glish
merchantmen which might be there, and _to release the Saint George
immediately_. Wright threw up his cap and cheered, but the officials
of Leghorn said things which cannot be printed. Thus the _Saint
George_ sailed upon her way, unmolested, and was soon taking more
prizes upon the broad waters of the Mediterranean.

The path of the privateer is not strewn with roses. Captain Fortunatus
found that his reputation had gone abroad and it had not been to his
credit, for, when he put in at Malta he was not allowed to buy
provisions for his ship.

"You are a beastly pirate!" said an official. "You cannot purchase
anything here for your nefarious business."

"I am a privateer!" answered Wright, with anger.

"A privateer looks just the same to me as a pirate," sarcastically
sneered the official. And Captain Fortunatus had to look elsewhere for
provisions.

As he cruised along, a big, French cruiser of thirty-eight guns chased
the little _Saint George_ as if to gobble her up alive.

"Boys! We shall now have some fun!" said Captain Wright. "I can sail
faster than this Frenchy. Just watch me!"

So, when the great beast of a French vessel came lumbering by, Wright
played with her like a cat with a mouse; sailed around her in circles;
shot guns at her rigging--just to aggravate the men from the sunny
land--and then dipped his ensign and went careening away as if nothing
had happened. No wonder that the French hated and despised this
valiant mariner! Wouldn't you have done so if you had been a
Frenchman?

Thus Captain Fortunatus Wright continued upon his privateering, his
fighting, and his cruising; bearing terror to his enemies but
satisfaction to his friends. His name was as well known among those
who sailed the Mediterranean as was that of the great Napoleon in
later years, and it was just as cordially hated by those who opposed
him. "The Ogre from Leghorn" was one of his titles, while some applied
to him the choice epithet of "The Red Demon from Italy." At any rate
this did not seem to worry the veteran sea-dog, who continued to take
prizes and make money until the year 1757. Then he disappears from
history, for the body of brave, resolute, stubborn, and valiant
Captain Fortunatus Wright mysteriously and suddenly vanished from this
earth.

What was his end?

Perhaps he perished while boarding the deck of some craft which was
manned by men as gallant as his own. Perhaps he fell while stemming
the advance of a c