. Others of those boxes contained
goodlier gear, for Jensen was a vain rogue as well as a clever rogue,
and dearly loved brave colours about him and to make a gaudy show. I
believe that it was a passion for power and the pomp that accompanies
power more than anything else which drove him to be a pirate, and that
if he could have been, say, a great Minister of State, who is, after
all, often only another kind of pirate, he might have carried himself
very well and been looked upon by the world at large as a very decent,
public-spirited sort of fellow. I have known men in high office with
just such passion for display and dominion as Jensen, and I do not think
that there is much to choose between him and them in that regard.

So sundry of those lying boxes were loaded with gay clothing, such as
those scarlet coats with which we had now made acquaintance, and which
were fashioned on the pattern of those of the bodyguard of His Majesty,
only much more flauntingly tricked out with gold lace and gilded
buttons. It added a shade of darkness to the treachery of this scoundrel
that he should thus presume to parade himself in a parody of such a
uniform.

But besides all this there was yet another secret which those same false
coffers concealed. He had dealings with shipbuilders at Haarlem, who
were noted for their ingenuity and address, and this firm had built for
him two large skiffs, which were made in such a fashion that the major
part of them could be taken to pieces and the whole packed away in a
small space with safety and convenience for his purpose. These vessels
were as easily put together as taken to pieces, and were as serviceable
a kind of boat as ever vessel carried. And so there was the rascal well
prepared to make sure of our ship.

It makes my heart bleed now, after all these years, to think how the
fellow deceived my dear patron, and how the Royal Christopher went
sailing the seas with that secret in her womb, and that we all walked
those decks night after night and day after day, and never suspected
the treason that lay beneath our feet.

But we never did suspect it, and when the time came for us to leave the
ship in a hurry we had little thought in our minds of taking
agricultural implements or household gear or articles of barter with us.
So they lay there snugly in the hold, and Jensen with them, and Jensen
was busy and happy in his wicked way in getting at them, and in laughing
as he did so over our folly