of the New World, had
wrecked The Good Fortune on a coral reef off the Windward Islands; that
he then immediately deserted the ship, and together with Duckworthy
himself, the sailing-master (who was a Portuguese), the captain of a
brig The Bloody Hand (a consort of Keitt's), and a villainous rascal
named Hunt (who, occupying no precise position among the pirates, was
at once the instigator of and the partaker in the greatest part of
Captain Keitt's wickednesses), made his way to the nearest port of
safety. These five worthies at last fetched the island of Jamaica,
bringing with them all of the jewels and some of the gold that had been
captured from The Sun of the East.

But, upon coming to a division of their booty, it was presently
discovered that the Rajah's ruby had mysteriously disappeared from the
collection of jewels to be divided. The other pirates immediately
suspected their captain of having secretly purloined it, and, indeed,
so certain were they of his turpitude that they immediately set about
taking means to force a confession from him.

In this, however, they were so far unsuccessful that the captain,
refusing to yield to their importunities, had suffered himself to die
under their hands, and had so carried the secret of the hiding-place of
the great ruby--if he possessed such a secret--along with him.

Duckworthy concluded his confession by declaring that in his opinion he
himself, the Portuguese sailing-master, the captain of The Bloody Hand,
and Hunt were the only ones of Captain Keitt's crew who were now alive;
for that The Good Fortune must have broken up in a storm, which
immediately followed their desertion of her; in which event the entire
crew must inevitably have perished.

It may be added that Duckworthy himself was shortly hanged, so that, if
his surmise was true, there was now only three left alive of all that
wicked crew that had successfully carried to its completion the
greatest adventure which any pirate in the world had ever, perhaps,
embarked upon.

I. Jonathan Rugg

You may never know what romantic aspirations may lie hidden beneath the
most sedate and sober demeanor.

To have observed Jonathan Rugg, who was a tall, lean, loose-jointed
young Quaker of a somewhat forbidding aspect, with straight, dark hair
and a bony, overhanging forehead set into a frown, a pair of small,
deep-set eyes, and a square jaw, no one would for a moment have
suspected that he concealed benea