him. in the uni
form of a coionef'6f the Barbados
militia, rolled a. tall corpulent man
who lowered head. and shoulders
above the governor, with malevolenct
plainly written on his enormous vel.