The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-04-30
CHAPTER 1
My Fathers Secret.


I was in the counting room, talking
with Peter Corlaer, the chief of our
fur traders-he was that very day
come down river from the IroquoiS
country-when the boy, Darby, ran In
from the street.
'The Bristol packet is In, Master
Robert" he cried. "And, oh, sir, the
watermen do say there be pirate
ship off the Hook!"
/ remember 1 laughed at the COM
bination Of awe and delight In his
face. He was raw, bog-trotting bit
of a gossoon we had bought at the
last landing of bonded folk, and he
talked with brogue that thickened
whenever he grew excited.
For the packet, / do not doubt you,
Darby" / answered. "But you must
show me the pirate"
Peter Corlaer chuckled In his quiet,
rumbling way, his huge belly waggling
before him beneath his buckskin hunt
ing shirt, for all the world like a mon
ster mold Of jelly.
ga, ia, show US der pirates" he
jeered.
Darby flared up in burst of Irish
temper that matched his tangled red
hair.
81 would I were a pirate and had
you at my mercy, you butter tub" he
ragged. "rll warrant you'd tread the
plank !"
Darby" said ], shave you done the
errands my father set your"
Every one" answered he.
every we'll Then get you into the
storeroom and sort over the pelts Pc
ter fetched in"
He flung off with a scowl as
turned to Peter.
"My father will wish to know the
packet arrived" I said. "Will you
go with me to the governors? The
council must be on the point Of break
ing up, for they have been sitting
since noon"
Peter heaved his enormous body
erect. And / marveled, as always
after period Of absence, at his pro-
portions. To one who did not know
him he seemed butter tub Of man,
as Darby had called him-a mass Ct
tallow, fat limbs, a pork barrel Of a
trunk, fat slab of face upon which
showed tiny, insignificant features gro
tesquely at variance with the rest of
his bulk. His little eyes peered inno-
Gently between rolls OF fat which all
but masked them. His nose was a
miniature dab, above mouth a child
might have owned.
But under his layers Of blubber
were concealed muscles Of forged
steel, and he was capable of the agil-
ity of a catamount. The man had not
lived on the frontier who could face
him barehanded and escape.
ga" he said simply. "We 60"
He stood his musket in a corner
and slipped off powder horn and shot
pouch the while donned hat and
greatcoat, for the air was still chilly
and there was a scum Of snow on the
ground. We passed out into Pearl
street and walked westward to Hano-
yer square, and there on the farther
side of the square spied my father,
with Governor Clinton and Lieutenant
Governor Golden.
And it made my heart warm to see
how these and several other gentle
men hung upon his words. There
had been those who slandered him
during the uproar over the As, for
he was known to have been Jacobite
In his youth; but his friends were
more powerful than his enemies, and
/ Joy to think that he was not the
least influential of those Of our lead
ers who held New York loyal to King
George when many were for casting
In our fortunes with the Pretender.
He saw Peter and me as we ap-
preached and waved up to him, but
at the same moment there was a
slight disturbance on the eastward
side of the square, and another little
group Of men came into view sur
rounding grizzled, ruddy-cheeked
old fellow, whose salt-stainedS blue
coat spoke as eloquently of the sea
as did his rolling gait. I could hear
his hoarse, roaring voice clear across
the square