at, in the person of her commander, to the
strictest discipline there is united the practical knowledge of a
thorough seaman. How, indeed, otherwise could she have so long
continued her lawless yet successful career? How could it have been
possible to unite a crew of miscreants, who feared not God nor man, most
of whom had perpetrated foul murders, or had been guilty of even blacker
iniquities? It was because he who commanded the vessel was so superior
as to find in her no rivalry. Superior in talent, in knowledge of his
profession, in courage, and, moreover, in physical strength--which in
him was almost Herculean--unfortunately he was also superior to all in
villainy, in cruelty, and contempt of all injunctions, moral and Divine.

What had been the early life of this person was but imperfectly known.
It was undoubted that he had received an excellent education, and it was
said that he was of an ancient border family on the banks of the Tweed:
by what chances he had become a pirate--by what errors he had fallen
from his station in society, until he became an outcast, had never been
revealed; it was only known that he had been some years employed in the
slave-trade previous to his seizing this vessel and commencing his
reckless career. The name by which he was known to the crew of the
pirate-vessel was "Cain," and well had he chosen this appellation; for,
had not his hand for more than three years been against every man's, and
every man's hand against his? In person he was about six feet high,
with a breadth of shoulders and of chest denoting the utmost of physical
force which, perhaps, has ever been allotted to man. His features would
have been handsome had they not been scarred with wounds; and, strange
to say, his eye was mild and of a soft blue. His mouth was well formed,
and his teeth of a pearly white: the hair of his head was crisped and
wavy, and his beard, which he wore, as did every person composing the
crew of the pirate, covered the lower part of his face in strong,
waving, and continued curls. The proportions of his body were perfect;
but from their vastness they became almost terrific. His costume was
elegant, and well adapted to his form: linen trousers, and untanned
yellow leather boots, such as are made at the Western Isles; a
broad-striped cotton shirt; a red Cashmere shawl round his waist as a
sash; a vest embroidered in gold tissue, with a jacket of dark velvet,
and pendant gold buttons, hang