ase of a craft that had done much damage there. She
carried a black flag, and her skipper was said to be the biggest
villain that ever even commanded a pirate. Scarce a week passed but
some ship was missing. It mattered little to him whether she sailed
under the English, the French, or the Spanish flag; all was fish to
him. Many and many a vessel sailed laden that never reached Europe.
Sometimes a few charred timbers would be thrown up on the shore of the
islands, showing that the ship to which they belonged had been taken
and burned before she had gone many days on her way. Often and often
had the pirate been chased. She was bark-rigged, which was in itself a
very unusual thing with pirates--indeed, I never knew of one before.
But she had been, I believe, a merchantman captured by the pirate, and
was such a beauty that he hoisted his flag on her, and handed his own
schooner over to his mate. Somehow or other he had altered her
ballast, and maybe lengthened her a bit, for those pirates have a
rendezvous in some of the islands, where they are so strong that they
can, if need be, build a ship of their own. Anyhow, she was the
fastest ship of her class that ever was seen on those seas, and though
our cruisers had over and over again chased her, she laughed at them,
and would for a whole day keep just out of reach of their bow-chasers
with half her sails set, while the cruisers were staggering under
every rag they could put on their masts. Then when she was tired of
that game she would hoist her full canvas and leave the king's vessel
behind as if she was standing still. Once or twice she nearly got
caught by cruisers coming up in different directions, but each time
she managed to slip away without ever having a rope or stay started by
a shot. We in the _Alert_ had been on her footsteps a dozen times, but
had had no more luck than the rest of them, and the mere name of the
_Seamew_ was sufficient to put any one of us into a passion. There
wasn't one of the ship's company, from the captain down to the
powder-monkey, who wouldn't have cheerfully given a year's pay to get
alongside the _Seamew_. The _Alert_ carried thirty-two guns, and our
crew was stronger than usual in a vessel of that size, for there was a
good deal of boat service, and it was considered that at any moment
'Yellow Jack' might lay a good many hands up--or down, as the case may
be. Well, one night we were at anchor in Porto Rico, and the first
lieutenant had s