THE 
 
 JL A Jim**.
 
 HEN the LAND 
 WAS TOUNG
 
 HEN the LAND 
 WAS TO UNO 
 
 BEING the TRUE ROMANCE of 
 MISTRESS ANTOINETTE HUGUE- 
 NIN and CAPTAIN JACK MIDDLE- 
 TON in the DAYS of the BUCCANEERS 
 
 BY LAFAYETTE McLAWS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 WILL CRAWFORD 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 1 9 o /, B T 
 
 L O T H R O P 
 P UBLISHING 
 COMPANY. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS 
 R E S E R y E D 
 
 ENTERED A T 
 STATIONERS 
 V HALL * 
 
 P U BL IS H E D 
 AUG. /j, i go i 
 
 yth THOUSAND 
 AUG. 7J, 7907 
 
 A 
 
 A
 
 Mr 
 
 MOT HER
 
 LIST oflLLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " He stood there a moment, bis chin held high, wait 
 
 ing the Onslaught. Frontispiece 
 
 a mighty effort 1 sprang through the flames 
 and fell headlong over the bluff ," Page /6 
 
 The Arms of the Huguenins. Pagt 27 
 
 * I thought only of the girl behind me" Page 124. 
 
 " Full in the face she struck him who had hung me 
 there." Page /j6 
 
 " Look ! I would have you know Mademoiselle 
 Antoinette Huguenin" Page 288 
 
 " Missiles ceased to fall. The stratagem had proven 
 
 Successful." Page 56
 
 TTr 
 
 rr 
 
 LAND 
 
 YOUNG
 
 the LAND 
 was YOUNG 
 
 WE were stripped of our clothes and 
 made to stand with our backs to the 
 fire. The Indians, ranged in a 
 semi-circle facing us, sat like bronze statues un 
 der the crimson and yellow glare of the leaping 
 flames with the deepening shade of the moss- 
 draped forest behind them. 
 
 Three days before we had been surprised in 
 our maize fields; our servants had been slain 
 and we ourselves taken prisoners. Since then 
 we had traveled through the forests so bound 
 and guarded that to attempt escape meant in 
 stant death, and so far apart as to render im 
 possible all private speech between us. Our only 
 hope of life lay in a rescue at the hands of our 
 friends and now at the close of a third day that 
 hope was unfulfilled. The sun had gone down 
 and darkness had entered the forest when our 
 
 I I
 
 captors came to the banks of the Isundiga and 
 built their camp fire in a little clearing on the 
 top of a bluff overlooking its yellow waters. 
 
 Here Colonel Huguenin and I had been freed 
 of our bonds for the first time and sitting among 
 them on the green turf we partook of their eve 
 ning meal of parched maize and bucan. Accord 
 ing to their custom when it was eaten tobacco 
 should have followed; but no warrior took out 
 his pipe or tobacco pouch. The chief of our 
 captors, whom we knew belonged to that war 
 like nation whose hunting grounds are from the 
 borders of Carolina westward to that wonderful 
 river in which De Soto found his burying place, 
 rose to his feet and began to speak. 
 
 He spoke with all the eloquence of a savage 
 leader urging his warriors to vengeance against 
 the white man whose coming among them with 
 protestations of friendship had been only to make 
 captives their brothers, to sell them into slavery, 
 and to rob them of their hunting grounds. Bit 
 ter were the thoughts in my heart and curses 
 rose to my lips against Quarry and his slave 
 trade which, I knew, many a time and oft, Hu 
 guenin had hotly condemned. A damned trade, 
 he called it, which, so he said, could bring no 
 good fruits to the colonists, even though it lined 
 their purses ten times over with cursed Spanish 
 gold. 
 
 12
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 The chief ceased. He had spoken to some pur 
 pose, for his warriors, maddened by thoughts 
 of revenge, sprang to their feet and began prep 
 arations for our death. They hollowed out two 
 shallow, grave-like pits. It was to be a barbe 
 cue. I turned to look at Huguenin. We had 
 left our seats on the turf and were standing 
 with our backs against the tall jagged stump of 
 a lightning-blasted pine tree. 
 
 " I would my child were back in France," 
 he said. And I knew that this thought had filled 
 his mind ever since our capture. 
 
 " She will find friends in Charleston," I said, 
 to comfort him, though my own heart misgave 
 me for the welfare of the girl who had already 
 sailed for the colony. I knew only too well the 
 feeling of bitterness which the Puritans those 
 stirrers up of strife in whatever land they cast 
 their lot were instigating in the minds of the 
 other colonists against the Huguenots. " She 
 will find friends and a liberty that could never 
 be hers in France ; for I fear me King Louis is 
 but waiting for the more certain seating of the 
 Catholic James in England." 
 
 " Were she a boy I would ask nothing bet 
 ter," he answered me. " Men are born to hard 
 ship. It is the alloy which gives firmness to 
 their metal. But a w r oman " he spoke now so 
 reverently that I knew his thoughts were with
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 his dead wife " a woman is so small, so soft, 
 so yielding." 
 
 I smiled as across my memory there flashed 
 the picture of his daughter as I had seen her 
 when I first came to the colony ten years before. 
 Little she was, it is true, but not for her seven 
 years of life. Soft and yielding? No. With 
 the hardihood of a young Indian and the de 
 termination of all her Huguenot ancestors she 
 had ruled her little kingdom of slaves with the 
 absolute power of a despot. No man could 
 foretell what change had been wrought in her 
 during the ten years spent in France ten years 
 in which her time had been divided between the 
 teachings of the nuns of her convent school and 
 at the gayest and most corrupt court in Europe 
 but I knew they could not have made her 
 soft and yielding. If so why came she back to 
 Carolina ; why left she the bright, gay life of a 
 court, where the king himself smiled on her, to 
 return of her own free will yea at her own 
 insistence, for I had seen her letter begging 
 to come to a land where only hardships 
 awaited her ? I smiled at the unlikeness of his 
 description ; and then, with sudden shame I re 
 membered the stress in which I stood and sor 
 rowed that I should have so little steadfastness 
 in thoughts not of this world. Seeing that all 
 tilings were ready for our death Huguenin and 
 
 14
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 I clasped hands, we looked into each other s eyes 
 for the last time, and then turned to wait the 
 coming of our tormentors. 
 
 They rushed at us a dozen strong and laying 
 hold on us, stripped us to the skin. Leading us 
 up the slope with backs to and within a few 
 paces of the fire they left us standing unbound 
 and facing them. We were first to serve as 
 targets for the arrows of the twin sons of the 
 chief they were still but boys and this was 
 their first march on the war-path. Before life 
 was extinct, for it was possible we would be but 
 slightly wounded, would come the barbecue. 
 My eyes turned down the slope to the pits with 
 their beds of fiery coals and the piles of strong, 
 slender poles on which we were to be bound 
 and stretched. I glanced at the Indians. They 
 had raised their eyes from the ground and were 
 looking steadfastly at us. The two boy war 
 riors were only waiting the signal to let fly their 
 arrows. I understood how, in their heathen 
 pride, they valued indifference to danger and 
 suffering, and I determined that they should 
 see no sign of fear in me, as I knew they would 
 find none in the older soldier who stood at my 
 side gazing so calmly upon them. 
 
 My eyes left their impassive faces and 
 traveled over the forest toward Charleston. The 
 sky was bright with stars and some little of the 
 
 5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 soft radiance from the silver crescent that I 
 knew still floated above the horizon at my 
 back. The gleam of a magnolia blossom 
 caught my eye as the pale face of a woman 
 smiling through the tree tops. The breeze, in 
 creased by the draught of the flames, brought 
 to my nostrils the heavy perfumes of the wild 
 honeysuckle and the locust blossom. The faint 
 coo of the mourning dove came to me from the 
 bottoms, while from the near-by forest sounded 
 the harsh cry of the whippoorwill. The river 
 chafing against the bluff murmured, " Come 
 to me, come to me, come to me." It could only 
 have been a minute that we stood there waiting, 
 but with every heart beat there came to me that 
 whisper of the river. Then came a sharp, sing 
 ing whistle past my ear, the twang of a bow 
 string and the man at my side quivered. I 
 knew that the most miraculous of all miracles 
 had happened. I had been missed by an arrow 
 from the bow of an Indian. 
 
 There followed a silence such as broods before 
 the rush of a whirlwind. " Come to me, come 
 to me," whispered the river. I turned and with 
 a mighty effort sprang through the flames and 
 fell headlong over the top of the bluff into the 
 waters beneath. 
 
 The rapid current pushed me down the 
 
 16
 
 " With a mighty effort I sprang through the JJamfs 
 and fell headlong over the bluff. ^
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 stream and I rose to the surface a good distance 
 below the spot where I sank, but not beyond 
 the reach of my enemies as I was made to know 
 by the whistle of their arrows only a moment 
 after my head showed above water. I dived and 
 came up on the farther side of a log toward the 
 other shore of the stream. My tormentors had 
 come down from the bluff and were running up 
 and down on the bank watching for me to rise 
 and making trial with their arrows of the qual 
 ity of every object that floated on the water. 
 Some of the most determined spied my pro 
 tecting log and put out from the bank, their 
 weapons held high above their heads. I was 
 unarmed and I knew that my only chance for 
 life lay in keeping to the water. I grasped a 
 broken limb of my driftwood fort and pushed 
 the log boldly into the current. There came a 
 shower of arrows from those on the shore, 
 that struck the log or dropped into the stream 
 beyond, while the swimmers in the river shouted 
 and redoubled their efforts to reach me. I 
 strained every effort to increase the speed of 
 my fortress, keeping my head well down and 
 using my free arm and my legs in forcing it 
 through the water. After a time when I dared 
 to raise my head sufficiently to look back, it was 
 to find my pursuers either gone ashore or fallen
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 far behind in the river. A few more strong 
 strokes and I threw my right arm over the log, 
 and drifted with the current. 
 
 Thinking of the brave man left behind and 
 the tortures which I knew would be his I 
 strained my eyes and tried to distinguish move 
 ments on the bluff. The fire had faded to a 
 crimson glow and the shouts and calls of the 
 searchers had become as faint as echoes. Far 
 behind, the river appeared a narrowing band of 
 silver ribbon above which the dark boughs of 
 the trees that overhung its tall bluff seemed to 
 meet. On either hand, as I floated, the water 
 spread out over the low grounds or washed 
 against gently sloping embankments. From 
 below, around the curve in the bank, came the 
 hoarse gurgle of shoals. Once, as I was swept 
 along, nearer the bank, a herd of deer that 
 stood belly-deep in the shallows, bounded up 
 the bank with snorts and plunged into the for 
 est. Half turning to look after them my eye 
 caught the glint of some movement on the log 
 behind me. I looked closely. It was a human 
 arm glistening brown and muscular. Farther 
 back towards the end of the log I made out an 
 other and I knew that my enemies were again 
 almost upon me. 
 
 Half turning my face down stream I watched 
 furtively for what I knew was on the other 
 
 18
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 side of the log. It came the head of an In 
 dian, until the eyes glinted above the top of the 
 log, watching me narrowly. Then the glisten 
 ing arm moved a few inches nearer, and, though 
 I could not see it, I knew that the one at the 
 end of the log would follow. The space of a 
 moment and again the glittering eyes appeared. 
 The arm was slowly withdrawn and when it 
 returned I caught the flash of steel in the star 
 light and knew that the time to strike had come. 
 With a loudly muttered curse I threw my free 
 arm across the log and stretched my limbs in the 
 water as though seeking relief after a strained 
 position. As lightning strikes I seized the 
 brown arm, and twisted the wrist until I could 
 feel the bones give way; I snatched the knife 
 from the unresisting fingers and rising in the 
 water drove its blade deep into the breast of the 
 brown creature who struggled on the other side 
 of the log. 
 
 I had but time to draw it out when his 
 fellow was upon me. Back and forth we 
 Struggled, struck and parried, each trying to 
 keep his hold on the floating timber. Twice I 
 felt the keen edge of his knife drink my blood 
 and three times I sank my blade into his body 
 but never to touch a vital part. Once, resting 
 against the log, we glared at each other. Then 
 he loosened his hold and threw himself upon me
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 with the force and quickness of a catamount. 
 Down, down he pushed me, one hand clutching 
 my throat while with the other he sought to 
 drive his knife into my heart. Now out, now 
 under, we struggled until I felt my strength 
 giving away and my senses leaving me from 
 the pressure on my throat. Making one mighty 
 effort to free myself I rose to the surface and 
 attempted to drive my dagger home, but my 
 enemy was too great for me and I sank again, 
 almost unconscious. Suddenly I felt bottom 
 and knew that we were upon the shoals. Fixing 
 my feet firmly against the rocks, with one final 
 desperate effort I shook the clutch from my 
 throat and grasped my foe by the scalp lock. 
 Down beneath the surface I forced his head and 
 with all my strength held him away from me 
 and against the swiftly moving current. Like 
 some brown monster he battled with the water 
 to get at me but could not. Gradually the move 
 ments of his limbs became less violent ; he 
 struggled no more, and after a time, my 
 strength being well nigh spent, I loosened my 
 hold and allowed him to be swept past me on 
 to the sharp rocks of the shoal. 
 
 It was nigh twelve o clock when I left the 
 water and staggering up the bank fell exhausted 
 under a clump of willows. I lay as I fell, face 
 downwards upon the grass, for God knows how 
 
 20
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 long. It seemed but a moment in which I drew 
 my breath, yet when I roused myself and rose 
 to my feet I knew that I must have slept perhaps 
 for hours. It was hard going through the 
 woods with the blackness of night around me. 
 Once, when passing through a forest of moss- 
 draped oaks and hickories that skirted the 
 river I could not see the stars and, losing my 
 way. went back upon my track to come out upon 
 the banks of the Isundiga not far below the 
 shoals. I attempted to cross the cypress pond 
 and I came near going down in a quicksand. 
 Struggling out of that danger I made cautiously 
 for the dry ground only to be warned by an 
 angry rattle that the most venomous of reptiles 
 was on its way to or from its drinking place. 
 
 Cold sweat sprang out upon me at this re 
 minder of a loathsome enemy and I fled away 
 from the water into the woods, forgetful alike 
 of my naked body, of my bruised and bleeding 
 feet and of the direction that I was taking. Leav 
 ing the belt of pines I came out upon a little 
 open strip and stopped to take my bearing. The 
 air was sweet with the perfumes of wild flowers 
 and the soft grassy turf was grateful to my sore 
 and burning feet. I glanced about me and my 
 heart gave one great throb as before me rose, 
 tall and pallid in the starlight, that shrub most 
 fearsome to all creeping things. Its presence 
 
 21
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 meant protection against at least one of my 
 many foes of the forest ; gratefully I parted its 
 low hanging boughs, with their profusion of 
 white fringe-like blossoms and tender new 
 leaves, and stretched myself on the grass at its 
 roots. 
 
 At length daylight came and I could press on. 
 I left my resting place beneath the branches of 
 the grand-daddy-grey-beard and struck out due 
 southeast. The birds had only just begun to 
 stir. As I passed under the pines I saw a couple 
 of old raccoons followed by a half dozen young 
 ones walking towards the swamp. They stopped 
 and stared at me in the half light ; then they 
 walked sedately on. A company of musquasses 
 playing hide and seek in the tree-tops, chased 
 each other down and across my path without 
 fear. Even a fox, that most knowing of all the 
 denizens of the forest, paid no heed to me but 
 continued his wallowings in the sand, though I 
 passed so close to him that my foot touched 
 the brush of his tail. So it was that a white 
 man, created in the image of his maker, coming 
 naked into the forest, the birds and the beasts 
 saw me and were not afraid. As the sun climbed 
 above the horizon I turned from my path in 
 search of some stream, great or small, with the 
 hope of satisfying my hunger on w r ild berries, 
 and of breaking my trail in case I was followed 
 
 22
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 by Indians. I had not far to seek before^ I came 
 upon such a stream, a tiny rivulet ; there, having 
 quenched my thirst, I began to satisfy the crav 
 ings of my stomach with the berries that grew 
 in great abundance on its banks. Then the call 
 of a blue jay attracted my attention and caused 
 me to fume with rage. The trees seemed alive 
 with birds and the air resounded with their 
 songs and calls. They flitted over and around 
 me as though I, with them, was one of the crea 
 tures of the forest. The sharp discordant note 
 of the jaybird seemed to challenge me with its 
 persistence and looking up I spied him seated on 
 a branch over my head watching me with sus 
 picious eyes. For a space, as I looked at him, 
 his call stopped, then rising, he flew to the top 
 most branch of a tall tree where he screamed, 
 " Shame, shame, man, man. Shame, shame, 
 man, man," until the forest resounded with 
 the jarring call of this tribute-taker to the devil; 
 and the birds and animals, thus warned against 
 me, either fled or hid at my coming. 
 
 For three days and three nights I fought my 
 way through the forest. Many times my life 
 was in danger from wild beasts and twice I was 
 pursued by Indians. Once the night drawing 
 on shielded me, and once, coming to the Ashepo 
 river, I buried myself in the tall grass. All day 
 I lay in the mud and water under the scorch- 
 
 2 3
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ing of a hot May sun. When darkness fell I 
 crawled out, miles up the stream from where I 
 had entered it, and hastened on toward Charles 
 ton. That day dawned and passed away but I 
 stopped not. Snatching handfuls of wild 
 berries I pushed on. Landmarks became more 
 familiar and my bearings easier to hold. Game 
 was less plentiful and more shy. In the after 
 noon I came upon a herd of swine, rooting and 
 wallowing in a swampy low-ground and knew 
 that my journey was almost at an end. 
 
 It w ? as good dusk when I came upon a clear 
 ing, and a field of growing maize. I ran across 
 the open space trampling the young grain un 
 der my feet. I scaled the palisade, and pound 
 ing upon the gate, called aloud to those whom I 
 knew must be within. My call was answered 
 and when I had stated my name and condition 
 the gate was opened and I entered.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE man whose demesne I thus entered 
 was Master Bernard Schinking, one of 
 that company of Dutch who, driven 
 from Nova Belgia, sought refuge in Carolina 
 some four years after my arrival from England. 
 I knew him well from the reports of others 
 though I had seen him but seldom and had 
 never before held speech \vith him. Some two 
 years back his fellows, worn out by the con 
 tinued hostilities of the Westeos had pulled up 
 stakes, and abandoned the little Carolina city 
 of Jamestown, the foundation of which they 
 had laid south of the Ashley river; then they 
 scattered among the English and French 
 settlers in the counties of Berkeley and Craven, 
 leaving Schinking the only inhabitant of that 
 once prosperous settlement. 
 
 " I go not into Charleston, Captain Middle- 
 ton, except to buy such commodities as cannot 
 be raised on my estates ; so it is not strange that 
 I had not heard of the attack against you and 
 Colonel Huguenin," he said presently. He had 
 given me food and clothing and listened to 
 
 25
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 my adventure as we sat smoking on the steps 
 of his house. " But of one thing I make sure; 
 you have been followed, for Quarry is too true 
 a friend of his people to let such an outrage 
 pass unavenged. Furthermore a raid into the 
 country of a hostile Indian nation, provoked by 
 their own misdeeds, would give him too good 
 an opportunity for the taking of more slaves to 
 be sold into the Barbadoes. It is a traffic of 
 which I approve not, but our Governor is a 
 good man and true and in all else I uphold him 
 though the proprietors like him not. He says, 
 and many of his council with him, that it would 
 be best to capture all these red devils and ship 
 them south to be sold as slaves to the planters 
 of the Indies. Thus only, they think, can the 
 country be made safe for the Colony. I do not 
 agree with them, though I like not the Indians. 
 To my thinking all the braves and squaws peo 
 pling this vast continent are not worth that 
 noble gentleman whom you report as being 
 killed at their hands." 
 
 " Have you seen a ship go up the river? " I 
 asked, for now Huguenin s last words recurred 
 to me. " When we were captured he was daily 
 expecting his daughter." 
 
 "His daughter?" he asked, blowing blue 
 rings into the air. " The little maid of whom 
 he was so fond and yet would send back to 
 
 26
 
 The Arms of the Huguenins.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 France that he might not break his word to his 
 dying wife? So! she comes back to this wil 
 derness," he mused. " Leaves the brilliant 
 court of the great Louis, who, I have heard, 
 smiled on her, calling her his beautiful here 
 tic?" 
 
 " It was her wish to come," I replied to the 
 questioning in his tone. 
 
 " Tis a strange thing the fortunes of this 
 LIuguenin family," he said, as he refilled his 
 pipe. " By fire and sword have they been tried, 
 and still they always remain true to the creed 
 to which their ancestor gave his name. Colo 
 nel Huguenin s grandfather was tossed by his 
 mother from an upper window in the city 
 prison of Orleans, when that building was set 
 on fire by a mob to burn the Huguenot prison 
 ers. Other children, so thrown, were received 
 on the pikes of the soldiers or afterwards mur 
 dered. But this Huguenin, the last child of his 
 race, was caught by a servant of the aged Renee 
 of Ferrara, who, being the daughter of a king, 
 dared to be a Protestant. She protected the 
 child, though she was forced to have him raised 
 in the faith of a Catholic. True to his blood, 
 he grew up a heretic despite the teachings of 
 the priests. Now his grandchild with a Catholic 
 mother, born among the buccaneers of His- 
 paniola " 
 
 2 7
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Born among the buccaneers of Hispani- 
 ola! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Aye," he answered, looking at me in sur 
 prise that having lived so long a friend of Hu- 
 guenin s, I had not heard this. " Did you not 
 know that the ship in which Huguenin and his 
 wife left France was captured by a Spaniard 
 which in turn was taken by a buccaneer ship in 
 command of Henry Morgan? Yes; the same 
 pirate chief whom your good King Charles was 
 so ready to knight for the sacking of Puerto 
 Bello and other Spanish towns of the Indies. 
 Huguenin had stolen his wife from her convent 
 school and together they fled from France 
 hoping to reach a more northern settlement in 
 America. Other prisoners taken on that Span 
 ish galleon were made to walk the plank or were 
 hung at the yard arm, but Huguenin. because 
 of the persecutions that had always followed his 
 family as well as his daring in stealing his wife, 
 was not only spared, but taken to Hispaniola, 
 the buccaneers stronghold, where Captain 
 Henry Morgan appointed him to a position of 
 importance. Though they received all consid 
 eration his \vife pined away with longing for 
 more gentle company, until Morgan seeing her 
 unhappiness, after the birth of her child, took 
 them to England whence they sailed to this Col 
 ony. Now, this child, after ten years in that 
 
 28
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 same convent school from which her mother 
 fled and in the midst of the gayest and most 
 corrupt court of Europe, comes back to her 
 heretic father, of her own free will, though the 
 only home he has to give her is in the wilderness 
 and the only life she has to look forward to is 
 one of great hardship. It is bred in the bone 
 and I warrant could not be washed out this little 
 maid by the teachings of all the nuns in Chris 
 tendom. You have seen her. What manner of 
 child was she when she left the Colony? " 
 
 " The veriest little termagant," I answered. 
 " Her mother died the year that I arrived in the 
 settlement, when young Mistress was but four 
 years old. The whole estate was at her 
 bidding, father, servants, animals, all and 
 everything were made to give way to her 
 whims." 
 
 " Yet they tell me that she was, even in those 
 days, a wondrous little beauty." 
 
 "So she was," I replied; "for when heard 
 you of a female thing so humored and petted, 
 who had not beauty. Though she was scarce 
 more than a baby when she went away ten years 
 ago, I remember that men turned from all else 
 when Mistress Antoinette Huguenin was by. 
 And the little devil would have it so, for once 
 while I talked with her father when she would 
 have me look at the tricks of the young bear 
 
 29
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 she was training, she flew at me like a veritable 
 fury, cuffed me soundly and flung out of the 
 room vowing that she would not see me again 
 until she returned from France. And she did 
 not, though I traveled miles and searched for 
 days for flowers to please her. Send the lout 
 away, she would say to her father when he car 
 ried her my flowers and would have made my 
 peace. He hath the manners of a stable-boy 
 and I will not see him until I return from 
 France She hath the temper of the veriest 
 shrew." 
 
 Yea," he answered, " and the steadfastness 
 of a Huguenin, which is a virtue rare in 
 woman." 
 
 We sat awhile longer making clouds of 
 smoke, until a whippoorwill uttering its call 
 close to the palisade aroused me. " I was 
 dreaming," I exclaimed, starting up, " and for 
 got that I must pass to-night in Charleston." 
 
 " I, too, was dreaming," Master Schinking 
 cried, rising also. 
 
 He called to his servants, who had retired 
 to their huts a hundred yards away, and bade 
 them bring to the gate the horse that I was to 
 ride. When we heard the beast s tramping, 
 he followed me down to the gate. 
 
 " Take my counsel, Captain Middleton," he 
 said as I swung myself into the saddle, " and 
 
 3
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 do your utmost to prevail on Governor Quarry 
 to send a searching party to-morrow. There is 
 that within me that tells me that Hugiienin is 
 not dead, and it is our duty to rescue him at 
 any cost." He extended his hand as I gath 
 ered up my reins and struck spurs to my horse. 
 
 " I will be at the Governor s house to-mor 
 row at noon to lead the searchers to the rescue 
 of Colonel Huguenin," I called back over my 
 shoulder. 
 
 " I will meet you there," he answered. 
 
 It was a good two hours hard riding to the 
 city and when I came to the gate I beat upon it 
 with the handle of my pistol and giving my 
 name called the guard to open to me. With 
 eager hands he drew the bolts and when he saw 
 me alive and well he would have aroused the 
 town so great was his joy, but I bade him hold 
 his tongue, and spurring my horse galloped 
 past him down the street to the Governor s 
 house. 
 
 There was no one on the Governor s porch, 
 but the door stood open and there were lights 
 within. When I came into the hall I saw no 
 one and passed on into the great room where I 
 knew the Governor was wont to do his work. 
 He was there and had with him Master 
 Maurice Mathews, commissioner for my lords 
 the proprietors ; Master Blake, brother to Gen- 
 
 3 1
 
 eral Blake, who had but recently joined us with 
 his family and by the marriage of whose 
 daughter, Mistress Elizabeth, to Joseph More- 
 ton the Sober Party hoped to strengthen its 
 influence ; and my very good friend and kins 
 man, Colonel James West. The three sat 
 around the great table in the middle of the 
 room while West who stood, was talking ear 
 nestly. I did not catch any of his words, but 
 before I reached the table Mathews saw me 
 and with blanched face cried : 
 
 "Great God!" 
 
 The Governor looked up ; Blake started to 
 his feet; West came to me. He, too, touched 
 my arm and asked : 
 
 " Is it indeed you, cousin ? You for whose 
 death we were planning revenge? " 
 
 " Death and I are old comrades," I an 
 swered. " We have marched together, slept 
 together, fought many a fight and run many a 
 race. This time I escaped him through fire and 
 water, but I left behind me in the forest a gen 
 tleman more worthy of Carolina s revenge than 
 am I were I twenty times your kinsman, 
 cousin." 
 
 Then I told my tidings, describing our cap 
 ture, our march to the north and our wading 
 of the Cambahee river several miles southward. 
 I told of the march to the Isundiga, the 
 
 3 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 wounded prisoner and the two fiery pits I had 
 left behind me on Hago Slago bluff. I finished 
 and stood there waiting their decision. I knew 
 that Huguenin belonged to a sect for whom 
 neither Governor Quarry nor Master Mathews 
 had any great love for they were narrow men, 
 both considering only the end immediately in 
 view. They liked not the Frenchman s popu 
 larity with the better minded of the Colony, 
 though it was won by the kindliness of his 
 nature and the justice of his deeds. Of West 
 and Blake I felt secure, though I knew they 
 would not be the first to break silence. The 
 Governor was the first to speak. 
 
 Though it will cost Carolina a pretty 
 penny, gentlemen," I knew at the time he 
 purposed to line his purse with yellow gold 
 gained from Indian captives sold to the Bar- 
 badoes, and he only regretted it was in behalf 
 of Huguenin the expedition was undertaken 
 " and call forth the displeasure of our lords 
 the proprietors in whose good books, you 
 know, I do not stand too high it must be as 
 Captain Micldleton suggests. Else how could 
 we face young Mistress his daughter ? " he 
 cried, laughing. 
 
 The ship has come?" I asked, startled. 
 Until mention of the girl, I had forgotten that 
 she was expected. 
 
 33
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Two days since," West answered, for it 
 was to him that I had turned my eyes. " Be 
 fore my return with the first party of search 
 ers." 
 
 " Zounds ! man, and such a beauty," cried 
 the Governor with a great laugh banging down 
 his fist on the table. " No man can look at 
 aught else when she is in sight nor woman 
 either for that matter. Such eyes, such hair, 
 and such a temper! " he cried, with another 
 loud laugh, and I knew the nuns had taken 
 none of the fire out of Mistress Antoinette. 
 " If you could have heard her berate me be 
 cause every man of us had not gone in search of 
 you and her father. You, Jack ; yes, you. She 
 was as much concerned for your safety as 
 though you had been her lover." 
 
 " I played with her in her father s house 
 when she was a little maid, scarce more than a 
 baby, and I fear I often teased her just to see 
 her in her tantrums," I said gravely, though it 
 \vas like wine to know that she remembered 
 me and could say aught in my favor. 
 
 " Would that I could tease her or do aught 
 else to make her speak up for me as she did for 
 you, man," Mathews cried. " She had, like a 
 lesson, all your good deeds and she recited them 
 for our benefit. She all but flung herself into 
 Colonel West s arms because he had been out 
 
 34
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 with the searchers and said he would go 
 again." 
 
 " To me, Jack," said West, when I again 
 appealed to him with my eyes, " she has a 
 sweetness more alluring even than her great 
 beauty. Her voice was not imperious when she 
 spoke to me, but of a pleading sweetness like 
 softest music." I knew that Mistress Antoi 
 nette had lost none of her witchery and I lis 
 tened with eager ears as he went on. " She 
 spoke of her father s faithfulness to his friends, 
 of his respect for her mother s dying wish to 
 have her educated as a Catholic, of his noble 
 ness to her, and she blamed herself for remain 
 ing in France, frittering away her time in the 
 vapid pursuits of court, while he endured the 
 loneliness and hardships of the life here in 
 America. She referred to you as her old play 
 fellow and her father s true friend whom he 
 had praised in all his letters. In one breath 
 she is broken-hearted and laments her father as 
 dead, while in the next she will not believe in 
 his death and rails out against us all as cowards 
 and false-hearted friends for not trying to save 
 him from the Indians." 
 
 " That is but natural in a woman, especially 
 in so young a maid," said Master Blake whose 
 efforts were always pacific. " Even in the 
 depths of her despair a woman loses not her 
 
 35
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 faith in the goodness of God call it hope an 
 you will but it never leaves her, so long as 
 reason holds. Blessed it is for man that she 
 is so. Mistress Antoinette will give you good 
 welcome. Captain Middleton, though it will 
 seem hard to her that you bring not more 
 hopeful news." 
 
 "Does she stop with you, sir?" I asked, 
 glad to think that she had found friends in such 
 a worthy household, though they had recently 
 come from England and knew her father but 
 slightly. 
 
 " She did until to-day," he answered, 
 " when she would go to her father s estate 
 down the river. We opposed it for as long as 
 there seemed a hope of changing her, but, when 
 we found that she could not be moved, my 
 daughter, Mistress Elizabeth Moreton, and her 
 husband accompanied her. They spend the 
 night in her father s house with such of his 
 servants as escaped the Indians and a dozen 
 men to guard them." 
 
 " She could have had every man in the town 
 to guard her, Jack," cried the Governor. 
 " Why, man ! but they all were dying to go. 
 Some of them begged, went down on their 
 knees, but my lady would have none of them. 
 I thank you kindly, gentlemen, said she. I 
 
 36
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 will be among" my father s people, his kind and 
 faithful servants, who will defend me with 
 their lives. Should the worst come to the 
 worst I have always by me this. And she 
 drew a dagger from her bosom. I give you 
 my word, Jack Middleton, even the sight of 
 that little blade made me shiver, for I know 
 right well that a scratch from it means death. 
 It was a most murderous looking little weapon 
 in spite of its dainty size and the jewels that 
 blazed on its hilt. And I warrant you that her 
 hand will not fail her should the time come to 
 use it." 
 
 " God grant it never may ! " I cried, starting 
 up and striding towards the door, stung to 
 action by the mere thought of the dangers 
 which surrounded her in this land to which I 
 knew, in her mind, her duty to her father 
 bound her. 
 
 " You cannot go now, Jack," West hastened 
 to say. " You must sleep the night with me 
 and at dawn we will ride out to your planta 
 tion. From there we can go over to give her 
 the news of the Governor s promise and be 
 back here to meet Master Bernard Schinking 
 at noon." 
 
 " So be it," I replied, seeing the \visdom of 
 his advice, yet loath to follow it since it kept 
 
 37
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 me a few hours longer from the side of Mis 
 tress Antoinette Huguenin, whom I had not 
 seen since she was a little maid of seven and 
 whom then I had sworn at as having the tem 
 per of a veritable imp.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 IT was at the very crack of dawn that 
 West and I mounted our horses and set 
 out for Colonel Huguenin s plantation. 
 The town gate was quickly opened, for we car 
 ried the Governor s pass, though there would 
 have been few to question Colonel West or any 
 who rode with him in or out the city at any 
 hour. Once through the gate we clapped spurs 
 to our horses and galloped down the river. 
 For near three hours we rode and it was hard 
 riding, our road as often leading through the 
 mire of the marshes that skirted the river and 
 the coast, as through the forest. The sun 
 gazing like a great eye half above the horizon, 
 fired all it touched, and at last passing through 
 a strip of forest, \ve came upon the clearing and 
 in sight of my house. 
 
 " It is a fine place, but exposed, Jack," said 
 West, as we held our way across the field of 
 young hemp. " The land is strong and the 
 house well built but I would that you had 
 chosen to live nearer Charleston. That Hugue- 
 nin, who is an old soldier, and accustomed to 
 
 39
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 hardships and to living away from his kind, 
 should have built here is no small marvel. But 
 that you, Jack, you who love not solitude and 
 could have had your pick of allotments should 
 prefer to live so far in the wilderness is a thing 
 that is beyond my understanding." 
 
 " The land is the richest in the Colony, and 
 I, like Huguenin, am fond of the sound and the 
 smell of the sea. Though, perhaps, you will 
 not grant it, cousin, I am but little heedful 
 of imaginary dangers," I replied, more willing 
 to be cheerful, now that we could see that all 
 things about us were at peace. 
 
 " And but little cautious against real dan 
 gers, as thy recent capture proves, Jack," he 
 answered. " For what other planters so far 
 away from the wall of the town work in their 
 fields day after day without a guard on the 
 watch? None but you, man, and your neigh 
 bor and that hardy old Dutch buccaneer at 
 Jamestown. He, it is claimed, has the pro 
 tection of all the pirates on the coast and the 
 Indians in the forest because he stands be 
 tween them in the bartering of pearls for rum, 
 though it be unlawful to the Governor and the 
 company. The world credits to you and 
 Huguenin neither of these distinctions, yet 
 neither of you has shown great love of settling 
 too near your fellows. It really seems, Jack," 
 
 40
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 he added, jestingly, " that even as a baby you 
 loved the little maid who now comes among 
 us a court beauty." 
 
 " And who has but to taste the dullness and 
 hardships of Carolina to return again to that 
 same gayety," I said, made bitter by the Gov 
 ernor s report of the sensation she had created 
 among the men of Charleston and her disdain 
 ful treatment of their services. " Weary of 
 court life, she wished new fields of conquests, 
 so she comes back to the colony in the new 
 world. Tis the nature of her sex. She is but 
 like other women," I said, though in my heart 
 I knew that I lied and lied foully, for I, above 
 all others who were not of her blood, knew 
 of a surety that she had not come back to the 
 colony for the pleasure of tying captives to the 
 chariot wheels of her beauty. 
 
 West no longer heeded me but was gazing 
 steadily towards the sea. Turning my eyes 
 in the same direction for an instant I fancied 
 that I caught sight of a stretched canvas 
 through the mists, far out towards the sunrise. 
 It was only for an instant; then I realized that 
 it must be but the shifting shapes of clouds and 
 mists. 
 
 " I thought it was a sail," said West. 
 
 " It was but a drift in the mist or a mares- 
 tail showing through the forest. I have seen 
 
 41
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 them often," I replied, more interested in the 
 sounds that came to me from the fields adjoin 
 ing the forest where I could see my own and 
 Huguenin s slaves working, guarded by two of 
 their fellows who stood under the trees with 
 guns held ready against the approach of an 
 enemy. I motioned to them. 
 
 " Moreton has put them at their tasks," said 
 Colonel West. " He would save your crop 
 against you came back." 
 
 " More like it is the doing of Mistress 
 Huguenin," I answered. " She was never one 
 to let the grass grow under her feet in any 
 matter whatsoever." 
 
 " Will you not turn aside to your own 
 house ? " he asked. 
 
 I shook my head. I was too anxious to be 
 in other company ; but I only said : 
 
 " We have not the time, for I must meet 
 Master Schinking at the Governor s by noon. 
 Besides, I see no smoke and feel sure that my 
 people must have taken refuge at Huguenin s 
 and spent the night there." 
 
 " Mistress Antoinette will give you good 
 welcome," he cried. 
 
 " We will see." I answered calmly enough, 
 though my heart was pounding so loudly 
 against my side that I feared he would hear it. 
 I spurred my horse, though it was going well 
 
 42
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 enough, and entering the barricade we ap 
 proached the house. 
 
 Flowers and singing birds seemed every 
 where. The house was built of hewn palmetto 
 logs. It could never have been considered a 
 mean one in so new a colony, and now it was a 
 mass of blooming vines. The gardens were 
 bright with brilliant flowers and well-trimmed 
 hedges. Birds flitted about singing as gaily as 
 in the forest and we could hear the drone of the 
 honey bees around the hives against the wall of 
 the barricade. The door stood open and hitch 
 ing our horses we strode boldly in. Mistress 
 Moreton was in the hall and seeing West gave 
 a little cry of surprise, and came forward to 
 welcome him ; but on my coming under her 
 view she started back and sank white and 
 shaking on to the settle. 
 
 " Colonel Huguenin ? " she gasped as soon 
 as she could speak. "Is he with you?" 
 
 "West answered her for me, and let her know 
 that I would tell her every detail ; so she led us 
 to the piazza, on the side of the house facing 
 the water. 
 
 " Antoinette is in the garret with old Marcie 
 searching, for I know not what," she said, 
 catching my look of expectancy and I felt 
 the hot blood flame into my face at being so 
 well understood. " She has taken up the duties 
 
 43
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 of mistress as though she had only been away 
 a week." 
 
 " Your husband. Mistress Moreton, Major 
 Daniels, Will Thorburn and the rest who came 
 to guard you, do they sleep so late or are they 
 in the field with the slaves?" asked West, 
 after I had given my tidings. 
 
 "La! no, sir," she exclaimed, laughing. 
 " Had you but come a few minutes earlier you 
 would have seen them sailing back to Charles 
 ton. Antoinette would have it that they all 
 go back to their own pursuits. They went 
 unwillingly enough, some even begging to be 
 allowed to remain for the sea air which they 
 said they needed sadly, but she would have 
 none of them. My husband went specially 
 charged to urge the Governor to remember his 
 pledge to send out another party of searchers. 
 She will not believe her father dead, and I fear 
 Captain Middleton s report will make her even 
 more sure and hopeful. Would you speak with 
 her, sir?" 
 
 " If you would but let her know that I bear a 
 message from the Governor, lady," West re 
 plied, bowing low to her curtsy. 
 
 She left us seated on the piazza while she 
 went in search of Mistress Antoinette to re 
 ceive the Governor s message from him who 
 had held that office more than once. Aye, and 
 
 44
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 filled it well, though there be those among our 
 lord proprietors who held Governor West in 
 disfavor owing to the weight of the hand which 
 he laid on the Indians as reported to them by 
 that sect of discontents whose mission it has 
 ever been to sow discord in any community 
 wherein they could not rule. 
 
 Thinking of these things my mind drifted 
 back to my landing in Carolina ; of the strange 
 ness and fascination which the land held for 
 me who was scarce more than a boy and yet 
 well accustomed to the wild roisterings of the 
 men of my day; how in the allotment of land 
 I had been given my pick over men of more 
 worth but holding less influence among the 
 commissioners; how, making poor use of this 
 advantage, according to the thinking of my 
 friends, I had chosen land away from the 
 town, with no other neighbor than a French 
 refugee a man unpopular with the majority of 
 the settlers, despite his learning and the mild 
 humanity of his views and practices. I 
 thought of the clearing and the tilling of this 
 land, and the building of my house in all of 
 which this man had ever been both my help 
 and my very wise counsellor; of the few rough 
 pleasures and the many hardships, aye, dangers 
 which we had shared, making me know the true 
 metal of the man and glad that he was my 
 
 45
 
 neighbor. Lastly, I thought of his daughter 
 aye, and first, too; for, through all my 
 thoughts, like a golden thread, ran the memory 
 of that little maid as I had known her before 
 she left us to go to her mother s people in 
 France. Then came her first childish letters 
 telling of her quiet convent life and of the 
 mysteries of the creed which the sisters strove 
 to teach her. They contained messages to me, 
 first saucy and then more kind. Time passed 
 with her in that quiet convent as well as with 
 us in the New World and she left the teaching 
 of the sisters to go into the gay world of a 
 corrupt court where we knew that a woman s 
 virtue had not the weight of a thistledown 
 the king believed not in it and so boasted. That 
 her father s hand trembled with a feeling other 
 than pleasure when he broke the seals of her 
 letters I knew full well though neither of us 
 spoke. Watching, I would see the fear on his 
 face pass away as a shadow and his smile break 
 out as the sun. Always he would read me 
 those letters, bright with court gossip and her 
 own merry jests. Seldom and more seldom 
 she made mention of me and in so slight a 
 manner that the words stung with their cold 
 ness. All this I called to mind and 
 
 " My thanks are but poor return for so great 
 a favor, gentlemen," were the words which 
 
 4 6
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 aroused me and they were spoken by a voice 
 that made my heart thump against my side. I 
 looked at the speaker and drew a great gasping 
 breath. It was the little Antoinette grown to 
 womanhood, but as much more beautiful as 
 the lily than the cowslip, as the rose than the 
 daisy of the fields, aye, verily, as the sun is 
 than the moon. Her clothes I cannot tell 
 you what she wore, not even the color of her 
 dress. It was Antoinette the girl grown to 
 be a most wondrously beautiful woman that I 
 looked at. Her complexion \vas of that soft 
 creamy whiteness of a magnolia petal and the 
 color of her cheeks, which I knew to be like 
 that of the pomegranate flower in richness, was 
 become faint as the pink in the wild rose blos 
 som, while the circles under her eyes showed 
 signs of much weeping. Her hair, which was 
 unpowdered, fell below her waist a mass of 
 shining black ringlets. Her eyes \vere on West 
 as she stood before us curtsying. 
 
 " You bear a message from the Governor 
 concerning my father ? " she asked, and at the 
 mention of her parent s name her lips, that 
 were of the soft curve of a Cupid s bow, trem 
 bled. 
 
 An instant we stood silent before her; for, 
 although both of us were rated men of quick 
 wit and had lived much at court, we could not 
 
 47
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 find words with which to answer her. Her 
 glance passed him and flashed to my face. I 
 saw that she knew me. The color flamed up, 
 dyeing her face the richest crimson ; her eyes 
 became as stars in their brightness, and her 
 proud head stiffened on her fair, long throat. 
 She looked a queen indeed, and I felt her 
 worshipper. 
 
 " You left not my father in the forest, Cap 
 tain Middleton?" she said. For you were 
 his friend and he rated you true." 
 
 Though her words were sure, there was the 
 sharpness of doubt in her tone that cut like a 
 knife. 
 
 " Captain Middleton escaped through fire 
 and water, lady," West replied, for I could 
 not command my speech. I saw the color slip 
 from her cheeks and the proud curve of her 
 lips were again shaken. " He came back to us 
 from the very jaws of hell itself, for his cap 
 tors had everything prepared for his torture." 
 
 Then he told her of my adventures, giving 
 them a color which would have been unbecom 
 ing had the words fallen from my lips, but 
 which lacked not in truthfulness. He ended 
 with my arrival the night before ; he delivered 
 the Governor s message, taking pains to say 
 that I had earnestly urged the expedition and 
 would go as leader and guide ; he addressed her 
 
 4 8
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 as a lady of the highest rank and, as such, she 
 received his courtesy. 
 
 " We need not lose heart," said Mistress 
 Moreton, who had come back on the piazza 
 and sought to offer consolation to Antoinette, 
 though I could plainly see that she understood 
 not the true metal of the girl whose beauty 
 and queenly manners held her in awe. 
 " Your father was only wounded and doubtless 
 the escape of Captain Middleton made the In 
 dians forget their watchfulness, and your father 
 also escaped." 
 
 Antoinette shook her head hers was not 
 the blind hope against hope of a \veak woman, 
 but rather the direct reasoning of a strong 
 man, who knows by experience the people with 
 whom he contends. 
 
 " You mistake. It did but increase their 
 vigilance, though it may have deferred his 
 torture and death," she said, and neither West 
 nor I could contradict her. " I thank you, 
 Captain Middleton, for your haste in reaching 
 Charleston, when your wounds and fatigue 
 must at least have sorely called for your resting 
 the night at Master Schinking s. And now 
 though you are scarce able to travel you go to 
 lead the Governor s soldiers to my father s 
 rescue ? " 
 
 " My wounds are but scratches, madam," I 
 
 49
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 replied, bowing low before her. " And a sol 
 dier of the wilderness knows not fatigue when 
 a friend s life stands in danger, and that friend 
 so noble a gentleman as your father." 
 
 I saw the tears fill her eyes though she met 
 my gaze boldly and without flinching. 
 
 " I could have told your reply before you 
 spoke, Captain Middleton," she graciously made 
 answer. " For I hold in my memory many 
 of your brave deeds before I was sent a way 
 ward child to France. I ill requited your 
 nobleness, for I was ever a willful child and 
 should have been soundly flogged for my im 
 pudence." 
 
 I made a bungling attempt to reply and 
 was right glad when West seeing my confu 
 sion came to my rescue. He slapped me heart 
 ily on the knee and exclaimed : 
 
 " I warrant you, madam, that he will forgive 
 the little maid any affront she may have put 
 upon him now that he finds her grown to wo 
 manhood and himself remembered during all 
 the years she spent at court. Did he not. then is 
 he not worthy of his soldierly title and I will 
 straightway forswear him as my kinsman. But 
 our message delivered, lady, we must not tarry 
 for we meet at the Governor s house at noon 
 when Captain Middleton will receive his com- 
 
 5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 mand and proceed in search of your father. 
 We must ride back to Charleston." 
 
 " Not until you have breakfasted," she said. 
 signalling to a black slave who stood in the 
 yard. " Mistress Moreton and I were but 
 preparing to take our morning meal when you 
 arrived." 
 
 She led the way and we seated ourselves 
 about a table near the end of the piazza.. 
 
 The house was on a small hillock and from 
 where we sat a wide view of the water could 
 be obtained over the palisade. Before us 
 stretched the broad mouth of the river as it 
 swept dow r n to the sea. The dimpling water 
 reflected the rays of the rising sun like myriads 
 of sparkling gems. On the other shore, a mile 
 away, stretched the forest, the soft green of 
 its foliage touched into gold by the sun rays. 
 On the nearer shore, almost from the water s 
 edge, extended the ploughed fields, the ground 
 dark brown and mellow, above which waved 
 the tender green of the young maize and indigo. 
 There was not a sail in sight. Only flocks of 
 sea fowls in search of food or taking their 
 morning dip were to be seen. 
 
 " What ship left the city last night? " asked 
 Mistress Antoinette Huguenin, seeing my eyes 
 turn from the water. " I saw the sail this 
 
 5 1
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 morning through a rift in the mist as it put out 
 to sea." 
 
 " It must have been the sail that we fancied 
 we saw, Jack," West said to me. Then, turn 
 ing to Mistress Huguenin, he made reply. 
 
 " No ship sailed out last night, madam," he 
 said. " What you saw was but a spray of mist 
 or a mares-tail showing against the sunrise 
 through a rift in the fog near the shore." 
 
 " That cannot be, your Honor," Antoinette 
 cried she had known him as governor of the 
 colony. " I saw the sail distinctly. It was but 
 for an instant and, as you say, through a rift in 
 the fog. Although I watched scanning the 
 horizon when the mist cleared away, it was not 
 to be seen, so I knew that it was putting out to 
 sea and had passed out of sight around the 
 point. But that it was a sail I am sure, for I 
 saw it with my own eyes." 
 
 " Our eyes play us strange tricks sometimes, 
 lady," West said courteously. " Although we 
 saw it one moment it disappeared the next and 
 was never seen again though we watched for 
 it most carefully. It was but a mares-tail or a 
 spray of mist. Captain Middleton assures me 
 that he has often been deceived by such illu 
 sions. I am sure no ship left the harbor nor 
 was there one expected to enter." 
 
 " Be that as it may," Antoinette persisted 
 
 5 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 not stubbornly but with a certain gracious de 
 cision that seemed only charming in so beauti 
 ful a creature. " But I know I saw a canvas 
 putting out to sea and it was the main-top-gal 
 lant of a large ship. I have no maggots in my 
 eyes though Mistress Moreton thinks that I 
 have them in my brain because it was my pur 
 pose to go with my own slaves in search of my 
 father if the Governor failed me. She caught 
 me searching for weapons with which to arm 
 them when she came to announce your arrival." 
 
 "You would have led them yourself?" 
 West cried. 
 
 "Aye! why not? Have I not backed the 
 wildest of unbroke colts a very demon in 
 horse flesh and conquered him too? Captain 
 Middleton will grant that I knew \vell how to 
 handle firearms before I left the colony. I 
 have forgotten nothing in the last ten years. 
 As for swords I have crossed swords more 
 than once with the Grand Monarque himself, 
 and beaten him too, which few of the gentlemen 
 at court can do not dare not, but cannot do, 
 for King Louis is one of the first swordsmen in 
 Europe and proud of his skill. So well did he 
 like my sword play that he would have my 
 grandaunt order me a suit, such as the young 
 Prince wears, that I might appear more worthy 
 of his steel. My father was my teacher, and to 
 
 53
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 what better purpose could I put my skill than 
 in rescuing him from the hands of a merciless 
 foe? We are but soldiers of fortune, the 
 women as well as the men of our race, Colonel 
 West, and it behooves us to be well acquainted 
 with weapons of defense." 
 
 " You must promise me that you will not 
 make so rash a venture," I begged as we stood 
 up to bid them good-by. " All that can be done 
 to rescue your father I pledge myself to do. 
 You will give it me as a trust? " 
 
 Her eyes sank before that which she read in 
 my earnest gaze and her cheeks flamed a rich 
 crimson. Then she looked up and said seri 
 ously as she gave me her hand : " It shall be 
 your trust, Captain Middleton. And I know 
 that you will perform it with a faithfulness 
 which would not be in his daughter s power." 
 
 There was that within the glance which she 
 gave me that made my blood to bound in my 
 veins and the kiss that I pressed on her hand 
 expressed but a shadow of the love that I felt in 
 my heart. 
 
 " I like not that sail skulking around the 
 coast at dawn this morning," I said to West 
 when we were well on our way to Charleston. 
 
 "You believe it was truly a sail, then?" 
 West cried, turning in his saddle to look at 
 me. 
 
 54
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 " Not when my own eyes saw it, for they 
 have deceived me before; but Mistress Hu- 
 guenin has the eyes of a hawk. She saw and 
 could describe the sail." 
 
 He laughed and struck his riding boots with 
 his crop. It was his custom so to urge on his 
 horse, for though he was reputed to be a cruel 
 man, ruling the colony and the Indians by un 
 gentle means, Colonel West could never be 
 persuaded to wear spurs nor would he ever lash 
 the beast that bore him. 
 
 " Thou Romeo ! " he cried. " Would not be 
 lieve your own eyes, nor those of your kins 
 man who is not an old man though he may 
 so appear to young striplings but when thy 
 Juliet even for an instant, for the twinkling 
 of an eye doth see this same object, lo ! there 
 can be no mistake. She hath the eyes of a 
 hawk ? Rather say that she hath the eyes of a 
 Dian as she hath the beauty of Athene and the 
 charm of Circe. The maid hath bewitched you. 
 Use your own wit, Jack. No ship left the har 
 bor as you well know. None was expected nor 
 came in. England is at peace with Spain so 
 we have naught to fear from the bigot that 
 governs at Augustine. The buccaneers or 
 pirates call them what you will like not the 
 coast of Carolina since Quarry has declared his 
 intention to carry out the commands of the pro- 
 
 55
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 prietors by treating them as criminals amenable 
 to the laws of England." 
 
 " Laugh an you will, cousin," I cried, ill 
 pleased at his jest though I was loath to show 
 it. " It was just the ship she described, for 
 even as a little maid, almost a baby, I never 
 knew her to tell aught that she had not seen, 
 nor see aught that did not prove. An she 
 said she saw it, it was there. I like not its 
 skulking around this coast." 
 
 " Zounds ! man," he cried. " If its purpose 
 be not honest it does well to keep out the har 
 bor, else would it not only have to face the guns 
 of the fort but those of the two king s ships 
 that came to us ten days ago, and still lie in 
 front of the city. Their guns are no fowling 
 pieces loaded for small game, I can warrant 
 you. No single ship would dare approach 
 the city while they remain so near." 
 
 * But it could harry our coast," I insisted. 
 <; There are plantations, many of them as well 
 stocked with slaves as with less expensive 
 beasts. If it should be a Spaniard they would 
 consider themselves well paid. 
 
 " Art turned woman from very lovesickness, 
 boy?" he exclaimed still laughing. "Take 
 heart, cousin ; the maid will be well cared until 
 your return. The men of Charleston will see 
 
 56
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNb 
 
 to that, I warrant. Oh, you will not lack rivals 
 for the lady s favor." 
 
 Though I said nothing more, for I liked not 
 his raillery, I could not throw off thoughts of 
 that skulking sail nor the fear which those 
 thoughts created. A hundred times and more 
 I thought of Antoinette and wished her back in 
 Charleston, safe behind the guns of the fort 
 and the two armed ships that lay at anchor in 
 the harbor. Yet I had no thought that my 
 fears would be proved before the setting of 
 that sun and that I would be miles away and 
 helpless. 
 
 57
 
 ARRIVING at the Governor s house I re 
 ceived his orders and took command 
 of the twenty picked men who were to 
 follow me in pursuit of my recent captors. 
 We spent our first night within the barricades 
 of Master Schinking s estate and the next 
 morning started out while the stars were still 
 high in the heavens. Being well mounted and 
 the country dry, we had brave determination of 
 making the Isundiga before the second night. 
 
 I watched the stars fade away, extinguished 
 by that blackness which covers the sky like a 
 pall just before the coming of the day. The 
 sun rose and riding high in the heavens beat 
 down upon us with an intensity that made the 
 shade of the forest grateful to both man and 
 beast. We pushed forward steadily and I knew 
 that we had covered more than half the dis 
 tance allotted for our day s journey when I 
 told my men that at the next stream we would 
 halt and eat what small provision of food we 
 carried for ourselves and our horses. There 
 was a call from a man in the rear and looking 
 
 58
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 back I followed the direction of his gestures 
 and saw the dusky form of an Indian break 
 from the forest and come across the open space 
 towards us. His gait was that of a man who 
 has traveled fast for many hours and still 
 pushes on though limbs and brain are reeling. 
 I recognized him as Acuera, the young Coosaw 
 chief who more than once had showed himself 
 true to the white settlers ; so I turned my horse 
 and went back to meet him. Coming forward 
 he staggered and leaned against my horse bow 
 ing his head upon my knee for a space, for he 
 was well nigh spent. 
 
 " Does Acuera bring tidings to his white 
 brother?" I asked, after giving him a short 
 breathing spell. 
 
 He drew away from the support of my horse 
 and standing proudly erect like a slender statue 
 in bronze, he answered : 
 
 " Since the setting of the moon, Acuera, has 
 traveled to give Captain Middleton warning 
 against the man who, though his face is white, 
 is not his brother and who lives across the sea." 
 He pointed towards Florida. I remembered 
 the ship and my heart stopped within me. 
 " Yesterday, Acuera went with his brothers to 
 the weirs of the Coosaws. When the sun went 
 down he rested with his people and looked out 
 upon the great sea across which the white men 
 
 59
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 came to the hunting grounds of the Indians. 
 Two long boats came out from the river and 
 their bows sank deep into the water, for they 
 carried many besides those who rowed." 
 
 " You followed them, Acuera," I cried, well 
 knowing that the Spaniards came not in open 
 boats. " You saw the great ship ? " 
 
 " Acuera and his braves are like the fox, and, 
 like him, they know the paths of the forest 
 and the streams. We traveled across the point 
 and in the deep water of the bay saw the great 
 ship into which the boats emptied their loads." 
 
 " Acuera is a wise chief and a great war 
 rior," I said. " He knows the paths of the 
 forests and the settlements of the white man. 
 Can he tell me from which of his white brothers 
 the Spanish thieves took the slaves? Did Acu 
 era see his house in ashes ? " 
 
 " Acuera had no time to look for ashes. 
 There was no need. In the first boat he looked 
 and saw the black people of the great chief 
 whom you seek in the forest and of the young 
 captain who saved Acuera from the stake of the 
 Savannas and avenged the death of his father, 
 the great chief of his nation. Acuera and his 
 people do not forget." 
 
 " But in the second boat? What saw you in 
 the second boat, Acuera?" I demanded, and 
 I knew that my voice trembled despite my ef- 
 
 60
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 forts to conceal the woman in my nature from 
 the men who pressed around us. 
 
 " The daughter of the great chief whom 
 Captain Middleton left on the banks of the 
 Isundiga. Acuera saw her in Charleston the 
 day that she came in the great ship from the 
 home of the white man across the water. She 
 is more beautiful than the stars or than any 
 flower that grows in the forest." 
 
 " Was she alone, Acuera ? Was there no 
 other woman with her? " cried Jonathan Blake, 
 Mistress Moreton s young brother. He was 
 scarce more than a lad and, except for his 
 pleadings and the earnest urgings of his father, 
 the Governor should never have allowed him 
 to come with me. Now his voice trembled and 
 he stood waiting for the answer of the 
 young Indian with blanched face and tearful 
 eyes. 
 
 " The sister of the young brave, the squaw 
 of the white chief Moreton, who is the Coo- 
 saw s friend, was with her," Acuera answered, 
 and I knew that he felt for the young boy who 
 was near his own age though his voice and 
 manner of speech were as cold and impassive 
 as his face. Then he turned directly to me 
 and said : " The Coosaw warriors have been 
 slain by their enemies and they go no more on 
 the war-path. They need not the son of their 
 
 61
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 great chief to lead them. He would go with 
 the white Captain on the war-path against the 
 enemies of his nation and to bring back the 
 white maiden, the daughter of the great chief, 
 the friend of the Coosaws." 
 
 " I will be glad to have Acuera as a brother 
 among my warriors but first we obey the Gov 
 ernor s orders and go to seek the great chief 
 or to avenge his death in the forest," I replied, 
 though God knows that I was sorely tempted 
 to give up that quest and go to the rescue of 
 the two women who had been snatched as it 
 were from under the very nose of the Gover 
 nor. I remembered the last words of Mistress 
 Huguenin and knew that I would not have to 
 answer to the Governor alone should I turn 
 aside from my mission. 
 
 " Captain Middleton is wise with the wis 
 dom of the white man, but he has not the cun 
 ning of the Indian," the young chief replied, 
 with stately dignity. " The Yemassee dogs 
 went not to the north but down the Isundiga 
 to the great sea." 
 
 " How did you know that, Acuera? " I de 
 manded. " Four days ago I left them at Hago 
 Slago bluff on the Isundiga river." 
 
 " The singing birds of the forest are many 
 and they tell their tales to the Coosaw brave 
 whose father was the great chief of his na- 
 
 62
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 tion," he made answer after the manner of his 
 people. 
 
 " Did the singing birds of the forest tell 
 Acuera of the fate of the white chief whom 
 the Yemassee dogs planned to torture on the 
 bluff?" I asked. 
 
 " He marched to the sea with them, more 
 closely bound and guarded; for the Yemassee 
 braves found their two brothers whom Captain 
 Middleton left floating in the water, and they 
 feared to return to help their friends on the 
 Spanish ship attack the city," he replied, with 
 something approaching the shadow of a smile 
 lighting his face for he knew that he was giv 
 ing great news. 
 
 " We should have known it for the work of 
 those devils at Augustine, Captain Middle- 
 ton," cried Master Bernard Schinking. 
 " When was it that an Indian nation whose 
 hunting grounds lie so far away has attacked 
 Charleston or any other white settlement, un 
 less urged on by Spanish or French villains. 
 And their caravel, you see, dared not approach 
 the city because of the two king s ships that 
 ride at anchor in the harbor. It was a most 
 villainous plan and worthy of them. I war 
 rant you they like not returning with but a 
 handful of slaves, having sacked only two plan 
 tations." 
 
 63
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 l 
 
 " Tell me, Acuera," I asked. " Before com 
 ing did you send no word of warning to 
 Charleston of the capture of Colonel Hu- 
 guenin s daughter and Mistress Moreton?" 
 
 He gave assent by a motion of his head. 
 " At sunrise I entered the town and sought out 
 the Governor with the tidings. He summoned 
 the commander and ordered every man to his 
 council. I lingered not when I found that you 
 had gone on the trail of the Yemassee, but be 
 fore I left, the great ships were being made 
 ready and the people said they would sail be 
 fore the rising of another moon. I have run 
 fast and long for Captain Middleton makes not 
 short marches. His warriors travel on four 
 feet while I have but two." 
 
 " You have served me many times and well, 
 Acuera," I said, when he had given his tidings 
 and stood proudly before me with his arms 
 folded. " But this last service is the best of 
 all and one that I shall never forget. We 
 follow the trail of the Yemassee. If it lead to 
 the land of the Spaniard then will we seek 
 the maiden also though I warrant that we find 
 her not with her father. Will Acuera go with 
 his brother on the war-path against the 
 Yemassee dogs, the enemies of his nation? " 
 
 " Captain Middleton is my friend/ he said, 
 meeting my request with a fine gesture of as- 
 
 6 4
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 sent; "he saved Acuera from the fire death 
 of the Savannas, and the son of the great chief 
 of the Coosaws never forgets. He will go with 
 his white brother on the trail of the Yemassee 
 dogs. The Coosaws are few and at peace with 
 all the tribes of the forest. The singing birds 
 are many and the tales they tell are true. Cap 
 tain Middleton will find the great white chief in 
 the land of his enemy, the Spaniard, where the 
 great ship carried the maiden and the pale-faced 
 squaw." 
 
 If my anxiety to push forward had been 
 great before it became fourfold now. If I could 
 I would have marched all night, until my 
 strength failed me, but Master Bernard Schink- 
 ing had a cool brain as well as a stout heart. 
 
 " Though because of the tales of the singing 
 birds, Captain Middleton, we follow no more 
 so closely the trail," he said at the end of the 
 first day when I was giving commands for our 
 departure hours before the dawn (though we 
 had not halted until the moon was high in 
 the heavens); "there is no need of changing 
 the length nor the time of our marches. It is a 
 great distance to Augustine and while our 
 horses are hardy and well-bred I warrant they 
 will drop beneath us if we hasten on as your 
 heart demands. Use your head, man, and all 
 will yet be well."
 
 WHEN the LAND <was TOUNG 
 
 His counsel was good and I took it though it 
 went mightily against the grain of my desires. 
 The end was bitter, more bitter than I could 
 have wished for my deadliest enemy I had not 
 seen him then, though Antoinette s wondrous 
 beauty made me know that he lived; yet, had 
 I it all to go over again, I would still be as im 
 patient for I would think not of the bitter but 
 of the sweet with which it was mingled a 
 sweetness that was worth all life to taste, a 
 bitterness that was hell. 
 
 66
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE singing birds of the forest were 
 many, indeed, as Acuera said, but they 
 told always the same tale: "The 
 white chief walked in the midst of his captors 
 towards the land of the Spaniard." We fol 
 lowed their trail as fast and as closely as our 
 excursions to the villages of Indians friendly to 
 the English, made necessary by lack of food for 
 ourselves and our horses, would permit. 
 
 Acuera was our guide and verily, during that 
 march in which every moment of delay was 
 torture to me, so great was my desire to push 
 on beyond the power of my men and the beasts 
 that bore us, I learned his worth. More than 
 once we would have walked into ambush or 
 fallen easy victims at the hands of hostile In 
 dians had he not received warning and led us 
 aside. He often left us without a word or sign 
 of warning. Even while talking to him I would 
 turn to find him gone, like a shadow hidden 
 out of sight among the trees of the forests. He 
 would reappear as suddenly and from no man 
 knew where. On the march I would find him 
 
 6 7
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 walking at my side, in the camp I would awake 
 to find him sleeping among us, and even the 
 man next him unconscious of his presence. 
 
 " Captain Middleton will lead his warriors 
 to the great village of the Choctaw mico," he 
 said, appearing at my stirrup one morning af 
 ter a longer absence than usual. " Yesterday 
 Acuera traveled in the country of the Uchees 
 and at nightfall entered the village of their 
 great war-chief. The Uchee warriors have 
 painted themselves black and sit in close 
 council." 
 
 " The village of the Choctaw mico is a clay s 
 journey to the northward, Acuera," I said, 
 chafing at the mere thought of delay. " We 
 will continue our march on the trail of the 
 Yemassee and meet the Uchee \varriors as Eng 
 lishmen who fear not their arrows." 
 
 " The English are brave warriors and Cap 
 tain Middleton is the great war-chief of his 
 nation," said the young Indian. " He is wise 
 and will not lead his soldiers into ambush. His 
 braves are but as the fingers and toes of Acu 
 era, while the Uchee warriors are as the leaves 
 of the greatest tree in the forest. It is the sac 
 rifice of their first-born and they would get 
 captives for their dance." 
 
 Much as I desired to push forward I could 
 not, for I knew it would be a folly cruel to my 
 
 68
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 men and bootless to the friends that we sought. 
 I ordered a halt and after short council we 
 turned aside and followed Acuera through the 
 hunting grounds of the Choctaw nation and 
 to the great village of their mico. 
 
 We traveled many miles that day over a 
 country of whose beauty I had heard much, 
 but had never seen. The trees of the forest be 
 came more lofty and were set so far apart that 
 we found no difficulty in passing through them 
 with our horses. The grass was greener and 
 more luxuriant and everywhere wild fruit grew 
 most luscious and abundant. The deer seemed 
 bigger and in larger herds as we started them 
 from their cool wadings in the clear streams or 
 came upon them, feeding upon the tender grass 
 of some shaded dale. The forest echoed with 
 the songs of birds, and squirrels innumerable 
 ran up and down the trunks of the giant oaks 
 and hickories or, saucily chattering, dropped 
 around us shells of nuts and acorns from their 
 perches among the boughs. The "bob-white" 
 of the male partridge sounded on all sides, while 
 the soft whir-whir of the female warned us of 
 her presence and that of her numerous brood of 
 young that scuttled through the grass and from 
 under our horses feet to slip among the drifts 
 of dead leaves which the soft browns of their 
 feathered coats so closely resembled. We came
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 upon flocks of wild turkeys feeding upon the 
 myriads of insects that infested the smaller 
 plants or hopped about in the grass. Although 
 we passed so near that we might easily have 
 cast a stone among them, the cocks did not 
 leave off their struttings nor the hens the search 
 of food for their young; for the turkey is a 
 wise bird and knows that so long as the brood 
 lacks full feather it remains safe from all snares 
 and death at human hands. 
 
 The sun was rapidly nearing the horizon 
 when, leaving the forest, we came into the open 
 country of the Ostenaula valley. The azure 
 river stretched before us, gold flecked and 
 crimsoned by the slanting sun rays. The wide 
 stretch of valley was softly undulating and 
 carpeted with vivid green. A mile to the east 
 and on the banks of the river was that the sight 
 of which caused us to draw in our horses and, 
 with suppressed exclamations, gaze in wonder. 
 It was the great village of the Choctaw mico. 
 Great indeed it appeared to our astonished eyes 
 accustomed as we were to look upon Indian vil 
 lages in groups of from but ten to fifty smoky 
 huts. This mighty village, or city as it should 
 more properly be called, was divided into two 
 distinct sections. The inner section comprised 
 an area of some hundred or more acres, 
 bounded on the south and west by the river and 
 
 70
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 on the north and east by a wide ditch or moat 
 which, at its low end, communicated directly 
 with the river. Along the line of this great 
 canal were three small ponds of about two acres 
 each and its upper end expanded into an artifi 
 cial lake of considerable size, which was sepa 
 rated from the river only by a few paces. 
 Within the enclosure formed by this moat rose 
 five great mounds. On the tops of the four 
 lowest were extensive buildings which I knew 
 to be the lodges of the mico and his principal 
 men, while towering up and dominating them 
 all, on the top of the greatest mound, rising 
 some hundred feet above the valley, shone the 
 temple. 
 
 At first my dazzled eyes could see naught else. 
 More than a hundred paces long and half as 
 wide, with a tall pointed roof, it glittered before 
 us like a thing of magic. The play of light and 
 color under the rays of the setting sun was mar 
 velous. It was the space of several minutes be 
 fore I could withdraw my eyes and listen to the 
 words of Acuera. 
 
 " Lumulgee leads his warriors before the 
 mico to give greeting to Captain Middleton," 
 he said, motioning towards the western extrem 
 ity of the village. Following his hand I per 
 ceived a band of painted Indians leaving the 
 district within the moat by way of the narrow 
 
 71
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 path that separated the lake from the river. 
 They passed through the second district and 
 came out of the stockade by means of what 
 looked to be a small postern gate. 
 
 " The great war-chief of the Choctaws is 
 the wise eagle of his nation," continued Acu- 
 era. " He comes only to meet those whom the 
 mico will receive as his brother. They would 
 be friends with the English and to-morrow will 
 dance the calumet." 
 
 " I tarry not for their entertainment, Acu- 
 era," I replied impatiently ; for, having come out 
 of the great wonder that the sight of the town 
 had occasioned in me, I remembered with no 
 great pleasure the festivities which this mighty 
 show of numbers and magnificence promised. 
 " To-morrow s dawn must find us on our march 
 towards Augustine." 
 
 " The Choctaw mico is the ruler of a mighty 
 people. Lumulgee is his great war-chief and 
 hath all the wisdom of the birds, beasts and 
 serpents of the forests. He loves the English 
 well and will not let them go alone against the 
 Spanish dogs and robbers," the young Indian 
 made reply to my objection. " It is the moon of 
 the green corn and to-morrow the Choctaws 
 celebrate the festival. If Captain Middleton 
 will look in the michemichequipy he will see 
 all the tribes of the great nation," he said, mo- 
 
 72
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 tioning to the district of the town between the 
 moat and the stockade wall. In this part of the 
 village, reserved for the homes of the common 
 people, there appeared upwards of a thousand 
 wigwams, and I could see that the place was 
 thronged by men and women busily preparing 
 for some great event. 
 
 " Zounds ! Captain Middleton," cried Master 
 Schinking. "If they celebrate the new corn 
 festival to-morrow r we do well to remain. I 
 once passed such a feast among the Savannas 
 and ever since the mere thought of it, has made 
 my mouth to water for the good things we had 
 to eat. Look you ! there is plenty and to spare," 
 and he motioned to the well cultivated town 
 plantations which covered the valley as far as 
 the eye could reach " even for so great a vil 
 lage as the one before us. I have heard much 
 of the friendliness of Lumulgee for the Eng 
 lish; I have heard, too, of this great town, the 
 descriptions of which, God forgive me, I laid 
 against the natural gift for lying that even the 
 best of these red heathens have. We stand in 
 need of both rest and food. Captain, and since 
 Lumulgee can give us both, I say, we will do 
 well to tarry." 
 
 It needed but a glance into the faces of the 
 men who followed me to make me know their 
 feelings. I had no need to take council. Call- 
 
 73
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ing to Acuera, who had gone some fifty paces 
 ahead, I said: 
 
 " We will go forward to meet the Choctaw 
 warriors, Acuera, and if they bring friendly 
 messages we will follow them into the great 
 city to receive the greetings of their mico." 
 
 " Captain Middleton will not need to enter 
 the great village to greet the mico. He and his 
 picked men will greet their English brothers at 
 the gate. Even now they leave the mound of 
 the miculgeeintoopau," he replied, pointing to 
 wards the great mound, second in size, on the 
 top of which I knew was situated the mice s 
 lodge, and from which we could even then 
 see issuing a procession more numerous and 
 gaily dressed than that which, having left the 
 city on our first appearance, was now approach 
 ing us at no great distance. 
 
 " And those other mounds, Acuera," cried 
 young Jonathan Blake, carried away by the 
 splendid sight that the great village made, sur 
 rounded as it was by the blue river and set in 
 the midst of the soft green foliage, under the 
 golden rays of the setting sun, " how call you 
 the great houses that sit on their tops? " 
 
 The flicker of a smile passed over the face of 
 the young brave at the boy s eagerness. 
 
 " The miculgeeintoopau faces the east that 
 the mico may be the first to greet the great sun 
 
 74
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 god. On the third mound is the tustunnugul- 
 geeintoopau, the lodge of the great war-chief 
 and his warriors. Its doors are turned north, 
 and they watch for the coming of the cold wind 
 clouds. The istechaguculgeeintoopau is on the 
 fourth mound and looks west that the beloved 
 men may salute the sun as he leaves the hunting 
 grounds of the Choctaws and pray for his safe 
 return. On the lowest mound is the hutteman- 
 huggeeintoopau and its doors turn south that 
 the rays of the sun may shine on the old and the 
 poor of the village when the cold breath of the 
 storm cloud comes down from the north into 
 the land of the Choctaws." 
 
 " Tell us about the temple, Acuera," said 
 Master Schinking. " I have heard from In 
 dian traders that it contained bushels of pearls 
 and skins so finely dressed and rare that their 
 like was no longer to be had on this continent. 
 It is, in verity, a most surprising structure, and 
 though I have heard that its brilliance was 
 caused by numberless polished shells woven 
 into the roof, one could almost believe it 
 thatched with plates of gold and silver, studded 
 with rarest gems." 
 
 " Does it contain only the bones of the micos, 
 Acuera?" I asked, for it was of such a great 
 size that I could scarcely credit that report. 
 
 " The bones of an hundred micos with their 
 
 75
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 great war-chiefs," he replied. " Twice Acuera 
 came with his father, the mighty chief of the 
 Coosaws, to drink acee, the black-drink, and to 
 sit in close council with the great war-chief." 
 Then throwing up his arms with a gesture of 
 warning which caused me to check my horse, 
 he asked ; " Will Captain Middleton make 
 ready to greet Lumulgee? The great war- 
 chief and his warriors are but the distance of an 
 arrow s flight." 
 
 Commanding my men to fall back a few 
 paces I dismounted, and with Master Schink- 
 ing and Jonathan Blake and the young Coosaw 
 chief, I stood waiting to receive as messenger 
 from the Choctaw mico, Lumulgee, the most 
 powerful and, I had heard it said by men well 
 acquainted with savages and their cunning, the 
 most treacherous Indian on the continent. 
 
 Our horses still, we heard the soft velvety 
 footfall of many moccasin-shod feet on the 
 turf. A moment we listened ; then, from out the 
 shadow of a group of mulberry and plum trees, 
 stepped Lumulgee, the great war-chief of the 
 Choctaws his warriors following at his back, 
 one by one.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 THE Indian who thus faced me was beau 
 tiful to look upon. Head and shoul 
 ders he towered above his fellows and 
 his figure was of such a perfect symmetry as 
 to pass description. Painted a brilliant red to 
 the waist, with bands of white across his breast 
 and a dash of white on each cheek, he wore 
 neither clothes nor ornaments save his breech- 
 clout and two eagle feathers thrust through his 
 scalp-lock. He came to meet us empty handed; 
 even his hunting knife was laid aside. His 
 warriors, likewise, carried no weapons, but 
 around their waists they wore feather fringes, 
 red and white, so long that they met the tops 
 of their gaily beaded moccasins. This recep 
 tion, I knew was not such as they extended to 
 friendly nations but we were welcomed as 
 dearly loved brothers whose prowess and rank 
 entitled us to be honored and trusted by the 
 whole nation. 
 
 The great war-chief of the Choctaws stood 
 before me, the Indian whose prowess on the 
 warpath and wily cunning in the council made 
 
 77
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 him both feared and respected by the white men 
 of the settlements and his red brothers of the 
 forests. He lacked the high cheek bones that 
 I had learned to look upon as an unfailing 
 characteristic of his race, but instead his face 
 was of that oval contour so often seen in the 
 best type of Europeans. His expression was 
 exceeding pleasant, I might almost say open 
 and bland. But there lay that within his eyes 
 that made me know him as the savage. There 
 was no watchful glitter, no cunning half light. 
 His eyes were as dark and fathomless as a still 
 pool at nightfall. They were a velvety black 
 and of a softness that allured while it baffled. 
 For a moment he and his warriors stood mo 
 tionless, then, greeting us after the stately 
 manner of his race, Lumulgee came forward 
 and clasped my hand. 
 
 He made his speech of welcome, and deliv 
 ered the mice s message inviting me and my 
 people to the great village of his nation to dwell 
 among them and partake of the feast of the 
 new corn. The words of his speech were both 
 eloquent and dignified, and he delivered it with 
 a stately grace that was most admirable. 
 
 Walking at my stirrup, with Acuera on his 
 left, he conducted us toward the village 
 through the numerous plots of the town plan 
 tations with their growing crops of maize, to 
 
 78
 
 WHEN the LAND -was TOUNG 
 
 bacco and eatable roots. When we came in 
 sight of the gate of the barricade by way of 
 which we had seen them leave the town, it 
 opened and there issued forth a numerous band 
 of gaudily painted Indians, both men and 
 women. Obeying the signal of the Indian who 
 walked at my side I motioned my men to halt 
 just as the company at the gate separated 
 and there appeared, borne by six young war 
 riors, a litter on which sat the mico of the 
 Choctaws. Well through the gate, on the 
 smooth turfen top of a terrace, some four feet 
 in height, the bearers place3 the litter and, thus 
 seated the savage ruler remained until I, dis 
 mounting with Master Schinking, Jonathan 
 Blake and Acuera, approached within a few 
 paces of him. 
 
 When he arose to welcome us his bearers 
 made deep obeisance and fell back among the 
 people who had followed his litter. The mico 
 looked a man in the prime of life, tall and ele 
 gantly proportioned. Both in his face and 
 figure he showed strikingly the characteristics 
 of his race. As he delivered his long speech of 
 welcome Lumulgee stood at his side and there 
 appeared not a half dozen years between them, 
 though I knew that men said the great war- 
 chief had already outlived two micos and that 
 this ruler was but a stripling in comparison. 
 
 79
 
 The mice s tattooed breast was crossed by bars 
 of red and white paint. Strings of pearls as 
 large as the end of a man s thumb and glisten 
 ing white encircled his neck and fell even to 
 his belt. Over his shoulder was flung a mantle 
 of woven nettles, extending to his feet; it had 
 the sheen of finest satin and the color of purest 
 gold. The feathers in his scalp-lock were red 
 and white and his moccasins and the long fringe 
 that fell from his waist were ornamented by 
 tassels made of the long hairs taken from deer s 
 tails and dyed red. He had no weapons, nor 
 did any of those who followed him; but there 
 lay at his feet the peace-pipe, and when I had 
 made reply to his welcome, certain of his war 
 riors stepped forward and laid on the blanket of 
 buffalo wool on which he stood the usual pres 
 ents of pearls, tobacco, maize and venison. 
 
 This ended the ceremony of welcoming us 
 and the mico once more seated himself on his 
 litter, inviting me to take my seat beside him. 
 Thus seated we were borne into the great vil 
 lage and up the terraced way to the top of the 
 great mound of the miculgeeintoopau. I found 
 that lodgment for myself, Master Schinking, 
 and Jonathan Blake had been made ready in the 
 left wing of this wigwam which when com 
 pared to all Indian dwellings that I had pre- 
 
 80
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 viously seen was great indeed. My men were 
 bestowed in a division of the tustunnugulgeein- 
 toopau and Acuera went with them. 
 
 I had gladly spent days and nights, whole 
 weeks in Indian villages during the early days 
 of my arrival in America, but this visit, this 
 coming in the midst of a great people so far re 
 moved from our settlement that we krfew of 
 them only from the reports of others, was 
 neither to my liking nor my choosing. And 
 yet, that all would go well with us, thrusting 
 ourselves as it were into the very midst of this 
 horde of heathens, I believed. That, after our 
 second night spent amongst them, their ruler, 
 true to the promise given without his gates and 
 repeated as we smoked the peace-pipe before 
 his lodge while w r e watched his warriors dance 
 the calumet, would speed us on our way to Au 
 gustine, our force augmented by two hundred 
 of his warriors, picked men all of them, under 
 the leadership of his great war-chief, I also be 
 lieved. For I knew that above all things Lu- 
 mulgee hated and feared the man who ruled at 
 Augustine; hated him, because at his hands he 
 had met his most disastrous defeat ; feared him, 
 for the sake of the temple of the Choctaws and 
 the treasure it guarded. 
 
 It was to gain possession of this vast treasure 
 
 81
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 that D Alva, soon after his arrival as Governor 
 of the Spanish stronghold on the continent of 
 America, had invaded the Choctaw country 
 with a great army at his back. Lumulgee 
 knowing of his object had met him on the bor 
 ders with a band of warriors, which for num 
 bers and prowess the like had never been seen. 
 Unacquainted with the use of fire arms the In 
 dian chief met his Spanish enemies in open 
 battle and was disastrously defeated. More 
 than half of his warriors were left dead on the 
 field and he himself and fifty more, being 
 wounded, were taken prisoners. Though 
 wounded, this savage leader had accomplished 
 by craftiness that in which he had failed by 
 force of arms. By means known only to him 
 self he gained such control of the Indians em 
 ployed by the Spaniard to guide him to the 
 great village that they led the army by such 
 routes as to cause them to wander back and 
 forth over a vast country without once gaining 
 sight of the village and its wonderful temple. 
 One by one the Spanish commander punished 
 these false guides by death under the most hide 
 ous tortures, but without gaining the desired 
 result. At last, w r orn out by privations and 
 hardships he returned to Augustine, his army 
 greatly reduced, and without other gains than 
 the fifty Choctaw prisoners. Of these captives 
 
 82
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Lumulgee alone managed to escape. The 
 others were sent south and sold as slaves in the 
 Indies. 
 
 This happened ten years back but the great 
 war-chief, the wise eagle of the Choctaws, had 
 never attacked Augustine; he had made no 
 effort to avenge the cruelties inflicted upon him 
 self nor the captivity of his braves. Few had 
 been the war-paths on which he had led his 
 warriors. Instead, by honeyed words and cun 
 ning councils, he had held the Choctaws at 
 peace with all the tribes of the forests. It was 
 a long peace in which his people prospered and 
 for every warrior lost during that Spanish raid 
 there were now two to take his place. Though 
 the Choctaws marched out on the war-path their 
 prowess in the hunt and the many warlike games 
 which they practiced made them feared, and the 
 man who controlled them received his full share 
 of respect. The public storehouses were many 
 and large; they contained abundant supplies of 
 maize, tobacco, roots, nuts, smoked meats and 
 fish and dried fruits. The plantations and or 
 chards were broad and well cultivated; the 
 weirs were stocked with fish and the city 
 was strongly fortified. All this I could see and 
 with it I realized the steadfast cunning of the 
 Choctaw war-chief. I understood his great 
 love for the English and why his mico, who, 
 
 83
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 men said, was but an infant in his hands, was 
 prompted to send two hundred of his picked 
 warriors against the Spaniards at Augustine. 
 I understood it all and laughed to myself as I 
 retired to the wigwam assigned me to get what 
 sleep I could in the few hours of the night that 
 remained after our feastings with the mico. The 
 great eagle of the Choctaws, I knew, did not 
 forget, and terrible indeed was the vengeance 
 he planned when he with his white brothers 
 should swoop down upon his unsuspecting 
 enemies. I doubt me if the joy in his savage 
 breast surpassed the fear in mine, when I 
 thought of Antoinette in their power and the 
 dangers to which she was exposed. 
 
 My sleep was fitful; not from any fear of 
 treachery, but from very longing to have the 
 next day over and to be again on the march. I 
 arose at last and seeing it was good dawn 
 awoke Master Schinking and Jonathan Blake, 
 who still snored from the effects of the last 
 night s feastings. Going to the door I pulled 
 aside the mat and stepped out. A mighty howl 
 split the air and turning in the direction from 
 whence the sound came I saw the mico before 
 the door of his lodge making his morning salu 
 tation to the sun, then but just rising from its 
 banks of purple clouds in the east. Three times 
 he repeated the ear-splitting cry, facing the east 
 
 8 4
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and bending his body prostrate to the earth. 
 This ended, the high priest presented to him a 
 gorgeously ornamented calumet, the first smoke 
 of which he blew towards the god of day; then, 
 turning, he puffed it in succession towards the 
 other three cardinal points. 
 
 " The mighty ruler of the Choctaws goes to 
 the great temple to pray for the success of his 
 white brother. Will Captain Middleton go 
 with him? " It was Lumulgee standing at my 
 side, and I had thought myself alone. 
 
 I have lived a sober life and keep steady 
 nerves. The face I turned to him was as smil 
 ing and unmoved as his own. 
 
 " I would see the great temple, Lumulgee," 
 I answered, " though I pray not to your god 
 but to the Great Ruler over all who made the 
 world and the people who inhabit it, both white 
 men and Indians." 
 
 " Lumulgee has heard much of the god to 
 whom the white men pray and would learn 
 more from the great captain as they march to 
 gether to the land of the Spaniard," he replied 
 as we followed the terraced walk stretching up 
 ward to the temple and along which mico and 
 priest had passed before us. 
 
 Fair and beautiful it shone, touched by the 
 ever brightening sun rays, this tomb of a hun 
 dred savage emperors with their chief counsel- 
 
 85
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lors. The roof was woven thick with polished 
 shells conch and periwinkles, great and 
 small I noted every shell I had ever seen on 
 the seashore and many more besides. From 
 the tall pointed roof to the eaves, from the eaves 
 sweeping the green grass of the turf, extended 
 countless strings of glistening shells. The 
 play of light upon them was as a brilliant rain 
 bow like the drippings of a summer shower 
 with the sun shining through. Lifting the 
 half dozen mats that hung one after the other 
 across the narrow winding entrance we came at 
 length to the first chamber. 
 
 I stopped spellbound. Two lines of gigantic 
 statues in threatening attitudes confronted us. 
 There were twelve, six on each side, and so per 
 fect was their expression and so lifelike their 
 pose that they appeared as though forbidding 
 our entrance to the great inner room which they 
 guarded. Each pair of these monsters was 
 armed with a different kind of weapon and 
 stood in position to use it. The first raised in 
 both hands great wooden clubs, ornamented a 
 quarter of their length with points and facets 
 of polished copper ; the second brandished broad 
 swords of wood; the third wielded wooden 
 poles eight feet long and pointed with copper. 
 The next two had tomahawks with blades of 
 sharpened flint ; the fifth held bows and arrows, 
 
 86
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the strings drawn ready to shoot; while the 
 last pair grasped their hunting knives. 
 
 We passed the file of these monsters, then 
 Lumulgee lifted a mat of unusual heaviness, 
 and we entered the great room of the temple. 
 In the subdued light the air seemed filled with 
 floating feathers and pearls, bright colored and 
 glistening white. The high dome was cov 
 ered by rows and rows of glittering shells, and 
 from them fell long strands of pearls, inter 
 spersed by clusters of gorgeous feathers, the 
 whole strung on fine dull-colored thread, so that 
 they appeared to hover unsupported in the air. 
 It was most beautiful. Looking about me I 
 saw that around the walls ran two rows of 
 statues, men and women of life size, and each 
 standing on its own pedestal. The men were 
 painted and fully armed for war, but the women 
 stood empty-handed. They all were orna 
 mented with numerous strings of pearls and 
 bits of copper, and wore mantles of dressed 
 skins or of woven feathers or nettles. In the 
 space between the statues and the walls, on 
 mats of finely woven cane or rare skins and at 
 regular intervals, were placed the burial chests. 
 The larger ones I knew to be those of the micos 
 with their equipments of war, while the smaller, 
 each one placed always at the foot and at right 
 angles with the larger, contained the bones of 
 
 87
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 his war-chief. Each mico had his war-chief, 
 often two, sometimes three, piled one upon 
 the other. But at the end were two great chests 
 without a lesser, and I knew that between them 
 the bleached bones of the man who stood beside 
 me would be placed some day yea, some day 
 but no man could foretell how many days or 
 years would pass. Perhaps another great chest 
 would be added to that vast number before the 
 placing of that lesser. I bethought me of the 
 story which I had got from Acuera, how the 
 war-chiefs of the Choctaws had always been 
 sacrificed at the death of their masters, until the 
 coining of Lumulgee from across the great sea 
 in the south. 
 
 ".Will Captain Middleton look at the pearls?" 
 Lumulgee asked, and at his question, I left off 
 thinking of the mystery and power of this 
 wonderful people. 
 
 He lifted the cover to one of the lower bas 
 kets which, placed one on the top of another, 
 formed a great pyramid in the center of the 
 room. It was filled to the top with pearls, un- 
 pierced and perfect. 
 
 " Are they all filled with pearls, Lumulgee? " 
 I cried, indicating the pyramid. 
 
 " All and there are more in there," he an 
 swered, pointing to the eight rooms that opened 
 into this greater one. " If the white chief wishes
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 still more he will find them in the temples of the 
 other villages of the Choctaws." 
 
 " I came not into your country for pearls, 
 Lumulgee," I answered, " but for food for my 
 men and beasts and to smoke the peace-pipe." 
 
 " There are enough and to spare," he an 
 swered. " If you were to load all your beasts 
 and men they would not be missed. What is 
 the Choctaws is also their brothers." 
 
 I shook my head, though I continued to look 
 in wonder at the contents of the baskets which 
 he opened. I saw that all of these pearls were 
 sorted most carefully according to their size. 
 The smallest were seed pearls, while the largest 
 rivalled in size and whiteness those worn by 
 the mico. 
 
 " Will Captain Middleton not take some to 
 the pale face maiden whom he seeks in the land 
 of the Spanish robber?" the war-chief asked, 
 extending to me a handful of great size and ex 
 ceeding whiteness. " To the singing birds of 
 the forest she is fairer than the lily and more 
 beautiful than the dawn." 
 
 " She is more beautiful than the singing 
 birds can describe, Lumulgee," I replied, choos 
 ing some two dozen of the fairest, for I was 
 touched by the manner and the choosing of the 
 gift. " She will give you her own thanks when 
 you see her in Augustine."
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Lumulgee will see many things in Augus 
 tine," was his answer as he led the way into one 
 of the lesser rooms. " Many strange and won 
 derful things," he repeated. 
 
 He pointed out to me many beautiful skins 
 finely dressed, that neither he nor I could guess 
 the manner of beast from which they had been 
 torn nor from whence they came. There were 
 many curious and beautiful weapons, but al 
 though I am rated a man of war who loves not 
 peace, I could feel no interest in them. The 
 charm was broken. Once again I began to 
 chafe at the delay and could only think of An 
 toinette and the dangers that surrounded her. 
 He would have taken me to other rooms and 
 showed me things still more beautiful and rare, 
 but I turned away and bade him lead me from 
 the temple to the lodge of his mico. 
 
 I have passed other long days days in which 
 every minute seemed a hundred years but I 
 remember not to have lived through one with 
 more impatience than this one in the Choctaw 
 capital. Cursing in my heart I watched the 
 young warriors through their game of chunke, 
 wherein they throw the polished stone, casting 
 their slender poles after it, and then follow so 
 swiftly that man, stone and pole seemed flying 
 together. At another time I would have ad 
 mired their skill and fleetness, and the smooth 
 
 90
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 pounded floors of their chunke-yards. But on 
 this day there was but one thought, one desire 
 in my heart. Still I must sit and hold both my 
 countenance and my tongue as became the dig 
 nity of my entertainers. I watched the maidens 
 in their gentle glides and furious whirlings of 
 the pinegunbeau while the possau brewed. I 
 drank that possau and was purged of the evil 
 that lay in my stomach if not that which pos 
 sessed my soul. Then succeeded more feasting 
 and more dancing, followed by the song com 
 posed for that especial occasion, for the Choc- 
 taws are a gifted people and proud of their 
 songs, both the music and the words. Then 
 came more feasting, then the war-dance, in 
 which I could have joined right willingly, and I 
 doubt not rivalled the fiercest warrior in his 
 hellish noise and actions. But even the longest 
 days must end, and so at last I found myself in 
 my lodge and tried to sleep through the few 
 remaining hours of my tarrying. 
 
 It was early dawn when white men and In 
 dians of the war band drew up on the little 
 plain before the gate of the city to receive the 
 last war-rite of the mico. The whole popula 
 tion was out and brilliant in war-paint. The 
 ruler stood on the little terrace. The war- 
 chief with his warriors at his back faced him. 
 The high priest held a shallow dish of water 
 
 9 1
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 into which the savage emperor dipped his hand 
 and flung the drops among his warriors. 
 
 " As I scatter this water so scatter you those 
 who come against you," he said; then he took 
 the dish, dashed the contents on a small fire that 
 burned near, and turning back to his braves, 
 said : " As I extinguish this fire so destroy you 
 all of your enemies." 
 
 This ended we marched away into a land that 
 at every mile became more strange and beauti 
 ful. Two days we traveled and at nightfall on 
 the second day there walked into camp an In 
 dian whose face I had never seen, and I knew 
 that he bore grave tidings though he neither 
 asked for nor sought the war-chief, but sat 
 down by the camp-fire among the Choctaw 
 warriors whom he appeared neither to see nor 
 hear until Lumulgee sent and bade him come 
 to him. Their talk was long and when it was 
 finished the war-chief came to me. 
 
 " Captain Middleton will not meet his broth 
 ers at Augustine," he told me. " The great 
 ships with all on them sailed to the northward." 
 
 "Sailed north, Lumulgee!" I exclaimed, 
 staring at him. 
 
 " As they left the harbor there came in an 
 other great ship, which turned them back," he 
 explained. " The next day they all put out to 
 gether, sailing northward. Your brothers 
 
 9 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 across the sea go on the war-path against an 
 other nation, and the great father of the Eng 
 lish sends his war-tidings to his warriors in 
 America." 
 
 " So James makes war on the Dutch," I rea 
 soned to myself. Then I asked aloud, " The 
 Governor, Lumulgee? Did he send no soldiers 
 to rescue the two women whom the Spaniard 
 stole from under his very walls ? " 
 
 " They come through the forest," he replied, 
 motioning north-east, " many marches away 
 and few in numbers. The Spanish robber 
 plans to send the maiden and the pale face 
 squaw to the south. His ship waits in the har 
 bor." 
 
 Grave indeed were his tidings, and so bitter 
 that I was as one struck dumb. Finally I be 
 thought me of the gaze upon me and said : 
 " Then we have need to hasten." 
 
 " I travel far to-night," the war-chief an 
 swered, and I noticed that he was fully armed 
 and equipped for the war-path. 
 
 " I will go with you, Lumulgee," I cried, 
 starting towards my camp. 
 
 He motioned me back. 
 
 " Captain Middleton leads his warriors and 
 the braves of my nation. To-night they sleep in 
 the forest, for there will be much hard fighting 
 and they have need to be fresh. To-morrow," 
 
 93
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 he continued, " at the setting of the new moon, 
 Lumulgee will open the gate of Augustine for 
 Captain Middleton to enter with his soldiers and 
 the picked men of the Choctaws." 
 
 94
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 THE heavens were bright with stars when 
 we next set out towards Augustine. 
 As silent as the shades of dead men 
 we moved through the trees or picked our way 
 across the marshes. On other marches there 
 had been laughs and jests and gay songs, but 
 this morning our thoughts were busied with 
 more serious subjects. My men knew of the 
 sailing of the king s ships to the northward, 
 they knew that they would meet no friends be 
 fore the gates of Augustine, and the bodings 
 of the great enterprise that lay before us quieted 
 those whose wont it was to be most gay. The 
 Indians were well acquainted with the danger 
 ous project which their war-chief, the great 
 man of their people, had gone forward alone 
 to accomplish. They knew as well as I the 
 hatred that burned in his breast and the mighty 
 revenge he purposed. As silent as the stars in 
 the heavens they walked at my side and around 
 me, guiding my course through that pathless 
 forest. 
 
 A line of silver light marked the eastern hori- 
 
 95
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 zon, and an inky blackness spread up over the 
 heavens, extinguishing the stars in whole bat 
 talions. The light line broadened and shot out 
 silver points. The points lengthened, the line 
 gained a purple fringe. The blackness over our 
 heads was cut asunder by a silver ray, and the 
 blankets of the night rolled away north and 
 south, leaving a mighty roadway of pure gold. 
 The whole heavens were a blaze of light. In 
 the east lay purple and red and gold cloud 
 banks among which the sun rose blood-red. 
 
 " It will be a hot day," said Master Bernard 
 Schinking. They were the first words to break 
 the silence of our march. 
 
 " A starless night will follow," added the 
 Choctaw warrior \vho walked at my stirrup, 
 indicating a faint hazy circle about the sun. 
 
 " Then all will go well with our enterprise," 
 I said, speaking with a confidence that I did not 
 feel. 
 
 " And I will see my sister again," exclaimed 
 Jonathan Blake. I turned my eyes upon him 
 and nodded assent, although my heart was 
 gripped by a boding fear of evil. 
 
 On \ve marched, making many miles in 
 silence. The sun rose high in the heavens and 
 beat down upon us with an intensity and a bril 
 liance that was blinding whenever our way led 
 not through the forest. The birds, with whose 
 
 9 6
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 singing the very air seemed pulsing earlier in 
 the day, became mute and disappeared. The 
 beasts of the forest, great and small, sought 
 their lairs or lay dozing in the mud of the 
 marshes or the cool water of shady streams. In 
 all that long stretch of country, woods, marshes 
 and meadows, we seemed the only things astir. 
 Onward we marched, and the trees and flowers 
 that made beautiful beyond compare that won 
 derful summer land seemed to cease their whis 
 perings and more faintly give out their per 
 fumes as we passed among them. 
 
 It was an hour after noon when we came to 
 the banks of a river and, halting, gazed across 
 at a score or more of not too great wigwams. 
 From the further side a canoe shot out, then 
 another, and another, until down the bank for 
 half a mile every hanging bough was changed 
 into a canoe manned by a supple brown figure. 
 Silently they came across, and, when within 
 our reach, as silently awaited their lading. I 
 asked no questions, but leading my horse 
 stepped into the canoe with the Choctaw brave 
 who had marched at my side throughout the 
 day. He exchanged neither words nor signs 
 with the savage whose dextrously-handled 
 paddles carried us swiftly across the stream. 
 Once landed, as we walked up the bank, there 
 came to meet us a young Indian chief, accom- 
 
 97
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 panied by a half dozen warriors. Their greet 
 ings were friendly, though they brought neither 
 presents nor peace offerings. 
 
 " The caciaca of the Cutifachiqui goes to 
 pray in her temple beyond the river," the young 1 
 chief told me; the Choctaw warrior standing 
 between us acted as interpreter, for the stranger 
 understood not English and I spoke no Span 
 ish. " She has smoked the peace-pipe with 
 the pale face chief that rules at Augustine and 
 her people call the Spaniard brother. Singing 
 birds have told her of Captain Middleton and 
 his warriors who march to the south with the 
 great war-chief of the Choctaws and his braves, 
 though they have not told where he goes nor his 
 mission. She tarries long with her people in 
 the great temple of her nation, but the floors of 
 the wigwams in her village are clean swept and 
 there is food in plenty." 
 
 I smiled at the artfully worded message of 
 this woman ruler, who, report had told me, was 
 scarce more than a girl. I returned the young 
 chief s greeting with the best grace I could 
 command and bade him thank his mistress both 
 for myself and the men who followed me. 
 Then I asked of the Choctaw : 
 
 " Does he say naught of the maiden and the 
 pale face squaw and the white chief who walked 
 bound in the midst of the Yemassees ? " 
 
 9 8
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 They all went within the walls of Augus 
 tine," he answered. 
 
 "They are there still?" I questioned in 
 alarm. 
 
 " Of the white chief he cannot tell, for no 
 man has seen him since he walked through the 
 gates with the Yemassee dogs. The maiden 
 lodges in the great palace of the Governor with 
 the pale face squaw and her black woman. The 
 great ship still lies before the city, making 
 ready to sail." 
 
 " Lumulgee," I questioned, " has he no news 
 of him? " 
 
 The face of the Choctaw became as expres 
 sionless as marble and as immovable. He gazed 
 fixedly across the river as though noting some 
 thing on the farther bank. 
 
 " The Cutifachiqui are at peace with the 
 Spaniards, and see not their enemies," he an 
 swered, in a voice that was like his face in 
 expression. This morning at sunrise the 
 Cutifachiqui brave entered the gate of the city 
 with an old man from the south, a man so old 
 that he drew his mantle about him against the 
 salt breeze. At noon when he left the city the 
 old man sat on the steps of the Governor s pal 
 ace selling small wares. The brave saw naught 
 of Lumulgee. The war-chief of the Choctaws 
 is the great eagle of his nation. He has the 
 
 99
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 wisdom of the white man and the Indian. He 
 will meet Captain Middleton in the place and 
 at the hour he appointed." 
 
 We found the cool shade of the wig-vvams 
 most grateful after the heat and glare of the 
 sun, and the food was both plentiful and suited 
 to our palates. My men kept well in the huts, 
 with the mats hanging over the entrance, as did 
 the Choctaw braves except those few who 
 smoked or loitered about the village with the 
 Cutifachiqui chief and his warriors. A stranger 
 passing would have seen naught beyond a de 
 serted Indian village in which a band of young 
 warriors, returning from the hunt, sat idly 
 smoking and waiting the return of their tribe. 
 That the Choctaw sentinels changed from time 
 to time, and that not a stick cracked nor a leaf 
 rustled in the forest that they did not hear and 
 seek out the reason, I knew right well. Though 
 the men around me slept soundly, I could not 
 for a moment lose my thoughts. All through 
 the afternoon and hours far into the night I lay 
 there staring out upon the river through a 
 break in the thatching of the hut. 
 
 I watched the blue of the river become more 
 blue. Then it changed to a green, soft and 
 sheeny, with countless sparkling wavelets, red, 
 purple and gold tipped. Then all the colors of 
 the rainbow were there, with many shades be- 
 
 IOO
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 sides, and the surface of the water shone as 
 though studded with myriads of sparkling 
 gems. The colors became more subdued and 
 the gold changed to silver. One by one the 
 stars came out until the bosom of the river 
 seemed a milky-way on which the crescent 
 moon appeared, a silver boat, wave tossed. 
 
 It was, perhaps, an hour before midnight 
 that the mat at the entrance of the wigwam was 
 lifted and going out I found the Choctaw war 
 rior awaiting me. The face of the heavens had 
 changed since the rising of the moon. The whole 
 sky was overcast by fleecy clouds through which 
 the stars and the moon, now low in the west, 
 shone dimly. Two hours of silent creeping 
 through the forest, the mud and the water of 
 the marshes, brought us in sight of Augustine, 
 and within two hundred paces of the gate. 
 Black clouds were banking up in the east and 
 the breeze from the sea was both damp and 
 chilling. The moon appeared, a dim crescent 
 in the west, where earth and sky seemed to 
 meet. Then it disappeared; but looking, as I 
 lay among the tall grass on the edge of the 
 marsh, I saw a faint silver light showing above 
 the dark cloud that was slipping down in the 
 west. Still I looked, and I knew that the eyes 
 of every man of my following were upon the 
 same errand, though I could neither see nor 
 
 101
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 hear them. At last the silver light faded and 
 the cloud sank from view. 
 
 Yap, yap, yap ! " came the bark of a fox 
 from that edge of the forest which lay some 
 what nearer the walls though an hundred paces 
 farther inland than the marsh in which we 
 crouched. Three times the bark was repeated 
 and so perfect was the sound that my mind mis 
 gave me, but the savage at my side stirred ; he 
 crawled forward, and I with him. Across that 
 open space, twice an hundred paces, we crept, 
 now crawling, now lying motionless upon the 
 smooth surface of the trodden grass while we 
 waited the passing of a cloud to extinguish 
 the starlight. At length reaching the shadow 
 of the wall we arose to our feet and glided 
 noiselessly towards the gate. 
 
 " Yap, yap, yap ! " barked the fox in the 
 forest. 
 
 I held my breath I could feel though not 
 hear the panting of the men who crowded each 
 other upon my heels. We listened. Then 
 there came the sound of a dispute, the gate 
 keeper refusing to open to some one who would 
 pass without a warrant. I glanced at the face 
 of the Indian beside me but could tell nothing 
 for the darkness, and I well knew that I could 
 have told no more had it have been high noon. 
 We still listened and the quarrel went on, grow- 
 
 102
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ing more hot. Then there fell on my ears the 
 sound of faint footfalls that grew more dis 
 tinct. It was the watchman on the walls com 
 ing towards us. We shrank back into shadow, 
 trying to flatten ourselves against the rough 
 masonry. The dispute within had stopped. 
 The watchman walked on the wall over us. 
 He halted, then went on, and I never 
 knew a man to walk so slowly. It seemed 
 an eternity before the sound of his footfalls 
 ceased to beat upon my ears. Again I strained 
 my ears to catch some sound within the gate. 
 It seemed a city of the dead so still it was. My 
 heart throbs sounded like drum beats ; the pulse 
 in my brain beat to bursting; I grew deaf and 
 blind in my very effort to hear a sound that was 
 not. 
 
 The dispute within the walls began again 
 and all was so still that I could hear the voice 
 of both speakers. They spoke pure Spanish, 
 both the keeper and the man who would pass 
 the gate. I felt the chill of death in my bones, 
 for I knew that if that gate warden should be 
 too strongly tempted we would not pass within 
 the walls unresisted. I also knew that once the 
 alarm was given there would be soldiers, well 
 trained and twice our numbers, to meet us. 
 D Alva ruled neither his city nor his foes by 
 gentle means, and report said that he allowed 
 
 103
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 his soldiers neither rest nor sleep. The voices 
 within had become more friendly, and thinking 
 of Antoinette I grasped my dagger, determined 
 to plunge it in him who left the gate and the 
 keeper who barred our passage. I had not 
 
 come thus far to 
 
 There was a smothered cry, the sound of a 
 scuffle, a half -muttered oath. I grasped my 
 dagger more firmly and waited, ready to drive 
 it in. I heard the bolts drawn back. Then 
 the gate opened. 
 
 104
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 BEFORE us in the gate stood the great 
 war-chief of the Choctaws, splendid in 
 his war trappings, his hunting knife 
 dripping blood. A moment we stared at him, 
 then we rushed in, and when the last man 
 had come within the walls the chief lifted his 
 tomahawk, and there came forth from two 
 hundred throats the blood-curdling war-whoop 
 of the Choctaws. 
 
 It was Lumulgee s notice to his enemy of his 
 presence and of the terrible revenge he had 
 come to take for his own and his warrior s 
 wrongs after ten long years of planning. 
 
 After that hellish cry there followed a dead 
 silence. Black clouds had spread over the 
 stars and heaven itself seemed affrighted. 
 Then the wails of children, terrified screams, 
 and a torrent of Spanish oaths sounded from 
 within the houses. Lights glimmered and men 
 called to each other across the narrow streets. 
 We waited not, but ran on swiftly up the street, 
 towards the palace of the Governor. Every step 
 
 105
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 of the way the great war-chief of the Choctaws 
 ran at my side his hunting knife blood- 
 smeared and still unsheathed. 
 
 There were guards around the palace in 
 plenty for peace times but they disappeared at 
 our coming, swept away like thistle-down be 
 fore the north wind. They had heard the war- 
 whoop as had those in the palace. Lights 
 flashed from room to room, and we found the 
 doors barricaded and men within the windows 
 to guard them. First we attacked the great 
 entrance, but finding that the stout iron-bound 
 doors resisted our onslaught the wily savage 
 chief had a more cunning plan. 
 
 " Send thy soldiers with fifty of my warriors 
 to guard the streets against the coming of the 
 robbers from the fort; the boy chief with fifty 
 more braves to the door on the side of the 
 lodge, and leave thy Dutch chief here with 
 fifty," he said, and I, sure of his knowledge of 
 the city and the wisdom of his plans, gave the 
 orders, while he stationed the remaining fifty 
 Choctaws, With bows drawn, in positions to 
 command the windows. 
 
 There is yet another door." he said, com 
 ing back to my side. " A little door that leads 
 from the quarters of their women." 
 
 I looked into his eyes then, and without a 
 word turned and strode in the direction which 
 
 106
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 he led. As we passed around the house to 
 wards the back, from the very door we sought, 
 two people issued forth women. In the 
 twinkle of an eye Lumulgee was upon them, his 
 hunting knife buried in the breast of one; his 
 whirling tomahawk cleft the skull of the other. 
 Then he threw his head far back and gave forth 
 that mighty cry of exultation the most de 
 moniacal which I believe has ever passed hu 
 man lips the blood song of his nation. He 
 had drawn the first blood of the battle, and he 
 thus announced it to his warriors. They took 
 up the infernal cry, repeating it until the walls 
 of the city, the air, the very heavens, from the 
 black clouds that lowered above our heads, 
 seemed reverberating with it. 
 
 At the hellish sound my heart misgave me, 
 that I should have allied myself with demons 
 bent on such devilish work. I thought of the 
 women and children so rudely awakened and 
 the cruel fate that I had helped to foist upon 
 them. I thought of the many I thought of 
 Antoinette, and all pity, all misgivings about 
 my enterprise fled. I remembered the two 
 women snatched from under the very walls of 
 Charleston by men, men who had not the cour 
 age to sound even a warwhoop. What fate 
 was planned for them, or what had been their 
 treatment in this city where they were held 
 
 107
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 captives, I did not know, but knowing that An 
 toinette still lived I felt that they had both so 
 far escaped the worst. Thinking of all this 
 and of the wounded prisoner and the glowing 
 pits that I had left behind so many days ago on 
 the bluff overlooking the Isundiga, a mighty 
 hatred possessed me; a hatred for the man who 
 had caused it all and a thirst for revenge; a 
 mighty desire to throttle him, to get my fingers 
 behind his windpipe that I might jerk it out and 
 so leave him. All feeling for my kind left me 
 and I too became as a devil possessed of all the 
 passions of hell. 
 
 Blindly I rushed forward with the savage 
 chief. Behind some blooming vines and shrub 
 bery we found the little door, and, putting our 
 shoulders to it, we burst it from its hinges. We 
 found ourselves at the foot of a narrow flight 
 of stairs, built into the wall; at the top a faint 
 light glimmered. It was evidently a private en 
 trance and these stairs led, perhaps to some 
 lady s bower I thought of Antoinette and 
 would have rushed up had not Lumulgee placed 
 his hand upon my arm. 
 
 " That is but the light that comes from 
 heaven," he said, pointing towards the top of 
 the stairs. " It leads to the roof. Lumulgee 
 will show his white brother; he will lead him to 
 the lair of the robber." 
 
 108
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Leaning forward it was so dark that I could 
 not see what he did he lifted up the lower end 
 of the steps and disclosed what at first appeared 
 to be a deep and dark hole. Peering in I made 
 out another flight of steps leading down. 
 Obeying his touch I stepped forward and began 
 to descend; he followed me after he had closed 
 the way by which we entered, and in so doing 
 shut out the dusky light that came to us through 
 the open door, and which, when compared to the 
 inky blackness through which we walked, was 
 as the brightness of noonday. Down the stairs 
 we groped to an underground passage under 
 ground I knew both from the chill that clutched 
 me and the dead silence that it contained; not 
 the faintest echo of the turmoil that we had left 
 behind reached us after the closing of that trap 
 door. That it was of sufficient width for three 
 men to walk abreast, I learned bystretching my 
 arms from one side to the other; I discovered, 
 also, that it was walled with rough masonry. 
 We had walked perhaps an hundred yards in 
 this passage; and I was but a step ahead of the 
 war-chief, when I came bump! against the 
 wall. 
 
 "It is the end, Lumulgee," I exclaimed, re 
 coiling from the shock. 
 
 " Captain Middleton has but just come to the 
 dividing of the two ways," he answered. " Lu- 
 
 109
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 mulgee will first show the white chief how the 
 Spanish robber watches the women whom he 
 holds captive in his palace, then take him to the 
 lair of the robber." His hand turned me into 
 the passage on the left. 
 
 From the foot of the last stairs the floor of 
 the passage had sloped gently downward. 
 Now we began to ascend more and more ab 
 ruptly. Neither did we move straight ahead as 
 in the first passage, but bore always to the right. 
 I had begun to think that we were making a 
 circle, when Lumulgee s hand touched me and 
 he indicated a ray of grey light which I had 
 seen only the smallest space of time before I felt 
 the weight of his hand. As faintly as the light 
 shone there came to my ears the shouts and 
 cries of both those who stormed and those who 
 defended the palace. 
 
 " That light comes from the room in which 
 sleeps the woman whom the Spanish thief 
 would watch," the Indian at my side said, and 
 his deep contempt for so cowardly a deed made 
 itself felt even in his passionless voice. " The 
 white maiden whom Captain Middleton seeks 
 has slept there many nights with her black 
 woman and the pale face squaw. This night 
 she sleeps so soundly that the noise does not 
 awake her or else they listen in silence. She 
 
 I 10
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 burns her light dimly or that ray would shine 
 more red." 
 
 He leaned forward and placed his eye to the 
 opening. Then he moved back and something 
 more like a laugh than any sound I had ever 
 before heard from Indian escaped him. 
 
 " The white maiden is as wise as the serpent 
 and hath the eyes of a hawk." he said. " She 
 hath seen the eye of the man who spied upon 
 her and covered his peep-hole. Will Captain 
 Middleton look?" 
 
 I pressed my eye to the hole it was of about 
 the bigness of a man s eye but could see noth 
 ing save a grey spot as of light shining through 
 a thick cloth. There were no sounds except 
 those made by the men who warred against 
 each other. Coming as faintly as they did 
 these cries once more awakened my thirst for 
 revenge against the man, the baseness of whose 
 nature I was only just beginning to com 
 prehend. 
 
 " We must hasten to the Governor, Lumul- 
 gee," I exclaimed, turning back in the direction 
 whence we had come. 
 
 Again came that sound of savage mirth, and 
 I knew that the great chief laughed, pleased by 
 the longing for revenge that the eagerness in 
 my voice evidenced. Silently he turned and I 
 
 III
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 followed him. We retraced our steps past the 
 central passage and began another ascent, 
 bearing always to the left until I realized that 
 the spot we sought could be but a few paces 
 from the end of that passage with the peep 
 hole. This struck me as a wondrously strange 
 waste of work and I began to puzzle for a rea 
 son, which when found, I knew would be dark 
 as hell itself. 
 
 " WL:.t does this circle that we have well 
 nigh passed around contain, Lumulgee ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " A dungeon as damp as it is black," he an 
 swered. " In it the Spanish thief puts women 
 when all else has failed and such of his other 
 prisoners as he would have tortured under his 
 o\vn eyes. Lumulgee was there when the Span 
 iard sought to wring from him the treasure of 
 the great temple of the Choctaws." 
 
 " Antoinette ! " I cried. " The white maiden 
 whom we seek, she was not in that room with 
 the peep-hole? " 
 
 " At the sunset she. with her black woman 
 and the white squaw, walked on the sea wall 
 with the Governor and his nephew to whom he 
 seeks to mate her. She spoke gaily, with jests 
 that made all who were with her laugh. Her 
 eyes were bright as stars and she has roses, not 
 lilies, in her cheeks. The eyes of the young 
 
 I 12
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 Spanish chief never leave her; he can see 
 naught else. He is as tall as Captain Middle- 
 ton and more beautiful than anything in the 
 forest." 
 
 This was the first description that I had of 
 him who I knew would prove my bitterest 
 enemy, and my hatred for him was as great as 
 my love for the girl he sought, though the one 
 passion was of less than an hour s growth while 
 the other was the growth of well nigh her 
 whole lifetime. I placed my hand on my sword 
 and drew it from its scabbard. My ears caught 
 the first faint sounds of the contest that raged 
 without, and they grew so great as we hastened 
 on that I knew our men must have gained 
 entrance. 
 
 " Captain Midclleton will have need for his 
 weapon," the chief said as my sword left its 
 scabbard. " We are upon the door to the great 
 room of the robber and there will be much 
 fighting." 
 
 We stopped and Lumulgee leaned forward. 
 Then the wall that faced us opened and we 
 stepped into a passage less damp and dark. 
 Here the sounds from without came so loudly 
 that I could distinguish the voices and the clash 
 of swords. Again we stopped and I knew that 
 the Indian at my side felt for some spring hid 
 den in the wall. A panel slid back and let in a
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 glare of light that, as it struck us, for a moment 
 blinded me. 
 
 The room into which we looked was evi 
 dently the last redoubt of the Governor in his 
 palace and he doubtless intended, if driven from 
 it before the arrival of his troops from the 
 fort, to escape into the city by means of the 
 secret passage through which the one man in 
 the world who thirsted most for his blood, had 
 come to seek him out. The Governor and he 
 whom I knew to be my enemy, though it was the 
 first time that I had ever clapped eyes upon him, 
 with two dozen men guards and servitors in 
 the palace waited with weapons ready drawn 
 for those who attacked the barricaded door to 
 force their entrance. Their backs were towards 
 us as, for an instant, we stood without the se 
 cret door. The movement of the panel had 
 been silent, noiseless, yet as though drawn by a 
 mighty fascination the Spanish ruler turned 
 and looked upon the face of Lumulgee. A mo 
 ment they glared into each other s eyes, the 
 hunted man paling under the eyes of his enemy; 
 then with a blasphemous oath the Spaniard 
 sprang forward to cut off our entrance his 
 men moving with him. We were too quick for 
 them. We rushed in and from a touch of Lu- 
 mulgee s hand the panel slipped back into 
 place. 
 
 114
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I am rated a good swordsman and fear not 
 to meet any living man with two good blades 
 between us, but when this crowd rushed upon 
 us, two dozen and two against two, I cannot 
 swear that I felt no coward longing in my 
 heart. If it was there though I say not it was 
 I gave it scant hearing, for placing my back 
 against the wall, shoulder to shoulder with 
 Lumulgee, I met them with my flashing sword. 
 One at least a guard tall and weighty felt 
 its keenness and sank dying at my feet, form 
 ing a barrier from which his fellows shrank 
 back glaring at us. Lumulgee too had slain an 
 enemy who lay, with cleft skull, sprawling be 
 fore us. A moment they glared at us, crowded 
 against the farther side of the wall. We could 
 hear the shouts of our men running back and 
 forth over the palace as they chased the fleeing 
 inmates or sought the quarry that we had 
 found. Then mine enemy, choosing six men, 
 who knew well how to handle their weapons I 
 warrant, strode forward more coolly to meet 
 us. The Governor forced by his nephew for 
 I must say the Spaniard acted not the coward 
 but ever seemed as willing to meet Lumulgee 
 as the war-chief was to get at him stood sur 
 rounded by his men and crying out warnings 
 to those who fought. 
 
 It was the sword of the young Spanish
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Apollo that crossed my own while his fellows 
 pitched upon Lumulgee. I looked into his eyes 
 and met a hatred as great as my own, and I soon 
 knew that I had met as good a swordsman. 
 
 Our swords flashed and the movement of 
 both eyes and wrist was as lightning. I touched 
 him more than once and as often felt his cold 
 steel enter my flesh. Lumulgee finished two of 
 his foes and some half dozen of those who held 
 guard about the Governor rushed forward to 
 take their place. As they came upon him the 
 great war-chief lifted his head and again the 
 blood-song of theChoctaws sounded this time 
 with a trailing end note that I knew called his 
 warriors to him with the swiftness of dogs on 
 the hunt. They came. The barricaded door 
 resounded, then shook with the fury of their 
 attack. My enemy s thrusts became more rapid 
 and harder to parry. The panel against which 
 the Governor stood was opened and, pushed by 
 his men, he turned to flee. Then there went 
 flashing, whirling with a swiftness that made 
 its singing heard above the shouts and noise 
 outside, the war-hatchet of his enemy. With 
 his head cleft to the chin the Governor of 
 Augustine fell across the threshold of the room 
 which he was about to enter. The shrieks of 
 terrified women mingled with the blood-song 
 of the Indian chief and there flashed before my 
 
 116
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 eyes as they watched the movements, the very 
 thoughts of the man who sought my life, a 
 mingled vision of women s bright skirts and 
 white faces. Then there sounded a cry in 
 which there was neither fear nor anger. 
 
 "Jack! Jack! I said it was you, come to 
 save me and my father." 
 
 Over the Governor s body, into the room 
 strewn with dead men and slippery with blood, 
 she sped towards me. The Spaniard made des 
 perate, as I saw by the note of gladness in her 
 voice, gave a furious thrust and my blade 
 pierced him through, the point showing at his 
 back. I drew it out. She reached my side as 
 he sank at my feet, the door burst open and 
 Jonathan Blake and those he led rushed in. 
 
 There was small time for dalliance. The 
 shouts in the streets warned us of the approach 
 of the soldiers from the fort and I was wounded, 
 my clothes bloodstained from wounds that 
 were more than sword pricks, but there was 
 that within her eyes for the knowledge of 
 which I would gladly have yielded up every 
 drop of blood in my body. A moment I held 
 her in my arms and pressed my lips to hers; 
 then I led her into the room from which she 
 had come and in which Mistress Moreton and 
 the black woman still remained. We found 
 only Jonathan Blake and Acuera with the 
 
 117
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 women. On the breaking in of the door the 
 Spaniards who still fought Lumulgee had fled 
 into other rooms of the palace and our men 
 after them. I gave one quick startled look 
 towards the room which we had just left, think 
 ing only of the dead men who strewed the floor; 
 then I turned to the Coosaw. 
 
 " Lumulgee? " I asked. 
 
 " The great war-chief of the Choctaws bore 
 away the body of his enemy and covered his 
 blood that the women of his English brothers 
 need not look upon it," Acuera replied, mo 
 tioning to the spot where the Governor had 
 fallen and which I now saw was covered by a 
 Spanish cloak. 
 
 I asked not where he bore the body nor for 
 what purpose, for my thoughts and eyes were 
 filled with the safety of the girl who stood at my 
 side, her hand clasped in my own. 
 
 " You must come with us, Antoinette," I 
 said. " You and Mistress Moreton and Mar- 
 cie. We have not the strength to beat back the 
 soldiers and the people of the town for long and 
 we must get beyond its wall and into the 
 forest." 
 
 " I am ready, Jack," she answered. " I can 
 walk as fast and far as any white man. but 
 Marcie is old and Mistress Moreton " 
 
 She broke off, her face growing pale. " Jack, 
 
 118
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Jack, where is my father? " she cried. " Have 
 you taken him out of that dungeon vault into 
 which they thrust him yesterday at noon ? " 
 
 My heart grew cold within my breast as I 
 met the wild questioning of her eyes. In my 
 eager, determined search for her and the wild 
 joy that followed our meeting I had thought of 
 nothing else, and the thought of the charge 
 that she had placed upon me and the Gover 
 nor s commands had been entirely forgotten. 
 
 " Can the white maiden tell where the Span 
 ish robber hid the white chief, her father ? " 
 Lumulgee s voice asked, and, turning, I found 
 him standing before us. 
 
 For a moment Antoinette gazed at him and 
 then as though recognizing the greatness of his 
 prowess and his high rank from the dignity of 
 his face and bearing, she swept him a courtesy 
 that was both graceful and respectful. 
 
 " Aye," she answered, when he had returned 
 her greeting with a courtly dignity that Louis 
 himself might have envied. " Yesterday noon 
 they took me to see them wall him up in his cell, 
 a cell so small that it was scarce more than a 
 vault. They thought that the sight of him and 
 the suffering that he would endure would force 
 me to wed the nephew of the butcher who, less 
 than an hour ago, was the Governor of Augus 
 tine. But I obeyed my father and would not; 
 
 119
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 so they walled him up and left him there to die 
 of hunger and thirst." 
 
 " You spoke with him, Antoinette? " I asked 
 in surprise. 
 
 " Yes, Jack, and he bade me, as I held him 
 dear as my father and feared my God, to stand 
 firm; to take my life if need be by any means 
 that lay in my power, rather than become the 
 wife of a Spaniard," she replied, and I thought 
 she clung more closely to me. " Had he not 
 so laid his commands on me, Jack, I doubt if I 
 could have stood my ground. He is in the dun 
 geon of the fort," she said, speaking once more 
 directly to Lumulgee. " I can lead you to the 
 very cell." 
 
 " The war-chief of the Choctaws knows 
 well that dungeon," he assured her with grave 
 courtesy. " He, with his braves, will go to the 
 rescue of the great white chief and with him 
 will meet Captain Middleton and his friends 
 beyond the gate in the forest where barked the 
 fox at the setting of the last moon." 
 
 Then we held council, Jonathan Blake, 
 Acuera, the great war-chief and I. It was 
 decided that I, with the Coosaw and the young 
 Englishman under the guidance of the Indian 
 who had entered the room with Lumulgee 
 was to hurry with the three women to the gate, 
 making the greatest possible speed. Once 
 
 120
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and there await our friends. Lumulgee was to 
 leave with Master Bernard Schinking my com 
 mands that he with my soldiers and such of 
 the Choctaws as the war-chief could spare, 
 should hold the Spaniards in check or lead them 
 about the city, moving always towards the gate 
 but keeping well away from the fort, until hear 
 ing the signal of the war-chief. Then should 
 they make directly for the gate, while the 
 war-chief was to take such of his braves as he 
 chose and going to the dungeon was to break 
 down the newly-built walls and bring out 
 Colonel Huguenin ; then, sounding the " Come 
 to me," of his nation he would hasten to the 
 gate and there, joined by Master Schinking, 
 they would together leave the city and march 
 to us in the forest. 
 
 Such were the plans mapped out, and no 
 sooner were they decided upon than we set 
 about doing them. On our way to the secret 
 passage, by which the women were to be con 
 ducted from the palace , we entered the great 
 room where we had found the Governor, but I 
 noticed that the Spaniard whom I had left 
 dying at my feet, run through by my sword, 
 was no longer among the dead men who lay 
 upon the floor. I pointed to the spot where he 
 had fallen. 
 
 121
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Was it you who moved the body of the 
 Spaniard, the nephew of the Governor, Lumul- 
 gee? " I asked. 
 
 The Indian chief made a sign of negation, 
 then seizing one of the torches that lighted the 
 room, and wrenching it from its bracket, he 
 pressed open the panel door and looked closely 
 at the floor just within the passage. 
 
 " Captain Middleton will have need to walk 
 with drawn sword and keen eyes," he said, 
 straightening up and motioning towards the 
 dark doorway. " His enemy has gone before 
 him into the secret way, of which he knows all 
 the dark turnings, and he went not unarmed." 
 
 We left the war-chief and moved forward, 
 guided by his brave. The last sound from the 
 outer world that fell upon my ear as the inner 
 door of that dark way closed upon us was the 
 call of the chief to his warriors in the palace, 
 and the first sound that reached me as the steps 
 at the other end were lifted was the same call, 
 uttered by the same voice, and without the pal 
 ace walls. We tarried not to push the stairs in 
 place nor to close the outer door, but went 
 swiftly forward our guide leading; I, with 
 Antoinette s hand clasped firmly in mine, fol 
 lowed closely behind; then came Jonathan 
 Blake with his sister, and, last, Acuera with the 
 
 122
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 old black woman whom he allowed scant time 
 for breathing. 
 
 We turned down a narrow street towards the 
 gate. The street was so dark and rough that it 
 was impossible for us to make any great speed. 
 From the houses on both sides could be heard 
 the terrified cries and groans of the inmates. 
 From time to time the street would be choked 
 with people, men, women and children, often 
 with some few of their household treasures has 
 tily snatched up, and all fleeing to the fort. They 
 passed us, sometimes pressing us along with 
 them, but never recognizing us as the enemies 
 from whom they fled, so dark was the street 
 and so great was their haste. We had but just 
 disentangled ourselves from a party of these 
 terrified fugitives and turned into a still nar 
 rower street that led more directly to the gate, 
 when the flare of a torch lighted the street in 
 front of us. The man who bore it ran back 
 shouting some signal. Other lights flashed out 
 and showed me the street filled with Spanish 
 soldiers. I threw my arms about Antoinette, 
 and shouting to those who followed me, turned 
 to flee in the direction from which we had come, 
 only to find myself faced by a crowd equally as 
 great and well armed. 
 
 " Your weapons, men ! " I cried. " Push the 
 
 123
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 women behind you. We can at least send some 
 of the wretches to death before they reach us." 
 With our backs to the wall we waited their 
 coming. Like a troop of demons they came 
 whirling upon us. As a creature possessed I 
 fought, cut, slashed and defended. I thought 
 only of the girl behind me and that each of the 
 fighting devils sought to get her in his power. 
 If I was wounded, I felt not the sting, but 
 fought on, conscious only of the call which the 
 Indian at my side gave forth more than once 
 and a mighty longing to hear him answered. 
 As I fought there seemed to rise among that 
 surging mass of fighting furies the face of the 
 man whom I had seen lying at my feet in the 
 great room of the palace, pierced through by 
 my sword. He came, and others with him, in 
 one mighty rush forward. I felt the weight of 
 the Indian at my side as he sank down against 
 me; I saw Jonathan Blake fall dead at his 
 sister s feet; I heard Antoinette s agonized 
 voice call my name. Then, all the worlds of 
 the universe seemed to fall on my head and 
 crush me to the earth. 
 
 124
 
 " / thought only of the girl behind me."
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 1 AWOKE into a world in which there was 
 neither light nor sound. I lay on my 
 back perfectly motionless, my arms at 
 my side, staring up into the darkness, conscious 
 only of my breathing and of winking my eyes. 
 Then I began to think, and the events of our 
 march and of our entrance into Augustine came 
 into my mind like a mighty rabble of fantastic 
 ghosts crowding one upon the heels of the other. 
 I remembered the secret passage, our rush into 
 the Governor s great room, Lumulgee s blood- 
 song, the evil expression on my enemy s hand 
 some face. Antoinette s glad cry, again I seem 
 to hold her in my arms and my breath came in 
 quick, hot gasps. I recalled our flight through 
 the city, the glare of the torches, the Spanish 
 soldiers, our fight, four men against an hun 
 dred and the blow that crushed in my skull. 
 A flash of terror came into my thoughts and I 
 stretched out my hands; then I dropped them to 
 my side with a sigh of relief. I was in some 
 place larger than my grave. 
 
 125
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I became conscious of the hard rough surface 
 on which I lay and attempted to rise only to 
 sink back with a mighty throbbing in my head 
 and the knowledge that my feet were fettered. 
 I knew that I was in a Spanish prison and the 
 darkness and the damp caused me to think of 
 Lumulgee s description of the dungeon that the 
 secret passage so nearly encircled. Then came 
 a memory of the vault-like cell in which An 
 toinette had seen her father walled up and left 
 to die of thirst and starvation. Perhaps such 
 an end was reserved for me. At first the 
 thought produced no sensation on my dulled 
 brain, but gradually as the pain of the throb 
 bing became less intense the horrible torture of 
 such a death forced itself on me. My mind 
 cleared and I determined to touch the confines 
 of my prison-house, and by them, if possible, 
 judge what fate had designed for me. 
 
 Again I attempted to rise, only to sink 
 back with the feeling that all the worlds of 
 the universe were revolving and throbbing 
 in my head. I pressed my hands over my 
 brow and felt of my hair, damp and blood- 
 clotted from the wounds on my head. The 
 touch of my fingers cooled my brain and at 
 last by one movement at a time between 
 whiles pressing against my throbbing head my 
 hands, chilled by their contact with the cold, 
 
 126
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 damp stones I dragged myself forward and 
 touched the walls of my dungeon. It was of 
 masonry as rough as the floor on which I lay, 
 and as damp. I crept along the wall until I dis 
 covered that it was of a size many times larger 
 than a cell and of a shape other than rounding, 
 for the corners were square. 
 
 Exhausted I sank down, resting against the 
 wall, and at a considerable distance from the 
 spot from which I had dragged myself. The 
 room seemed filled with myriads of stars. They 
 floated around me sparkling and in all the col 
 ors of the rainbow. I pressed my ringers over 
 my eyes, then, removing them, I tried to see 
 something besides the darkness and those ever- 
 changing, floating, sparkling lights. Suddenly 
 a thought came to me that was like a knife 
 thrust a knife thrust into the very core of my 
 heart. I \vas not deaf, for I could hear the 
 clanking of the chains on my feet, the beating 
 of my heart and my own breathing; but I was 
 blind. Great God! blind. Made sightless 
 by the blow on my head. With the despair of a 
 lost soul I threw myself face down cm the rough 
 floor, heeding neither its dampness nor the 
 noisome things that crawled over it. How 
 long I lay there with that black despair grip 
 ping my heart or the terrible thoughts that 
 passed through my reeling brain, God in 
 
 127
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Heaven only knows. But when at last I turned 
 my face upwards and lifted my eye-lids the 
 same stars appeared, always floating, always 
 changing, mocking my sightlessness with their 
 brilliance. At length I grew more calm and 
 my mind was filled with thoughts of Antoi 
 nette, Lumulgee, the men who followed me; 
 what had been their fate? Of Jonathan Blake 
 and the Indian who fought at my side I knew. 
 I had seen the sword enter the heart of one; I 
 had felt the weight of the other as he sank dy 
 ing at 
 
 That white star over there to my left, how 
 steady it was. It neither mocked me by its bril 
 liance nor by floating about in dizzy circles 
 around my head. As I looked, the other bril 
 liant, mocking stars floated away and disap 
 peared. Again I pressed my fingers over my 
 eyes, and from the bitter depths of my heart 
 prayed to Him who had suffered death, cruci 
 fied. I looked and laughed aloud; I sat up, 
 unmindful of the throbbing in my head; I 
 clapped my hands from very joy like a happy 
 child. For it was there still that ray of light 
 streaming through a chink in my dungeon wall, 
 and I was not blind. 
 
 I know not how long a time I sat there, nor 
 what were the thoughts that crowded them 
 selves one after the other across the mirror of 
 
 128
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 my mind before, overpowered by fatigue, I sank 
 down upon the rough floor and fell asleep. I was 
 waked by the light of a torch flashed against 
 my eyes. It was my gaoler, come to bring me 
 food and drink and to look at my wounded head 
 and to the security of my fetters. I spoke to 
 him in French, asking of my imprisonment and 
 the length of time that I had been there. He an 
 swered me with a curse, in a hoarse voice that 
 suited well his villainous face, and after again 
 flashing the torch before my eyes he went out, 
 closing the heavy door behind him. I heard the 
 bolts drop into place, then I turned to the food 
 and drink that he had placed at my side. The 
 hard, mouldy crusts I could not eat, but the 
 water to my burning lips and parched throat 
 was sweeter than any wine I had ever drunk. I 
 drank it sparingly, saving some little to moisten 
 a part of my shirt that I tore off and with which 
 I laved my wounded head. I fell asleep, and 
 waked and slept again, for I knew not how 
 long. Sometimes the light shone through the 
 crack in the wall and sometimes all was dark 
 ness. My gaoler s visits became more frequent, 
 and some days I was given good wine as well as 
 water and my food improved both in quality 
 and quantity. On each occasion, though, he 
 took good care to examine my fetters and to 
 look narrowly about the floor and the walls as 
 
 129
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 though expecting me to make some effort to 
 escape; but he never spoke or, by any sign, 
 showed that he heard my questions. With no 
 other application than water and wine, when I 
 had it, my wounds began to heal and my head 
 pained me no longer when I sat up or walked 
 around my dungeon examining the walls and 
 floor with my fingers. 
 
 I was so occupied when I heard the bolts 
 shot back. The door opened, there was a sud 
 den flare of torches and four guards entered. 
 A man with a brutal, weather-beaten face 
 their officer I knew from his uniform fol 
 lowed them, lantern in hand, and turned the 
 light full upon me. For full two minutes he 
 stood there staring at me, his hand upon his 
 sword. 
 
 " I bear a message from the Governor of 
 Florida. Will Captain Middleton signify when 
 he will hear it ? " He spoke English, but in 
 the formal style of his own nation, and there 
 was an insolence in his voice and manner that 
 belied the courtesy of his words. 
 
 " I am a prisoner," I replied, speaking with 
 what firmness I was able to command. " I am 
 forced to receive the Governor of Augustine s 
 message in any place or at any time that he may 
 choose to send it. Do you come to lead me to 
 my death? " 
 
 130
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " I come to offer you freedom," he replied, 
 regarding me so narrowly that I knew that he 
 lied. 
 
 "At what price?" I demanded coldly, 
 though my heart leaped at the very sound of 
 the word. 
 
 " That you act as guide to the stronghold of 
 the Choctaw Indians," he answered. " The 
 young Governor of Augustine would seek out 
 their war-chief and avenge the death of his 
 uncle." 
 
 " And rob their temple," I could have an 
 swered with all truth, but did not. Instead, I 
 asked calmly enough, " And the alternative if 
 I refuse? " 
 
 " Death by any means that the Governor may 
 choose," he answered, with a fiendish leer. 
 
 " At such a price I refuse to buy my freedom. 
 You may so inform your Governor, and tell 
 him that I am ready for his torture." 
 
 f He gives you until to-morrow to think. 
 At this hour I will come to lead you forth to 
 freedom if you are wise, to death if you still 
 refuse." 
 
 " You need not wait," I told him. " My 
 answer to-day will be my answer to-morrow, 
 or a month, a year, aye, verily, a life time hence. 
 The Choctaws are my friends; I will never be 
 tray them."
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 " I will inform the Governor of your de 
 cision," he replied, formally, and sweeping me 
 a bow of mocking deference he passed through 
 the door, his guards following him. 
 
 I saw no more of my gaoler. All that day 
 and the next, until the hour appointed, I fasted. 
 When that time arrived the same officer made 
 his appearance with ten instead of four of his 
 Spanish guards. He spoke not a word, but, 
 motioning towards me, two of his men stepped 
 forward and clapped irons upon my wrists. 
 Thus fettered, hands and feet, and walking 
 among them, I left the damp, dark hole where I 
 had spent so many weary, suffering hours, and 
 walked through dark and narrow passages, up 
 steps, through more passages and up more steps 
 until at length I was brought into the presence 
 of his Honor the Governor of Augustine. He 
 sat in a gilded chair on a raised platform sur 
 rounded by guards. Other men, whom I knew 
 to be dignitaries from the gold lace and the 
 sparkling gems that bedecked their rich clothes, 
 sat with him in the great hall. I judged that I 
 was in the tribunal room of the fort where the 
 Governor of Florida and his council sat in 
 judgment on their enemies and ofttimes, when 
 their humor suited, if report lied not, witnessed 
 and directed the tortures. 
 
 Brought to the foot of the dais, I raised my 
 
 132
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOTING 
 
 eyes and faced him who sat in the chair of 
 honor. It was mine enemy, the young Spanish 
 Apollo whom I had run through with my sword 
 and left for dead in the great room of the Gov 
 ernor s palace. His eyes met mine with a 
 malignant hatred glittering in their velvety 
 depths that made me know that my hour of 
 judgment would be as bitter as a devil s brain 
 could plan and human hands execute. He was 
 thinner than when I had first seen him and 
 ghastly white, and the knowledge that the 
 wound that I had given him was no pin prick 
 caused me to meet his gaze with bold eyes and 
 lips that almost smiled. 
 
 " I have sent for you, Captain Middleton, 
 again to offer you your freedom, and to hear 
 from your own lips your decision," he said in 
 musical French, waving towards me a hand as 
 white and shapely as any woman s and flashing 
 with sparkling gems. 
 
 Then he repeated his offer, making the con 
 ditions that his officer of the guards had named. 
 It was Lumulgee they wanted. The Indian 
 who had entered Augustine and with his band 
 of painted savages, assisted by a handful of 
 English, murdered the Governor, killed five 
 hundred people, torn down the walls of the dun 
 geon and led forth out of the city, into the for 
 est beyond their reach, the prisoners. They
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 sought revenge against the great war-chief and 
 his nation in the name of his Gracious Majesty 
 the King of Spain, and in his name offered me 
 my freedom if I would lead his army over the 
 route that we had passed and in sight of the 
 great Indian village. When I made no answer, 
 hoping to gain further tidings of my friends by 
 silence, the old Spaniard who sat at the right 
 hand of him who filled the Governor s chair 
 leaned forward and spoke. 
 
 " Captain Middleton, you will not only be 
 forgiven your own act of taking up arms against 
 Augustine at a time when our two countries 
 enjoy a season of peace, blessed by the brotherly 
 love of our two royal masters, but a pardon will 
 also be granted to all those who followed you 
 from Charleston. And such an indemnity as 
 shall be agreed upon by their most Gracious 
 Majesties of England and Spain will be paid to 
 you and Colonel Huguenin for your capture 
 and imprisonment by our Indian allies, the 
 Yemassees, though they went not at our 
 bidding." 
 
 " Mademoiselle Huguenin, Mistress More- 
 ton, and our slaves? " I asked. 
 
 That also was a mistake," he assured me 
 with such an appearance of sincerity that had I 
 not received particulars of their capture and 
 
 134
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 known him to be a Spaniard, I would have be 
 lieved that he spoke the truth. " Mistress 
 Moreton and the slaves will be returned and 
 such moneys paid for their capture and deten 
 tion as their Majesties shall decide." 
 
 "And Mademoiselle Huguenin?" I de 
 manded, letting him know that I had noticed 
 the omission of her name. 
 
 The face of mine enemy flamed blood red. 
 
 " Mademoiselle Huguenin is the loyal sub 
 ject of His Majesty the King of France," he 
 replied. " At her desire I have sent a messen 
 ger to the French court praying her hand in 
 honorable marriage of King Louis. She goes 
 no more to Charleston. I am weary of your 
 questioning and would have your answer un 
 less you would return to your dungeon and 
 there, fasting another day, make up your 
 mind." 
 
 " My lord," I answered, looking him boldly 
 in the eyes and smiling, " though I feasted 
 or fasted twenty years my answer would be the 
 same. Though you could give me an hundred 
 lives and all the wealth of your King, both in 
 Spain and in the Indies, double ten times over, 
 I would not do the deed you ask of me. I have 
 faced death many a time and I know that to the 
 prisoners and enemies of Spain he often comes
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 in tortures most terrible ; still it is only death- 
 naught else. My lord, I am your enemy and 
 your prisoner; do your worst." 
 
 He glared at me with a hatred so great that 
 the beauty of his face disappeared and he looked 
 an imp from hell. 
 
 " Go ! drag in the cage," he cried, flinging up 
 his hand in a gesture of imperious command to 
 the officer who had brought me in. 
 
 He went, and soon hearing the noise of lum 
 bering wheels I turned and saw dragged on a 
 heavy wooden cart that instrument of death 
 about whose tortures I had heard reports most 
 terrible. It was the iron cage of Augustine. 
 They slid it off the cart, and when it stood up 
 right it appeared an iron coffin built for a man 
 both broad and tall. With curses they thrust 
 me into it my back against its solid bottom. 
 They screwed down my arms at wrists and 
 elbows ; fastened the collar about my throat ; the 
 bars across my body; and then, shoving it back 
 to its wooden wheels, they dragged it out out 
 of the tribunal room, out of the cool dusk of the 
 long passageway with its tall vaulted roof, out 
 on the sea-wall and under sun-rays so intense 
 that even my closed lids could not shut out the 
 glare that burned into my eye-balls with a pain 
 as terrible as molten lead. I pulled at my arms ; 
 I strove to turn my head, so deadened by the 
 
 136
 
 " Pull in the face she struck him who hadhung me there"
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 torture of the pain in my eyes that I was not 
 conscious of the sharpness of my fetters and the 
 deep cuts they made in my flesh. It was to no 
 avail. On they dragged me, while, faint as the 
 dream of an echo, there came to my reeling 
 brain the exultant shouts of the people, the 
 curses of the soldiers and the clank of the iron 
 chains as they hoisted me up and I swung out 
 over the gate of the city. Deep down in my 
 throat I thanked God that I stood once more 
 on my feet and that my eyes looked not into 
 the sun. 
 
 The torture of the glare becoming less in 
 tense, I opened my eyes and saw the jeering 
 faces of the people who crowded on the sea 
 wall mocking me. I heard their taunting shouts 
 and curses; I heard the noise of the city below 
 and the roar of the waves outside; but, over 
 and above it all, I was conscious of the 
 terrible heat of the sun beating down upon 
 my iron coffin, and the horrible thirst that 
 tormented me. The people mocked on; they 
 threw sticks and stones; they hissed and spat 
 at me. I heeded them not but tugged at my 
 arms until the sharp fetters cut deep into my 
 flesh and I could feel the blood trickle down my 
 hand and drop off my fingers, until I longed to 
 be a dog that I might lap my own blood. Then 
 my eyes closed and darkness slipped down over
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 me, blotting it all out. When next I looked the 
 sun was low in the heavens, my cage had swung 
 around towards the sea, and the salt breeze 
 fanned me, cooling both body and brain. I 
 watched the sun sink out of sight; I saw the 
 shimmer of moonlight far out at sea. 
 
 The city slept and the noises of the forest 
 and the lap of the waves on the shore came 
 to me soothingly. Again the darkness came 
 down and I knew no more until the sun rode 
 high in the heavens and beat down upon me 
 with a heat and brilliancy that made the whole 
 world a fiery furnace. My tongue was parched 
 and swollen; myriads of gnats and small flies 
 swarmed around my face, stinging and biting 
 me. I prayed for death and dreamed it came. 
 My dream ended and I knew that it rained. 
 Big, beautiful crystal drops fell and clung to the 
 bars that held me. I twisted my head, put out 
 my tongue and tried to touch them, but could 
 not. My fetters cut deep into my sore and 
 swollen flesh, and once more darkness covered 
 it all. 
 
 I floated, floated, floated, while thousands of 
 glad, bright faces smiled upon me. My mother, 
 my sisters, all the friends that I had ever known, 
 both in the old world and the new, were around 
 me. Mistress Moreton? Yes, Mistress More- 
 ton, white- faced and terrified, and Marcie, with 
 
 138
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 great round eyes, in which there was only ter 
 ror; my enemy, with hatred in his eyes and a 
 mocking smile on his lips ; Antoinette 
 
 It was the sight of her face that aroused me. 
 The three walked on the sea-wall with the 
 Spaniard. Antoinette s face was ghost-white 
 as she gazed at me. The little spark of life left 
 in my body flared up as my eyes met hers. She 
 called my name. Then the blood flamed red in 
 her cheeks and she turned and, full in the face, 
 she struck him who had hung me there. 
 
 Again I thought I died. Soft fingers played 
 with my hair, caressed my cheeks. As a dream 
 remembered in a dream came the thoughts of 
 my past life and those whom I held dear. I 
 was in England, in Charleston, in mine own 
 house, with my mother, with Antoinette I 
 opened my eyes. It was the mist, the blessed 
 mist. What the rain would not do it had done. 
 My clothes were saturated, the thirsty pores of 
 my skin had drunk their fill. It had crept be 
 tween my lips, and my swollen tongue was no 
 longer parched. I felt a dreamy happiness and 
 looked out over the shrouded city with a smile 
 on my lips. Lights came to me dimly, and 
 figures of men pressed around me like shadows. 
 As echoes, far distant echoes, the sound of 
 voices came to me. I heard the clank of the 
 chains and felt the sway of the cage. Some
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 one spoke to me, spoke English. They 
 touched me with friendly hands, broke the fet 
 ters that bound me and lifted me out of that 
 iron coffin. 
 
 140
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 "P)ULLY BOY; bully boy! Yes, it s 
 beauty that wins the race, my boy," 
 were the words that struck my ears. 
 " First came the English giant that we picked 
 from the Spanish galleon off Panama made 
 him mate, all on account of his smooth face 
 and big limbs, yes, mate of the gallant ship 
 York. Now comes this little French count; 
 not so tall as you, Sim, by half an hand-breadth 
 not by a whole hand-breadth yea, verily, not 
 by two hand-breadths, man. Shorter by two 
 whole hand-breadths, I say, Sim, my man. 
 Remember he s not so tall as you by three hand- 
 breadths, Sim Taviss, my bully boy. But, be 
 cause of his red cheeks and flowing locks he s 
 the very cock-o-the-walk. Struts over the deck, 
 keeps his women to himself so that better men 
 may not even look at them, orders us all about 
 yes, I say it orders the last man jack on 
 board, the mate, the Cap n, even you, Sim 
 Taviss, even you," the voice went on as though 
 striving to mollify some angry man while at 
 
 141
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the same time acknowledging the justice of his 
 wrath. 
 
 I felt the motion of the ship; I heard the 
 swish of the water, the noise and the voices of 
 the men on deck. Cautiously I opened my eyes 
 to judge where I was and to see what manner 
 of men they were who conversed so near me. 
 I was lying on a bunk in the forecastle and in 
 the half light could see but one man. His back 
 was towards me and he busied himself with 
 some garment that he held on his knees. His 
 shoulders w r ere narrow and stooping, and his 
 long, pear-shaped head was covered with lanky 
 red or sandy hair. More I could not distin 
 guish, but lying still and listening after a time 
 I discovered that he was speaking to himself. 
 His voice was soft, with something of the ca 
 dence of childhood in it despite the indignation 
 of its tone. Without moving, I \vatched him 
 cautiously, listening. 
 
 " Fine feathers make fine birds, Simeon," he 
 went on. " You learned that of wise Master 
 Hezekiah Toole, w r ho beat you sorely striving 
 to get some of his wisdom into your dull brain. 
 But what is wisdom, lad? Nothing, nothing. 
 It doesn t count a feather s weight in helping a 
 man along in the world. Consider Master 
 Hezekiah with all the languages of the world 
 dropping from his tongue s end, then consider 
 
 142
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 yourself. He is but the master in the school of 
 a dirty village, doomed all his life to nod over a 
 desk where his blockhead scholars drone out 
 their lessons, while you, man, you, are first 
 kitchen boy to the gallant ship York and soon 
 to be head cook, surgeon, mayhap mate so soon 
 as you can make the English lout to swallow 
 some white powder which you will know about 
 when you can get your hands on the surgeon s 
 great books. Yes, it is beauty that wins the 
 race as I shall presently show you, Sim Taviss. 
 Beauty and wit, my boy, both of which you 
 have in plenty." 
 
 Here he left off work and, rising, threw about 
 his shoulders a woman s cloak of faded blue 
 velvet lined with yellow. He was scarce above 
 four and a half feet tall, with large splay feet 
 and wondrously lean shanks. He turned and 
 twisted, prinking himself before a broken glass 
 that he held now taking in one section, then 
 another of his small person. 
 
 " Now for the shoes, lad, now for the shoes," 
 and he began busily removing his shoes and 
 hammering on to the heels tapering wedges of 
 wood. These he smeared with red paint and 
 shoving his misshapen feet back into them, 
 stood his mirror on the floor and surveyed the 
 result with exclamations, of delight. 
 
 " Such feet, such legs, Sim," lie said. " All 
 
 43
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 they needed was the proper dressing to make 
 them the handsomest this side of Whitehall. 
 You are the very devil for beauty, my boy, the 
 very devil for beauty. Now for the scent on 
 your hair and the red paint on your cheeks, and 
 the gallant hat with its long drooping feather. 
 You will take the wind out of all their sails, 
 for the Captain will not be able to take his eyes 
 off thee, thou strutting, swaggering devil with 
 thy handsome face and figure and thy fine 
 clothes." 
 
 He ran his dirty, claw-like fingers, reeking 
 with oil, through his hair, and rubbed it in until 
 it was several shades darker and dripping with 
 grease. 
 
 " Zooks ! man, such love-locks and such 
 sweet red cheeks ! " he exclaimed, plastering the 
 hair on the top and the sides of his head with 
 vigorous strokes, and daubing on his cheeks the 
 remainder of the paint left from his shoe heels. 
 Then leaning down, he drew from some place 
 I could not see a broad Spanish hat with a 
 draggled plume, and clapped it on his head. 
 
 " What will he say to you, man, when you 
 bring him his first dish of broth ? " he ex 
 claimed in a very ecstasy of admiration puffing 
 himself out and gazing into his cracked bit of 
 mirror. " Will he call thee kitchen-boy? Not 
 he. He will say in his gallant, commanding 
 
 144
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 voice and loud yes, loud, that all may hear 
 - Sit thee down, Sirn Taviss, thou handsome 
 devil, at my right hand. Sit thee down, 
 mate yes, he will call thee mate. I warrant 
 he will call thee mate this very day, thou lucky 
 dog." 
 
 Here he fronted towards me and I nearly 
 burst out laughing. His face looked as though 
 it had been drawn through a key-hole first up, 
 then down. His nose, that should have been 
 long and hooked at the end, became a flat and 
 jaunty pug, while the outward corners of both 
 his eyes and his mouth turned up after trying 
 in vain to keep their downward lines. Indeed, 
 all of his features appeared to have been planned 
 on a long and lugubrious model but, before 
 completion, by some mishap, they had received 
 an upward turn which, with his painted cheeks 
 and faded finery, made a figure that was ludi 
 crous beyond anything I had ever gazed 
 upon. I stared at him with wide opened eyes 
 but he was too much engrossed with admiring 
 himself to notice aught else. 
 
 " By my faith ! Sim Taviss," I exclaimed, 
 rising on my elbow and gazing at him admir 
 ingly. " You do make a gallant show." He 
 started back and gazed at me with fear written 
 over every line of his face and in his shallow 
 blue eyes. " A gallant show, man. And I ll 
 
 H5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 warrant you are as brave a gentle as ever drew 
 sword. But where is your blade, man ; where s 
 your blade? " 
 
 He drew away from me, shrinking into the 
 farthest corner. 
 
 " Tis not fear that makes you shrink from 
 me, man," I continued, sitting up and looking 
 at him encouragingly, " that I ll swear. I see 
 your courage written in your eyes, and know 
 that you fear no man, living or dead." 
 
 He still gazed at me as though seeing in me 
 some one new risen from the dead. 
 
 "Art an Englishman?" I asked hoping to 
 cure him of his fear, that I might gain some 
 knowledge of my condition. 
 
 He gave assent with his head though his 
 tongue spluttered and his lips refused to form 
 words. I saw that he strove to unfasten the 
 clasp of the velvet cloak that he had flung over 
 his shoulders and, as though granting permis 
 sion to a guest, " Yes, take it off, friend," I 
 said. " Tis a hot day though I have lived in 
 hotter places." 
 
 He nodded his head knowingly. 
 They took you from the iron cage of Au 
 gustine," he answered. " And the French 
 count said that you had hung there two days." 
 
 " Why did they take me down ? " I asked. 
 The giddiness in my head which had troubled 
 
 146
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 me when I first sat up disappeared, so eager 
 was I to hear his answer. 
 
 " Twas his humor," he replied, making a 
 deprecating gesture with his smutty hands; 
 " and therefore the Cap n s humor, as it has 
 been ever since we met the French Count in 
 the streets of Augustine and he knocked the 
 sword out of the Cap n s hand. The Cap n 
 makes every man on board do his bidding." 
 
 " How came you to meet him in the streets 
 of Augustine?" I asked, puzzled more and 
 more by the things that he told. 
 
 " We boarded the merchant ship that lay in 
 the harbor," he answered, coming out of the 
 corner into which he had shrunk. " And when 
 we had manned her and sent her out the 
 Cap n swore he d enter the city and bring 
 out the treasure from the palace. We climbed 
 the walls. I reached the top first and " 
 
 " You ! " I exclaimed, looking at the little 
 spit of a man in amazement. Then, seeing the 
 shame in his face cover the braggart in his eye, 
 I concealed the doubt in my mind with a know 
 ing laugh. " I ll warrant you did, Sim. You 
 were the first to reach the top and cut down a 
 Spanish Don." 
 
 " No," he answered, lack of imagination 
 bringing him back to the truth. " The mist 
 covered the harbor and the city so thick that 
 
 H7
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the Spaniards neither saw nor heard us. We d 
 marched half the distance to the palace when 
 we came upon the French Count with his Eng 
 lish aunt and her black woman 
 
 " In the streets ? " I cried, amazed at hearing 
 of such a trio walking the streets of Augustine 
 at an hour past midnight, though I had begun 
 to realize that the ship captain who stole into 
 harbors and sent away merchantmen and then 
 clambering the walls of the city to rob the 
 palace of its treasures, held doubtful papers, 
 and was like to meet with strange adventures. 
 
 Yes, making their escape from the Gover 
 nor s palace where they had been held prisoners 
 ever since they had been brought captives to 
 the city, taken by a Spanish ship on their way 
 to Charleston. It s a fighting-cock is this same 
 little Count," he exclaimed, forgetting his fear 
 and warmed by admiration of the man whom he 
 described. " When we came upon them in the 
 streets, did he run? Not he. He whipped out 
 his sword and, like a very devil, attacked the 
 Cap n who was leading. Beat his blade up 
 and down, then out of his hand and would 
 have run him through the body had I not run 
 up in the very nick of time with drawn sword, 
 and pistol and knife held ready and sent his 
 sword whirling against the wall and put his 
 men to " 
 
 148
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Whose men ? " I exclaimed, trying to 
 keep up with the fight that he described with 
 so much enthusiasm. 
 
 The French Count s men. He had near 
 fif " 
 
 " But you said he was alone with his Eng 
 lish aunt and her serving woman," I told him. 
 Then it came to me and I knew the quality of 
 his metal. " Go on, go on," I cried. " What 
 did they do ?" 
 
 " He said to the Cap n as grand as though 
 he was the king himself, Pick up your sword, 
 sir. I touch not an unarmed man. Hearing 
 him speak good English the Cap n demanded 
 to know who he was and where he went with 
 his women. He told of their capture and their 
 long imprisonment and his determination to es 
 cape from the city, preferring to trust to the 
 savages and the beasts of the forest rather than 
 remain longer in the clutches of the Spanish 
 Governor. Then the Cap n, for the sake of his 
 English tongue and his good sword, offered to 
 take them safe out of the city to some harbor 
 where they could ship for England or Charles 
 ton. Your ship, sir ? said the Count to 
 the Cap n, looking at the men who crowded 
 up the street before him. The York, one 
 hundred and fifty tons, twenty-five guns, one 
 hundred and seven men, and Tom Hawkins, 
 
 149
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Cap n. Ah/ said my lord, bowing low, 
 Captain Thomas Hawkins of Sir Henry 
 Morgan s fleet ? 
 
 " Sir Henry Morgan ! " I exclaimed, startled 
 by the mention of the famous pirate chief. 
 Then I recovered myself and motioned the fel 
 low to continue. Tell their whole converse. 
 What did the Captain answer? " 
 
 " The same, my lord/ said he, returning the 
 Count s bow. And since you know so well 
 my name will your lordship have the goodness 
 to tell me by what name you are called ? I 
 can tell you that the men all pressed up to hear 
 for they were mighty curious to know the name 
 of one who could beat the sword out of the 
 Cap n s hand, but could also make him stop, a 
 bowing and a scraping, in the streets of Augus 
 tine, forgetful alike of his own and his men s 
 danger and of the good Spanish gold in Gov 
 ernor s palace. The Count asked, Do you 
 sail for Hispaniola, Captain Hawkins ? 
 Yes, my lord/ said the Cap n. I have sent 
 ahead the good prize caught in the harbor and 
 we follow fast on her heels. Then we ll go 
 with you/ said the Count, slipping his sword 
 back into its scabbard. For I count many 
 friends, good and true, among Morgan s 
 buccaneers. My father spent several years 
 
 I 5
 
 amongst them and I have a sister who resem- 
 bleth me much who was born on Hispaniola. 
 
 " Born on Hispaniola ! " I cried, Master Ber 
 nard Schinking s story of Colonel Huguenin s 
 life coming back to me. " And what said he 
 was his name? " 
 
 Sim Taviss looked at me stupidly. Then, 
 after a time, he said, scratching his head, 
 Though I asked every man on board they 
 none of them could tell me, they are such 
 monstrous thick-heads. Had I been there I 
 would have heard every word and not forgotten 
 it no not " 
 
 " Ho, ho ! my fine gentleman," I thought, 
 " All this beautifully embroidered story comes 
 to me second hand. You were not there." 
 Aloud I asked, 
 
 " Then they came on board ? " 
 
 " Not until the Cap n had said that he would 
 take you from the iron cage. For, you see the 
 Count would not stir a foot until you had been 
 taken out. Said that you had led a party of 
 Indians into the city and taken his father out 
 of the Spanish prison and 
 
 " God in Heaven ! man," I cried more as 
 tonished than I can express. " He said that I 
 had taken his father, his father out of 
 prison? "
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " That is what he said, for so all the men 
 who stood near told me when they returned," 
 Sim declared. " You d taken his father out 
 but had been taken yourself. And because you 
 would not lead the Spanish Governor and his 
 band of robbers into the country of the Indians 
 who had come with you they had hung you in 
 the cage and left you there to die. Then the 
 Cap n went and took you down, though it was 
 precious near day and brought you to the ship 
 and here you have lain ever since and the Count 
 has ordered me to attend you." 
 
 I turned so that I might gaze full into the face 
 of the man who had told me all this jumble of 
 truth and fiction; for I would judge, if possible, 
 where the lies left off and the facts began, for 
 facts I knew he had, though where he got them 
 from and with what measure of lies they were 
 mixed I could not tell. 
 
 " What does this French Count look like? " 
 I asked failing to get his name and hoping to 
 judge by his resemblance if he were in truth 
 the son and brother of the Huguenins. Though 
 I knew full well that no such son or brother 
 had ever existed. " Is he small or tall and 
 what is the color of his eyes? " 
 
 " He is not so tall as me, not by a whole 
 hand-breadth, not 
 
 "What does the Captain call him?" I de- 
 
 152
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 manded, starting on another tack knowing 
 that I could never get the truth concerning his 
 appearance. " When he speaks to him, does 
 he never call him by any name? " 
 
 His face shone, and I knew that his answer 
 would be the truth. 
 
 " Yes, he calls him Count Uldric," he replied. 
 " But I cannot think of the other part, which 
 is such a curious twisting of letters." 
 
 " Huguenin," I suggested. " Uldric Hu- 
 guenin." 
 
 Again his face shone. " Yes," he cried. 
 " The very name; Count Uldric Huguenin." 
 
 I put my hand to my head, puzzled. An 
 toinette s brother! And though I had counted 
 myself her father s closest friend I had never 
 heard of him. 
 
 " He wears most wondrously beautiful 
 clothes," Sim went on, as though speaking to 
 himself once more, and I saw that he regarded 
 his bit of mirror longingly. Though hang 
 and quarter me if I know what 
 
 " Sim, Sim Taviss. thou red-headed devil, 
 where art thou?" bawled a great voice that 
 sounded as though it came from the bowels of 
 the ship. " Where art thou, I say, thou lazy 
 varlet? Not for a minute can I take my hand 
 from thy collar," the voice continued to shout, 
 sounding at last as though its owner had 
 
 53
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 mounted deck and was quite near us. " Where 
 is the little devil? Let me but lay my hands 
 on" 
 
 The door burst open and a most villainous 
 face thrust itself inside. 
 
 " So I ve found ye," bawled this fiendish 
 looking creature thrusting in a mighty hand 
 and arm and dragging out my boaster dressed 
 in all of his finery, though he tried hard to divest 
 himself of it, only to leave behind one of his 
 gaudily heeled shoes. 
 
 "By all the fiends!" the voice thundered, 
 and I could hear the scuffling of feet and knew 
 that Sim sought to free himself from the 
 clutches of the fiery- faced giant. "If the 
 young devil hasn t been getting himself up like 
 a fine gallant. Ho, ho ! " and there followed 
 a mighty roar of laughter. Then sounded the 
 scurrying of feet, as of men running from all 
 quarters of the deck, and of others joining in 
 the merriment. 
 
 " In the Devil s name what is all this ? " de 
 manded a voice, which I knew to be. both from 
 its power and the command of its tone, the 
 Captain s. " What does this mean, this crowd 
 ing the deck. I will send What have you 
 there, cook ? Ho, ho ! " he roared and the rest 
 laughed with him. 
 
 " Look ! my lord," he cried, and I knew that 
 
 154
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 there was but one on board whom he would 
 so address. " See what overturn you have 
 caused on my good ship. Even the kitchen- 
 boys would follow your fashions." 
 
 " And by my troth ! Captain, it is vastly be 
 coming," answered a voice, the sound of which 
 made me so forget myself and my weak condi 
 tion that I bounded up and came near falling 
 from my bunk in giddiness. " So thou lovest 
 red-heeled shoes, Simeon? " the voice went on 
 tauntingly. " And would have thy cheeks 
 rival thy head ? Thou pretty fool ! Would 
 that King Louis could have thee, then would 
 he not grieve longer for his L Angeli. And 
 the gallant Captain, whom I commanded thee 
 to attend; what says he to thy brave clothes? " 
 
 There was a splutter that I could not under 
 stand; then followed a burst of laughter and 
 the same high-pitched voice that was of a 
 sweetness that passed all music, exclaimed : 
 " As brave as any gentle that ever drew blade, 
 said he ? Then, Captain, I think thy honorable 
 prisoner hath come to his full senses and 
 should grace the deck with his presence. Go 
 L Angeli, Captain Hawkins s L Angeli, seek 
 out the surgeon and bid him visit the English 
 prisoner, and if he be recovered and in his right 
 mind bring him on deck. What! thou red- 
 faced devil. Loose thy hold on the boy, or
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 by There followed such a torrent of vil 
 lainous oaths that I sat stupefied that I should 
 have so far lost my senses as ever to have im 
 agined the voice had the sound of Antoinette s. 
 
 Like the veriest dolt I sat there staring be 
 fore me with unseeing eyes, my wits knocked 
 so far from their base that I could not even 
 listen understandingly to what passed on deck. 
 There was but one question in my brain, and 
 that came to me but dully. Who was this 
 blackguard that had been taken from an Eng 
 lish ship on his way to Charleston and who, 
 found in the streets of Augustine, had refused 
 succor offered by the pirates, of whom he knew 
 right well, unless they rescued me. a stranger, 
 rescued me, who had never heard even of his 
 existence? So I sat when Sim Taviss again 
 made his appearance followed by a man who 
 looked a surgeon to an ox, though I found his 
 huge red hands did not lack gentleness when he 
 examined my head and the wounds made by 
 the fetters on my arms and ankles. 
 
 They delivered their message from the 
 French nobleman ordering me on deck as 
 though no man had a better right to give orders 
 on their ship. After a few steps the giddiness 
 left my head and walking between them I went 
 up to meet the man to whom, in some measure 
 
 156
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 at least, I owed my deliverance, if deliverance 
 it could be called, this changing from the 
 power of the Spaniard at Augustine to the 
 pirates of Hispaniola. 
 
 157
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE air was soft and the sun sunken low 
 among fleecy clouds when we came 
 on deck. The surgeon halted that I 
 might recover breath and gain control of my 
 limbs which trembled beneath me more from 
 lack of use than from weakness. It was like 
 heaven to walk once more unfettered under the 
 sky and feel the cool salt breeze against my 
 cheek. The sea smiled and dimpled, green, 
 red and gold, and as far as the eye could reach 
 there was no sight of land nor moving thing 
 save the white sails and the shape of a ship 
 that followed our course some two miles far 
 ther west. 
 
 That is our consort, the prize taken before 
 Augustine," the man at my side said, lifting a 
 huge hand and pointing to the sails that shone 
 gold-tipped beneath the sun rays. 
 
 Following his movement my eyes riveted on 
 the deep scar that encircled his arm above the 
 wrist. He saw the gaze and answered it. 
 
 " I too have swung in the iron cage at Au- 
 
 158
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 gustine," he said raising his other arm and 
 showing a like scar. " I was a ship surgeon, 
 a man of peace, earning my few pounds a year, 
 when our ship was attacked on the high seas 
 by Spaniards. I was amongst those taken cap 
 tive to Augustine and I lay in their damp and 
 noisome dungeon, only taken out when for lack 
 of sport less cruel they led me forth to be 
 stretched on the rack; to be hung to four posts 
 by my thumbs and great toes, while they piled 
 stones in the hollow of my belly, or be put to 
 some other such torture that only devils could 
 originate and Spaniards enjoy. I endured this 
 all for ten years ten years that seemed like 
 centuries and could not die. Finally one day, 
 from no other reason than an idle whim or be 
 cause my tortures ceased to amuse him, the 
 Governor ordered me to the cage that I might 
 at last serve as sport for the people. God was 
 kind at last. After ten long years he remem 
 bered me; for on the first night that I swung 
 there, the city was attacked by Morgan s buc 
 caneers who released me." 
 
 " You became one of them ? " I questioned, 
 gazing into his calm blue eyes which was the 
 one redeeming feature of his hideously scarred 
 countenance though now that I knew the 
 origin of those scars his face no longer seemed 
 villainous.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Not then," he answered. " Even then I 
 was not willing to turn my hand against my 
 fellow creatures and ship under the black flag, 
 though God in heaven knows that I had suf 
 fered enough in that cursed city to make me 
 turn against the whole world. The buccaneers 
 put me ashore at Jamestown and from that 
 colony I took boat to England to search for 
 my old mother." 
 
 After waiting a short space for him to speak, 
 I asked, " You found her? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered. " Lying dead in a 
 workhouse." 
 
 " A workhouse ! " I exclaimed, for there 
 was that about the man, despite the roughness 
 of his face and his unlawful profession, that 
 made one feel he had been a gentleman before 
 he was a pirate. 
 
 " A gentlewoman born and bred, she died 
 alone in the home so grudgingly supplied by 
 her native town to its pauper outcasts. She 
 had lived there five years, having spent the last 
 farthing of her slender property in her efforts 
 to gain my release." He stopped speaking, 
 and I saw his great hands clench and the cords 
 in his scarred neck grow tense. " When I. 
 looked upon her dead face," he continued, " I 
 knew that the tortures which I had endured 
 had been as nothing compared to her sufferings. 
 
 1 60
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 I buried her; then I left England and joined 
 Sir Henry Morgan s fleet. Whenever we 
 come to these hunting-grounds, we go not away 
 until we attack the city of Augustine or the 
 shipping that lies in her harbor. It is so stipu 
 lated in the papers that bind me to this ship." 
 
 They are a cruel people these Spaniards," 
 I said, remembering the people, men, women 
 and children who had crowded the sea-wall 
 that they might jeer at me and watch my suf 
 ferings aye, even young babies had been 
 brought that they might shake their little fists 
 and spit at me. They have not compassion 
 even for creatures of their own kind." 
 
 " Not even the compassion of devils born in 
 the depths of hell ! " he exclaimed. " They gibe 
 and gloat over the sufferings of their fellow 
 creatures." His eyes were as burning coals 
 and his brow as dark and threatening as a storm 
 cloud at nightfall. It needed no telling for me 
 to know the fate of the Spaniards who fell into 
 his hands. 
 
 " Master Surgeon," I questioned, " tell me 
 how do I stand with the captain of your ship? 
 I know neither why he took me from the cage 
 nor what end he designs for me." 
 
 " Captain Hawkins is an Englishman, Cap 
 tain Middleton," he replied. " Though he sails 
 under the black flag and does many things 
 
 161
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 which the court at home thunders against, and 
 which the action of your Governor under the 
 commands of the company that he serves makes 
 crimes, he wars not against those who speak 
 his native tongue, nor any other for that mat 
 ter, save only that of the race which by its 
 cruelty and greed has made enemies of the rest 
 of mankind." 
 
 " And the young French nobleman, with his 
 aunt and her serving woman whom he met in 
 the streets of Augustine? " I queried. 
 
 " The captain of the York is a strange man," 
 he answered, with a grim smile. " He has a 
 weakness that some day may prove his undoing. 
 No man living more admires a pretty face or a 
 handsome form. The young French count has 
 both, and because of them more than either his 
 race or his swordsmanship, he and the two 
 women of his party are as honored guests on 
 board this ship." Then he moved forward, 
 keeping me at his side. 
 
 " It is the Count s pleasure to sit on the poop 
 deck with his aunt and her woman, but ofttimes 
 when they are below the Captain goes there to 
 dice with him," he said, as we passed along the 
 deck and by pirates whom I knew to be brutal 
 and daring, though they looked not worse than 
 many seamen on board honest ships. " It is 
 there that I was ordered to conduct you." 
 
 162
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 When we had climbed the poop ladder I saw 
 that two men sat at a small table and diced in 
 tently. The one whose face was towards me 
 was tall and rawboned, and with a countenance 
 so far from comeliness that to know of his ad 
 miration of beauty in others was a guarantee 
 of the wondrous generosity of his nature. The 
 hair that framed his long weather-beaten face, 
 with its woebegone expression, was a rusty 
 black and fell in straggled straight locks to his 
 shoulders. His wide hat, with its high crown, 
 and his clothes were of the same rusty black 
 and together with his large solemn eyes, 
 he appeared an hundred times nearer a second- 
 rate country parson than the captain of a pirate 
 ship. He who sat with him was slenderly built 
 and of a symmetry that made every line of his 
 figure a marvel of grace. His back was toward 
 me and his broad hat with its long plume was 
 pulled so far forward that only the round curve 
 of his chin, which, his elbow on the table, he 
 rested in his open palm, was visible to my eyes. 
 
 Captain Hawkins left off his gaming and 
 came to greet me with a dignity that made me 
 know him at least a man of breeding, if not of 
 high rank before he was a pirate. 
 
 " Though I stand under the law of your 
 colony, a criminal for many deeds, Captain 
 Middleton," he said, " and perhaps you in 
 
 163
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 your heart rate me a friend unworthy an honest 
 man, I could not leave an Englishman and so 
 gallant a soldier as report bespeaks you, at Au 
 gustine and to the tortures of their iron cage. 
 As a guest I brought you to my ship and will 
 promise to set you down at some place where 
 you will find ship to your own city." 
 
 I thanked him, both for himself and the men 
 who followed him, and though my words were 
 few I am sure the grip of the hand that I ex 
 tended to him unasked, and the earnestness of 
 my manner, made him know me sincere. 
 
 " It is to the Count Uldric Huguenin that 
 you owe thanks for your rescue," he answered 
 my words and hand-clasp, turning towards the 
 man who now sat dicing with himself. " We 
 were bent on the treasure in the Governor s 
 palace, and might not have had opportunity to 
 seek out the iron cage had he not persuaded 
 us to leave the one and rescue the other." 
 
 " Nay, Captain Middleton," the young count 
 exclaimed in a voice that I would have sworn 
 to as Antoinette s, had the man not sat there 
 within touch of my hand, " I did but follow 
 my sister s commands. She bade me leave not 
 that cursed city until I had rescued you." Here 
 he stretched out his shapely legs, covered by 
 red silk stockings clocked with gold, crossed 
 his feet, daintily balancing one brightly polished 
 
 164
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 shoe with its square toe and its high red heel 
 upon the other. " She has the devil s own 
 temper, the devil s own temper, has Mistress 
 Antoinette Huguenin, as thou well knowest, 
 Captain Middleton." 
 
 " I know her to be a lady of rare sweetness, 
 my lord," I told him, my voice shaken by the 
 indignation aroused in me by his words and 
 the carelessness of his tone. " And of a stead 
 fast courage surpassing any man." 
 
 Yes, verily she is steadfast," he answered, 
 busily shaking the little cubes and clapping the 
 box down on the table. " Of such a stubborn 
 steadfastness that I was forced to leave her 
 behind me in Augustine. I could not dissuade 
 her; she but waits the return of her messenger 
 from the French court craving permission of 
 King Louis for her to wed with the young 
 Spanish Governor, Captain Middleton." 
 
 " My lord," I said, and the summer that 
 had sung in my heart through all the blackness 
 of my tortures and despair because of the 
 knowledge that Antoinette loved me gave place 
 to a darkness that shut out the very sunlight 
 while my limbs trembled beneath me and I 
 leaned heavily against the ship rail " My 
 lord, it seems but yesterday eve that they walked 
 on the sea-wall and I saw her strike him angrily 
 in the face." 
 
 165
 
 WHEN the LAND -was YOUNG 
 
 " She told me of it," he assured me, leaving 
 the dice on the table and turning his body more 
 fully towards me, though the movement gave me 
 not a better view of his face. " It is the way of 
 women; there is no accounting for either their 
 actions or their words. Even my aunt you 
 have never seen her, Captain Middleton, though 
 she is now on board this ship as the guest of 
 this gallant Captain hath her whims. She 
 loves so well her English home that she has 
 ever considered it rank treason to enter France 
 and could not be persuaded to visit his court 
 though invited by King Louis himself. Her 
 black woman whom also you are yet to see 
 for the first time, Captain Middleton, hath 
 acts beyond the comprehension of mortal man. 
 She is as silent as a graven image, since she 
 has come on board this galleon, and often sits 
 and stares at me as at a thing possessed. They 
 all have maggots in their brains, all women. 
 Mistress Moreton whom you know right well, 
 Captain Middleton, and who with the black 
 slave Marcie is soon to be returned to Charles 
 ton, with a goodly number of pieces of eight, 
 to salve her pride and pacify your Governor 
 has a brain badly eaten by these little worms. 
 She is mad for the mating of Antoinette with 
 the Don, advising her most earnestly against 
 following me out of Augustine, though she 
 
 166
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 could give no reason for her desire. Now, Cap 
 tain Hawkins," he cried turning towards the 
 pirate chief, " I ll warrant you cannot guess the 
 reason which this sister of mine whom Cap 
 tain Middleton praises so highly gives for 
 wishing to wed the Spanish Governor." 
 
 " I know not, my lord," the captain of the 
 York replied. " I have small acquaintance with 
 women and pretend not to understand their 
 whims and fancies. " 
 
 " It is more than a fancy, Sir Captain," the 
 young nobleman assured him. " She is simply 
 dying of love for this Spaniard, ready to drop 
 down at his feet for very lovesickness. She 
 gives as her reason, Captain Middleton, that 
 he calls her not a termagant, and has never 
 told her that she has the temper of a shrew." 
 
 " My lord," I cried, and there was a feeling 
 in my heart that even I myself did not under 
 stand. " My lord, I follow not the meaning 
 of your jest." 
 
 He threw out his hand as though motioning 
 aside my question just such a hand as his 
 sister had given me to kiss, and as white. Then 
 springing to his feet he walked forward, shad 
 ing his eyes with his hand, and gazed out to 
 wards the ship captured before Augustine. 
 
 His was a most surprising beauty. His long 
 black curls fell below his shoulders, rivalling in 
 
 167
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 glossiness his coat of red and yellow brocade. 
 His long vest was of white satin wrought in 
 gold thread and pearls, his short breeches were 
 of velvet, the color of a summer cloud, and over 
 the bosom of his fine muslin shirt flowed the 
 long ends of his Steinkirk neckcloth of price 
 less lace. The handsomeness of his figure could 
 not be over praised and he had the dignity and 
 command of manner and bearing befitting the 
 son of an hundred kings. 
 
 " Captain Hawkins," he cried, his gaze still 
 on the sea, "if my eyes deceive me not, your 
 prize flies again the colors of Spain." 
 
 The buccaneer chief at my side gave the snort 
 of a war horse when it first scents battle; his 
 eyes flashed forth the blue flame of a good 
 blade when it is quickly drawn from its scab 
 bard; he rushed forward, clapped glasses to his 
 eyes and stood at my lord s side gazing out at 
 his lately captured consort. Other of the pirates, 
 seeing his action, hastened to that side the ship 
 or climbed up in the rigging. The mate, a 
 tall giant with fair curls and the face and figure 
 of a fierce and beautiful god, clambered up the 
 poop ladder and went whirling past me to his 
 Captain s side. My lord turned towards me, 
 swept off his hat and looked me squarely in the 
 face. I reeled back as though struck a deadly 
 blow. The sea and sky came together and 
 
 168
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 whirled about me in one mighty mass of black 
 ness. There was a roar like the deep sea in my 
 ears and the shouts and calls of the pirates as 
 they rushed about on deck trying to signal 
 their comrades on board the merchantman. 
 Their angry cries and blasphemous oaths when 
 they realized that it had by some means, again 
 fallen into the hands of its Spanish crew, came 
 to me but faintly. Through it all and over it 
 all there was a singing, singing, singing 
 bright flowers sprang up all about me sum 
 mer again entered my heart and I knew that its 
 reign was eternal. 
 
 " Captain Middleton is ill, Master Mate," 
 that high, sweet voice that I had heard so often 
 in my dreams both by day and by night, ex 
 claimed. 
 
 " Tis an illness that will pass, my lord," 
 the mate s voice replied, and I thought there 
 sounded in it a note of mocking suspicion. 
 
 " Until it pass, sir, I would have you see 
 him carried to his bed and properly tended." 
 There was the command of royalty itself in that 
 tone. " He is a true friend of my father, and 
 a gallant soldier and gentleman. It would ill 
 befit my father s son to see him suffer." 
 
 " An your father s son had never seen him 
 before, my lord?" questioned the mate. I 
 thought his voice was still more mocking. 
 
 169
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " That is a misfortune, Sir Mate, that he 
 has already begun to remedy. I would have 
 him moved below." 
 
 I lifted my head from the table and arose 
 from the chair into which I had fallen. 
 
 " I need no assistance, my lord, though I am 
 not well and unfit to be on deck. I will bid 
 you good night and go below." I swept him a 
 bow in which there was all the deference of my 
 whole heart and soul, and turned and left him 
 standing on the poop deck, face to face with 
 the mate. 
 
 170
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 UNTIL the moon sank, and then by star 
 light, they chased that merchant ship 
 recaptured by its Spanish crew. As I 
 lay on my bunk where I had remained all 
 night at the command of the captain delivered 
 by the surgeon I could hear the storm that 
 raged on deck above my head. Towards morn 
 ing there was a lull which a few hours later 
 was succeeded by hubbub the like of which I 
 had never heard before. There was a mighty 
 rattling of cordage, a creaking of sails and the 
 course of the ship changed. I peered out into 
 the now bright light of good dawn and saw at 
 no great distance the ship that yesterday had 
 sailed as our consort, and, with only a short 
 space between them, a galleon, heavily armed, 
 and flying the Spanish colors. 
 
 We were bearing straight down upon them 
 and I could see that the waste of dark waters 
 between us grew rapidly less. Every moment 
 the noise overhead increased until there seemed 
 no sounds in the round world but that of bias-
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 phemous oaths, wild shouts, yells of rage, the 
 tramp of hurrying feet, the clank of iron and 
 the shriek of cordage. We gained so far that 
 I could distinguish movements on board the 
 two ships pursued. Then hopeless of flight 
 they no longer sought to escape us but prepared 
 to fight and stood waiting for the pirate to 
 come within range of their guns. 
 
 The noise on board suddenly died out; not 
 a sound came to my ears save the rush of the 
 waves as the ship cut her way through them. 
 Would the buccaneer dare to fight them single 
 handed or would she again change her course 
 while yet out of reach of their guns and sail 
 on to her destination in the Indies? I ques 
 tioned of myself. I waited it seemed hours 
 with the suspense of that dead silence hanging 
 above me, then unmindful of Captain Hawkins s 
 commands, I rushed on deck. 
 
 Like grim devils, naked to their waists, the 
 men of that pirate ship appeared in the rosy 
 light of early dawn. They lay as immovable 
 as statues or stood at their posts doing the 
 tasks assigned them as dumb and silent as dead 
 men. Their eyes were glued to the two ships 
 that, with every heart beat, seemed visibly 
 nearer. I passed among them unnoticed and 
 clambering to the quarter-deck searched out a 
 
 1/2
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 place where I might see to good advantage, 
 stood waiting. 
 
 It was not long. There came a stream of 
 flame, a puff of smoke and a shot from a gun 
 of the armed galleon tore shrieking through 
 our canvas. It did small harm. Then another 
 stream, another puff, and again our sail was 
 cut. We sped on, making straight for the 
 open space between the two Spanish ships. 
 There was a blaze from both merchant ship and 
 galleon. The shriek of shot sounded overhead; 
 I heard the sharp crack of rending, splintering 
 wood, and with a mighty rattling of ropes, our 
 topmast fell on deck with its stretch of flapping 
 canvas. 
 
 Captain Hawkins spoke over the rail. 
 
 I heard the mate pass the word below. 
 
 With a great leap the deck sprang forward, 
 the flames of two broadsides lit the sea, flared 
 up to heaven, and started a tumult that beat on 
 my brain with one unceasing thud. Then the 
 shriek of shot was again over our heads and 
 among us. Our silence gave place to shouted 
 curses, cries of hate and rage, shrieks and 
 moans, both above and below. The men were 
 no longer dumb but, like fiends incarnate, 
 rushed from gun to gun, now bearing fresh 
 charges, now to take the place of some com-
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 rade whom others bore groaning to the cockpit 
 below. The deck was streaked with thick 
 black streams that ran together and formed 
 dark pools through which the naked feet 
 splashed and became horrible to look upon. An 
 other mast came crashing down, to be cut 
 away and cast into the sea. Our sides belched 
 fire and our deck was raked by that shrieking 
 hail of death until every plank held a river of 
 blood or was covered by a prostrate form whose 
 contorted face showed hideous in the flashes of 
 flame through the smoke. 
 
 A shot struck down the captain, and I heard 
 his blood splash on the deck as they bore him 
 past the spot where I stood. One leg had been 
 torn off below the knee and his long weather- 
 beaten countenance was like the livid face of a 
 corpse. We were hard pressed. The tattered 
 sails of the ships we fought loomed up, one 
 on each side, close to our bulwarks. I could 
 hear the shouts and the curses of those on their 
 decks; I could see them hurrying hither and 
 thither, then swarming to the nearer sides, and 
 knew that they stood ready to throw their 
 grappling irons and board us. The voice of the 
 York s mate gave a sharp command, as he 
 stood in the captain s place, towering up like 
 some beautiful prince of demons surrounded by 
 his imps in the sulphurous glare. Up from
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 below, from the very bowels of the ship, 
 swarmed a crowd of half -naked men, their 
 bodies smeared with blood and grimy dirt, their 
 villainous faces showing the grim determina 
 tion of those who know their cause to be in 
 desperate straits. I noted the huge figure of 
 the surgeon huge even among this army of 
 giants and knew that all thought of the 
 wounded and dying had been put aside in the 
 effort to save the living. The ship had given 
 up its last man to save the ship. 
 
 I saw the herd of savage creatures crowd 
 ing against the rail of the galleon, their weap 
 ons held ready in their hands. I heard their 
 curses in Spanish, Portuguese, and the mon 
 grel speech of the Indies. All the venom in me. 
 all the hatred of Englishman against Spaniard, 
 all the cruel tortures which I and my friends 
 had suffered, surged through my brain like a 
 mighty wave, engulfing the command of the 
 captain and the dishonor of fighting with 
 pirates. My belt was empty and I turned to 
 rob the dead. 
 
 " There are two women in the state cabin 
 who have need of your services, Captain Mid- 
 dleton." The person known to the pirates as 
 Count Uldric Huguenin stood at my side offer 
 ing me a brace of pistols and an unsheathed 
 sword.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I started forward with I know not what cry 
 on my lips, what feeling gripping my heart. 
 Then I stopped stock still, confounded by the 
 command expressed in the face that confronted 
 me. 
 
 " Captain Middleton," the tone was one of 
 sharp attention. " You are a soldier, a man 
 schooled to meet dangers unmoved. Let not 
 a woman teach you self-control. You go to 
 fight the mortal enemies of England and to 
 preserve yourself from recapture." 
 
 "And you?" I asked, meeting eyes into 
 which I knew that I might gaze a lifetime and 
 read no shadow of fear. 
 
 "I go to guard the door of the state cabin 
 where sit two women who go with me when 
 I needs must bid good-night to this world." 
 
 A moment we clasped hands, gazed into each 
 other s eyes and only God knows what thoughts, 
 what questions, what promises passed between 
 us, asked and answered, in that brief space of 
 time. 
 
 The deck beneath our feet rose up, hurling 
 us apart. The York and the galleon that grap 
 pled with her rode so high that for an instant 
 they appeared to leave the water entirely. Then 
 they sank deep, for a space wallowing in the 
 waves. With wild shouts of exultation, the 
 Spaniards swarmed over our side and closed 
 
 176
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 with the men who waited to receive them. In 
 that space, in which every minute seemed a 
 thousand years I know not what I did, how 
 many of the fighting, struggling, swearing, 
 screeching creatures fell beneath my sword, 
 nor did I feel the wounds they gave me. 
 
 It was all a great misty, mazy blur of black 
 ness and blood red, in which the mate and the 
 surgeon alone took definite form. They slashed 
 to the right and the left, slaying all who came 
 within reach of their mighty arms. More than 
 once they came, when I was hard pressed, 
 beating back the foemen who struggled to take 
 my life. 
 
 At last we beat the Spaniards back; we 
 forced them over the sides, whirling many into 
 the gulf below before they could even put out 
 their hands and touch their own ship. The 
 pirates raised a hoarse yell, drowned all at 
 once by the shock of the merchant ship as she 
 grappled us aft. Her men sprang over our 
 sides and reached the middle of the deck before 
 the pirates met them with a rush that swept 
 them back like chaff. They sought to regain 
 their own deck, rushing rough-shod over the 
 groaning heaps of wounded and dying, only 
 to be cut down or forced back into the sea. 
 Calling to his men, the mate scaled our bul 
 warks and leaped upon the Spaniards. I was 
 
 I 77
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 following hard on his heels when his voice 
 stopped me. 
 
 The surgeon is down, Captain Middleton," 
 he cried. " And the Spaniards, boarding from 
 the galleon, scale our sides again," 
 
 Before the last word passed his lips I and the 
 men who fought around me were back and 
 upon them. 
 
 Over our sides we drove them, following 
 even to the galleon s deck. Like cattle we beat 
 them back and down allowing no quarter 
 until the last man of them lay dead at our feet. 
 With a hoarse shout of exultation the men 
 who followed me sank down exhausted, un 
 mindful alike of the pools of blood and of the 
 dead men against whom they lay. 
 
 The sight that met my eyes when the smoke 
 had cleared away was such as would make a 
 strong man s blood run cold and a timid woman 
 lose her reason. Side by side the three great 
 ships lay, grappled together and tossing at the 
 mercy of the waves and of their flapping, shot- 
 riddled sails. There was not a moving thing 
 in sight. The men w r ho, an hour before, made 
 hell on earth by their impious curses and unholy 
 strife, living and dead alike, lay prone on the 
 blood-soaked decks. Even the wounded had 
 either fainted or slept, and were no longer con- 
 
 178
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 torted by convulsions or raising their voices in 
 blasphemous imprecations and piteous moans. 
 
 The exhaustion passed and we arose and 
 went to search over the prize that we had taken 
 with such a fearful loss of life. We found a 
 king s ransom twice over in gold and in silver, 
 there were bales and bundles of rich cloth of 
 gold and cloth of silver; frails of pearls and 
 other jewels that my pirate followers did not 
 stop to count but of which each took as many 
 as he wished. In the state cabin we came upon 
 six trembling women and two priests blanched 
 with fear. I barricaded the door and rating 
 the men as their Captain would have done, 
 forced them to leave the fear-stricken creatures 
 unharmed and go with me to other parts of the 
 ship. In the reeking hold we found huddled 
 some half an hundred prisoners, black, red, 
 and white, both men and boys designed as 
 we all knew to be sold as slaves. I ordered the 
 hatches opened and they came swarming out 
 like a horde of wild men, desperate with fear. 
 When they saw the deck strewn with the life 
 less bodies of those who had until recently held 
 them captive they gazed into the faces of the 
 handful of men who now held the ship with 
 something near akin to hope in their eyes. 
 
 They were empty-handed and we well armed, 
 
 179
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 They had been subjected to cruel tortures as we 
 could tell by the wounds on their bodies and 
 the traces of bitter pain in their faces. Like a 
 herd of frightened sheep they stood silently 
 crowded before us, the weak behind the strong. 
 
 " Is there not one among you with a tongue 
 in his head, men? " I cried, stepping out from 
 among the pirates. " Some of you have the 
 look of Englishmen." 
 
 " There are many of us who speak the Eng 
 lish tongue and some who claim England as 
 our home, sir," one of them, a small man with 
 a keen face and large pensive, dark eyes, said, 
 making his way to the front. Do we stand 
 before the Captain of that ship?" he asked, 
 pointing to the York upon which, where they 
 all could see, fluttered a black flag. 
 
 I shook my head and pointed to the mate 
 who had but just leaped from the merchant 
 man to his own deck. " No, friend," I an 
 swered. " I was, as you yourselves, rescued 
 from the hands of Spaniards by those whom 
 the world calls pirates. Their captain is Thomas 
 Hawkins, of whom some of you may have 
 heard." 
 
 " He puts to death no Englishman," a tall 
 young fellow, with a countenance that was 
 neither mean nor villainous despite its scars 
 and dirt, exclaimed stepping forward boldly. 
 
 1 80
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 There has been hard fighting, sir, and may 
 hap men will be needed to take these prizes in. 
 I would sail under Captain Thomas Hawkins 
 in any capacity that he may choose. Aye, 
 verily, and as long as he will permit me, so 
 that he goes against the Spaniard." 
 
 " Aye, aye," his fellows cried, signifying 
 their willingness to follow his lead. 
 
 The mate coming to the galleon s deck, I told 
 him of their words, and he made short work of 
 appointing them to the task of throwing into 
 the sea the dead bodies that covered the planks. 
 This done, the treasure secured on board 
 the York, and the prisoners set at tasks of 
 repairing the three ships, the pirates bethought 
 themselves of the women and the priests whom 
 I had shut within the state cabin. They had 
 lost many comrades and their Captain lay 
 sore wounded, but in all they had taken two 
 gallant prizes and of those who had fought 
 against them there was not one left on either 
 of the three ships; living and dead alike had 
 been cast into the sea. All were in high good 
 humor; they had found wine in plenty and 
 rich food with which they would soon debauch 
 themselves, fine clothes to deck their bodies, 
 treasures to game with, and now they would 
 have prisoners, priests and women, of whom 
 to make sport. 
 
 181
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 With wild shouts of exultation and filthy 
 oaths, the pirates rushed forward to burst in 
 the cabin and begin their merriment. The 
 mate turned them back, rating them like dogs, 
 holding his point against them and daring them 
 to come against him, braving the crowd of 
 savage villains until he at last had his way. 
 Then choosing three to his liking he went 
 below and led out the cowering women and 
 priests. He forced them on to the poop and 
 there the men sat themselves down and began 
 dicing for the women. 
 
 They were all Spaniards and none of a great 
 beauty; but they were women. I thought of 
 the fate that awaited them and my heart 
 turned sick from very hatred of men and their 
 brutish passions. I remembered the one who 
 had guarded the two helpless women, who now 
 sat in the cabin of the York, and, through all 
 the terrible hours since they had been brought 
 out of Augustine, had by a keen wit, snatched 
 safety for them out of this same ruin and held 
 it by a steadfast courage that surpassed the 
 imaginings of men. My mind was busied with 
 such thoughts when there walked in among us 
 the one about whom they were -most concerned. 
 
 " Master Mate," my lord cried, stopping and 
 looking about him, his lips curled in fine scorn, 
 his eyes flashing, " who is that covey of 
 
 182
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 frightened doves and for what does your hell- 
 litter dice?" In his tone and bearing, as he 
 stood there amongst them one man among a 
 hundred there was so much of haughtiness 
 and courage, that the men left off their gaming 
 and stared at him askance. 
 
 They dice for possession of those women, 
 taken from the state cabin of this galleon, my 
 lord," the mate answered. 
 
 " They shall not have them, sir," my lord 
 cried, facing him, his hand on his sword. 
 " That I ll swear." 
 
 " My lord," the mate cried, springing to his 
 feet his unsheathed blade in his hand and an 
 expression on his handsome face that was ugly 
 to look upon " the captain of the York lies in 
 his cabin wounded unto death and there is none 
 on board who dares gainsay my orders." At his 
 words, the other pirates sprang up and were at 
 his back. " I say" 
 
 " I care not what you are or what you say," 
 my lord flung back at him, departing not one 
 hair s-width from the spot on which he stood. 
 I clutched the sword that had rested idle against 
 my knees and swore in my heart that he should 
 not die alone. " I stand under thy challenge 
 for a wager, Master Mate, as thou well know- 
 est," he cried in his high, sweet voice in which 
 there was now the ring of passion. " Had I 
 
 183
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 thought it out an hundred years, I could not 
 have hit upon a forfeit that would please me 
 so well as does yon half dozen shrinking 
 women." 
 
 " What, ho, wouldst have all six? " shouted 
 one man wearing pierced pezos of gold in his 
 ears, and more villainous looking than the rest. 
 " Ods blood ! boy, wouldst have a harem, thou 
 prince of fighting cocks? " 
 
 " Yea, it suits my humor to found a harem 
 on your pirate island. I would be the Grand 
 Turk of your New World and live at mine ease 
 surrounded by such sweet loves. An I beat 
 you at swords, Sir Giant, I will claim as my 
 own that group of women and the two fathers 
 Aye, verily, I must have the priests to confess 
 me; for though I be the Grand Turk of the 
 New World I would have my soul prayed into 
 the next. I stand under your challenge, Mas 
 ter Mate ; you threw down the gauntlet, now I 
 take it up, naming my forfeit. If I beat you at 
 swords the women and the priests are mine to 
 do with as I will." 
 
 " If you beat me at swords," the mate cried 
 fiercely, " you may claim the women to do with 
 as you will ; but the priests 
 
 " Give him the fathers, mate, if it will make 
 him die easier," the fellow wearing the pierced 
 pezos cried, with a string of unclean oaths. 
 
 184
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 " Let him have his whim and we will see what 
 metal it will put into his braggart s arm that 
 he meets not death at your sword point. Give 
 him his will, it will make you to spit him all 
 the better." 
 
 " I saw him beat down the Captain s blade 
 and send it rattling against the stones in the 
 streets of Augustine," cried a pirate whose 
 brawny shoulders were covered by what re 
 mained of a red velvet jerkin. And I saw that 
 there would be a side for as well as one against 
 my lord. 
 
 " Aye, but ye will not see him beat down the 
 mate s blade, devil," the first man exclaimed, 
 while other of his fellows ran for sand with 
 which to strew the blood smeared deck. Then 
 the ring was formed. 
 
 185
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 M 
 
 Y lord stripped off his coat and waist 
 coat, and never before or since have 
 I seen aught in man s attire as beau 
 tiful as was the young Count Uldric Huguenin 
 as he then appeared in his spotless shirt with 
 his ruffles and neckcloth of fine lace. A moment 
 he stood on guard, his chin held high, his red 
 lips curled in a smile, his eyes like twin stars, 
 waiting the onslaught of the young giant who 
 faced him. The attack of the mate was of a 
 fierce intensity that took my breath; by brute 
 force he sought to bear down and overwhelm 
 his antagonist. My lord met his strokes by 
 quick changes of position that brought into 
 play all the powers of the mind, eye and wrist 
 and proved his ability to read and interpret in 
 the eye of his enemy his intent before his wrist 
 had power to execute. I handle a blade that 
 won me high respect both among roisterers 
 and gentlemen in England, and I knew that I 
 was justly rated the best swordsman in Caro 
 lina, but I felt that should I ever stand face to 
 
 186
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 face with either of the men who fought before 
 me I would meet my match. 
 
 The mate had the longer reach and often the 
 young court gallant was hard pressed. Once, 
 after a circular parry, I sucked in my breath 
 and felt my heart strings like to snap, for I 
 thought the pirate s blade had caught him in 
 the sword arm, but my lord proved too quick 
 for him. The pirates who sat on my side of the 
 circle cheered softly. 
 
 An instant, my lord gave him breathing 
 space. Then they were at it again, the mate 
 even more furiously. I soon saw that my lord 
 could tire him out and I watched with beating 
 heart his heavy breathing and the streams of 
 sweat that flowed freely over his great body. 
 He tried one attack after another and my lord 
 was much put to it to defend himself. Then 
 the mate came upon him with a move that 
 made me grit my teeth and clench my hands 
 until the nails sank deep into the flesh; it was 
 a volte coupe, feinting in prime and thrusting 
 in seconde. My lord parried, and with a swift 
 movement of his lithe, beautiful body, held the 
 point of his blade over the giant s heart. The 
 pirates on my side of the circle cheered lustily 
 and the others joined with them. The mate 
 knew their meaning and after a moment s glar 
 ing into the eyes of the man who had spared 
 
 187
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 him, slipped his sword into its scabbard and 
 turned cursing away. 
 
 My lord, still smiling, began leisurely to re 
 place his garments, unheedful alike of the 
 pirates cheers and their words of commenda 
 tion. 
 
 " Have ye seen him beat down thy mate s 
 blade, bully? " the pirate with the velvet jerkin 
 exclaimed to his fellow with gold pezos in 
 his ears. 
 
 " Twas but trickery," he of the pezos re 
 plied growling. " Had the mate so willed it 
 he could have spitted the young boasting devil 
 ten times over." 
 
 " Ye lie in your throat, ye whelp," the first 
 pirate cried, whipping out his knife and making 
 for him of the gold earrings. 
 
 They grappled and there arose a mighty con 
 fusion in which all joined, each man fighting 
 and howling out the name of his favorite. Some 
 cried for the mate, others for the count, as they 
 laid about them with their weapons. The mate 
 sprang among them and took a hand in the 
 fray. He seized him of the gold pezos and 
 dragging him out of the clutches of the fellow 
 who wore the jerkin, used him as a ram, hurl 
 ing him against the mass of the other fighters. 
 He rated them as hounds and poured out such 
 
 188
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 a stream of villainous, curdling oaths as it has 
 never been my fate to hear surpassed. 
 
 "Do you lack an assistant, Master Mate?" 
 my lord cried, gaily. " I had but just warmed 
 to the fight when you put aside your blade and 
 would be right blithe to cut the heart out of 
 some few of your noisy devils." 
 
 Here he put out his foot and tripping the 
 pirate with the pezos earrings, sent him sprawl 
 ing to the deck. For the brute had regained 
 his feet, and with drawn knife, had made a 
 mad rush for the mate. There was a shout of 
 laughter; the men left off their fighting, and 
 good humor was restored. 
 
 " My forfeit," said my lord, turning and 
 doffing his hat to the women and the priests 
 who had been mute and trembling witnesses 
 to these two mad scenes. 
 
 " Aye, let the young gallant have his for 
 feit," shouted a brawny savage, snatching off 
 the only covering that he wore above his waist 
 a handkerchief of delicately embroidered silk 
 and waving it wildly above his head. " Let 
 him have his forfeit, I say, won in fair fight 
 and with honest sword. Give the young lord- 
 ling his coop of hens. By r larkin, I ll swear 
 there s not one among them with as pretty a 
 face or as handsome a form as his own." 
 
 189
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 "Aye, let him have them; let him take his 
 harem," they all cried to a man; even the 
 ruffian with the pezos joined in the lusty shouts 
 of, " Fairly won," " With honest sword." 
 
 The mate growled out his assent and my 
 lord clapping on his hat strode across the deck 
 to take possession of his winnings. 
 
 " My lord," the savage of the silk handker 
 chief cried, " had I a wench with legs of but 
 half so handsome a shape as thine own I d 
 not sell her for a thousand pezos in gold." 
 
 " Had you such a one, villain," my lord 
 replied, turning, and the smile on his lips and 
 the color in his cheeks remained unchanged, 
 " I would have her of you did she cost the 
 whole of my fortune and I had to cut your 
 black heart out to boot. And when I got her 
 I would thrust this deep into her tender bosom," 
 he said, drawing from his belt a keen dagger 
 with jewels flashing in its hilt. " For I will 
 have no rival to my beauty, not even a woman." 
 
 The pirates cheered this bragging speech loud 
 and long, for they loved right well the haughti 
 ness of his bearing and the mad words and 
 curses that he hurled at them, defying the whole 
 ship s crew. I turned my gaze on the mate 
 that I might see in what sort he held this great 
 show of favor from his pirates. I met his 
 eyes; it was plain to see he had been regarding 
 
 190
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 me narrowly. I read lurking in their depths 
 an expression the dawn of a suspicion in some 
 sort that I was not soon to forget. Knowing 
 that I had caught him unawares he turned to 
 my lord, exclaiming : 
 
 " What is your will concerning the two fat 
 hypocrites and your last flock of hens, my 
 lord?" 
 
 " To put them in their coop, Master Mate, 
 where I can know them safe and coddle them 
 to my heart s content," he answered, ogling the 
 captive females in the manner which I ll war 
 rant he had learned of the Grand Monarque 
 himself. 
 
 " Captain Hawkins lies in his cabin raving 
 like a madman and the surgeon is scarce bet 
 ter," the mate said, having ordered his pirates 
 about their business, when we three were left 
 alone on the poop deck with the prisoners. 
 " We have three ships and hardly men enough 
 to man one I know not how our crew placed 
 on board the merchantman at Augustine passed 
 out of this life, but they had all been murdered 
 or cast living into the sea. It is my purpose 
 to put this galleon into your hands as its cap 
 tain, Captain Middleton," he said, turning to 
 me. 
 
 " And my lord? " I exclaimed, remembering 
 the look that I had caught lurking in his eyes.
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 I stared at him, then my gaze traveled past 
 him to my lord s face. It was blankly indiffer 
 ent, he felt no interest in the subject and I 
 realized that I must needs learn self-control of 
 a woman. 
 
 " I will appoint my lord as my own mate, if 
 he will so serve," he replied, and he did not 
 strive to keep out of his voice the suspicion 
 that was in his eyes. 
 
 " That will I, Sir Pirate, and right blithe 
 to do it," my lord cried, his face flushing and 
 his eyes on fire. 
 
 "And my mate?" I questioned, hoping to 
 cover up the suspicion which my first words 
 had raised. " You will doubtless appoint me 
 as able an assistant." 
 
 " Not so handsome a one. Captain Middle- 
 ton," the pirate answered, smiling grimly. 
 " Cayman, we call him because of his cavernous 
 mouth and the great distance that he can fling 
 open his huge jaws. He is the devil who so 
 admireth the fine shape of your lordship s legs." 
 
 " Give him me, Master Mate, for I do love 
 all who admire my beauty with a love that 
 passes the understanding of most men. Make 
 me a captain that he may serve my mate. I 
 would change places with Captain Middleton 
 and I ll warrant that we d sail this galleon most 
 
 192
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 gaily into port, my mate and I. Make me her 
 captain, Sir Pirate." 
 
 " No, my lord," the mate replied, regarding 
 him with such an alertness as I had seen gleam 
 in the eyes of a snake when it was about to 
 strike. The command of a pirate s prize is 
 not a domain suited to your talent. We have 
 need of your services on board the York. Its 
 captain is mad from fever and may need your 
 handsome face and soft hands I ll warrant, 
 my lord, that your hands are as soft as they 
 are white to soothe his ravings. If you had 
 but the training, you d make a most skilful 
 nurse I doubt not, my lord. As skilful as your 
 sister is at swordplay, mayhap. I have travelled 
 much in France and have some few friends at 
 court from whom I have heard much of your 
 lordship s sister, Mistress Antoinette Hugue- 
 nin." 
 
 He leaned forward gazing keenly into my 
 lord s eyes. If he expected to gain aught from 
 either those eyes or from that face he got it 
 not. The eyes that met his were like great dark 
 pools, sunlit and sparkling. The color in the 
 face neither lessened nor increased, nor was 
 there the slightest movement of a muscle. 
 
 " Then," said my lord, " you marvel not 
 that I want near me those who love well my 
 
 193
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 handsome face and fine shape. Tis court 
 gossip about Mistress Antoinette, and her love 
 of admiration. I would be your Cayman s cap 
 tain, Master Pirate, and hear him praise my 
 beauty." 
 
 " That cannot be, my lord," the mate re 
 plied, and though I saw he was baffled, I saw 
 also by the gleam in his eye that he had not 
 given up. " This galleon is a great prize and 
 has need of an older head to sail her." 
 
 " But the merchantman ; who commands the 
 merchantman? " my lord persisted. 
 
 " She was badly disabled in the fight, my 
 lord, and when we have stripped her we will 
 leave her in flames. Would you bestow your 
 two sleek Jesuits under her hatches?" 
 
 " Nay, nay, Master Mate," he cried, laugh 
 ing in high good humor. " I must keep the 
 fathers for the salvation of my soul. Though 
 I be the Grand Turk of your continent, I would 
 not forego the joys of the life to come. I will 
 take the fathers and the rest of my cattle with 
 me on board the York. I will be your mate, 
 Sir Pirate, do good service and beat my men 
 roundly if they work not to my liking; but 
 there will be hours of ease, and I must have my 
 sweet loves with me." 
 
 He went gaily over to the group of prisoners 
 and later, as I busied myself in the duties of 
 
 194
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the position assigned me, I saw him enjoying 
 his sport chucking the women under their 
 chins, kissing them, pinching their cheeks, chas 
 ing the more timid here and there about the 
 poop deck in his efforts to embrace them, touch 
 ing the fathers with the point of his sword, 
 flashing it before their eyes, and swearing like 
 any trooper if they started back or so much 
 as winked their eyes because of its too near 
 approach to their noses. 
 
 Once when I heard his peals of joyous 
 laughter joined in by cries and shouts from 
 the pirates, I turned and saw that he made 
 the fattest of the friars dance a merry jig, for 
 cing him to it by blows from the flat of his 
 sword, and by jeering words and strange 
 curses. Now this way, now that, the panting 
 father footed it; with skirts held high he went 
 skipping through all the whirls and turnings, 
 hopping nimbly over the sword when my lord 
 presented it. And I ll warrant the wildest 
 young gallant of King Louis court could not 
 have laughed louder or urged on the priests 
 with more taunting words than did this young 
 lordling. I looked on wonderingly and joined 
 with my pirate crew in their cheers at his folly. 
 
 Since I had waked and found myself out of 
 that iron cage at Augustine, I had seen many 
 strange and curious things, and had many ex-
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 periences that no man in his senses could have 
 conjured up in his brain. In my not too long 
 life I had learned many lessons and was like 
 to be taught many more, but I knew that I 
 would never have such another teacher as him 
 who had brought the manners and dress of the 
 French court amongst the buccaneers of Amer 
 ica. For steadfast courage, with every breath 
 he drew he gave a proof that grew constantly 
 greater; for his faithfulness to his friends I 
 had but to call to mind my own rescue and 
 that of the women who sat on board the York; 
 for his sympathy for mankind, even those of the 
 race who had brought him to this plight, the 
 group of helpless creatures whom he had saved 
 from a fate worse than death evidenced; for 
 folly and mad daring, and all that beseemed a 
 wild roisterer I turned away, shrugging the 
 shoulders of my understanding. The inconsist 
 ency of it all passed my powers of compre 
 hension. 
 
 When next I saw my lord, he was forcing 
 his playthings over my bulwarks and to the 
 deck of the York. Some he urged with kisses 
 and some by less gentle means. Fanciful oaths 
 flowed from his smiling lips and he shouted 
 boastingly to the mate who stood on the quarter 
 deck of the pirate. Seeing me he exclaimed : 
 
 " I drive my cattle from your deck, Captain 
 
 196
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Middleton. Though they know that they go 
 to safety and the bliss of my caresses they are 
 loath to quit your ship. They are as like all 
 other women for contrariness as are black-eyed 
 peas one to another." 
 
 " You could scarce expect them to hasten 
 fast, my lord," I made answer, walking quite 
 up to where he stood, " when you urge them on 
 with your kisses. 
 
 " My kisses!" he cried. " Yea, but one re 
 fused my kisses. That black-eyed wench with 
 the trim waist, she outwomans them all for 
 perverseness. She will have none of my kisses. 
 I esteem her the more for her taste, for by 
 my faith were I another and had my will I d 
 not accept my kisses." 
 
 The smile had left his lips and his eyes were 
 pensive to sadness. We stood quite alone. He 
 laid his hand on the bulwark about to follow 
 his prisoners. 
 
 " There be those among your audience, my 
 lord, who would be blithe to kiss the dust be 
 neath your feet," I told him, and I think my 
 voice trembled for a cruel hand seemed griping 
 my heart because I thought he doubted the part 
 he played and how it appeared to others. 
 
 He threw up his head with a gay laugh ; then 
 he scaled the bulwarks and turned back facing 
 me. 
 
 197
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " I sought to teach you a lesson this morning 
 on the quarter-deck and found you but a dull 
 pupil. Captain Middleton," he exclaimed, so loud 
 that the mate must needs hear. " Have a care, 
 sir, how you cross my purpose, or I will lesson 
 you as you saw me do the mate. When that 
 time comes I will not spare you, that I ll war 
 rant." 
 
 198
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 IT was near nightfall when our dead, hav 
 ing been buried in the sea and our grap 
 pling irons cast loose, we set sail for 
 the pirates stronghold. From out the mer 
 chantman there crept a thin white smoke that 
 increased both in volume and blackness 
 as the breadth of darkening waters between 
 us widened swiftly. From my own deck 
 I watched the fire spread. First a yellow 
 flickering flame that seemed hardly of the 
 bigness of a man s hand; then it came again 
 and another with it; then another and another, 
 until they mounted up so fast and fiercely that 
 I ceased to count. From gold they changed to 
 blood-red, shot high in the air and caught the 
 rigging. Like some terrible living monster 
 they leaped up, spreading over the sails, and 
 from the topmast streamed up a fierce tongue 
 towards the black heavens. 
 
 We sailed under a heaven, moon-lit and star 
 lit, but over that burning ship there was naught 
 but blackness. From stem to stern, from 
 
 I 99
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 water s edge to the top of her crumbling spars 
 she was a glowing mass of red, orange, and 
 gold. As she drifted, or as at times the breeze 
 changed, the smoke enveloped her and she ap 
 peared a ship all rose-colored from the rays of 
 a rising sun. Then she veered again and 
 seemed sailing down toward us like some hor 
 rible monster, her hull and spars dead-black and 
 her sails and streamers blood-red. The smoke 
 came down and melting into the sea hid her 
 shape, and the glare of the flames that devoured 
 her was the yawning mouth of hell from which 
 we fled. We left her far behind and when she 
 seemed but a bright glow on that line where 
 sky and sea flow together I left off watching 
 and heaved a great sigh of relief that there had 
 been no human creatures left to perish on her. 
 I knew to whose courage it was due that such 
 was the case and in the depths of my heart I 
 thanked God that he had sent me a captive 
 among Indians, left me a prisoner in Augus 
 tine, to be hung in their iron cage and rescued 
 by pirates since through these I had come to 
 know the greatness of one loyal human heart, 
 whose true nobleness there were not words in 
 any language great enough to describe. 
 
 The sun rose clear and the gleaming sea 
 sprang up in little waves as though to meet in 
 very gladness the cool breeze that kissed its 
 
 200
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 face. I walked the deck of that galleon, its 
 captain; the crew who served under my orders 
 were pirates and the black flag fluttered over 
 her poop atop of St. George s ensign. My order 
 was to follow the York close and it suited well 
 the inclination of my heart. I let not the 
 ribbon of changing water grow too wide be 
 tween us and my eyes were ever busy with her 
 deck. I saw him whose bright clothes made 
 him resemble more than aught else some bril 
 liantly colored butterfly, come on to the poop 
 deck with two more soberly clad figures and 
 my heart sang. A night had passed, another 
 day had come, and he still held his power over 
 the savages who surrounded him. I put my 
 glasses to my eyes to spy upon the two who 
 had come upon the deck with him. 
 
 " The young fighting-cock is on deck again, 
 sir," came the voice of the pirate who served as 
 my mate, and I remembered that other pirate 
 and the suspicion in his eyes when I had last 
 seen him gaze into my lord s face. 
 
 " I look at the point of land to the sou east," 
 I answered and handed him my glasses and 
 roughly bade him tell me if he knew its form. 
 
 " You have monstrous fine eyes, Captain," 
 he exclaimed when he had told me what land 
 it was and looked through my glasses the sec 
 ond time. " I saw not the faintest glimmer of 
 
 201
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 land when you first spoke and even now with 
 out the glass it seems but the shadow of a 
 cloud." 
 
 " It was plainly visible," I told him, though 
 in truth I had not the faintest suspicion of its 
 existence until the glasses that I destined for 
 quite another purpose flashed it into view. " I 
 only use the glasses to draw it nearer." 
 
 I took them from his hand as the man on 
 the lookout gave the cry that told all on board 
 that land was sighted. There would be no tales 
 carried of my action on this day, thank God! 
 I put my glasses to my eyes and again turning 
 them towards the point that was rapidly grow 
 ing up from the sea focused them on the faces 
 at no greater distance than the deck of the 
 pirate ship. I was not surprised at the features 
 that they brought to me, although I remembered 
 well the words of Count Huguenin at our first 
 meeting on that same poop deck : " My aunt 
 you have never seen, Captain Middleton, and 
 her black serving woman who also you are yet 
 to set eyes upon for the first time." 
 
 I turned about and with threats and curses 
 that well befitted the part I played ordered my 
 men back to their work. Then with a smile 
 in my heart, though I dare not wear it on my 
 face, I went contentedly to my duties as cap 
 tain of the pirates prize. 
 
 202
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 "The York has the devil of a mate," I 
 heard one pirate exclaim to another. My back 
 was towards the ship of which they talked but 
 I would not turn. " Look at the young lord- 
 ling now." 
 
 "Aye, and what is he about?" his fellow 
 questioned. " He climbs like a cat." 
 
 " Cat? " the first man sneered. " As a devil 
 say I. He climbs as he fights and does all 
 else I ll warrant, the young imp. But why 
 climbs he in the rigging? " 
 
 " Tis his humor, fool," the other answered. 
 " Naught else could make him stir hand or 
 foot or open or shut his red lips." 
 
 Then I turned and seeing them loitering 
 swore at them fiercely. 
 
 " I did but watch the young lord, Captain," 
 replied the younger of the two, motioning to 
 wards the pirate craft. He was a Frenchman 
 about whose broken head was swathed a breadth 
 torn from a woman s delicately wrought petti 
 coat. " My father is a poor man and I was 
 brought up in the country and never saw a 
 court gallant until this one. You have been at 
 court, sir, and mayhap have seen the English 
 king. Are all his gallants as beautiful as our 
 count, and as ready to fight?" 
 
 I shook my head, smiling at the knave s pro 
 noun of possession. " I have seen many court 
 
 203
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 gallants," I told him, " but not one to com 
 pare with your young French count. What 
 does he, sitting in the rigging?" 
 
 Before he could reply I was answered by the 
 notes of a rollicking song sung by a rich voice 
 in which there was both sweetness and strength. 
 Though I could distinguish few of its words 
 the air was so filled with the bragging swagger 
 of a dare-devil roisterer that I joined in the 
 loud laughter of my crew and whea it finished 
 cheered with them in applause. We waited 
 in a silence broken only by the wash of the 
 waves as our ship cut her way through the 
 sparkling water. Then the voice of the pirate 
 mate of him who served as captain cried 
 out: 
 
 " Sing another, my lord. It is long since I 
 have heard a court ditty and never one sung 
 in a voice like your own. Give us another, my 
 lord." 
 
 " Aye, aye ! " shouted the crew of the pirate. 
 " Aye, aye ! " the men on the galleon answered. 
 
 He sang again, a ballad in which there was 
 all of light and love and laughter. And the 
 men cheered bravely at the sound of its Eng 
 lish words. His humor changed and there 
 floated out to us as soft as the breathings of a 
 flower. 
 
 " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not 
 
 204
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 want. He maketh me, He maketh me to lie 
 down in green pastures, 
 
 Brawny, sunburnt, scarred men listened, and 
 through the blood-red haze of a thousand crimes 
 the faces and scenes of their innocent childhood 
 came as a softening memory. It carried me 
 back to England. Again I was a child at my 
 mother s knee, looking up into her tender eyes 
 with all the love and trust that were in my 
 childish heart; then I was a lad, a boy grown 
 out of that innocence, at school with other boys 
 now at play in sunny courts, now droning 
 lessons over much scarred tables, now sitting in 
 the solemn dusk of the chapel forced to listen 
 to the priest and wishing to be out on the river 
 or on the greensward ; again the scene changed 
 and I stared round-eyed at the long-visaged, 
 solemnly dressed soldiers that followed him at 
 whose bidding the head of an English king 
 rolled in the dust. I had been a small boy in 
 those days but the singing of those words 
 brought it back as though it had all happened 
 yesterday. 
 
 Then it took me back to my life at court, 
 as wild as any of the reckless swaggerers about 
 me. I had my fling with the wildest roisterers 
 of my breeding and quality and enjoyed it right 
 well. The death of that gentle-faced mother 
 snapped the cord that bound me to the old world 
 
 205
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and, along with other swaggerers, I cast my lot 
 in the new. It was a rare picture, my coming 
 to the beautiful and savage new world. I saw 
 the great rivers, the harbors and its cluster of 
 small houses; beyond them all was forest, for 
 est, forest, with great moss-draped trees, strange 
 flowers, strange birds, strange animals, and 
 stranger people. I saw my house, my neigh 
 bor, my neighbor s house in which there always 
 played a little maid with great black, hawk 
 eyes a child whom, as I sat and watched her, 
 I often questioned was she more human or elfin ? 
 Then followed my later vision of her and the 
 trust she had laid upon me. The adventures 
 that followed, the tortures, the coming of him 
 whose voice was my light and my deliverance 
 and who thinking of all that I had seen him 
 do and heard him say again in my heart I 
 questioned was he human or elfin in spirit? 
 
 " Though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
 thou " 
 
 " He will make women of us all if he keeps 
 this up," I heard the voice of my gunner say, 
 and he was reproved by his fellows into silence. 
 
 But they had their trouble for their pains. 
 My lord had had his fill of psalm singing, and 
 before the last word had formed an echo I 
 heard him shouting his commands to that half- 
 
 206
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 witted kitchen boy who had formed his especial 
 body-guard since his coming aboard the ship, 
 in a tone in which there was nothing softer 
 than haughty passion. 
 
 We saw the man he threatened clamber 
 hastily up the rigging to him, stretch out a 
 bare arm there was a flash. 
 
 " My lord has lost his humor for singing 
 and would smoke his roll of tobacco swinging 
 in the rigging," one of my pirates remarked as 
 he drew the spider s tooth from his own tobacco 
 pouch and leisurely cleaning his pipe, called to 
 his fellows to leave off their staring and come 
 back to their seats in the shade to begin again 
 the two occupations that I never knew to cease 
 to amuse them or any other man who had ever 
 shipped before the mast gaming and smoking. 
 
 We sailed past that land sighted at sunrise 
 a tiny island whose one hill shone under the 
 noonday sun like a peak of purest gold. Then 
 we came to many others both great and small 
 but we stopped not, for Spanish sails often 
 came that way and we were not fnanned for 
 fighting, but hastened to make our home 
 port where the prize could be divided, the 
 wounded tended and the damage made by our 
 own and Spanish shots repaired. 
 
 At sunset we came in sight of two sails, a 
 galleon near as great as the one on which I 
 
 207
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 stood and a caravel. They belonged to the plate 
 fleet of the Indies, that fleet whose yearly sail 
 ing was most anxiously looked forward to both 
 by the king of Spain and the buccaneers of 
 America. I saw the eyes of the pirates glisten 
 with greed, and heard deep swearing at the 
 chance that had lost them their comrades on 
 board the merchantman and put them in such 
 a sorry plight that they dared not give such 
 prizes battle but must skulk into a protecting 
 channel and thus make their own escape. 
 
 The night passed as cloudless and beautiful 
 as the day and almost as bright. In a mistless 
 dawn I looked out and beheld so many islands 
 that I could not have numbered them on the 
 fingers of one hand; some near and some far, 
 like clouds they floated on the bosom of a 
 blood-red sea. The water changed to pure gold, 
 then to amethyst, shot with brightest blue and 
 palest green. The gay colors of the court 
 butterfly showed on the deck of the pirate and 
 my heart laughed with the sunlit waves. 
 
 We passed near land but saw no living thing 
 save the scarlet and green birds in the trees 
 and the wild creatures that lay on the beach or 
 fed on the hillsides. Then, as we came from 
 out a little strait between two islands there 
 stretched before us an indented line of verdure. 
 
 208
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 From the throats of all on board the pirate and 
 the galleon there went up a lusty shout. I 
 knew we had sighted our haven, that island 
 upon which the great Genoese was the first to 
 look and by this warrant claim for his ungrate 
 ful countrymen the possession of the vast riches 
 and boundless country of the New World. 
 
 There are no colors, no words bright enough 
 to paint the beauties of that Indian island and 
 the waters through which we sailed. Flying 
 fish glided by us, bonitos and albicores played 
 around the bows, dolphins gleamed in our 
 wake, often sharks and once a whale, emerald- 
 colored and huge, kept us company. The beach 
 was a silver strand fringed with evergreen, 
 drooping mangroves, and long shrouding ave 
 nues of the dark green leaves of the stately 
 manchineel, beautiful but noxious, the white 
 wood, the forest trees that grew farther in 
 land, knotted and bound together with luxur 
 iant festoons of evergreen creepers that con 
 nected them in one vast network of leaves and 
 branches. 
 
 We had glimpses of numerous monkeys 
 swinging and climbing in the tree-tops, and 
 flocks of birds, bright colored and clamorous. 
 Once we passed on the beach a huge turtle 
 making its ponderous way back to the water, 
 
 209
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 while still farther on, down the same stretch of 
 sand some little animals that I could not name 
 frolicked in the sunlight, now in now out of 
 the water. 
 
 2IO
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 AT the entrance of the bay on which was 
 situated the buccaneers fastness, were 
 two islands extending from east to 
 west. The one toward the east my mate told 
 me was called Watch Isle, because of the high 
 hill in the middle on which they had built a 
 watch-house; the one to the west was Pigeon 
 Island, on account of the great number of these 
 birds that inhabited it. Between these two 
 islands ran a long and swift channel of fresh 
 water, the only entrance to the harbor, as I 
 afterwards proved, that was of sufficient depth 
 to allow of the passage of any besides the small 
 est boats. On Pigeon Island loomed a grim cas 
 tle, the purpose of which I needed no telling, 
 and under whose guns, a vessel sailing in or 
 out, was forced by great sand-banks. 
 
 That our passage into the harbor was noticed 
 I could tell from the numerous heads that 
 peered down upon us from the castle; that, see 
 ing the captured galleon, they rated the enter- 
 
 21 I
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 prise successful was proved by the loud cheers 
 they sent after us. 
 
 " I thought ye would go to heaven this trip, 
 devil," a great voice bellowed. 
 
 " Give me hell," was the blasphemous reply 
 of the old pirate, who sailed as my ship-master 
 and who in his young days had served as sol 
 dier under Turenne in the Fronde war. Tis 
 a merrier place than heaven and at the entrance 
 I ll stand until I give Tom Hawkins a salute of 
 thirteen guns." 
 
 " Has he gone there, then? " another savage 
 yelled. 
 
 " No, ye land rogue," was shouted back from 
 aboard the York. " But when he does he will 
 take thee with him to carry his crutch, for the 
 new surgeon has sawed off his leg." 
 
 From the swiftly moving current of the strait 
 we passed into a clear green lake, the harbor 
 of the pirates stronghold. It was itself a 
 stronghold, by reason of the stretches of gleam 
 ing sand that winded here and there like the coils 
 of a great serpent, now out, now under the water. 
 Sea birds skimmed upon the placid surface, and 
 red flamingoes stalked around the sandy shoals, 
 while great alligators wallowed on the muddy 
 banks and snowy pelicans held their torpid 
 councils in solemn stupidity. 
 
 From the water s edge sloped green undulat- 
 
 212
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ing fields of maize and tobacco, and stretches 
 of great trees vine wreathed and laden with 
 gorgeous colored blossoms above whose tops 
 waved feathery palms, their heavy fruit glis 
 tening like polished gold. Farther inland a 
 range of mountains rose precipitously, their 
 peaks snow-capped and dazzling white. 
 
 On the farther side of the lake from the 
 channel and somewhat to the east was the city, 
 a cluster of about two hundred not too tall 
 houses, defended at the rear by tall palisades 
 banked with earth, and on the water front by 
 a great stone fort from whose tower floated 
 two great flags. One showed the lilies of 
 France while the other was of the same sombre 
 hue as that which waved above my ship. 
 
 Heading now this way, now that, to avoid 
 the dangers of the sand-banks, we came at last 
 to anchor and with such of my crew as had 
 been named by the pirate who acted as captain 
 of the York, I went ashore in our long boat. 
 The people who swarmed down to meet us 
 looked a savage crowd in their motley dress. 
 The women of whom there was a small 
 sprinkling were as gaudy as the birds that we 
 had seen in the forest robed in silks and velvets 
 whose richness ill accorded with their sunburnt 
 faces and their ungentle ways. The huge 
 beards of the men with their long hair falling 
 
 213
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 wildly over their shoulders, increased the 
 ferocity of their appearance in their blood 
 stained shirts, short breeches, bare legs and 
 leathern sandals. These fierce creatures I knew 
 to be the hunters of the colony, from the knife 
 case of cayman skin and the roll of mosquito 
 net that hung from their waists. The planters, 
 like the women, were bedecked in all the splen 
 dors rummaged from the Spanish cabins, while 
 the few sea-rovers among them combined rich 
 borrowings with their rough garments in a 
 manner most amazing. One heathen who ran 
 down to assist at our landing, and whose great 
 body was bare to his waist, wore a laced sword- 
 belt of great richness; atop his shock of tangled 
 hair he wore a broad velvet hat heavily plumed, 
 while over the rough unclean shirt of another 
 flowed a steinkirk of lace as rich as that worn 
 by my lord. 
 
 " You are a stranger, sir, yet you come among 
 us with a bold step," a stout man said to me 
 as I left the boat. His cheeks were as plump as 
 pulpit cushions and under his chin there were 
 great rolls of fat. He was dressed in crimson 
 damask; a red feather flaunted in his cocked 
 hat; on his breast blazed a diamond cross, that 
 hung on a thick gold chain wound around his 
 neck. He rested on an unsheathed sword, and 
 had two pairs of pistols hanging pirate-fashion
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 in a silk sling over his shoulders. I walked into 
 the crowd at the head of my pirate crew, myself 
 as savage looking as any among them, I ll war 
 rant, and replied to his questionable salutation. 
 
 " I am an Englishman, your Honor," I said, 
 for I judged him to be the Governor by the 
 respectful bearing of those who stood around 
 him as well as the dignity of his manner and 
 the richness of his dress. " I am a citizen of 
 Charleston, in the province of Carolina, and 
 was rescued by your friends from the iron cage 
 of Augustine." 
 
 " He fought like the devil with us against 
 the Spaniards, your Honor," the gunner of my 
 crew cried, when I had ceased to speak. " They 
 pressed us hard but we sent the last man to hell 
 and sailed away, " 
 
 He went on giving details of the fight and 
 the amount of treasure captured, but my eyes 
 and ears were so busy on another errand that 
 I did not attend. The tw r o long boats of the 
 pirate ship were coming ashore. They were 
 heavily laden with human freight and came 
 but slowly. In the bottom of the one in which 
 stood the mate, crouched the fat priests and 
 the two old Spanish women prisoners, while in 
 the other sat the four young women with my 
 lord s English aunt and her black serving 
 woman. My lord stood in the bow and those 
 
 215
 
 WHEN the LAND -was YOUNG 
 
 on the shore gazed at him in wonder as they 
 listened to the account of his adventures and 
 of his daring and bravery as told by the gunner 
 of the galleon. 
 
 " Did you not learn his name, Captain Mid- 
 dleton?" the Governor asked, "The name of 
 this young gallant of King Louis court to 
 whom you owe your rescue, and who accord 
 ing to your crew had the bravery of Montbars, 
 the Exterminator, even if he has not Mont- 
 bars hatred for the Spaniards ? " 
 
 " I know only that which is known to all 
 who sailed with him, your Honor," I replied. 
 To us all he is known " 
 
 The boats grated on the sand, and my lord 
 springing out strode up the bank ahead of the 
 mate. 
 
 " Monsieur D Oyeron," he cried, his hat in 
 his hand and sweeping him of the red damask 
 a gallant bow, " though you remember me 
 not I stood at your side and played with the 
 lace of your sword belt when you came with 
 the commissioners of your company praying 
 the king to sanction your governor s warrant." 
 
 " My lord," the Governor cried, with all def 
 erence, backing before him and bowing low, 
 " though I remember not your face I cannot 
 doubt your lordship s word." 
 
 " Yet I was of that same gay company, your 
 
 216
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Honor," my lord assured him. " And I saw 
 that the King showed you small favor until 
 Madam de Montespan urged him, Sign the 
 warrant and send them away, Sire/ she said. 
 I would see you play at swords with the pretty 
 youth. I was that pretty youth, your Honor, 
 and I stood at your side as you knelt to receive 
 your warrant from the hands of the Grand 
 Monarque." 
 
 " Those were her very words, my lord," the 
 Governor cried, and I saw the deference in his 
 manner increase, while the people crowded 
 about him, trod on each other s heels, and 
 craned their necks, that they might the better 
 view one who had stood so near a king. " And 
 I remember the gallant figure you cut and 
 your sword with its jeweled hilt, which they 
 said the king had given you. That is four 
 years gone, my lord, and you looked a slender 
 youth indeed. Though I recall all else I do 
 not remember that I learned your lordship s 
 name." 
 
 " My name," my lord answered, looking the 
 Governor squarely in the eyes, " is Uldric Hu- 
 guenin." 
 
 " My lord," the Governor cried, fiercely, 
 starting back, his sword half raised, " your 
 father is my bitterest enemy." 
 
 " For that reason I told you my name," my 
 
 217
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lord replied, meeting his gaze of hatred with 
 calm eyes. 
 
 You are daring, sir," the pirate ruler cried, 
 glaring at him and fingering the hilt of the 
 dagger that hung at his belt. 
 
 My lord stood alone. The Governor s peo 
 ple had fallen back with their ruler and I with 
 the mate and the others of our crew who had 
 leaped ashore, held the position at one side that 
 we had first taken. 
 
 That a son inherits his mother s spirit is 
 no new creed, your Honor," my lord replied, 
 and there was a sneer in his voice that he took 
 not the trouble to disguise. 
 
 " She lost much and died of a broken heart," 
 the Governor snarled, his face working in rage. 
 
 " She gained the love of a noble gentleman 
 and died a happy woman," my lord answered 
 him. 
 
 " He turned her from her duty to her church 
 and her parents and sent her soul to burn in 
 hell. For it, I have sworn to cut out his heretic 
 heart," he raged. 
 
 " His son stands before you, your Honor," 
 my lord replied with mock deference, as he un 
 sheathed his blade. 
 
 You dare me, you dog?" the buccaneer 
 cried. His voice was a bellow of rage, his 
 face was purple-red and his lips were flecked 
 
 218
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 with foam, as he rushed forward with uplifted 
 sword. 
 
 I sprang towards my lord, but the pirate 
 giant was ahead of me. 
 
 He received the onsault of the Governor and 
 with his cutlass sent his sword rattling in the 
 dust. 
 
 " Alexandre Bras de Fer?" the infuriated 
 ruler yelled. 
 
 " Yes, your Honor," the mate answered an 
 grily, holding his ground against the rush that 
 threatened him. " Had I not done it you would 
 have fared much worse at the hands of the 
 young count. He would have spitted you as 
 sure as the world turns and would have fought 
 every man of your following without once cry 
 ing quarter." 
 
 " He shall have no quarter," the Governor 
 cried, with a stream of filthy oaths. " Nor 
 shall any who defend him, traitor! Your 
 weapons, men!" he shouted, grown a very 
 madman from rage. " Flay the boasting das 
 tard alive and spare not one who lifts his hand 
 against you ! " 
 
 There was a sullen mutter, the suppressed 
 roar of a lion before it springs. The mate, my 
 lord, and I, we three, stood shoulder to 
 shoulder and the men who had sailed with us 
 pressed hard against our heels. Two score we 
 
 219
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 faced two hundred. Then I saw the two fa 
 thers gird up their skirts and stepping out from 
 amongst the group of cowering women, enter 
 the ranks of those who, weapons in hand, 
 stood ready to murder us or drive us back into 
 the sea. 
 
 " Look, look, look ! my lord," cried the 
 mate, lifting his giant arm and pointing to the 
 priests. " See the two cringing hypocrites whom 
 you won from death in the sea by your good 
 sword, and whom you would not have me leave 
 under hatches on our burning merchantman! 
 They know you their deliverer, yet see how 
 they have turned against you because you are 
 a heretic and on the side they think the weaker. 
 Come on! brothers, come on!" he shouted, 
 beckoning to certain men who had left those 
 that pressed about the Governor, and seemed 
 about to cross the line. There are heretics 
 among planters and hunters as well as sea- 
 rovers who have heard of a certain bloody 
 St. Bartholomew s Day. Aye, verily, many of 
 you stand here to-day, driven from your homes 
 and your fortunes wrecked, on account of that 
 Catholic love-feast. Come on ! all of you. 
 Show your colors, since his Honor, your Gov 
 ernor, has sworn to have the lives of all here 
 tics." 
 
 " You lie, you ranting villain," cried the 
 
 22O
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 Governor, still raging, though he seemed not 
 so wild to rush on us since he saw the increase 
 in our ranks and the lessening of his own. " I 
 am no papist as all know, for I believe not in 
 God and hate all priests. It is the young game 
 cock that ye brought with ye. His father is 
 mine own accursed enemy and I will have his 
 blood." 
 
 " What has his father done, that fearing to 
 face him you would murder his son, when he 
 stands in your own city, one man against one 
 thousand?" the mate demanded, scowling at 
 him. 
 
 " He seduced the girl I would have married, 
 curse him," the governor replied, grinding his 
 teeth in a very transport of baffled rage. 
 
 " I beg that you touch not my mother s good 
 name, Monsieur D Oyeron," the young count 
 said haughtily, stepping out from between the 
 mate and me. " If you do so, I will have your 
 heart s blood were you King Louis himself. 
 Gentlemen," he said, bowing to both those who 
 stood around him and to those who faced him, 
 and I ll warrant there were many among them 
 that had never before been so addressed, " my 
 mother and father were lovers when they were 
 children, but because lie was a heretic they 
 would not give her to him. When they could 
 not force her to wed with the man whom you 
 
 221
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 have heard make his blasphemous boast of un 
 belief, they shut her up in a convent and would 
 have made a nun of her had not my father 
 stolen her out and fled with her to England. 
 There he married her and would have taken her 
 to Virginia, but by force of circumstance he was 
 landed here, and lived for near four years 
 among the buccaneers of Hispaniola." 
 
 "What is your name, my lord?" asked an 
 old man, whom I judged a Dutchman, and who 
 wore the dress of a hunter, stepping from out 
 the governor s faction, when my lord had ceased 
 to speak. 
 
 " Uldric Huguenin," my lord replied courte 
 ously. " Hast ever heard it before? " 
 
 " Yea," he exclaimed. " I knew your father 
 and your mother when they came to this island, 
 my lord, and I will not fight against their son 
 even for the Governor. There be few Protes 
 tants in this land or in any other who have not 
 heard the name of Huguenin, or known it worn 
 by aught but valiant men." 
 
 " I thank you, sir," my lord said, baring his 
 head to him. " At another time I would talk 
 with you further." 
 
 Then he turned again towards the Governor. 
 
 " Monsieur D Oyeron," he said in all cour 
 tesy, " when but a stripling I wielded a sword 
 that King Louis himself did not scorn to cross, 
 
 222
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 as you well know. Since then my wrist has 
 not grown stiff, and as I stand the younger and 
 somewhat the sprightlier man, Monsieur, I 
 would have them bind my left hand behind my 
 back, that you may have fair play. There lies 
 my challenge, Monsieur!" and he flung his 
 glove at the Governor s feet. 
 
 " Boom ! " went the great gun of the castle, 
 and we left off staring at the two men before 
 us, and turned to find a reason for the sound. 
 A great ship was sailing past the fortress and 
 into the lake. 
 
 " We will have no fight to-day, my lord," 
 the mate said, after we had stood for some min 
 utes staring at the approaching sails. " Unless 
 my eyes deceive me that is the English armed 
 packet Swallow with Sir Henry Morgan, who 
 comes to revisit his stronghold. He acts the 
 Governor of Jamaica in the stead of my lord the 
 Earl of Carlisle, now gone to England in search 
 of health. Only Morgan would sail in King 
 James armed ship and receive a salute of thir 
 teen guns from our castle." 
 
 " Tis Morgan!" another cried who had 
 been looking through his glasses. " Tis our 
 admiral ! " he shouted, and the whole crowd, 
 forgetful of their recent broil, began to cheer as 
 though like to split their throats. 
 
 The Governor straightened his countenance 
 
 223
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and began crying out orders, sending men run 
 ning now this way, now that, making busy 
 preparations for this honored guest. The guns 
 of the fort began to salute almost before the 
 echo of those from the castle had ceased to re 
 verberate. Every man was busy with his own 
 affairs, and they had no thoughts for my lord 
 or his challenge. 
 
 I turned towards him as he stood on the ter 
 race gazing at the incoming packet. His face 
 was ghastly white, his eyes were \vide open and 
 staring. 
 
 " My lord ! " I cried, running to him in great 
 alarm. " You are ill and must needs seek rest 
 in the house with your aunt and her woman." 
 
 " Did they say Morgan? " he asked hoarsely, 
 though he took not his eyes for one moment 
 from the incoming sails. 
 
 " Yes, my lord, Sir Henry Morgan," the 
 mate answered for me. He was standing at 
 my side, though I knew not of his presence, and 
 I read that look of jeering suspicion, now con 
 stantly in his eyes. You seem greatly re 
 joiced at his coming, my lord. I ll warranr 
 that he is no enemy of your father s. 
 
 " No," my lord replied, " he is his very 
 true friend and has seen him within the year. 
 I saw him often in my childhood and once at 
 the court of King Louis, scarce two years ago." 
 
 224
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE boat that left the packet and came 
 swiftly towards us had six rowers, 
 and, in its stern sat the Welshman 
 about whose robberies and ferocious cruelties 
 the whole world had talked, and from which 
 that part that went to sea, I doubt not, prayed to 
 be delivered. That the king who frolicked 
 with Rochester, and smiled at the daring vil 
 lainy of Blood, should have made him a 
 knight of the realm of England, was no small 
 wonder. For Henry Morgan s hand had 
 ever been turned against Spanish tyranny 
 and greed in the New World, and though 
 by it he had filled his own coffers and 
 lined his own purse, there were not many in 
 England or France who did not look upon him 
 as more daring a hero than a villainous rogue. 
 They who crowded the wall and the terrace of 
 Hispaniola were mostly of these two nations, 
 and the cheers they let out at his coming were 
 both lusty and sincere. 
 
 When his boat grated on the sand the Gov- 
 
 221
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 ernor and other dignitaries were there, hat in 
 hand, to give him welcome. He was a tall, 
 thickset man with a bushy black beard. He 
 wore a coat of rich black velvet slashed and 
 lined with leaf-green, his lace cravat was tied in 
 a fringed bow with long ends, and his sword 
 belt was stiff with gold lace. His rough hunt 
 ing shirt showed through the slashings of his 
 sleeves and his two brace of pistols were slung 
 over his shoulder in a silken sling. 
 
 " I had thought you gave me brave welcome, 
 Governor D Oyeron," he cried after he had re 
 ceived their greetings. " But the watchman in 
 the castle called that you had mutiny in your 
 city. From what quarter did the squall arise, 
 sir ? " he asked, then looking at the people who 
 crowded about him, added, " Though I see 
 small sign of such a push of wind, unless it be 
 the naked steel which many of your men hold 
 in their hands." 
 
 " It was but a brawl, your Honor," the Gov 
 ernor of the buccaneer stronghold answered, 
 " It was easily quelled." 
 
 " My lord s challenge still lies untouched at 
 your feet; will your Honor lift it? " the mate 
 said, stepping from the group of those who 
 stood around Count Huguenin. His words 
 were addressed to the Governor of the town, 
 though his eyes were on Morgan. 
 
 226
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Ah, ha! Bras de Fer/ Morgan exclaimed. 
 " What is this ; you have challenged your Gov 
 ernor? " 
 
 " Not I, Sir Henry," he replied. " But a 
 gentleman whom we met in the streets of Au 
 gustine, and to whom and the two females 
 with him Captain Hawkins pledged honorable 
 passage and safe shipment to Charleston. Cap 
 tain Hawkins was dangerously wounded and 
 lies in his cabin raving with fever, so I sailed 
 in the York with that prize as her consort," and 
 he motioned towards where the two ships lay 
 at anchor in the bay. 
 
 " She is a great galleon, sir," Morgan cried, 
 looking at the two ships with sparkling eyes 
 and apparently forgetful of all else. "And 
 I ll warrant had rich lading. Hawkins was 
 wounded you say, and you brought in the prize 
 and would now see his pledges fulfilled. Tis 
 but your duty as a gentleman and sea-rover, sir. 
 But who is the man and for what grievance has 
 he challenged your Governor ? " His eyes were 
 upon our group and I saw him single me out. 
 My lord stood somewhat to the rear, shielded 
 by the great body of the mate, and contrary to 
 his wont, appeared to be content to be so 
 screened. 
 
 " He is a French nobleman, your Honor," 
 the mate replied. " A young gallant of King 
 
 227
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Louis court and so good a swordsman that I 
 believe no man can stand against him. He dis 
 armed our captain in the streets of Augustine, 
 and spared my life when we fought man to man 
 on board that same Spanish galleon." 
 
 " Zounds ! mate," Morgan cried, " but I 
 would see that gallant of King Louis who could 
 disarm Tom Hawkins and beat you at sword 
 play. Adzooks ! Bras de Fer, he must be more 
 devil than man. Where is he, I say? Show 
 yourself, my hearty. Which is the man? " 
 
 My lord pushed between us, and, stepping 
 out, stood before the titled pirate. 
 
 " I am the man, your Honor," he said. He 
 was very pale, but he held his head high, and 
 looked Morgan boldly in the face. 
 
 " You ! " the robber chief cried staring at 
 him, a puzzled look of astonishment in his eyes. 
 " You ! " he repeated, stepping forward and lay 
 ing hold of his shoulder as though the better to 
 see his face. 
 
 I held my breath hard and grasped my 
 sword, for I did not know what his next words 
 would be or how he would use the one whose 
 shoulder he grasped. 
 
 " Yes, I, Sir Henry Morgan," my lord said 
 haughtily, shaking off the pirate s hand and 
 stepping away. My lord s face flamed crimson, 
 and though he shot a glance at the man whom 
 
 228
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 he had claimed as his father s friend, he did not 
 face him as boldly as was his custom, nor did 
 he swear or rail at him; instead, his eyes 
 drooped and his head hung down as though in 
 very shame. 
 
 " What in the devil ails our young count? " 
 I heard the French pirate, whose head was 
 swathed with a woman s petticoat, exclaim. 
 " Why does he not answer the old fighting- 
 cock up boldly and like the young gallant that 
 he is? He is no coward to stand before any 
 man with hanging head like a shame-faced 
 woman." 
 
 " Pish ! " answered his fellow. " He is but 
 chapfallen because the old robber s coming has 
 put off his fight. He had it in his heart to spit 
 the Governor with one hand tied behind his 
 back." 
 
 Sir Henry Morgan stared at my lord sternly ; 
 then, as though recovering himself, he cried, 
 doffing his hat and bowing low : " I crave par 
 don, my lord. You look so young to have won 
 so big a reputation that I could not believe you 
 serious, but thought you tried to cozen me. By 
 what name do men call you, my lord ? " 
 
 " Uldric Huguenin," he answered ; then he 
 added, " I doubt not your Honor knows of my 
 father." 
 
 " Yea, I knew him well. And your mother 
 
 229
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 also, my lord. I knew your mother. But can 
 you tell me by what adventure you chanced on 
 board that pirate ship? " There was both sus 
 picion and sternness in Morgan s voice and 
 eyes when he asked the question. 
 
 My lord went pale, then red again. His 
 head stiffened up and in the voice that he an 
 swered there was all of dignity but no passion. 
 
 " With my aunt and her serving woman I 
 was taken captive to Augustine," he answered. 
 " The friends who would have rescued us were 
 driven back or imprisoned and tortured in their 
 iron cage. Then, your Honor," he continued, 
 and I saw that his bearing became prouder, and 
 he raised his eyes as though not afraid to meet 
 the gaze of any man, " they pressed me hard, 
 and because I saw that my only hope of escape 
 lay in a bold step, I took that step. With my 
 aunt and her serving woman I sought to steal 
 out of the city, prepared to fight if need be. 
 I did have to fight, your Honor, but not the 
 foes that I feared. Having beat down the 
 sword of their leader, he pledged me and the 
 two who followed me honorable treatment and 
 safe passage to my father s home in Charles 
 ton. What I did on board that ship is known 
 to all its company and they are here to report 
 it." 
 
 " You have your father s courage, my lord," 
 
 230
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Sir Henry Morgan said when he had ceased 
 to speak. " And I ll warrant that had nature 
 formed you a woman you would be as chaste 
 as your mother. She was as pure as snow, 
 though she carried not out the poet s simile by 
 being as cold as ice, for she had a generous 
 heart for even erring human creatures. She 
 lived an honored guest among us here, my 
 lord, and though she knew well our many 
 crimes, she held us not as damned souls unfit for 
 her compassion. She was both pure and beauti 
 ful and in all my rovings both by sea and land 
 I have seen but one like her " 
 
 Bras de Fer leaned forward and whispered in 
 my ear. 
 
 " That one was the Spanish lady whose 
 beauty drove him mad," he said, " and though 
 he gave up the sea and did all else for her sake, 
 she would have naught to do with him but re 
 mained true to her husband." 
 
 " Had you been a maid, my lord," Sir Henry 
 Morgan went on, " I could make no higher 
 wish for you than that you might be as pure as 
 your mother. You are even more beautiful, my 
 lord." 
 
 " I thank your honor," my lord replied, and 
 again his face went white, then red and his 
 head hung down. 
 
 " I have often visited your father s house," 
 
 231
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Morgan said, " both in years gone and within a 
 few months past. You were not there, my lord." 
 
 " No, your Honor, I was not there, for they 
 sent me early away. But you saw my sister 
 Antoinette ? " 
 
 " Your sister Antoinette ! " he cried, roaring 
 with laughter, as though the very mention of 
 Mistress Antoinette Huguenin s name would 
 make him split his sides. " Yea, verily I saw 
 your sister Antoinette. She is a court beauty 
 now, my lord, and hath a quick and ready wit, 
 I ll warrant." 
 
 " You saw her not when you were last at 
 court, your Honor? " my lord said, smiling, and 
 I thought I caught a twinkle in his eye, as his 
 gaze shifted somewhat and for a moment took 
 in the face of Bras de Fer, who had been a most 
 attentive listener to it all. " You saw only me 
 and because I played at swords with the grand 
 son of the king they thought us but two strip 
 lings and unworthy to name to so great a buc 
 caneer chieftain. Still you remembered well 
 my face, your Honor? " 
 
 " Tis not such that any one would soon for 
 get, my lord, and that they taught you right 
 well at court, I ll warrant," he cried heartily. 
 Your face and your sister s wit are not soon 
 to be forgotten." 
 
 " Zounds ! " I heard the mate exclaim and I 
 
 232
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 turned and looked at him. " D ye know, cap 
 tain, I had it in my mind more than once that 
 it was Mistress Antoinette masquerading us 
 all? I heard such tales of her daredevil tricks 
 at the French court and of the way she was 
 wont to fright the sisters of the convent by 
 climbing trees, scaling walls and what not, that, 
 verily, I thought the young gallant his own 
 sister." 
 
 " They are much alike," I told him. " But 
 my lord appears full half a head the taller." 
 Then I turned my attention again to the con 
 verse of those two who interested me most. 
 
 " But why did you challenge the Governor? 
 Tell me that, my lord." 
 
 " Twas no quarrel of my making, your 
 Honor. I had no ill will against the Governor 
 of your town, as I proved by claiming his re 
 membrance and boldly telling him my name." 
 
 " He is his father s son, Sir Henry Morgan, 
 and because of that I hate him," D Oyerori 
 cried hotly. 
 
 " Nay, nay, man," Morgan cried. " Since 
 you hate him so much why would you give him 
 the pleasure of killing you? I have seen the 
 young blade at it, and verily, I tell you he could 
 spit you with one hand tied behind his back ? " 
 
 " Ha, ha! he, he! " came a snickering laugh 
 from the group at my back. " That was just 
 
 2 33
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 what the young count laid out to do when the 
 great guns sounded and scared all men s wits 
 away." 
 
 The crowd stared. Then, as the pirates 
 pushed forward from amongst them Sim 
 Taviss pranked in all the glory of a painted face 
 and his borrowed finery, the crowd stared 
 again, and then burst into roars of laughter, Sir 
 Henry Morgan leading off. 
 
 My lord put out his hand and touched the 
 cowering figure. 
 
 " Shrink not back, Sim," he said in a kinder 
 tone than men who had only heard his wild 
 oaths and haughty commands would scarcely 
 have thought him capable of. " Hold up thy 
 head, man. Tis because thy beauty pleases 
 them that they laugh so loud." 
 
 " Who is thy fantastic ape, my lord? " Mor 
 gan cried, wiping the tears that his laughter 
 had shaken from his eyes and pointing at Sim 
 Taviss, who reassured by my lord s words, stood 
 boldly at his side gazing at the two governors. 
 
 " His name is Taviss, your Honor. A name 
 with a good English sound, and I ll warrant he 
 was a bright boy when his mother had him 
 christened Simeon, eh, Sim ? " my lord cried 
 clapping his hand on the boy s shoulder approv 
 ingly. Then raising it with great apparent 
 carelessness he pushed back the plastered love- 
 
 234
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lock, disclosing a deep scar that extended from 
 the temple half way across his head. " Twas 
 from a Spanish love-lick, and through it his 
 brain oozed out and left him as you see. He 
 ran away from home and went to sea, his ship 
 was taken and he became a galley slave twas 
 then it was done Hawkins rescued him and 
 perhaps tis fellow feeling, your Honor, for I 
 know not what they in Augustine would have 
 done with me. I call him my L Angeli, for he 
 runs to do my slightest bidding and is a most 
 merry jester." 
 
 "L Angeli!" exclaimed Morgan, laughing 
 again. " You named him well, my lord, for 
 King Louis titled fool did not ape the dress 
 and manners of his royal lord more closely 
 than thy simpleton has striven to do. Come, 
 my boy, he said, speaking to Sim and pointing 
 with his sword to my lord s glove as it lay still 
 untouched on the ground. " I would have thee 
 useful as well as ornamental. Pick up thy 
 master s glove and give it back to him." 
 
 Then he turned to the Governor of that city 
 which he had founded as the stronghold for 
 men who followed his trade, and for which no 
 man had ever found a name. 
 
 " Colonel Huguenin is a true friend of my 
 own, D Oyeron, as well as yourself," he said, 
 speaking quite sternly. " I know right well the 
 
 2 35
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 cause of your hatred for him. But, pish ! man, 
 it is an act unlike a gentleman and the Gover 
 nor of a buccaneer city to foist on a lad a quar 
 rel that had its beginning before he came into 
 the world. Put up your sword, D Oyeron ; and 
 you also, my lord, for I would see you touch 
 hands. You call him the son of your enemy, 
 Sir Governor; but I say he is the child of the 
 girl you loved. That he has her courage he 
 has proved to you ; and have your eyes grown 
 so old, man, that you cannot see her face smil 
 ing through his richer coloring? Put up your 
 blade, man, and give the young gallant your 
 hand. My lord, you are the younger." 
 
 My lord stepped forward and extended his 
 hand. 
 
 " I pray your Honor to forget my bragging 
 words," he said, speaking so loud that all who 
 stood about must hear. " I came into your city 
 with only friendliness in my heart, but when 
 you received me with curses I was angered and 
 said all that I could to urge you on. I pray 
 your Honor to forget my bragging folly," he 
 repeated, and I thought that I had never seen so 
 gallant a figure or so noble a face. D Oyeron 
 with Morgan s eyes pressing hard upon him 
 took my lord s hand, muttering something 
 that I did not hear because I made not the 
 effort. 
 
 236
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Then obeying the command of the pirate 
 chief the crowd scattered and we followed them 
 my lord, Sir Henry Morgan, and D Oyeron 
 walking side by side towards the great house 
 set apart by the buccaneers for their Gov 
 ernor. 
 
 " Did ye see him beat your Governor, dog? " 
 cried the pirate wearing the velvet jerkin to his 
 old enemy with the pezos earrings. 
 
 " Ye lying fool ! " exclaimed the fellow ad 
 dressed. " They did not even cross swords and 
 ye know it." 
 
 " Yet he beat him, I say," cried the young 
 Frenchman with the swathed head. " He beat 
 him as surely as he did our mate, and held his 
 sword over his heart as long. When the Gov 
 ernor said it was a brawl soon settled, did he 
 give him the lie, though his challenge lay un 
 touched where all men could see it? Not he. 
 Our mate must tell Sir Henry, and then, not 
 until he had been called for more than once, did 
 he push himself forward. He is as gallant as 
 he is brave." 
 
 " O, ye are worse daft about the young blade 
 than all the other fools," snarled he of the gold 
 pezos. " Because he has a pretty face, a fine 
 shape and a bragging tongue, ye think him a 
 king." 
 
 " I think him surely the king of gentlemen," 
 
 2 37
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the Frenchman answered. " For I have never 
 seen his mate." 
 
 " He is not the only one in our company who 
 rates the young count high, Captain Middle- 
 ton? " questioned the mate who walked at my 
 side. 
 
 I looked into his eyes that I might read his 
 true meaning. 
 
 " He has the true courage," I answered him 
 simply enough and with all sincerity. 
 
 " Yea, he is as ready to forgive as he is to 
 draw his blade." Then he added with a chuckle 
 as though amused by his own mistake. " On 
 my life, I thought him his sister in masquerade. 
 When I saw the expression on your face, that 
 day on the poop deck when he spied the colors 
 on the merchantman ; when I read what I 
 thought to be the look in his eyes, I suspected 
 there was some trickery. Thinking of it all, his 
 wondrous beauty and the mad tales I had heard 
 about Mistress Antoinette and never having 
 heard that she had a brother I began to sus 
 pect that it was she herself. I tried hard to lay 
 hold of something, either in his face or his ac 
 tions to prove my suspicions." 
 
 "You found nothing?" I questioned, look 
 ing at him covertly, still in doubt of his sin 
 cerity. 
 
 238
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " That there was nothing to find out was 
 proved by Sir Henry s words," he cried. 
 " Though I doubt not if there had been he would 
 have allowed any man discover it. You know 
 as well as I, Captain Middleton, that the young 
 spark would prove a match for King Louis in 
 dissembling as well as at sword play." 
 
 " Yes," I answered. " I think he would." 
 And in my heart I believed that I spoke the 
 truth. 
 
 239
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 WE lodged in the Governor s house 
 where the four great state cham 
 bers, according to Sir Henry Mor 
 gan s orders were set apart for the use of my 
 lord, his English aunt, her serving woman, and 
 the Spanish prisoners. 
 
 " Ods bodikins ! man," Sir Henry cried when 
 D Oyeron was for sending the count and his 
 women to the public house of the town ; " the 
 lad is the guest of your town and it is not fit 
 that he should go elsewhere. He has been 
 tenderly nurtured and is the son of my old 
 friend and I will not have him so treated. Be 
 sides consider how near he stands to your king 
 and what benefit a word from him might be to 
 your city." 
 
 Twas the last argument that won D Oyeron 
 to his way of thinking, though I do not doubt 
 that, if Sir Henry so willed it, my lord would 
 have lodged in the state rooms no matter what 
 the Governor of the town said. Though the 
 titled pirate no longer followed the sea, but 
 
 240
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lived in splendor as Commissioner of Admir 
 alty in Jamaica, he had not given up his author 
 ity among the buccaneers, and that he was not 
 slow to let all men see and understand. 
 
 " Ask Count Huguenin his pleasure about 
 the bestowal of the fathers, Bras de Fer," he 
 cried when the mate would have sent them with 
 the women. 
 
 " Would you have them with you in the 
 great house, my lord? " the pirate asked, doing 
 as he was bid. 
 
 " Nay, nay! Sir Captain," my lord exclaimed, 
 laughing as though at a good joke. " Though 
 I still remain the Grand Turk and have my 
 harem with me, I will not need the fathers. I 
 have confessed to Sir Henry Morgan and he 
 has shriven me." 
 
 " Nay, my lord," Morgan exclaimed with a 
 great laugh. " I have received your confession 
 but I have not yet named your penance." 
 
 My lord s cheeks flamed scarlet and his eyes 
 seemed busy with the floor. I held a still tongue 
 and turned my gaze away, for I had a part to 
 play and determined to prove a good actor, 
 though I liked not the sound of his jest. 
 
 The buccaneer chief, let it be known, the first 
 night of his coming, said while we sat at the 
 feast spread in his honor in the great room of 
 the Governor s house, that he could not make a 
 
 241
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 long stay in the stronghold of his brotherhood. 
 My lord was at his right hand with his aunt 
 seated beside him, while the black woman and 
 Sim Taviss stood at their backs and served 
 them. I was placed some distance farther 
 down the long table among sea captains, rich 
 planters, richer merchants and some few hunt 
 ers who had returned to the city early from 
 their hunts. The mate was at my side and 
 around the end opposite the Governor and the 
 one in whose honor the feast was laid I saw 
 other of the pirates who had sailed with the 
 York and her captured galleon. The whole 
 company was pranked in its best, for Morgan 
 was in many ways the reverse of other buc 
 caneers and to most men who live rough lives 
 away from the centers of civilization; he had 
 the taste of a true court gallant in his dress and 
 required a like regard from those about him. 
 
 I have been much at the court of England, 
 and have visited the courts of France and Hol 
 land, and seen many tables set for kings, but I 
 have never seen one with richer services of 
 gold, silver and crystal, or a braver show of 
 gold and silver damask. The women who were 
 present were the wives and daughters of mer 
 chants and some few planters; and I judged 
 from their bearing all of them were women 
 who had been wont to live among more gentle 
 
 242
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 surroundings. The Spanish prisoners were not 
 there, nor were any of the class with whom 
 I had been told the buccaneers were accustomed 
 to have their orgies. This was to be no orgie, 
 I knew, for I had heard Morgan give the order 
 that none under the influence of liquor should 
 be admitted. 
 
 " I stay among you only long enough to fit up 
 my ship against foul weather, mates," he said, 
 after the first toast, when they had all shouted 
 his name and that of his greatest victory many 
 times. " There has been a storm brewing for 
 me ever since the death of my royal friend and 
 master placed on the throne his brother, the 
 Catholic James. That storm has now taken 
 definite shape and I look for it to break before 
 the world is one month older. I was Governor 
 of Jamaica acting deputy for my lord, the 
 Earl of Carlisle, as many of you know until 
 the arrival of the last ship, and in it the gentle 
 man appointed to succeed me. Up to the sail 
 ing of that ship I still remained Commissioner, 
 but by it I received private warning from a 
 friend at court, that the next ship sailing will 
 bring with it a royal order to the Governor, for 
 my return to England to answer the complaints 
 of the King of Spain and his subjects." 
 
 " What care you for their complaints ? " a 
 pirate from the lower end of the board bellowed. 
 
 243
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " I sailed as your gimner against Puerto Bello 
 and Panama and will follow you into hell to 
 fight the devil himself. What does Morgan 
 care for the King of Spain?" 
 
 "Aye! aye!" was shouted lustily up and 
 down the long board. " What does Morgan 
 care for the King of Spain ? We have ships in 
 plenty and men in plenty to take Havana itself. 
 Come! lead us against the greedy dons and 
 we ll harry them until not one of their flags is 
 left to flutter in the New World. Lead us 
 against Havana! " they shouted. " She is rich 
 in treasure against any man s counting and her 
 warehouses burst with baled merchandise. 
 Come! lead us against Havana." 
 
 But Morgan shook his head and when the 
 shouts had ceased, cried : " If they press me 
 hard and I see naught ahead of me but a dun 
 geon cell or an arm s length of rope, I say not 
 what I will do, brothers. Yet, when I left 
 ye, I planned not to return to my old life, 
 as ye all know. I have been proud to wear 
 the title which my king bestowed upon me 
 and glad to serve my country in a peace 
 ful manner in America. Then," he added, 
 after a moment s pause and his voice had a 
 gentler tone, " since leaving you I have taken 
 me a wife and gotten me children, with whom 
 I would spend my days in peace. But if the 
 
 244
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 worse should seem like to come to the worse 
 and the Catholic James would pleasure the 
 King of Spain by casting me into prison, or 
 swinging me from the gallows, I may turn 
 again to the high seas." 
 
 " Mates," Bras de Fer exclaimed, rising at 
 my side and holding high his golden goblet, 
 " there are many strong arms among us, and 
 enough treasure to buy many great ships well 
 fitted. They are both at the service of our 
 Admiral and I would drink to his early return 
 to the high seas." 
 
 Before he finished every man of that com 
 pany was on his feet, excepting only him in 
 whose honor the feast was given, my lord and 
 myself. With cups filled to the brim they 
 shouted as they drank : " We are at your 
 service, Admiral, both men and treasures. We 
 would sail under the merry black flags and 
 drive all Spaniards to hell." 
 
 The cry went back and forth, around that 
 long, glittering board until the tall roof seemed 
 reverberating with, " Under the merry black 
 flag! " " Drive all Spaniards to hell ! " " Mor 
 gan our admiral ! " " Puerto Bello ! " and 
 " Panama ! " The din was ear-splitting and the 
 great torches flickered in their sockets on the 
 walls from their poundings on the table. 
 
 " I would see your admiral s flag wave over 
 
 2 45
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the Phoenix," Bras de Fer cried when the noise 
 had become less great. " She is a gallant ship 
 and now that she has been properly armed is 
 a fit leader for a great fleet." 
 
 Then the pirates who sat around the end of 
 the board shouted : " Let your pennant wave 
 above the Phcenix, Admiral." 
 
 And what ship call ye the Phoenix, Bras de 
 Fer?" Morgan shouted, raising his voice so 
 that his words were distinct above the din. 
 
 Tis the Spanish packet, your honor, that 
 we took on our last fight in the gulf of Mara- 
 caibo," the mate answered. " When we di 
 vided her treasure I bought her before the mast, 
 and left her in this bay to be careened and fitted 
 against my return. Now I would have her the 
 flagship of your admiral s fleet." 
 
 "Aye! aye!" yelled the pirates around the 
 end of the board facing Morgan. " We would 
 have ye admiral on board the Phoenix." 
 
 " Tis a friendly offer, Bras de Fer," the 
 famous pirate replied, commanding silence by 
 a wave of his hand towards those at the foot of 
 the table who still shouted and beat the table; 
 " and gallantly made. I sail at the crack of 
 dawn the day after to-morrow, and if you can 
 be ready so soon would be glad of your com 
 pany. For though it seems wisest that I make 
 Jamaica in King James packet. I would have as 
 
 246
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 a consort one who could enter the harbor and 
 get tidings of the news brought by the ship last 
 sailing from England. If the tidings should 
 prove unhealthy for my safety tis my plan to 
 go aboard my consort and send the Swallow 
 back to the governor of the island." 
 
 " Seize her ! Admiral. Seize her and hoist 
 the black flag ! " the pirates shouted, and I think 
 every man who sat at the board save three re 
 peated the shout. " She is a fine ship, heavily 
 armed, and will make a jolly buccaneer." 
 
 " With the armed packet and Morgan for 
 Admiral," shouted the French pirate with the 
 broken head, " we could capture every ship of 
 the plate fleet that sails brimming with crown 
 wealth from the mines of Peru, and the shoals 
 of galleons by which the Genoese ship their 
 droves of negro slaves from the coast of 
 Guinea." 
 
 " Nay, my friend," Morgan replied with 
 firmness. " I sail in His Majesty s packet as 
 his Commissioner of Admiralty and will com 
 mit no act against his law. The packet goes 
 back to the port from which she sailed to be 
 returned in all safety to the Governor, but if I 
 find my commission withdrawn and my liberty 
 threatened I go not with her." 
 
 " But, to chase the Spaniards from the New 
 World, ah ! " cried an old hunter, the Dutch- 
 
 247
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 man who had claimed acquaintance with the 
 parents of Count Huguenin. Then turning to 
 the mate he exclaimed; "I would store the 
 Phoenix with meat, both bucan and salt, Cap 
 tain Bras de Fer, and the reward I ask is one 
 piastre from the first Spaniard that you capture 
 under the Admiral s flag." 
 
 " Yea, verily, I will give ye pound of gold 
 for every pound of flesh that ye store her with, 
 brother," the mate cried. " And gladly, if the 
 Admiral will but consent to sail on her." 
 
 " That may be, that may be, Bras de Fer," 
 Morgan cried. " An ye receive the tidings I 
 look for I ll be blithe to sail your Admiral, on 
 board your Phoenix. I have passed too many 
 days on the high seas to care to end my life in 
 a dungeon. The day after to-morrow you sail 
 my consort and mayhap I will return your 
 Admiral." 
 
 " Our Admiral ! our Admiral ! " they all 
 shouted, repeating the title over and over again, 
 and so loud that it seemed as though the top of 
 the great room would be thundered off. Men 
 and women alike rose, climbed on the stools and 
 benches upon which they sat, snatched off their 
 scarfs and kerchiefs, and waved them wildly 
 over their heads ; some beat upon the table with 
 the gold and silver vessels from which they 
 drank as though they had been made of meanest 
 
 248
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 metal. From that time I noticed they called 
 him no more by the title with which they had 
 greeted his coming, but he was always their 
 Admiral. 
 
 When they had well nigh beat the drums out 
 of my ears with their clamor, Morgan com 
 manded silence and seating himself began 
 putting the silver implements that he had used 
 during his meal into the cadenas of carved gold 
 that sat at the side of his plate. At this signal 
 the English lady rose and the other women with 
 her, prepared to leave the room. 
 
 " You do well to retire so early, my lord," 
 Morgan said, as the young gallant left his seat 
 and assisted his aunt in drawing back the great 
 chair in which she sat. " Tis said, and I think 
 rightly, that early hours give health, wealth and 
 happiness. Three things worthy of considera 
 tion, I do assure you. I wish you both good 
 night, sir, and may you have rosy dreams." 
 
 " I thank your Honor," my lord said, return 
 ing the pirate s courtesy with a graceful bow, 
 " but before I leave I would crave a favor." 
 
 " You are the child of an old and true friend, 
 my lord," the Admiral cried. " For your own 
 sake there be few things that lay within my 
 power that I would not grant you. Speak, my 
 lord, and name the manner in which I may 
 serve you." 
 
 249
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " I would return to my father s house in 
 Charleston, your Honor," my lord replied. 
 "Captain Hawkins is still ill, the York is to be 
 careened in this harbor, and Captain Bras de 
 Fer to sail on his newly christened vessel. I 
 ask that your Honor will see fulfilled the 
 pledges made myself and my friends in Augus 
 tine. I would beg that you take us with you to 
 Jamaica, where we can easily take passage 
 aboard some ship sailing to England, or her 
 colonies on the continent." 
 
 Morgan looked at him steadily, drawing his 
 eyes to a narrow slit. The company was silent 
 and I held my breath, waiting for his reply. It 
 seemed no short time, and I saw the English 
 lady step forward and her lips opened as though 
 she was about to add her voice to my lord s peti 
 tion. The buccaneer chief threw back his head 
 and laughed heartily. 
 
 " I received your confession, my lord," he 
 cried. " An you do the penance I appoint you, 
 I will take you and your two friends, and your 
 serving woman with me on board the king s 
 packet, and land you all safe in Charleston. 
 W ; ll you do penance, my lord? " 
 
 You are my father s friend," my lord an 
 swered, meeting his gaze squarely ; " you held 
 my mother in high esteem. Though I honor 
 you highly, I would know whereof I speak be- 
 
 250
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 fore I pledge my word. What is your will, 
 your Honor? " 
 
 Again the pirate Admiral let out a great 
 laugh and stretching out his hand grasped my 
 lord s shoulder and drew him nearer. The 
 blood surged through my brain and beat upon 
 my temples until my head seemed burning. I 
 held my breath and grasped my sword until 
 the carving on the hilt was printed on my flesh. 
 The buccaneer whispered, it could scarce have 
 been more than a word. My lord jerked his 
 shoulder from his grasp and stood facing him 
 with flushed cheeks and wide opened eyes. I 
 drew my sword half from its scabbard, and 
 know not what mad act I would have commit 
 ted, what wild words I would have uttered, had 
 I not felt the pressure of the mate s hand upon 
 my shoulder and heard his voice : 
 
 " By my faith ! Captain Middleton, your 
 young fighting-cock is in no danger," he said. 
 " The Admiral does but whisper in his ear 
 but " and I saw the same suspicious gleam 
 wipe out the puzzled look in his eyes " you 
 put a strange thought in my brain." 
 
 I shook myself free from his grasp and might 
 have given him no mild reply, had I not heard 
 my lord s voice. 
 
 " I will do the penance you ask," he was say 
 ing. " I thought to leave as I came among you, 
 
 2 5 I
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 but since you are my father s friend, Sir Henry 
 Morgan, and I trust you, I will do as you ask. 
 I wish you good-night, your Honor. Gentles, 
 good-night." 
 
 " My lord ! " a voice from amongst those at 
 the foot of the table cried, " go not away with 
 the women. We would have you sing for us, 
 my lord. Sing the gay songs that you sang as 
 you swung in the rigging." 
 
 It was the young French pirate who first 
 spoke, but before he had finished every man 
 of the crews who had sailed with my lord, 
 raised his voice and lustily shouted for a song. 
 
 My lord hesitated ; then Morgan spoke, and 
 he stopped and his aunt and her serving-woman 
 stopped with him. The women who were all 
 following them from the room waited also. 
 
 "Come! my lord," Morgan cried, "since 
 you go so soon away will you not pleasure the 
 men who sailed with you ? They love your gal 
 lant ways, and would hear you sing. Will you 
 not pleasure your pirate shipmates, my lord? " 
 
 " Yea, that I will," my lord cried, turning 
 back and facing the company. " Find me place, 
 mates. Where would you have me stand to 
 sing to you? " 
 
 " There my young fighting-cock, on the mid 
 dle of the table where stands the great flagon 
 of wine," the savage with the pezos earrings 
 
 2<J2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 cried, pointing to a position near the center of 
 the long board. 
 
 " Aye," cried the wearer of the velvet jerkin. 
 " Stand high up where we all can see, and with 
 out your coat and waistcoat; just as you stood 
 when you beat our mate at swords on the gal 
 leon s deck. We would see you in your pretty 
 shirt with its ruffles, my lord, that all men may 
 admire your handsome shape." 
 
 My lord s laugh rang out like a merry chime. 
 He drew off the two garments named and 
 throwing them into the arms of his aunt s serv 
 ing woman, sprang upon a chair, and then to 
 the table. 
 
 " Make room ! brothers," he cried, motioning 
 to those who sat around that part of the table. 
 " Back against the wall, all of you, if you would 
 hear my song." 
 
 His head was held high, his cheeks flamed 
 and his great eyes were like dark pools flashing 
 in the starlight. He stood in the center of that 
 cloth of gold covered table, strewn with eating 
 vessels of gold, silver, and crystal and what 
 fragments of the feast remained; a hand rested 
 against his hip, and one foot was a little ad 
 vanced. 
 
 His red lips unclosed, and he sang the mad 
 dest, wildest of rollicking French bottle-songs. 
 There was the swaggering riot of a braggart 
 
 2 53
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 court gallant in every word and measure. At 
 the end the men cheered and the women clapped 
 their hands and called for more. Then he sang 
 again the English ballad we had heard on board 
 ship and the applause was even greater. Old 
 women waved their scarfs and kerchiefs, while 
 the young ones snatched the vines that trailed 
 around the windows on the outer wall; they 
 pulled off handfuls of leaves and blossoms and 
 flung them at the singer s feet. My lord bowed 
 low to their applause; he flung kisses from the 
 tips of his fingers to those who threw him 
 flowers and began another ballad. 
 
 There was an uproar near the lower end of 
 the great room and the ruffian with gold pezos 
 in his ears was seen contending with Sim 
 Taviss. 
 
 " Have ye no manners, clog," Bras de Fer 
 cried, " that ye cannot cease your brawling 
 when your betters would hear his lordship 
 sing?" 
 
 " Tis the fool, Captain," the pirate 
 grumbled. " He will give me no peace but con 
 tinues to bellow into my ear, thinking he should 
 sing with the young gallant." 
 
 " Canst sing, man ? " my lord cried, smiling 
 down at his fantastic ape. 
 
 " I know your love ballad, my lord," he an 
 swered, with something like a gleam of intelli- 
 
 254
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 gence sparkling in his eyes. " I oft sang it 
 with my mother." 
 
 " And by my faith you shall sing it now," 
 my lord cried with one of his high ringing 
 laughs. " Up, man, up, I say, and lend your 
 voice that all may hear us sing the song 
 together." 
 
 At his bidding the fool came forward, clam 
 bered upon the table and stood at my lord s 
 side. It was an uncommon figure he cut and 
 the pirates laughed in derision. 
 
 " Hold up thy head, man," my lord cried, 
 clapping him on the shoulder and scowling an 
 grily at his deriders. " Sing out bravely that 
 all may hear the fine words." 
 
 Then they began and with my lord s high 
 sweet tones there sounded a voice deep and rich 
 as the minor chord in a great organ. Men and 
 women stared and listened at my lord and his 
 caricature as they stood and sang that old Eng 
 lish love-song. The beauty of the one was 
 heightened by contrast with the fantastic clown- 
 ishness of the other, and the song was rendered 
 twice as sweet by his deep, rich tones. The 
 song ended and the burst of applause seemed 
 twice as great. Flowers fell around them, 
 heaped up about their feet. One girl wove a 
 garland and flung it at my lord s head; it fell 
 upon his shoulder. 
 
 2 55
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 "See! Sim," my lord cried, lifting it from 
 his shoulder and placing it upon the fool s 
 head. " Twas made for thee, and you shall 
 wear it while we sing another ditty. Zounds! 
 man, it does become thy beauty." And he 
 smiled at the wild uproar that greeted the ap 
 pearance of the flowered garland upon the 
 stringy love-locks of his grotesque mimic. " We 
 will sing them another, since they do so love thy 
 sweet face and handsome shape." 
 
 That one ended he would not sing again, 
 though the whole company, even his old enemy, 
 the Governor, called lustily for more. 
 
 " I am weary and would rest," he said, 
 springing down from the table. Then, turning, 
 he swept a low bow, first to the two dignitaries, 
 then to the people. " I thank you for your 
 courtesy and wish you happy dreams. Sir 
 Henry Morgan, to-morrow on the stroke of 
 midnight I do the penance you require of me." 
 
 " Zounds ! my lord," the buccaneer cried, 
 " tis a rare joy you promise and one that will 
 not soon be forgotten. Rosy dreams, lady. 
 Good-night, my lord." 
 
 My lord returned his bow, then with another 
 including all he left behind said : 
 
 " Pleasant dreams, friends." 
 
 Then he gave his hand to his aunt and led 
 her out, followed by her black serving woman 
 and his fanciful mime. 
 
 256
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE next day at sunrise the pirates di 
 vided their booty, and for the nonce 
 at least there was no quarreling, each 
 man being fully satisfied on receiving as his 
 share two thousand pounds, estimating at ten 
 piastres to the pound. The jewels and mer 
 chandise as well as the captured galleon itself 
 were sold before the mast and fetched good 
 prices, the planters and rich merchants of the 
 town buying the greater part. The galleon was 
 bought by the Admiral and given in charge of 
 the wounded man who had sailed as surgeon of 
 the York, to be careened and victualed against 
 such a time as he would receive sailing orders. 
 I would have refused the full share that the 
 pirates pressed upon me, for they said it was my 
 due, as one who fought against the Spaniard 
 and sailed the galleon into port; but my lord 
 came up and caused me to change my mind. 
 
 Tis a fortunate thing for us after all, Cap 
 tain Middleton," he said, letting his eyes meet 
 mine a thing he seldom did, " that we were 
 held prisoners in Augustine. You would not 
 
 257
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 have earned two thousand pounds on your 
 Charleston planting of tobacco and indigo in 
 twice two years, while I " here he laughed 
 merrily " might have lost twice that much at 
 gaming. I have pocketed my share, Captain, 
 and thank my stars that a certain afternoon, 
 walking on the sea wall, I spied you swinging 
 in the iron cage." 
 
 " Yet, my lord," Bras de Fer cried sharply, 
 the flicker of suspicion I had before noticed in 
 his eyes grown to a gleam of triumph, " Cap 
 tain Middleton did assure me that he had never 
 clapped eyes upon you until he saw you aboard 
 the York." 
 
 " He spoke the truth, sir," my lord assured 
 him meeting his gaze with a most placid coun 
 tenance. " He scarce knew that my father had a 
 son. When I walked on the sea wall Captain 
 Middleton was fainting in the iron cage . Twas 
 my sister, Mistress Antoinette Huguenin who 
 told me his name and of his friendship for my 
 father. I ll warrant he did not disclaim her 
 acquaintance. Captain Middleton did make 
 most brave pretense of loving my sister, Sir 
 Henry," my lord went on, with a gleam of 
 roguishness in his eyes that only made them 
 appear the more beautiful. " But since he has 
 been aboard your buccaneer ship, on my faith, 
 
 258
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I do not believe that he has once thought of her 
 in Augustine." 
 
 " So he pretended to love your sister, my 
 lord," Morgan cried, roaring with laughter. 
 I saw that he was ever ready to laugh at the 
 young gallant s light jests and I noticed with 
 no little displeasure that he kept him ever under 
 his eye. Tis well you have forgotten her, 
 Captain Middleton, for she is a most fickle jade 
 and has already proved the undoing of more 
 than one good man. Besides, if reports be true, 
 she thinks no more of her friends in the New 
 World. There is a certain French nobleman, 
 so tis said, the Due de Richelieu who has 
 possessed himself of her heart and will marry 
 her if the king will give him her hand." 
 
 My lord s face was on fire, his eyes sought 
 the tiles of the Governor s piazza on which we 
 sat, and he bit his lips and drew his black brows 
 together. 
 
 " She must have changed since your news, 
 Admiral," Bras de Fer exclaimed; "for she 
 refused to leave Augustine with my lord be 
 cause she was so determined to wed the 
 younger D Alva, who succeeded his uncle as 
 governor." 
 
 " So you left your sister in Augustine, my 
 lord, and she was to wed the Spaniard? " cried 
 
 259
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Morgan, laughing as though at a very merry 
 jest. 
 
 " Yea, I left her in Augustine, your Honor," 
 my lord replied, smiling not too merrily. " If 
 her humor changes and she weds not the don, 
 she will not marry His Grace of Richelieu, that 
 I ll warrant." 
 
 " Then mayhap it will be Captain Middleton, 
 after all," the buccaneer cried still laughing, 
 and my lord s head was bent so low that I could 
 not see his face. " She is well worth the win 
 ning, Captain, for though tis said she has a 
 temper of her own, she is so great a beauty and 
 has such a wondrous quick wit, that were I 
 foot-loose I would follow her to the end of the 
 world but what I d take her from all other men. 
 Dost think she would look at an old sea dog, 
 my lord?" 
 
 " She has the contrariness of a woman, your 
 Honor," my lord replied, his eyes on the blade 
 that he had drawn from its scabbard and was 
 busily polishing with his fine wrought hand 
 kerchief. " There is no telling what a woman 
 will do." Then he sprang to his feet, exclaim 
 ing : " Here comes Master Swann, to give us 
 notice of the hocksing, I ll warrant." 
 
 " Yes, my lord," the old hunter replied, as he 
 approached the piazza with some half dozen 
 engages following him. 
 
 260
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 Master Svvann was an Englishman one of 
 that ten thousand shipped to the New World 
 by Cromwell and rated the wisest as well as 
 the richest hunter among the brotherhood of 
 buccaneers. " We have located a herd of bulls 
 feeding on the side of the mountain and my 
 slaves guard them with dogs. The horses and 
 chairs are now being made ready in the Gov 
 ernor s court, and if the Admiral and your 
 lordship will notify your friends, we will leave 
 at once for the rendezvous, there to partake of 
 our rough fare and after the noon hour to go to 
 the little prairie where my engages and slaves 
 have orders to gently drive the cattle." 
 
 Master Swann with the two governors and 
 my lord rode at the head of the party, while I, 
 with Bras de Fer, followed next, riding by the 
 side of the chair of the English lady. Other 
 women were among the party who came behind, 
 the older ones borne in chairs on the shoulders 
 of engages, the younger ones riding the sedate 
 little native horses. 
 
 We left the planted slip that surrounded the 
 bay and entered the forest that covered the slop 
 ing sides of the foot-hills. Hesperian orchards 
 they seemed, those woods through which we 
 rode. The lime and the citron, growing side 
 by side, hung their rich clusters over our heads ; 
 the pineapple showed in the prickly hedges, and 
 
 261
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the avocada swung 1 its pears big as pumpkins 
 within reach of our hands; the soft custard 
 apples were like rich golden bags of sweetness 
 that the slaves plucked and devoured as they 
 passed along. 
 
 The gigantic spreading leaves of the bread 
 fruit shaded us, while the glossy star apple and 
 the golden shaddock dropped their masses of 
 foliage among the tall cabbage trees with their 
 silk cotton-buttressed trunks. We passed 
 through the cloistered arcades of the ban 
 yan; the wild plantain with its immense 
 green leaves, its thick bunches of fruit, and its 
 scarlet seeds; the banana with its banner-like 
 leaves; the fern trees and the tall feathery 
 palms. The songs of the birds were interrupted 
 from time to time by the strange shrieks and 
 meanings from the droves of monkeys that 
 clambered through the tree-tops. 
 
 In the strangeness and beauty of her sur 
 roundings the English lady at my side forgot 
 her fright for the first time since I had seen her 
 aboard the pirate ship. She was as happy as a 
 child enjoying a walk through a summer 
 garden. She cried out at the sight of the gor 
 geous hibiscus with its crown of scarlet and at 
 the huge bunches of snowy amaryllis. En 
 gages heaped her chair with scarlet cordia, the 
 plumiria, the white datura, and pink and saffron 
 
 262
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 flowered fence hastily plucked from the wild 
 jungle of beauty as we moved. Once while we 
 rested under a green tamarind and listened to 
 the mournful creakings of a sand box tree, one 
 of the slaves who had borne her chair, climbed 
 into the branches of a tall pine and cut off the 
 yellow flowered crown of a maypole aloe that 
 shot twenty feet above our heads. Another 
 found for her the hammock nest of an oriole 
 with its treasure of polishec eggs, while two 
 more coming upon the lair of a wild dog stole 
 one of the mother s sleeping pups and laid it at 
 the English lady s feet. 
 
 My lord was pleased with the attentions 
 showered upon her and I saw him more than 
 once slip bright gold pieces into the hands that 
 bestowed them. He often fell behind Morgan 
 and D Oyeron to exchange gay jests with her 
 and the others who rode in the rear. But 
 neither of the leaders would permit him to re 
 main long away from their sides. The wind 
 of the Governor s liking had veered completely 
 around and he appeared as fond of my lord and 
 his merry pranks and daring ways, as any of 
 the pirates who had sailed with him. 
 
 " Look ! my lord," he cried, pointing to 
 where the rough sheds of a tobacco plantation 
 showed through the trees. " There lives a fellow 
 countryman of yours. His name is Belle Tete 
 
 263
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 and he boasts the number of engages who have 
 fallen victims to his cruelties. He swears that 
 they have all died of sheer laziness. He was 
 forced to leave St. Christopher and now I but 
 wait the fixing of a crime to make him quit 
 our brotherhood. Do you think your Governor 
 would receive him in Carolina? He is a good 
 worker and has many valuable slaves." 
 
 " Zounds ! your Honor," my lord exclaimed. 
 " We have Pharaohs enough in that colony, as 
 Captain Middleton is here to testify. There 
 was one of whose inhumanities my father wrote 
 me. He threw a slave into a pot of boiling 
 molasses, because the fellow having been left to 
 tend to its proper boiling, let it scorch. We 
 want no more wicked slave drivers in What 
 is the matter with thee, Angeli ? " he ex 
 claimed, as Sim Taviss came bounding through 
 the underbrush of the forest, his face ghastly 
 white and his eyes like to pop from their sock 
 ets. " What have you seen, man a roaring 
 lion or a most valiant mouse? " 
 
 The fool grasped my lord s stirrup and point 
 ing back into the brush muttered something, 
 which at first none of us could make out, be 
 cause of his chattering teeth. Then my lord 
 cried : " He says, your Honor, that he saw two 
 men beat a third until his back streamed with 
 blood, and though he died, they still continued 
 
 264
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 to beat him. I think your Honor can get all the 
 proof you need." 
 
 " And by the Lord, if it is so he shall suffer 
 the extreme penalty," Morgan cried, before 
 D Oyeron could frame a reply. " No shouts, 
 men," he cried, and instantly the loud talking 
 and questioning that had begun ceased. " Send 
 your lieutenant, Governor, and you Bras de 
 Fer, and you Swann " and the men whom he 
 named left the road and struck out into the 
 woods. " Not you, my lord," he exclaimed. 
 But he talked to deaf ears, for the young gal 
 lant having been the first to leave his saddle, 
 was in the lead with his simpleton. 
 
 Morgan s eyes were upon me as I left my 
 horse and struck out after the others. He 
 nodded approval and said, " We will meet you 
 at the plantation houses." 
 
 I was swift of foot and more accustomed 
 to the forest than either the Governor s lieu 
 tenant or the pirate who went with him. I 
 passed them and came up with my lord and the 
 old hunter, just as a most blood-curdling howl 
 rent the air, and located that which we sought. 
 We hastened on, breaking through the vines 
 and low hanging bows, made desperate by the 
 piteous cries that continued to sound before 
 us ; they were cries such as only the tortures of 
 fiends might wring from the throats of their 
 
 265
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 victims and which I felt had more than once 
 escaped from my unconscious lips as I swung 
 in the iron cage at Augustine. 
 
 Bursting through a tangled mass of purple- 
 blossomed creepers and pine boughs we came 
 upon those for whom we looked, they were so 
 intent on their devilish work that they did not 
 hear us until we ran almost upon them. Then 
 the creature who anointed the bleeding back of 
 the bound man, threw down his mop and cala 
 bash, and fled with the monster who had di 
 rected his work 
 
 " Tis lemon juice with pepper and salt," the 
 old hunter exclaimed, examining the contents 
 of the calabash. " They mopped his wounds 
 with it to make them smart the more, the curs." 
 And he fell to cursing while Bras de Fer and I 
 struggled to unknot the leather thongs that 
 bound the mutilated wretch across the trunk 
 of a felled tree. 
 
 " He has but fainted," my lord said, as he 
 held his hand over the fellow s heart, " He has 
 not a villain s face and his body looks starved, 
 and scarred from many cruel blows. Mayhap 
 he is the son of some unfortunate gentleman, 
 sold for his father s debts. He seems but a 
 lad." 
 
 " My lord," the mate cried, rising from the 
 other side of the log, " you weep ! " 
 
 266
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Bras de Fer," my lord answered, the 
 passion in his eyes flashing through the tears 
 that still clung to his lashes, " if thou hast 
 never shed tears at the sight of human misery, 
 I call thee devil ! " 
 
 " My lord, I thought not to offend you," the 
 giant told him with more of humility ringing 
 in his voice than I had thought in the whole of 
 his gigantic body. " I rate you both brave 
 and noble." 
 
 My lord answered not a word but strode off 
 at the side of Master Swann, while Bras de Fer, 
 myself, the lieutenant and the fool followed, 
 taking turns at bearing the swooning engage. 
 When we reached the rough reed houses of the 
 plantation we found Morgan and the rest of 
 the party were before us. He had called to 
 gether all the slaves and engages and held 
 them in readiness to send under guard to 
 the city. When the English lady saw us 
 come bearing the fainting man, and caught a 
 glimpse of his mutilated back, she left her 
 chair and with her serving woman came 
 forward offering assistance. Bras de Fer was 
 against her doing aught, but Morgan silenced 
 him. 
 
 " Nay," he cried to the pirate, " give the lady 
 place and let her have her way. Woman s hands 
 are best suited for such work, and wounds 
 
 267
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 heal all the better for the touch of woman s 
 fingers." 
 
 She laved his back, in hopes of cleansing it 
 of the stinging lemon juice, and having an 
 ointed it with hog s fat would have him placed 
 in the chair in which her serving woman had 
 ridden and her accompany him back to the 
 city. 
 
 " He is an Englishman, your Honors," she 
 exclaimed, with tears in her gentle eyes when 
 Morgan and D Oyeron remonstrated with her 
 for wasting so much sympathy on a slave. 
 
 " He is a fellow creature with a soul and the 
 power to suffer," said my lord, coming to her 
 assistance, and I thought his the broader creed. 
 
 " Give them their way, Governor," Morgan 
 cried, in his bluff manner sweeping all oppo 
 sition aside. " We send these slaves and en 
 gages to the city, Captain Middleton," he 
 continued, answering the question which he 
 read in my eyes, " that they may formally be 
 declared free from the steps of the Governor s 
 house by the town crier. Then as free citizens 
 and members of the brotherhood of buccaneers, 
 they receive a knife, a gun, and twenty rounds 
 of ammunition if they wish to become hunters ; 
 a plot of land, and some few tools if planters; 
 and arms with permission to ship before the 
 mast if sea rovers. We have no Spaniards 
 
 268
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 among us, and such their master has proved 
 himself to be at heart, if not by birth. If 
 caught he will be taken by the first ship leaving 
 the harbor and marooned on some small island. 
 This hound whose houses and fields you see 
 around you and whom you caught at his devil s 
 work, will, I doubt not, escape over the moun 
 tains and tramp across the island to join some 
 Spanish settlement on the other side. His 
 lands and all other possessions besides his 
 slaves and engages are forfeit and become the 
 common property of the brotherhood." 
 
 " Tis fit treatment, your Honor, and I would 
 that Carolina had such a law for her cruel 
 slave owners," I told him, thinking of the fiend 
 whose plantation lay some short distance above 
 Charleston and who the year before had killed 
 two bound apprentices by cruelty and starva 
 tion, and who to evade the law had smeared 
 their dying lips with raw eggs that he might 
 be able to swear that he had pressed food upon 
 them. 
 
 We saw the band of slaves move off toward 
 the city, the injured wretch borne in the chair; 
 then we set out for the rendezvous of Master 
 Swann. The huts were of roughly woven 
 reeds thatched with palm leaves, and there was 
 one much larger and more closely woven than 
 the rest in which Master Swann explained, the 
 
 269
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 bucan was smoked and stored. A huge tree 
 had been felled and the upper side of its trunk 
 roughly leveled with an adze. This was to 
 serve as our table and the feast was being pre 
 pared by half a dozen black slaves. 
 
 " We have no cloth of gold, from which to 
 serve you, lady," Master Swann said to the 
 English lady, when the women had taken their 
 seats upon the heaps of dry moss and freshly 
 picked leaves with which the ground, under 
 the limbs of the giant trees, was strewn. 
 " Fresh banana leaves serve us for both clothes 
 and dishes." 
 
 . would see your bucan, Master Swann," 
 my lord said, leaving his seat while all the 
 others of the party were refreshing themselves 
 by drinking sangaree. " I have heard much 
 of your manner of curing and cooking meats 
 and would see it done. Will you not go with 
 us, Captain Middleton ? " he asked, as the old 
 hunter led the way towards the large hut. 
 
 Swann pulled aside the heavy mat of leaves 
 that covered the only opening to this house, 
 and we entered to be well nigh choked with the 
 smoke and fumes of cooking meats. Two 
 black slaves were busy with the work. One 
 stood at the side of a stout wooden frame upon 
 which was stretched the carcasses of two huge 
 
 270
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 hogs, while the other was stirring the contents 
 of a deep and broad cauldron. 
 
 " This is our bucan, my lord," Master 
 Svvann said, pointing to the wooden frame. 
 " These two wild boars were killed this 
 morning, skinned and gutted, then stretched 
 whole upon the spits. The charcoal fire has 
 been kept burning beneath for several hours, 
 and this man continually pricks the flesh, that 
 the sauce, which you see in the belly, may 
 penetrate." 
 
 " And the sauce, Master Swann," my lord 
 questioned, " of what is it composed ? It has 
 a most appetizing odor." 
 
 " The juices of limes and citrons, salt, 
 crushed pimento, and pepper," Master Swann 
 answered. " Those birds," pointing to a long 
 tray of bark piled high w r ith freshly plucked 
 birds, " are quails killed on the mountain side 
 by my matelot this morning, and will be cooked 
 by throwing them into the bellies of the two 
 hogs. When you come to taste them, I ll war 
 rant that your lordship will grant that you 
 have never eaten more toothsome morsels, not 
 even at the table of King Louis." 
 
 " That I can easily believe," my lord replied. 
 " Captain Middleton, I will charge you to take 
 notice how the frame of the bucan is con 
 structed, so that when we return to Charleston 
 
 271
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 you can teach your English friends, while I 
 will show them how to make the sauce. And 
 the cauldron, Master Swann?" 
 
 " Tis but the hind quarters of two oxen, 
 my lord," replied the hunter. " In the earthen 
 oven potatoes, yams, maize and cassava cakes 
 are baking. These, with the wild fruits 
 plucked fresh from the forest will make up the 
 poor dinner which I must spread before your 
 lordship and my other guests." 
 
 " And which Lucullus, himself, might praise. 
 Master Swann," my lord cried heartily. " My 
 one request is that you keep us not long wait 
 ing. I am sure it is a wish that will be most 
 zealously backed by both Captain Middleton 
 and Bras de Fer." 
 
 I turned my head, startled for I had not 
 been aware of another s presence. The pirate 
 was there standing at my elbow. The cook 
 piled in the birds, then leaning down cast into 
 the bed of burning coals what remained of the 
 skin and bones of the hogs. 
 
 " Ah! "exclaimed my lord. " By that means 
 your smoke is rendered thick and full of am 
 monia, and your meat doubly sweet." 
 
 We left the hut and going back to where the 
 others sat found the slaves busily preparing to 
 serve the meal. It was served us on banana 
 leaves, strips of bark and in the broken bowls 
 
 272
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 of calabash. There were no forks, and the 
 women were compelled to call on the men for 
 the use of their hunting knives, to cut the meats 
 and fruits into bits small enough for their hand 
 ling. 
 
 " Mind your own business ! " I heard my lord 
 command, and looking up I saw that he spoke 
 to Bras de Fer. " I need not your helping. 
 When I would be served I will call for L An- 
 geli. Get away ! " he cried in the tone of a petu 
 lant child, and the chapfallen giant meekly did 
 as he was ordered. 
 
 We left the rendezvous and mounting our 
 horses rode on in the direction of the little 
 prairie. It was just past the noon hour and the 
 condonli and the passion flower of all sizes, 
 from a thumb ring to a soup plate, had shut 
 thei. blossoms ; the monkeys and noisy parrots 
 were no longer to be seen, and even the gleam 
 ing lizards and the bright colored humming 
 birds hid themselves away from the vertical 
 rays of the sun. 
 
 Coming to the edge of the forest we rested, 
 while Master Swann skirted the prairie in 
 search of the herd of cattle and those who 
 watched them. It was but a short space, then, 
 hearing his signal, the slaves led out the horses. 
 
 " I would have the black mare, Governor," 
 my lord cried, pointing out a horse, the most 
 
 2 73
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 beautiful, as well as the most fiery, and restless 
 of the lot. 
 
 " Take her, my lord," the Governor an 
 swered. " I know nothing about her temper, 
 but that she has been trained in the sport is 
 evidenced by the bend of her right ear." 
 
 My lord went forward, sprang lightly into 
 the saddle and receiving the hocksing lance 
 from an engage rode out upon the prairie. 
 
 " You must not ride that horse, my lord," 
 Bras de Fer exclaimed excitedly, on seeing him. 
 
 "Why not?" my lord demanded. 
 
 " Because she has no nerve and cannot stand 
 the rush of a bull. She will obey no signal 
 when a maddened animal turns in her direction. 
 She unseats her rider and flees as though pos 
 sessed by the devil himself. You must not 
 ride her, my lord." 
 
 " Must is a strong word, Master Bras de 
 Fer," my lord answered. " That can only be 
 answered by I will." 
 
 " Admiral," the pirate cried, appealing to 
 Morgan, and there was the greatest concern in 
 both his tone and manner, " my lord should 
 not ride that horse. I have seen it throw three 
 riders, and each one was gored and trampled 
 by a maddened bull." 
 
 " My lord ! " Morgan cried, stopping in the 
 act of mounting the horse held for him. 
 
 274
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 He called too late. There sounded a hoarse 
 bellow and a half score of wild cattle rushed 
 from the forest on to the opposite side of the 
 prairie, pursued by a crowd of shouting men 
 and barking dogs. My lord was off to meet 
 them, his long hocksing shaft pressed down 
 upon his horse s right ear. Bras de Fer 
 sprang upon a horse and rushed after him, his 
 face white and drawn as though with mortal 
 terror. 
 
 275
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 1 FORCED my horse hard after the pirate 
 giant, Morgan thundering at my side, 
 while behind I could hear the hoof-beats 
 and calls of D Oyeron and his lieutenants. 
 
 The drivers separated the leader, a huge dun- 
 colored bull with wide spreading horns, from 
 the herd, and drove him to meet us in the mid 
 dle of the prairie. The dogs snapped at his 
 nose and hocks and he came charging first at 
 one and then at another of his tormentors, 
 until within a few rods of where we all stood 
 waiting. The hunters whistled their dogs and 
 they slipped away in the tall grass and left the 
 maddened, foam-covered brute bellowing and 
 staring about him, in search of some living 
 thing on which to vent his fury. He saw us, 
 threw up his head, and stared; then, with an 
 angry sniff and bellow, as though daring us to 
 mortal combat, he came slowly forward. 
 
 Morgan s horse, apparently without word or 
 signal, stepped out as though in answer to this 
 challenge, and walked forward to meet him. 
 
 276
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 The bull stopped, the horse stood still, and thus 
 for a long minute they faced. The buccaneer 
 sat like a statue, his rein hung loose, and the 
 shaft of his hocksing spear pressed hard against 
 the side of his horse s head. There was a shout 
 from a hunter, and two dogs sprang from the 
 sedge at the horse s feet and ran towards the 
 bull barking furiously. They rushed at his 
 head and one sprang up and tried to bury its 
 fangs in his nostrils. He charged them, first 
 one side, then the other, but they circled around 
 him, bringing up at the horse s feet, and dared 
 him on by their barking. 
 
 The horse stepped forward, the dogs at its 
 side still barking. The bull glared, then low 
 ered its head and with a mighty bellow that 
 was flung back to us by a hundred echoes from 
 the mountain side, lowered its head and charged 
 straight upon Morgan s horse. Man and horse 
 were motionless. The dogs disappeared in the 
 tall grass. I held my breath as on the great 
 brute came, the horse sprang to one side and the 
 bull ran full ten feet beyond the spot where he 
 had thought to kill his enemy. 
 
 Again the dogs were at him, daring him 
 against the horse. He lowered his head and 
 with a bellow even more furious came charging 
 back. The horse sprang aside, and the brute, 
 as though taught by experience, turned almost 
 
 277
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 as quickly, and was charging again. The 
 hocksing lance slipped down, its half-moon 
 shaped blade struck a hind leg of the beast 
 nearly severing it. The horse wheeled to the 
 left, escaping the charge of the wounded ani 
 mal. Losing sight of his enemy, and infuri 
 ated by pain and fear, the bull came charging 
 upon the group of horsemen who up to that 
 moment had taken no part in his torture. I 
 felt my horse stiffen under me, prepared for the 
 charge. Not so with the beast my lord rode. 
 She gave a sound, a half whinny of terror, and 
 sprang forward as though to turn and flee from 
 the approaching danger. Bras de Fer s horse 
 was wheeled in front of her, wedging her 
 against my animal s flank, his hand grasped 
 her nose, pressing it down and back upon her 
 shoulder. 
 
 The bull sank down within a few feet of our 
 group moaning in terror and pain. The hock- 
 sing iron of his enemy had caught him around 
 the foreleg. Morgan dismounted and drawing 
 his hunting knife from his belt stabbed the 
 prostrate beast in the neck behind the horns, 
 severing his spinal marrow. 
 
 " You will change horses with me, my lord," 
 Bras de Fer said, dismounting with his hand 
 still grasping the nose of my lord s trembling 
 
 278
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 beast. His tone was commanding and his face 
 was white and stern. 
 
 Without a word my lord did as he was bid, 
 and throughout the remainder of the sport 
 sat silent, his horse standing between my own 
 and Bras de Fer s. 
 
 When we rode back to the spot under the 
 trees at the edge of the forest, from which the 
 women and slaves had watched us, the skin 
 ners were busy over the three huge bulls left 
 dead on the field. The rest of the herd was 
 being driven back into the forest on the moun 
 tain side by the hunters and their dogs. We 
 wasted no time, but pushed on back to the 
 city, for it was well towards sunset, and every 
 man and woman in the town, excepting only the 
 guards in the castle and the fort, were to feast 
 with their admiral in the great tribunal hall 
 adjoining the Governor s house. 
 
 " My lord has lost his merry humor," I 
 heard the French pirate say to him who had 
 sailed the galleon as my mate, after we had 
 gone a short distance from the prairie. 
 
 " He is chapfallen because none of the bulls 
 were of his slaying," Cayman answered, look 
 ing up into the pensive face of the nobleman, so 
 near whose side he strode that he might have 
 touched his stirrup. " Tis a humor which 
 
 279
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 becomes his beauty and makes his face look 
 like some fair flower." 
 
 " Or some sweet-faced maid, were there any 
 half so beautiful," the Frenchman answered. 
 
 " You have your mother s eyes I ll warrant, 
 my lord," Cayman said, respectfully touching 
 the young count s elbow to attract his atten 
 tion. " For when you looked off towards the 
 mountains but a short while gone, I saw the 
 woman lurking in their great solemn depths." 
 
 " If I had been a woman. Cayman," my lord 
 asked, turning towards him a face that was all 
 seriousness, " and had come into your midst, 
 what then? " 
 
 The pirate opened his great jaw and laughed. 
 " Had you been a maid taken in Augustine, my 
 lord? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes, what then? How would ye all have 
 used me? " 
 
 " We d had small chance even to spy at you, 
 my lord, so long as Cap n Hawkins remained 
 above deck; to that you may swear," the pirate 
 cried. 
 
 " But him wounded and like to die, what 
 then ? " my lord still questioned most earnestly. 
 
 " Then, my lord," Cayman answered, with a 
 grin that was not pleasant to see, " had there 
 been a maid with but half your beauty in the 
 state cabin after the Spaniards were slain, we 
 
 280
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 would have fought among ourselves for the pos 
 session of her, and I fear me that there would 
 not have been men enough left alive to sail even 
 one ship into port." 
 
 " And yet," my lord said, softly as though 
 musing, " ye harmed not the two women I had 
 with me nor the Spanish prisoners." 
 
 "Pish! my lord," cried the Frenchman, 
 " you are a court gallant and should know the 
 difference between women. There is not so 
 much beauty among those eight women as there 
 is in one of your lordship s white hands. But as 
 for a maid with your great beauty, we have 
 seen no such and would have all gone mad 
 about her. Even the mate s strong arm and 
 your own good sword, my lord, could not have 
 saved her from us." 
 
 Both Cayman and the French pirate laughed 
 as though mightily amused. 
 
 " I am glad I chanced to be a man when I 
 fell among you ye devils ! " my lord cried, his 
 eyes flashing with passion as he dug his spurs 
 into his horse s flank and rode forward to join 
 Sir Henry Morgan and the Governor. 
 
 I entered the tribunal chamber, where the feast 
 was spread, with Bras deFer and Master Swann, 
 and we stopped and stared about us amazed. 
 The great room had been enlarged by the tear 
 ing down of separating partitions between ad- 
 
 281
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 joining rooms and halls, until nearly all of the 
 building was thrown together. The floor was 
 covered with clean sand and strewn with fresh 
 rushes. Against the walls trailed blooming 
 vines, and garlands of bright flowers hung 
 from the brackets in which were thrust flaring 
 torches. There were nine long tables, all spread 
 with cloths of silver, excepting the one which 
 ran down the middle of the room. That one 
 was covered by a cloth of gold, and glittered 
 with the magnificence of its gold and silver 
 vessels. 
 
 I found myself placed between the Gover 
 nor s lieutenant and the captain of the Phcenix, 
 and nearer the head of the table than I had sat 
 the night before. My lord was not present, 
 nor was his aunt, nor were there any places re 
 served for them. I looked among the slaves 
 who served for their black woman, but did not 
 find her. Listening, I heard the brawling 
 voice of Sim Taviss, and knew that he sat near 
 the foot of one of the tables covered by a silver 
 cloth. 
 
 As the feast went on small rations of wine 
 were served, and I heard some few complaints, 
 but they were soon silenced by those who sat 
 about the grumblers. 
 
 Tis because he has been idling in Jamaica, 
 where I am told the English live wondrous dry 
 
 282
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lives," I heard a rich planter say to a pirate 
 captain. " Had he been on the high seas he 
 would know better how to drink good wine." 
 
 " Pish! man," the pirate answered. " Ye land 
 crabs know not the Admiral. He is neither a 
 drunkard nor a glutton. I served under him, 
 as ship master both when he went against Ma- 
 racaibo and Panama, and never saw him the 
 worse for too much wine. Neither hunger, nor 
 fear, nor passion throws Morgan off his 
 guard." 
 
 I believed the man s report and was none the 
 happier for my belief. As the time wore on, 
 and the feasting continued, I watched the noted 
 pirate, listened to his talk and smiled at his 
 jests, with a feeling that grew to bitterest hate. 
 Dread griped my heart and I became sick from 
 fear as I realized the helplessness of my posi 
 tion. I ate little, and pushed away my wine un 
 touched. At least I too could keep a cool head 
 and be on my guard. 
 
 There were many shouts and toasts, naming 
 the buccaneer chief and the cities he had sacked 
 or the vessels he had captured. Time and time 
 again, all in that great room sprang to their 
 feet, calling for his return to the high seas. All 
 their toasts were drunk in his honor, and they 
 drank as many as wine was allowed them. I 
 played my part, though the wine in my glitter- 
 
 283
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ing goblet remained untasted. I rose when 
 those about me left their seats, shouted when 
 they shouted, though I neither thought of the 
 words I uttered nor listened to the replies. No 
 one called for my lord, nor I thought had even 
 noted his absence; for I had seen soon after 
 taking my seat that all who sailed with him, 
 save only Bras de Fer and me, had been placed 
 at other tables. 
 
 I watched every movement of the man at the 
 head of the board, waiting for the call of the 
 sentinel on the fort announcing midnight. If 
 the Governor s lieutenant sought to converse 
 with me he got small return for his pains, and 
 as for Bras de Fer I well nigh completely for 
 got his existence until feeling some one pluck 
 at the sleeve of my doublet I turned and faced 
 the Captain of the Phcenix. 
 
 " That was the first call," he said, his face 
 was white and stern, as I had seen it that day 
 on the hocksing field. " It lacks but a quarter 
 of the hour." 
 
 " Yea," I answered, and though we had 
 spoken no word I understood his meaning, and 
 knew that I did not stand alone. " If he leaves 
 the hall?" I questioned. 
 
 " I go with him were he twenty times my ad 
 miral," he answered, and his eyes glowed as 
 burning coals. I liked not the discovery which 
 
 284
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I felt he had made, but my heart almost 
 bounded with joy at that which I knew he pur 
 posed. 
 
 It was perilously near the hour. My heart 
 was beating like a tilt-hammer, and sounded in 
 my ears as the roar of an angry sea. Bras de 
 Fer stirred at my side, and I saw that he freed 
 his sword from its scabbard. 
 
 Sir Henry Morgan rose and as one man we 
 two left our seats. 
 
 " Keep your places, gentlemen," the bucca 
 neer chief called, motioning us down with a 
 wave of his hand. " And cover your blades. I 
 like not the torchlight flashing upon them." 
 
 Had I been alone I might have followed his 
 bidding, forced to it by the calm dignity of his 
 voice and manner. But the giant at my side 
 made no movement of obedience, and I stood 
 with him. There was that on our faces and in 
 our manner, I suppose, that made all about us 
 stare. What would have been the outcome I 
 cannot even reckon. 
 
 There was a dead silence. Morgan stood, 
 and Bras de Fer and I were also standing. I 
 saw that the eyes of the buccaneer admiral left 
 our faces and traveled down over the long 
 board. The guard on the fort called the hour 
 of midnight. 
 
 The great door at the end of the room swung 
 
 285
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 open and we stared into the long passage lead 
 ing to the Governor s house. 
 
 The corridor was so brilliantly lighted that 
 we could see the carved figures on its sides and 
 high vaulted roof. The door at the rear end 
 was closed. Then it opened and a troupe of 
 gaily dressed figures issued forth and came to 
 wards us, walking between the long line of flar 
 ing torches. 
 
 " Gentles, I would have you push your board 
 aside," Morgan cried, waving to those around 
 the table covered by a cloth of gold. " All 
 others in the room will keep their seats," he 
 commanded. 
 
 The table was pushed aside as he motioned, 
 and those who had sat about it, both men and 
 women, ranged themselves on either side of 
 the place where it had stood. Two boys entered 
 from the passage-way, and walking up the aisle 
 thus formed, spread a strip of flame-colored 
 damask to the foot of the dais at the other side 
 of the room. 
 
 The troop of bright figures came on; I saw 
 that they were women in gay dresses and flash 
 ing jewels. They reached the door, stood for a 
 moment, hesitating before entering. 
 
 Then she who walked ahead stepped in. The 
 room went whirling round, all else was blotted 
 
 286
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 out save only the slender figure that stood just 
 within that door. 
 
 " Lady, will you not come and take the seat 
 reserved for you? " Morgan cried, and though 
 I took not my eyes from the face of her to 
 whom he spoke, I knew that he motioned to the 
 great chair on the dais wherein the Governor 
 sat when giving judgment. " We have met 
 to give you brave welcome, I do assure you," 
 he added, and the ring of truth that sounded in 
 his voice caused the bitter hatred that had con 
 sumed my heart to turn to sincere respect. 
 
 It was Mistress Antoinette Huguenin. Well 
 might all the people in that great room stare, for 
 she appeared of all women in the wide world 
 the most beautiful. She wore neither bright 
 colors nor flashing jewels, but a long train of 
 spotless satin whose sheen matched in whiteness 
 the pearls that gleamed in her black hair and 
 around her long fair throat. She was like a 
 slender lily as she moved up that strip of flame- 
 colored damask with downcast eyes, and with 
 all of shame, proud challenge, and wistful en 
 treaty written on her beautiful face. Following 
 her came the English lady, her black serving- 
 woman, and the six Spanish prisoners. At the 
 foot of the dais the Admiral and the Governor, 
 each gave her a hand and leading her up the 
 
 287
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 steps stood before the great chair, facing the 
 people. 
 
 " Mates ! " Morgan shouted, so loud that 
 those who sat in the farthest corners of the 
 room must hear distinctly, " last night we 
 cheered a young gallant who sang us gay songs 
 of the French court, and love ballads in our own 
 brave English tongue. To-night that youth 
 stands before you none the less gallant because 
 she wears the garments suited to her sex. 
 Look ! brothers, and ye women wives, mothers 
 and daughters I would have ye know Ma 
 demoiselle Antoinette Huguenin the child 
 born in our own buccaneer stronghold who 
 after fourteen years comes back, the famous 
 beauty of the French court and who last night 
 you cheered as her own brother." 
 
 The blood flamed red in her cheeks, and her 
 head straightened up on a slender white 
 throat. 
 
 " Sir Henry Morgan, it was for my honor 
 that I did so unsex myself," she cried. With 
 the dignity of her tone and bearing there was 
 mingled a womanly grace and pleading that 
 must have touched all those who listened. 
 " The part I played was as a weapon at hand 
 and I took it up. It seemed the only road left 
 open to me by my enemies and I followed it. 
 
 288
 
 " Look ! I would hare you know Mademoiselle An 
 toinette Huguenin.
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Because I did many strange and unseemly 
 things, uttered unwomanly curses, and strange 
 oaths, unfit for the lips of an honest girl, hold 
 me not lightly, I pray you." 
 
 " Madam," he answered, bowing low and 
 with all deference and honor ringing in his 
 bluff voice, " I hold you not lightly, nor could 
 any man who was not in his heart worse than 
 scoundrel. So far do I place you above other 
 women, lady, that could I point to you saying; 
 that is my daughter, the child begot from my 
 loins, I would willingly give all the brave 
 deeds that men account to my name even the 
 sacking of Puerto Bello and the title with which 
 my king rewarded me. There is none I place 
 above you, madam ; not one I hold in such high 
 esteem." 
 
 " When you came into my city, thinking you 
 your father s son, I sought to murder you, ma 
 demoiselle," the Governor cried, and there was 
 none in the room who did not hear him. " But 
 since I have known your wit and noble courage, 
 I almost find it in my heart to forgive the man 
 who has begotten so noble a child, even though 
 that man be Uldric Huguenin, my bitterest 
 enemy. Lady, I would kiss your hand craving 
 pardon for the insults I sought to put upon you. 
 I pray you to forgive me wholly." He bent his 
 
 289
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 knee and kissed the fingers she held out to him 
 with all the graciousness of a queen to a subject 
 forgiven. 
 
 " Admiral ! " It was Cayman s voice, and 
 turning my eyes I saw him among the group of 
 pirates who had pushed themselves up from the 
 bottom of the room to within good earshot of 
 those who stood on the dais. " Though my 
 lord seems my lord no longer, but his own sister 
 and the beauty of King Louis court, it has not 
 changed his pretty face nor the great courage 
 for which we loved him. He cozened us all, 
 and beat our captain and our mate at the sword, 
 but since he had beaten the great king before 
 them, how could any man hope to stand ? Be 
 cause he has proved a maid, it makes us who 
 sailed with him and saw his brave deeds, love 
 him none the less, and mayhap had he chanced 
 to fall amongst us in his woman s clothes, we 
 would not stand before you such honest men." 
 
 " Aye, aye! " the pirates about him shouted. 
 " Aye, aye ! " the others, merchants, hunters, 
 planters and sea-rovers, all took up the cry 
 until the great room was filled with their lusty 
 shouts. 
 
 Then through all the shouting, staring crowd 
 of men and women I saw Sim Taviss shove his 
 way and stand at the foot of the dais, gaping 
 at her who was the target for all eyes. Morgan 
 
 290
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 waved his hand commanding silence, and 
 would have spoken, but the fool s voice sounded 
 before his. 
 
 " My lord ! " he cried in a tone of sharp re 
 proach, " why put ye on woman s clothes? " 
 
 " Faith, Sim," she answered, with a half 
 laugh, the bright humor flashing into her eyes 
 and voice and the color into her cheeks, " twas 
 because they changed my name from Uldric 
 to Antoinette. Would st change with me, 
 L Angeli ? " 
 
 " Nay, my lord," he replied in all serious 
 ness. " I cannot kiss my elbow." 
 
 A roar of laughter as great as had been the 
 calls of applause burst forth and men began to 
 shout the names, " Uldric," " Antoinette." It 
 was the young French pirate s voice that first 
 called : " Our young court gallant with all a 
 man s courage, a woman s wit and the beauty 
 of an angel." Others caught it up and the 
 shout went back and forth until Morgan again 
 motioned silence. 
 
 " There be those among ye, brothers," he 
 cried, " to whom the maid who sailed with you, 
 and won your love by her pretty face and brave 
 ways, and made you fear her good sword, will 
 ever be a gay court gallant as the child of our 
 old age is always a baby. But there stands one 
 among you who has known her as woman for 
 
 291
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 many a day, and as such yesterday, shielded her 
 from death. Bras de Fer, have ye no greeting 
 for the lady whose presence \ve all would 
 honor?" 
 
 Thus called, the captain of the Phoenix, with 
 face no whit less pale than it had been when he 
 plucked the sleeve of my doublet, left my side 
 and striding up to the dais bent his knee to her 
 who stood between the Admiral and the Gover 
 nor of his brotherhood. Her face flushed crim 
 son, her eyes drooped, as with a gesture at once 
 pleading and timid she extended her hand to 
 him. His head with its mass of shining fair 
 hair sank down, past her hand, and he stooped 
 and kissed the hem of her garment. 
 
 292
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 WITH summer in my heart we sailed 
 through summer seas. The fourth 
 day found us off the coast of Caro 
 lina, cruising somewhat to the south, waiting 
 for sight of our consort before entering the 
 harbor of Charleston. 
 
 " I would hear from Jamaica, Captain Mid- 
 dleton, before putting myself in the hands of 
 your Governor," Morgan told me as w r e sat on 
 the poop deck watching the bends of the green 
 coast. " If my commission has been with 
 drawn and I am called back to England the 
 Governor of your Colony will have been noti 
 fied, and as the officer sworn to obey the orders 
 of the king and the company it will be his duty 
 to apprehend me as a fugitive." 
 
 You sail in King James packet; you have 
 received no notice of a warrant against you, 
 and you return to Charleston three citizens 
 taken from under her very guns by the Span 
 iards." It was the voice of Mistress Antoinette 
 Huguenin and her tone was an indignant pro 
 
 2 93
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 test. " There can be no justice in your arrest. 
 Besides, Governor Quarry is not wont to stick 
 so to the letter of the law, for I have heard that 
 he could be generous as well as just." 
 
 Morgan laughed, well pleased by her vehe 
 mence, " I thank you, lady," he cried. " But 
 I do not purpose to put to test the generosity of 
 the Governor of Carolina. It hath been the 
 pleasure of the proprietors to displace Gover 
 nor Quarry, and put in his stead the husband 
 of the lady who sails as your aunt, and, who 
 as Captain Middleton can tell you, has no fond 
 ness for sea-rovers." 
 
 " Master Joseph Moreton," I cried, amazed 
 by his news. It was scarce two months since 
 I had left Charleston, and at that time I knew 
 Master Moreton and his party did not stand 
 too high in the esteem of either the king or 
 the proprietors. I could not even guess what 
 upheaval had brought about his appointment. 
 " If it is Governor Moreton now, the Sober 
 Party is in power, and Carolina is like to have 
 good government." 
 
 " Governor Moreton ? " the English lady 
 questioned in surprise. 
 
 Yes, madam," the buccaneer answered, 
 doffing his hat and bowing low. " Your hus 
 band is responsible to the company, who elects 
 him, for the proper keeping of King James 
 
 294
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 laws in the province of Carolina. He received 
 his Governor s warrant by the same ship, in 
 which sailed the gentleman who succeeded me 
 as deputy to my lord Earl of Carlisle. Had it 
 not been the report which that packet brought of 
 the prisoners held in Augustine, I very much 
 doubt me," he exclaimed, eyeing Mistress Hu- 
 guenin with a droll laugh, " if I should not have 
 believed the young court gallant, whom I found 
 brawling in the buccaneer city on Hispaniola, 
 in very truth the son of my old friend the 
 posthumous child of his mother. You were a 
 pretty boy, Mistress Antoinette, and acted the 
 part thrust upon you as mate of that pirate ship 
 to the king s taste, that I ll warrant. Zounds! 
 but I should like to see your Grand Monarque 
 when it is reported to him. They tell me that 
 he has the devil s own love for a merry jest, 
 when Madam Solidity is not by with her black 
 robed priests. Will ye tell him of your gay 
 masquerade, lady? " 
 
 " Nay, Sir Henry," the girl answered, with 
 a gleam of roguishness in her great black eyes, 
 while her cheeks were rose red. " I purpose not 
 to return so soon to France. Yet if chance had 
 taken me there, I know of none to whom I 
 would sooner have told the tale of my misbe 
 havior than to King Louis. For he has the 
 heart to enjoy a report of your wild pirate life. 
 
 295
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and has ever proved my most indulgent master. 
 But in the news brought you from Charleston, 
 your Honor, was there no mention of my 
 father?" 
 
 " Only that he had but just returned to 
 Charleston with what remained of Captain 
 Middleton s party and their Indian allies," he 
 answered. 
 
 " When I last saw my father, he was in 
 chains, and they walled him up in the dungeon 
 of Augustine to die of thirst and starvation," 
 she said. Then turning upon me eyes brim 
 ming with unshed tears, added, " I have much 
 to thank you for, Captain Middleton." 
 
 " And greater reward has no man received, 
 Captain Middleton," Morgan cried laughing, 
 though not unkindly. " The love of a good 
 woman is ever a gift for a man to crave; but the 
 love of " 
 
 " Has Captain Middleton won the love of 
 such a one?" Mistress Antoinette Huguenin 
 asked, and her tone was as cold as had been the 
 references to me in her late letters from France. 
 " I wish you joy, Captain, and I ll warrant that 
 you have chosen a lady with a most gentle tem 
 per. For if report be true you love only women 
 who smile and answer yea to you always." 
 
 There sounded a cry from the man on watch, 
 and, looking, we saw a tiny fleck of canvas 
 
 296
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 scarce larger than a man s thumb nail against 
 the blue of the horizon a little sou of sou east. 
 We watched it grow until the stretch of sails 
 and the shape of the ship that bore them could 
 plainly be distinguished. 
 
 " Touch off your culverin," Morgan cried to 
 the gunner. " Tis our consort and I would 
 have her message." 
 
 Then came the thunder of the gun. We 
 waited. Far, far off like an echo came our 
 answer. One, then another, and another, until 
 there had sounded five. 
 
 " Tis as I feared," Morgan said, and for a 
 moment there was sadness, almost despondency 
 in his voice and manner. " I am a fugitive, 
 Captain Middleton. Any man aboard this ship, 
 if he be a loyal subject of King James will see 
 to it that I do not escape beyond the reach of 
 his heavy hand." 
 
 " I trust there be none such on board, your 
 Honor," I answered him. " Will you put your 
 self into the hands of your crew ? " 
 
 " I will put myself on board my buccaneer," 
 he answered with a grim smile. " I will sail 
 into the harbor of your city, send you ashore 
 in the long boat, and sail out again, giving 
 Governor Moreton scant time to order us fired 
 upon, even did he know an outlaw aboard this 
 packet. My purpose is neither to hang in the 
 
 297
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 iron cage of Augustine, nor be stretched on 
 the rack in Spain. I return to my brotherhood 
 and will sail again under the black flag against 
 the Spaniards of the New World." 
 
 " I almost have it in my mind to go with 
 you," I cried, speaking in all sincerity. 
 
 He laughed, looked towards Mistress An 
 toinette Huguenin, then laughed again, and I 
 felt the hot blood burning in my face. 
 
 "Pish! man," he cried. "I doubt if the 
 fear of King James darkest dungeon, the burn 
 ing rack of Spain or death itself could make 
 you forego one hour of her company now that 
 you know she loves you. You have passed 
 unpleasant hours, but you receive a reward that 
 the Grand Monarque himself might envy, even 
 in his palmiest days." 
 
 We sailed into the bay, up the wide river, 
 and once more came in sight of the city for 
 which my heart had so often longed, and which 
 I had more than once despaired of ever seeing 
 again. Through the glasses, I spied upon the 
 two houses that I knew so well, surrounded by 
 their palisades and in the midst of their grow 
 ing fields. I made out a company of slaves 
 working on both plantations, and even fancied 
 that I could distinguish Colonel Huguenin act 
 ing as his own overseer. I handed the glasses 
 to Mistress Antoinette. 
 
 298
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " You will see one you know," I told her. 
 
 " Yes," she said after she had gazed long and 
 carefully. " I recognize many of my father s 
 slaves and some few of your own; but my 
 father is not there." 
 
 " Not there? " I cried, for I had been so sure. 
 
 " No, he is not there," she answered, " and 
 my heart forbodes evil." 
 
 " Then he is at Charleston, or he may be in 
 the house," I assured her, though in my heart I 
 felt not the security that my words implied. 
 " There are a dozen places where he might be. 
 not expecting your arrival." 
 
 " Tis not because I do not find him with the 
 slaves," she cried. " But it is the look of the 
 fields, the gardens, the house itself. He has not 
 been there, at least not for many weeks. My 
 heart misgives me for his safety." 
 
 " Tis his uneasiness for you that makes him 
 neglectful," I said, trying hard to give her con 
 solation even while my own heart was heavy 
 with dread for what I feared awaited her. 
 
 " T would but make him work all the harder. 
 He would give himself no idle moments to be 
 harassed by sad thoughts," she answered, and 
 I knew that she spoke the truth. " It is the 
 thought of Augustine that he has returned 
 there, attempting my rescue. If he should 
 again fall into their hands " All color left 
 
 299
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 her face and she seemed as though about to 
 faint from deadly fear. 
 
 " Antoinette, Antoinette ! " I cried, my heart 
 wrung from my body to see her of whose forti 
 tude and courage I had seen so many proofs, 
 turn sick at the fancies born of her own im 
 aginings. " It cannot be as you fear. Gov 
 ernor Moreton \vould not let him go without 
 sufficient men at his back." 
 
 " Still the fear does not leave me," she an 
 swered. " He would not rest in Charleston, 
 thinking me in Augustine, and that thou 
 knowest. They will be on their guard, expect 
 ing an attack, and should he be taken or by any 
 means fall into D Alva s power 
 
 " I will rescue him. That I ll swear," I cried. 
 And so I purposed even though it should cost 
 me my life and the exit should be by way of 
 the iron cage of Augustine or the rack of Spain. 
 
 " An you do," she said, the red coming back 
 into her face, and her beautiful eyes meeting 
 mine with all the modest sincerity of her sweet 
 womanliness, " there is naught I will not give 
 thee." 
 
 I bent my knee and rested first my lips, then 
 my forehead against the hand that she stretched 
 forth. 
 
 There is but one boon that I can ask," I 
 told her. 
 
 300
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I rose to my feet and led her forward to meet 
 the buccaneer Admiral who was returning from 
 the ordering of his crew. Mistress Moreton 
 and Marcie had gone below to make ready for 
 leaving the ship. 
 
 " All that you did, Mistress Huguenin, save 
 one thing only, I countenance," Morgan cried, 
 as he joined us. " That you spent your own and 
 Captain Middleton s share of booty in freeing 
 engages, from their term of service, I think 
 good. But the gold that you gave the 
 Spanish prisoners, whom Bras de Fer had or 
 ders to put ashore near Havana, I think ill 
 spent. It will not serve the women, but instead 
 will go to the sleek priests who, as you know, 
 hold place in my affections even higher than 
 other Spaniards. An I mistake not ye love 
 them no better yourself, yet it was thy humor 
 to save their lives, and let them go scot free, 
 and with well filled purses to boot. Women 
 are as mysterious as the sea, Captain Middle- 
 ton, and the older men grow the more thor 
 oughly they become convinced that they are 
 past their understanding." 
 
 " And like the sea our mystery lies in our 
 simplicity," Antoinette told him. " Men fail to 
 understand us because they look below the sur 
 face for occurrences that have their cause on the 
 outside. Twas because they were women and 
 
 301
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 men of God that I so shielded them; I had no 
 deeper reason." 
 
 " And since it was thy humor, I let it pass," 
 he answered. " I return you to your father 
 with but one regret in my heart that I cannot 
 claim you as my own child. Tis as my own 
 daughter I have sought to shield you from the 
 gossip of idle tongues, and for that I planned 
 your unmasking at the feast in the great tri 
 bunal. That you sailed mate of a pirate ship 
 should cause you no blushes. By no other 
 means could you have saved your honor and 
 protected the women who went with you." 
 
 As we stood on deck waiting for the finishing 
 of the last few preparations for our landing 
 Mistress Moreton again urged his stopping in 
 Charleston, and assured him of the protection 
 of her husband. 
 
 " I kiss thy hand, lady," he cried. " But 
 never will I so embarrass a man as honest as 
 thy husband. As the Governor of Carolina, 
 sworn to enforce the laws and commands of 
 King James, it would be his duty to apprehend 
 me. As thy husband I know that the dictates 
 of his heart would make him traitor to his trust. 
 That must not be." Turning to Antoinette he 
 kissed the hand she extended to him. Then, 
 slipping on her finger a ring set with a blood 
 red ruby, he said : " Should you be in trouble 
 
 302
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 by land or by sea, and need a friend, send me 
 this ring, my child. If I am alive and free from 
 prison chains I will surely come to thee." 
 
 Again he kissed her hand, and we took our 
 places in the boat and left him standing in the 
 deepening dusk, gazing after us. 
 
 The entrance of the packet into the harbor 
 had caused no great commotion as the small- 
 ness of the crowd assembled on the wharf to 
 watch our landing proved. When I clambered 
 up the steep stairs leading to the wooden wharf, 
 the dusk and the thin mist that was beginning 
 to rise, made the faces into which I gazed ap 
 pear as though covered by a grey veil. They 
 were only the slaves of some few who lived 
 near the water s edge and one gentleman who 
 apparently had stopped in passing, expecting 
 the landing of some few foreign sailors and a 
 petty sea-officer. 
 
 "The Governor?" I questioned of the 
 gentleman, as I turned from helping the two 
 ladies and their serving woman up the steps 
 made slippery by the wash of the incoming 
 tide. " Is he to be found so late in the great 
 house? " 
 
 " Yea, sir," he answered, motioning the slave 
 who followed him to take the bundle that I 
 carried. " I will act as your guide, if you have 
 no better. Though past the usual hour for au- 
 
 33
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 dience with strangers the Governor will see you 
 for he denies himself to no man however hum 
 ble. Would you first go to the guest house? " 
 he asked, looking at the two ladies and their 
 serving woman. 
 
 " No, friend," I told him, still keeping up 
 the cheat though I had recognized him as one 
 Owen, a small merchant who had but recently 
 come from the Old World. " I would first pay 
 my respects to your Governor, and since you 
 describe him as so amiable, the ladies will go 
 with me." 
 
 " Our Governor has suffered a great grief," 
 he told me after a short silence in which we had 
 continued on our way, Antoinette walking at 
 my side with Mistress Moreton, Marcie and 
 the slave following us. " He has just lost his 
 wife, a most estimable lady to whom he was 
 wed scarce a year ago." 
 
 "She died in Charleston?" I questioned, 
 hoping to get news of the city. 
 
 " No," he answered. " It had been better 
 so a thousand times for then at least he would 
 have known the manner and cause of her death. 
 She was taken captive from the city of Augus 
 tine by pirates and no news has since come 
 from her, or ever will to my thinking. We 
 all know the fate of women so taken." 
 
 34
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Was she alone ? Had she no friend with 
 her?" I asked. 
 
 ;< Yea," he answered, " and that is the sad 
 dest part of the sad story. There was taken 
 with her Mistress Antoinette Huguenin, who 
 had but recently returned to this colony. She 
 was a famous beauty of King- Louis court, and 
 her lover, a rich and powerful French noble 
 man, has but just arrived here, having obtained 
 permission from the king to claim her hand in 
 marriage." 
 
 At the mention of the Frenchman I felt the 
 fingers that I clasped tighten their hold and I 
 grasped them more firmly. 
 
 " He has taken no steps towards her res 
 cue ? " I asked. 
 
 " Tis but three days since he arrived," he 
 answered. " Now the ship in which he came 
 lies in the harbor being more heavily armed, 
 and he spends hours each day in consultation 
 with the Governor and his council. Tis known 
 that they purpose an expedition, though where 
 or against whom has not yet transpired. The 
 Due de Richelieu is a most noble looking young 
 gallant, and tis said that he lets not the grass 
 grow under his feet. Would you have me an 
 nounce you, sir? " he asked as he stopped before 
 the door of the Governor s mansion. 
 
 35
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " No," I told him, as I turned to mount the 
 steps. " I have been here, though before Gov 
 ernor Moreton s time." 
 
 I bade him good-night, thanking him for his 
 trouble and entered the open door. As we 
 passed into the wide hall lighted by flaming 
 lightwood torches, a black serving man in 
 the Governor s livery, came forward to meet 
 us. 
 
 " Caleb," I said, " conduct your mistress and 
 Mademoiselle Huguenin to some room where 
 they can rest. I would prepare your master 
 for their coming." 
 
 He started back; stared at us wildly with 
 eyes that seemed starting from their sockets; 
 then fell on his knees and raising his clasped 
 hands appealingly, tried to form words that fell 
 unintelligibly from his shaking lips. I strode 
 towards him hoping by roughness to cure him 
 of his fright, but he moved back, still on his 
 knees, with his hands held in supplication, until, 
 finding that I gained on him, he whirled his 
 body over, and fled from the hall on all fours, 
 with the agility of a wild monkey in the forest. 
 
 " Doan pay no heed to dat nigger, Mas 
 Jack." Marcie cried. It was the first time that 
 I had heard the sound of her voice since seeing 
 her aboard the pirate ship. " He tinks you is 
 de debbil, and we alls is ghosts. I jes take de 
 
 306
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 ladies in one of dese yere rooms and wait tel 
 yon fin de gub ner. Come wid me, honey," 
 she said, putting her arm around Mistress 
 Moreton, who, now that fortitude seemed no 
 longer necessary, was weeping hysterically. 
 
 I saw the door of the room close upon them ; 
 then I turned and went in search of the Gov 
 ernor. I came upon him in the same room in 
 which less than three months gone I had found 
 Governor Quarry and his counsellors. He was 
 alone with his clerk and they were so deep in 
 the examination of some papers that they did 
 not hear me enter. I noticed that Moreton 
 looked pale and haggard, that his beard was 
 longer, and that he was much thinner than 
 when I had last seen him. 
 
 I stopped at his side and placed my hand on 
 his shoulder. He turned his head as though 
 expecting to see some trusted friend. When his 
 gaze rested on me his face went deathly white, 
 the smile froze on his lips and turned to a 
 ghastly grin, his eyes became glazed and 
 staring as the dead. 
 
 " Governor Moreton," I cried, strengthen 
 ing my grasp on his shoulder. " I beg that you 
 control yourself. You are a strong man and a 
 brave gentleman." 
 
 " Yea," he answered through ashen lips. " I 
 was, Captain Middleton, I was. But now 
 
 37
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 since my trouble and we thought you dead. 
 You are not dead man? " 
 
 " No," I answered, holding his eyes with 
 mine. " I am alive, and you are awake and in 
 your right mind. You see that I am no dead 
 man. I bring you tidings. Do you hear ? Can 
 you understand? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered. " I understand. And 
 your tidings ? " 
 
 " My tidings are good, only good. Your 
 wife is alive." 
 
 " Alive," he repeated. 
 
 " Alive and well. Canst hear what I say, 
 man?" I cried. "As well as when she was 
 taken from you. Dost hear? " 
 
 He removed his hand from his head and 
 gazed into my eyes to judge of the truth of 
 that which I told him. 
 
 " She is well," I repeated. " And here in 
 this house." 
 
 "Here!" he cried, the color coming back 
 into his face and the lustre into his eyes. 
 " You said that she was well and in this 
 house? " 
 
 " Yes," I told him, loosening my hold on his 
 shoulders. " She is well and is coming to you." 
 
 I gave the signal agreed upon and Marcie led 
 her in. Then we turned and going out closed 
 the door behind us leaving them together. 
 
 308
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 I followed the black woman into the room 
 where sat Mistress Antoinette Huguenin, leav 
 ing the clerk in the hall within reach of the 
 Governor s voice. I went over to her whom I 
 loved above all the world and taking her hand 
 as it rested upon the arm of her chair, pressed 
 the slender fingers to my lips. 
 
 " My father, Jack! What of my father?" 
 she asked, turning upon me eyes in which only 
 the deepest dread was written. 
 
 I told her of all that had passed between me 
 and the Governor, and tried to console her by 
 reasoning away her fears as founded only on 
 her fancies. 
 
 " I have not a man s power to reason," she 
 said, " but I have a boding heart, and since I 
 know thee safe, Jack, it must be my father. I 
 have none else, Jack, thee and my father." 
 
 I took her hands and kissed them, and bowed 
 my head upon them. " I love thee," I told her, 
 " and would shield thee even from unhappy 
 thoughts." 
 
 " I know that thou dost love me," she an 
 swered. " I learned it in Augustine, on board 
 the pirate, in the buccaneer city, and the knowl 
 edge made the part I played less galling to my 
 womanhood." I felt her frame tremble and 
 her voice was almost a sob. " But I am also 
 beloved by my father, thou knowest how dearly, 
 
 39
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Jack. I am ajl that he has and he is no longer 
 young. I must not fail him." 
 
 Then I heard the clerk s voice summoning 
 us to the Governor, and kissing her hands 
 again, I led her into the great room, where sat 
 the Governor and his lady. 
 
 " I owe you a heavy debt, Mademoiselle," he 
 said bending his knee as he kissed her hand, 
 and I saw that tears stood in both his own and 
 his wife s eyes, " more than I can ever hope 
 to pay." 
 
 She received his thanks graciously, answered 
 all his questions and smiled at his praise of her 
 wit and courage, though I saw there was but 
 one thought in her mind, but one question 
 trembling on her lips, and for fear of the reply 
 she \vould receive I dreaded to have her speak. 
 
 " You come at a fortunate time, lady," he 
 said at length. " For there is one in Charles 
 ton to whom your safety will mean more than 
 to others, even your best friends. The Due de 
 Richelieu arrived in this city three days gone 
 and bears a message to you from the King of 
 France." 
 
 " King Louis has ever proved my kind 
 master, but I like not his messenger, Governor 
 Moreton," she told him, and I saw the same ex 
 pression creep into her eyes as had shone there 
 when, as a haughty, dare-devil court gallant 
 
 310
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 she had defied the pirate on board the captured 
 galleon. Then the haughtiness faded, and she 
 asked in a voice trembling with emotion, " I 
 crave news of my father. Is he safe and well, 
 sir?" 
 
 The Governor s eyes shifted and he looked at 
 his wife as one seeking an ally. " He is not 
 here, lady," he answered. " But I have every 
 reason to believe that he is safe and well." 
 
 " Not here! " she cried. 
 
 " No," he said. " After his return, a few 
 days before we had news of your falling into 
 the hands of the pirates, a warrant came from 
 the proprietors, signed by King James himself, 
 ordering me to furnish the Spaniards at Augus 
 tine a guide into the Choctaw country and to 
 their great village 
 
 " You did it? " I cried, and reading the an 
 swer in his face, exclaimed, " Great God ! " 
 
 " And to deliver your father to the Governor 
 of Augustine to answer for the killing of the 
 elder D Alva," he continued. 
 
 "And you let them take him?" she ques 
 tioned. 
 
 " I was forced to it by my Governor s oath." 
 
 " Yet I served not your wife so," she cried, 
 and there was the ring of passionate indigna 
 tion in her voice. " I left her not in the hands 
 of her enemies." 
 
 3 11
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 The Governor s eyes dropped before her gaze 
 and a purple red, the shadow of deepest shame, 
 crept up to cheeks and brow. He moistened his 
 dry lips as though about to speak, when she in 
 terrupted him. 
 
 " I beg you forgive me, Governor Moreton," 
 she said, her voice expressing the deepest con 
 trition. " It was but my hasty tongue, speak 
 ing that which my heart does not second. 
 There are some wounds whose sting goes deep, 
 and I love my father dearly. For the sake of 
 that love I pray you forgive my woman s 
 tongue. I know it was but the sternest duty 
 that made you deliver my father into the hands 
 of his enemies, as it was as plainly my own to 
 lead your wife out." 
 
 Then she turned to me, extending a hand 
 that did not shake, and her voice had lost the 
 unevenness of emotion. " Captain Middleton," 
 she said, " the promise you gave me aboard 
 King James packet ! I claim its fulfillment." 
 
 312
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 OVERNOR MORETON tells me 
 that your Grace comes a messen 
 ger from King Louis to both my 
 father and myself." 
 
 She stood before a window in the great coun 
 cil room of the Governor s house, and the rays 
 of the early morning sun that penetrated the 
 vine-covered trellis outside fell in bright 
 splashes on the flowing draperies of her white 
 muslin gown. Her cheeks were colorless and 
 the heavy dark circles under her eyes made 
 them appear even larger and brighter than was 
 their wont. The Governor and his lady sat 
 together at one side of the council table; I 
 leaned against the mantel; the secretary stood 
 near me; while his Grace the Due de Richelieu 
 was facing her, but across the table. 
 
 " An it please your Grace I would hear the 
 king s message," she said. 
 
 " His Majesty did but grant my earnest 
 prayer, Mademoiselle," his Grace answered, 
 and bowing low he approached her with the 
 
 3*3
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 mincing gait peculiar to King Louis and his 
 courtiers. He extended a packet, tied \vith silk 
 and bearing the royal seal of France. " He 
 graciously writ yourself and your father ex 
 pressing approbation of my suit." 
 
 She curtesied low, and receiving the packet 
 from his hand, broke the seal, opened it and 
 read. The color crept up into her face, dyeing 
 her cheeks and brow blood-red. The curve of 
 her lips straightened, and when she raised her 
 eyes from the written sheet they were very 
 bright. 
 
 " Your Grace made the king believe that I 
 loved you ? " 
 
 There was naught of maiden shamefacedness 
 in her expression or manner. The very fact 
 she could so publicly discuss her love proved 
 that such a passion did not exist, and even a 
 blind man would have read it from the tone of 
 her voice. The Duke of Richelieu s face went 
 crimson and then paled. 
 
 " Mademoiselle ! " he cried, and his voice was 
 sharp with pain as that of a man brought to a 
 sudden halt by some great shock, " twas my 
 self I cheated as well as the king, if you love me 
 not. For on my honor I swear, in my heart, I 
 did believe that you were not indifferent to me. 
 You were the one woman in the whole world 
 that I rated above coquetry." 
 
 3H
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 His voice and manner lacked not dignity and 
 his earnestness made him forget the manner 
 isms common in his class. He appeared every 
 inch a man and a nobleman. In my heart I 
 pitied him, for I saw that his was no idle fancy 
 but the passion of a sincere man. He had 
 pinned his faith to a woman s constancy and 
 with what results his words declared. Though 
 she whom he reproached was the woman I loved 
 above all the world, there arose in my breast a 
 mighty bitterness against her, that she should 
 have so deceived any man as to make him 
 follow her around the world to find out that she 
 had but used him to while away an idle hour or 
 to gratify her childish vanity. A doubt even 
 of the sincerity of the love she had acknowl 
 edged for me arose in my mind, mocking, and 
 jeering at me. I turned my eyes from his face 
 to hers and found it as pale as when she had 
 first entered the room. Her eyes met mine and 
 I think she read in them my distrust. 
 
 " I am no coquette," she answered him hotly. 
 " Nor have I ever done aught that could Avar- 
 rant any one, man or woman, accuse me as 
 such. On what did your Grace found the as 
 sumption that I loved you? I never told you 
 so." 
 
 " No," he replied. " You never told me so, 
 but there are other signs more potent than 
 
 3*5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 words, Mademoiselle, by which men are wont 
 to judge of a woman s feelings and which it 
 now appears held as little meaning to you as to 
 the most experienced coquette of King Louis 
 court. You were but a child when I first saw 
 and loved you, and you fluttered away from 
 my approaches as some timid bird from a snare. 
 I saw the beautiful girl blossom into exquisite 
 womanhood, and was jealous because I knew 
 that there were others who watched ; other 
 hands stretching out to pluck the flower I 
 longed to claim as my own. I wooed you as 
 ardently as I dared ; for I saw what others did 
 not, that the impassioned words and expres 
 sions that won the meaner beauties at court re 
 pulsed your innocence. That I grew to think 
 you loved me was no foolish fancy of a lovesick 
 brain, for others saw and envied me what they, 
 I with them, named my luck. When, sure of 
 your interest I would have spoken to your 
 grandaunt, but I was called to the country by 
 the illness of my father, as you know, Mademoi 
 selle, and returned to find you come to America. 
 I thought you but did it to try the quality 
 of my love, and followed you in the next ship 
 leaving France. If in truth you love me not, 
 Mademoiselle, I beg that you doubt not the 
 honor of the love that I gave you. You granted 
 me more favors than other men at court, and 
 
 316
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 believing you sincere I assured King Louis that 
 you loved me." 
 
 " You say that I granted your Grace more 
 favors than other men at court," she cried, her 
 face flushing crimson though there was no 
 shame in her eyes. " I deny it not, for I thought 
 you loved me and I rated you a gentleman and 
 true. But when I found that you had made an 
 other to love you a woman as good and pure 
 as myself, my lord of Richelieu I turned from 
 you, thanking God that the love which you had 
 won from me was but the dawn of a great pas 
 sion. I love you not, your Grace, nor ever can. 
 Go you back to France and wed the girl whose 
 heart you won. Though I loved you an hun 
 dred times more than the gentleman to whom I 
 have given my heart, I would not claim you for 
 I could not so dishonor a sister woman." 
 
 " Twas pain that caused me first to turn to 
 her. Twas when I first told you of my love 
 and you laughed me to scorn," he said, ex 
 tending his hands towards her in passionate 
 appeal. For the moment at least I knew he for 
 got that he had other listeners besides the 
 woman whose heart he now realized he had 
 so nearly won. " Then, later, when you began 
 to show me favor, yet still were cold. I thought 
 by jealousy to arouse in you some passion an 
 swering to that which was consuming me." 
 
 3 J 7
 
 WHEN the LAND -was YOUNG 
 
 Your Grace misjudged me," she told him, 
 and I thought the note of self-vindication that 
 had sounded in her voice was turned to scorn. 
 " Twas a man in whose nobleness I had un 
 bounded faith, whom I believed above deceit, 
 that I loved. But when I found that your Grace 
 
 was not such a man " she put out her 
 
 hands as though parting some heavy drapery 
 that had hung about her, and her voice was 
 tremulous with emotion " I was young " 
 and though she turned towards the Governor 
 and his lady, I knew that she was addressing 
 me " with all of a lonely girl s craving for 
 something on which to bestow her love. I do 
 not say the wound was painless, for, beside the 
 shattering of the idol that had existed only in 
 my own girlish fancy, there was somewhat of 
 wounded vanity. 
 
 " But that idol shattered, that wound healed," 
 she continued, turning back towards the Duke, 
 " there still remains enough of tenderness for 
 that which is past to make me beg that you do 
 not destroy the faith which I still would hold in 
 your honor to women. The girl whom you 
 wooed secretly loves your Grace truly. She 
 is your own kinswoman and in every way 
 worthy of your rank and great name. Make 
 her your wife and give her the love which you 
 have taught her to believe in. Then will I find 
 
 318
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 it in my heart to believe that you purposed 
 neither of us wrong. That twas but your 
 man s vanity that did for the time overshadow 
 the true nobleness of your nature." 
 
 " "Pis no easy task you set me, Mademoi 
 selle," he answered, after a time, his face work 
 ing with an emotion that he sought in vain to 
 conceal. " Yet mayhap some day I may do as 
 you wish ; for, so great is my love for you. that 
 I would at least prove myself worthy of your 
 good thoughts." 
 
 " Then will your Grace return at once to 
 France," she told him. 
 
 "To France?" he cried. "You are in 
 trouble, Mademoiselle, and I beg that you deny 
 me not the honor of lending you what small 
 aid lies in my power. Your father is in the 
 hands of the Spaniards and though you love 
 me not, lady, I would know you happy." 
 
 " Then indeed your Grace has a noble heart, 
 and I have not words with which to express my 
 gratitude," she answered, her voice a tremble 
 and her lashes heavy with tear drops. " Still it 
 is to France that I would have you go. King 
 James is a sworn friend and ally to the King 
 of Spain, and an enemy to all Protestants. 
 Governor Moreton rests under orders from 
 the proprietors and cannot raise hand or 
 foot in behalf of my father, so there is 
 
 3*9
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 none else to whom I can turn, save King 
 Louis." 
 
 His Grace looked at Moreton. 
 
 " Tis as Mistress Antoinette has said, your 
 Grace," the Governor assured him. " Every 
 man leaving the colony to undertake the rescue 
 of Colonel Huguenin will be guilty of treason 
 against the king and as such it is my duty to 
 arrest and punish him, and, besides, do all that 
 lies in my power to thwart his purpose." 
 
 " Then will you not return with me to 
 France, Mademoiselle?" he asked, turning 
 again towards her. " Your lightest word will 
 have more weight with our Grand Monarque 
 than " 
 
 " That were impossible, your Grace," the 
 Governor interrupted. " The last packet from 
 England brought positive commands to me, as 
 Governor of Carolina, that should Mistress An 
 toinette Huguenin come again into the province 
 she was to be held treated with all honor 
 until King James could be notified and express 
 his pleasure as to her disposal through the pro 
 prietors." 
 
 " Even before your Grace has reached 
 France," Antoinette said turning towards 
 Richelieu, " I, as well as my father, may be 
 in the hands of the Spaniard at Augustine, to 
 answer for the death of D Alva."
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 "No! no! not that, Antoinette!" Mistress 
 Moreton cried. She left her chair at the Gov 
 ernor s side and. crossing over, threw her arms 
 around the girl. " They shall not send thee 
 back to Augustine. Thou wouldst not permit 
 that, Joseph? " and she turned to her husband 
 for reassurance. 
 
 " My love," he answered, moved out of his 
 wonted composure by her distress. " Thou 
 wouldst have me " 
 
 " I would have thee give up thy Governor s 
 warrant, defy the lord proprietors and their 
 wicked king if needs be, but not to stain thy 
 soul with the blood of an innocent girl," she 
 cried. Her blue eyes were bright, crimson spots 
 burned on either cheek and her mild and gentle 
 voice trembled with passion. " An thou couldst 
 be forced to give her into the hands of the 
 Spaniards, knowing the fate they purpose for 
 her, Joseph, and her faithfulness to me, then 
 could I not live another day as thy " 
 
 " Then would I, indeed, be most miserable," 
 Antoinette broke in, interrupting Mistress 
 Moreton. " If thou lovest me and valuest what 
 small service it has been in my power to render 
 thee, I beg that thy effort be combined with 
 mine to make more easy thy husband s task 
 should it become his duty as Governor of Caro 
 lina to do that which I know the dictates of his 
 
 3 2I
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 heart would have him refuse. But before that 
 time comes it is my hope that the influence of 
 my friends in France will have been felt at the 
 English court." 
 
 " If it has not, there remain always your 
 friends in Hispaniola," I told her, passing to 
 her side and taking her hand between both my 
 own. " Your father and mother set us the 
 example, Antoinette." 
 
 She looked in my eyes and reading my mean 
 ing the blood swept a rich crimson to her cheeks 
 and brow. Her lids drooped and her eyes 
 shifted towards the open window near which 
 the Governor still sat. Suddenly she started 
 and her fingers closed convulsively over mine. 
 
 " Twas Cayman ! " she said, in a startled 
 whisper, clinging all the closer to my hand. 
 " He stood against the window looking in." 
 
 " Your eyes deceived you," Mistress More- 
 ton told her, after we had looked from every 
 window and the clerk had returned from his 
 search of the yards, reporting that no one had 
 been seen by the servants. " Your thoughts 
 were on Hispaniola and the Spaniards and you 
 caught a fancied likeness in the face of some 
 man passing on the streets who chanced to 
 look in." 
 
 " He was not in the street, but against the 
 window and for a moment I looked into his 
 
 322
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 eyes," Antoinette insisted. Then her tone 
 changed and she said, " Mayhap I was mis 
 taken. My eyes often play me strange tricks. 
 It must have been as you say, only a fancied 
 resemblance of some one passing in the streets." 
 
 " No, Mademoiselle," his Grace of Richelieu 
 exclaimed. There was a man at the window, 
 that I ll swear, for I saw his face so distinctly 
 that I noted a deep scar over his left brow. 
 Had your Cayman such a scar? " 
 
 My eyes met those of Mistress Moreton. We 
 both knew that scar. Antoinette had turned to 
 the window and to all appearances did not hear 
 Richelieu s question. Again my eyes met those 
 of Mistress Moreton, and reading a startled 
 question in their depths I left the room saying 
 that I would go and question the servants. I 
 went to the strip of sward under the window 
 and found what I expected, the print of a 
 man s great boot on the parched grass. I called 
 to the clerk, and, together, we followed the track 
 to the side of the house wherein were the sleep 
 ing rooms of the family. Then it led into the 
 street, and was lost. 
 
 Returning to the great room I found the 
 ladies gone. Mistress Antoinette had retired 
 to her room with a headache; the Governor 
 was deep in consultation with his wife s father 
 and two of his council who had arrived during 
 
 3 2 3
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 my absence, while his Grace of Richelieu stood 
 at a window looking out toward the sea, his 
 forehead knotted into a heavy frown and God 
 knows with what bitterness in his heart. 
 
 Cautioning the servants to watch against the 
 coming of a strange man, I left the house and 
 went into the city upon other affairs. I rode 
 down the river to my own and Huguenin s 
 estate, then returned to town and to a meeting 
 with friends at the tavern. It was good dusk 
 when, leaving the public house in company with 
 Master John Hughes, on the way to the Gov 
 ernor s house we met two strangers hastening 
 down the street towards the town gate. The 
 great height and powerful build of the one who 
 walked nearest us caused me to turn and look 
 after them when they had passed. It was too 
 dark to distinguish their faces and they had 
 given us no greeting, yet as I watched them 
 their figures seemed strangely familiar. The 
 tall one appeared a very giant in size and 
 though he strode down the street at a gait that 
 soon took him beyond our gaze, the youth who 
 walked with him appeared the leader, so well 
 did he hold hiS^one pace in advance. 
 
 " They hasten to pass the gate before the 
 night guard comes on and it closes for the 
 night," Master Hughes said, as we watched the 
 two men until their figures were swallowed up 
 
 3 2 4
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 by the gloom under the trees. We turned and 
 went on our way. " They were strangers from 
 the Dutch settlement up the river, doubtless," 
 he ventured. 
 
 Then they would have returned by way of 
 the river/ I told him. 
 
 " So they would, so they would," he replied, 
 rubbing the stubble beard on his chin. 
 " Though if they come not from there I would 
 know them, and I tell you, Captain, that there 
 is not a man in the settlements down the river 
 nor inland that could touch the ears of that 
 giant." 
 
 " We are no longer a small settlement, 
 Hughes," I said, " and strangers coming back 
 and forth among us makes it well nigh impossi 
 ble to remember faces." 
 
 We returned to our former conversation, dis 
 cussing the treachery of Master Bernard 
 Schinking who, I had learned, had offered him 
 self as guide for the Spaniards into the country 
 of the Choctaws. 
 
 " Had the Governor ordered his services," 
 Hughes exclaimed, " then could I have excused 
 his lack of faith to the people, savages though 
 they are, who have ever treated him as friend. 
 But when the Governor calling on meaner men 
 finally found one to consent to do the king s 
 bidding, then Schinking stepped forth and of- 
 
 3 2 5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 fered himself, as well acquainted with both the 
 country and the village." 
 
 " His service ended, did he purpose return 
 ing to Carolina ? " I asked. 
 
 " That I cannot tell you," he answered. " But 
 I know that he has always traded between the 
 Indians and the buccaneers as is now well 
 proved, and should he return I question not that 
 twould be to meet a warrant. Moreton is no 
 lover of such unlawful traffic, as is well known, 
 and all that has been made by it since he came 
 into office is not worth a devil s fetching." 
 
 " If Schinking returns," I told him as we 
 separated, " I would see the man, for I have 
 a long standing score to settle; " I remembered 
 that it was to me that he owed the knowledge 
 of which he was now making such base use. 
 
 Mounting the steps to the Governor s house, 
 I pushed open the heavy door and entering the 
 hall came face to face with Mistress Moreton 
 and Marcie. The lady was white and trem 
 bling; the black woman was an ashy grey, with 
 eyes stretched as big as saucers. They stared 
 at me as at a ghost and I at them dumbfounded. 
 
 " Mistress -vMpreton," I exclaimed, at last 
 gaining control of my tongue, " what is it ? 
 What has so startled you ? " 
 
 She pointed up the stairs and whispered 
 hoarsely, " She is not there." 
 
 326
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 "Not there?" I repeated, failing to catch 
 her meaning. "Who is not there?" But as 
 the words passed my lips, rny heart answered. 
 " Antoinette ! " I called, striding towards the 
 steps. 
 
 " She is not there, Mass Jack," Marcie said, 
 laying hold of my sleeve. " I saw her climb 
 from de winder. She wore her men s clothes, 
 and there was a man who received her in de 
 yard." 
 
 "A man ? " I questioned, too dazed to think. 
 Then a thought entered my dulled brain. 
 " Richelieu," I cried. 
 
 She shook her head. " Twas the pirate, de 
 young giant who knew her to be a oman," 
 Marcie replied. 
 
 3 2 7
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 WITHOUT a word I strode out of the 
 house and going to the Governor s 
 stable ordered the negro groom to 
 let me in. There was a sorrel stallion in the 
 last stall. It had been brought over from 
 Flanders the year before when scarce more than 
 a colt, by Moreton, and was known to be the 
 swiftest and best winded beast in the colony. I 
 led him out. The negro threw the saddle on 
 his back, I sprang into it and turned his head 
 towards the town gate. 
 
 I was none too soon for the watch was chang 
 ing. The man who had held guard since noon 
 was in the act of leaving as I galloped up. He 
 who had just come on surlily ordered my halt, 
 until flashing his light into my face he saluted 
 and began to mumble apologies. 
 
 " Tis nigh, time to close, Captain Middle- 
 ton," he exclaimed, as he withdrew the bolts 
 and pushed open the heavy door for my passage. 
 " Blessing would" 
 
 " The two strangers who passed out," I in- 
 
 328
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 terrupted, calling to his fellow Blessing Mitch 
 ell, who had but just turned away, " did they go 
 up or down river, or walk across country? " 
 
 Both men stared at me until I well-nigh lost 
 patience, then they exchanged glances and 
 Blessing cried out : " Cross country, Captain. 
 Straight out over the road to New Jamestown, 
 but they did not walk." 
 
 "Not walk!" I cried, checking my horse, 
 who had begun to move. 
 
 " No, sir, and we were just talking about 
 them when you galloped up. They strode 
 through the gate hardly giving a man time to 
 tell the color of their skins. The little one in 
 the lead and doing the talking. Good evening, 
 friends, he gave us, as they walked up but 
 without once slackening pace we are but just 
 in time to save you the trouble of drawing bolts, 
 and the Governor signing a warrant. Step 
 lively, Goliath. Put springs into thy great feet, 
 else they will shut the gate on thy very nose, 
 and give the town folks the rare sport of seeing 
 thee draw thy great body over the palisades. 
 And they were out and striding across the com 
 mons, mounting their horses before we scarce 
 had time to draw breath." 
 
 "Mounting their horses?" I questioned, 
 amazed, for this was something of which I had 
 not thought. 
 
 3 2 9
 
 WHEN the LAND -was TOUNG 
 
 " Yea, sir," Blessing answered. " When 
 they passed out, as I was telling you, I looked 
 after them and saw two horses led to meet them 
 from the forest to the left, by another man 
 almost as tall as Goliath. The two who had 
 passed through the gate mounted and rode over 
 the old road toward New Jamestown, and the 
 other fellow struck down the path across the 
 meshes. I bethought that they were not " 
 
 I did not wait for further parley but giving 
 rein to the stallion, dug my heels into his flanks, 
 and he sprang snorting through the gate and 
 swept down the shell covered road across the 
 commons. 
 
 The moon had not yet risen, and the thick 
 branches overhead shut out the dim light of 
 the stars as I galloped along the road leading 
 through the forest. The fireflies shone around 
 me as brilliant as stars in the blackness. I 
 heard the call of a whippoorwill, and the half 
 uttered answer of his mate hushed into silence 
 by the sound of my horse s feet. Some wild 
 creature, a fox or, perhaps, a panther, rushed 
 acros>-my path, and halting among the trees 
 glared back with eyes like living coals. I felt the 
 fan of its wings as a great night hawk flew 
 over my head, heard the unearthly call of a 
 hoot owl and the demoniacal laugh with which 
 it was answered by its less distant mate, smelt 
 
 33
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the aroma of wild thyme crushed beneath my 
 horse s feet, and the sickly perfume of a night- 
 blooming jasmine. Patches of light appeared 
 on the white sand of the road, and I knew that 
 the moon had at last climbed above the hori 
 zon. I could distinguish the trees under which 
 I passed, the outlines of my horse s head and 
 his foam-covered shoulders. His eyes rolled 
 white and staring as he strained through the 
 deep powder-like sand. 
 
 All this I noted, but the thoughts that crowded 
 on my brain and wrung my heart were past the 
 telling. The scene in the Governor s council 
 room was still fresh in my memory. The words 
 of the French nobleman that proved at least 
 Antoinette s encouragement of his suit, her 
 reason given for her change of heart, that in 
 other women would have served but to make 
 them more fond. Doubtless she would not lack 
 a reason just as good when it came my time 
 to stand in the place of Richelieu and reproach 
 her for inconstancy. That she had not been 
 forced away from the Governor s house I had 
 the witness of my own eyes to give credence to 
 the words of the men at the gate. Twas her 
 own will and how did I know that it was not 
 of her own planning. Then a shameless hussy 
 of a thought entered my mind, winking and 
 mocking me. Bras de Fer had known her 
 
 33 1
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 woman and she had sailed his mate. I called 
 to mind her unwonted docility at the hocksing 
 and his too evident emotion at the feast. Would 
 he have been so moved had she not given him 
 some undoubted sign of her favor? That they 
 had not met publicly the day following the feast 
 and had sailed in different ships, I very well 
 knew, but who was wise enough to say what 
 had passed unknown to others? She was a 
 woman of quick wit and knew not the feeling 
 of fear. She had come of a long line of valiant 
 men and virtuous women but she had been 
 reared in King Louis court. 
 
 Going in great bounds like a rabbit my horse 
 dashed out of the gloom of the forest, into the 
 calm brilliancy of a full moon. Clear against 
 the sky and on the top of a little hillock near 
 a quarter of a mile ahead, rode the two I fol 
 lowed the smaller full two lengths in the lead. 
 I dug my unspurred heels into the stallion s 
 flanks and leaned far over his shoulders, but 
 took not my gaze for one instant from the 
 slender figure riding so gallantly. She turned 
 in her saddle and the moonlight fell on her face 
 as she looked back. I held my breath hard, 
 but it made no change in her riding and I 
 remembered with a gasp of relief that I rode 
 in the bottoms and below the natural range of 
 her gaze. Her horse was doing its best and 
 
 33 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 once I caught the sound of her voice whether 
 in encouragement or taunts I could not dis 
 tinguish urging on the great creatures, man 
 and beast, that followed her. 
 
 They topped the hill and were hidden from 
 view. Again I dug my heels into my beast 
 and urged him on. The smell and breath of 
 the sea struck my face as we toiled to the top 
 of the hill. I rose in my stirrups in my efforts 
 to see ahead. I reached the top and looked 
 down. The growing fields of Master Schink- 
 ing lay before me. His house in its palisades 
 to the left, his tobacco sheds and storehouses 
 on the right and nearer to where stretched the 
 sea, its water gleaming like molten silver in the 
 moonlight. Through the tobacco fields, half 
 hidden by the growing plants, moved the two 
 I sought. 
 
 They reached the shed and disappeared from 
 view. I pushed on urging my panting beast 
 to do his utmost. Once in the field I drew rein, 
 proceeding more cautiously towards I knew not 
 what. Turning the corner of the shed the beach 
 stretched before me, and laying high up above 
 the wash of the waves was a long boat, and, a 
 few paces off, another. The realization that there 
 were two ships came to me suddenly and caused 
 me to glance out towards the deep bay which 
 I knew to be hidden behind the narrow neck 
 
 333
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 of land, half expecting to see their masts rising 
 above the dark forest. Though I did not find 
 them I was none the less certain that they were 
 there. The two horses stood fastened within 
 the shed and I tied my own near them. There 
 was no human being in sight, but the red gleam 
 of torchlight from the crack in the storehouse 
 made me know where to look. 
 
 The house was of rough palmetto logs 
 chinked with clay which, owing to the heat of 
 the summer, had fallen out in many places 
 leaving holes through which a man might have 
 thrust his arm to the shoulder. It was through 
 one of these openings that I peered, and came 
 near crying aloud from that which met my 
 gaze. 
 
 Master Bernard Schinking sat on an up 
 turned box drawn toward the middle of the 
 room. At his elbow, standing one foot upon 
 the same box, was Sir Henry Morgan. 
 
 Bras de Fer and others of the pirates stood 
 against the wall or sat on boxes and barrels, 
 while the one who had sailed amongst them 
 as Count Uldric Huguenin stood facing the 
 two in the middle of the room. She leaned 
 against a tobacco hogshead, her arms crossed 
 on its top, her figure more than half concealed 
 by it. 
 
 334
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " They did not torture him in Augustine? " 
 was the first words that struck my ears. 
 
 " No, Mademoiselle," Bernard Schinking 
 answered. " That will come at Chagres, for 
 I am told that there they are as well supplied 
 with all instruments of torture as hell itself 
 or the Inquisition in Spain." 
 
 " And the great war-chief of the Choctaws, 
 was he also spared torture?" Antoinette ques 
 tioned, and her voice showed as great concern 
 as when she asked about her father. 
 
 " Nay, they tended him as their own 
 brother," he replied with a chuckling laugh of 
 bitter derision. "Such is their Spanish hu 
 manity. Lumulgee was wounded unto death, 
 but if he lives not through the voyage to 
 Chagres twill not be for lack of tender care. 
 He will have naught but gentle treatment 
 against the time when his wounds heal and he 
 can serve as sport for them in their torture 
 chamber." 
 
 " You saw him in Augustine? " 
 
 " Yes, Mademoiselle, but only when he was 
 put aboard the ship with your father. Had I 
 made request to see him my life had been in 
 jeopardy, for then might they have suspected 
 the sincerity of my hate for all Indians, and 
 the mystery of the Choctaws being warned, 
 
 335
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 and their own troops led into ambush been more 
 easily unraveled. I was but one of the crowd 
 that went to gaze upon him as they bore him 
 from his dungeon to the ship that was to carry 
 him to their more southern stronghold. He 
 was conscious and saw me. Two days later I 
 took passage in a merchantman touching at 
 Jamaica, from which port I was brought here 
 by the captain of the Phcenix, with whom I 
 had had some small acquaintance. If the Ad 
 miral purposes to go against Chagres, to the 
 rescue of your father and the war-chief, I go 
 with him." 
 
 There was a moment s silence, then Morgan 
 lifted his head. 
 
 " Such is my determination and I would sail 
 within the hour," he said. " The Spaniard at 
 Augustine has drawn heavily on both the gar 
 risons of Chagres and Panama, and I would 
 strike before they have time to reinforce," 
 
 " For what purpose did he draw off the gar 
 risons of Chagres and Panama, Sir Henry?" 
 Antoinette asked, and I strained my ears for 
 his answer. 
 
 " To sack the temple, Mademoiselle," Schink- 
 ing answered, when Morgan had looked at him 
 to reply. " The galleon in which your father 
 was taken to Chagres brought troops from 
 
 33 6
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 Havana, and others were hourly expected from 
 the two southern fortresses. D Alva leads a 
 great army into the Choctaw country, and as 
 he holds their war-chief and knows that many 
 of his braves are killed, he has high hopes of 
 success. He will need no guide this time save 
 only the bleaching bones of those who followed 
 him in his first attempt at robbery." 
 
 "Is there no one to warn the Choctaws?" 
 Antoinette asked, her voice trembling with in 
 dignant emotion. " They are friendly to the 
 English and it was for them that they went 
 against Augustine." 
 
 " They have been warned, Mistress Antoi 
 nette," Morgan answered her. " You may trust 
 Master Schinking for so much wit. But as I 
 know the policy of the proprietors of Carolina 
 and your Governor, they will be left to defend 
 their own treasures as best they can against the 
 Spaniards. King James is too anxious to 
 pleasure the court of Spain to lift his hand in 
 defence of his Indian allies. Tis for your 
 father and Lumulgee that we go against the 
 Spanish stronghold on the southern continent, 
 and mayhap we will give them revenge for that 
 which they plan against the Choctaws in some 
 small measure." 
 
 " Aye, aye," was the muttered response of the 
 
 337
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 pirates that traveled around the room. " They 
 will have no quarter, save only those who can 
 give good ransom." 
 
 " There is one man in Charleston whom I 
 would have sail with us, Bras de Fer," Schink- 
 ing said, speaking directly to the giant. " And 
 I doubt not he would be blithe to go to the 
 rescue of his old friend. I would that Captain 
 Middleton sailed with us. Twas with him that 
 I went against Augustine and I know the qual 
 ity of his metal. He loves your father, lady, 
 and there is none in Charleston who would do 
 more to serve him. I wish that you could have 
 brought him here with you, Master Captain." 
 
 " Captain Middleton is here." It was An 
 toinette s voice and her eyes turned to the side 
 of the house from which I spied. " He is with 
 out, Sir Henry. If you will order the door 
 opened he can speak for himself." 
 
 Thus finding myself detected I passed around 
 the corner of the house, to stand face to face 
 with the pirate of the pezos earbobs. He 
 grinned at my surprise and said as he stepped 
 aside : 
 
 " I stood on guard, Captain, for the young 
 court gallant told me that I was not to show 
 myself to you but let you follow your humor. 
 They have unbarred the door, sir; would you 
 pass within? " 
 
 338
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 I felt the blood burn red in my face when I 
 stepped within the door and met the questioning 
 in more than one pair of eyes. Morgan s face 
 was sterner than was his wont when he gazed 
 on a friend. 
 
 " You are welcome in our council, Captain 
 Middleton," he cried, though he made no move 
 for further greeting. " I lead my buccaneers 
 against Chagres for the rescue of Colonel 
 Huguenin and Lumulgee, and would be loath 
 to leave behind so good a soldier as yourself, 
 if you would go with us." 
 
 " I should be loath to stay behind, Sir 
 Henry," I answered him none too courteously, 
 " though tis but chance that has led me to 
 learn of it." 
 
 " Nay, sir," he answered, " Cayman could 
 not gain speech with you this morning in your 
 city, and I missed you later on your estates. 
 Captain Bras cle Fer and the surgeon had much 
 ado to fetch young mistress undetected, for 
 your Governor has given warning to all free 
 booters ; and buccaneers no longer pass as hon 
 est men and brave Englishmen in your province. 
 If you join with us in this expedition, though 
 it be for the rescue of friends, tis at your own 
 peril. You know the Governor s law? " 
 
 " Yea," I answered. " I know his law, but I 
 also know my own mind. I will go with you." 
 
 339
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 " Then twere well we went," Bras de Fer 
 exclaimed moving towards the door, "if we 
 would catch the tide of \vhich, unless my cal 
 culations fail, there remains less than a quarter 
 of an hour." 
 
 " Mistress Huguenin? " I questioned, turn 
 ing to Morgan, as the other pirates strode with 
 Bras de Fer toward the beach, " she cannot 
 return alone to Charleston." 
 
 " I am with my father s trusty slave, who 
 has ever proved my friend and protector, Cap 
 tain Middleton," she answered coldly, motion 
 ing towards the shed, and from the shadow of 
 which stepped out Marcie s husband, the patri 
 arch of her father s plantation. " We will pass 
 the night in the house and behind the palisades 
 of Master Schinking." 
 
 " Have you naught to say to me, Antoi 
 nette? " I asked, after we had stood a moment in 
 silence and I saw that the men made ready to 
 push off the boats. " You saw that I followed 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes," she answered, and her voice had the 
 quality of fine steel, " and know your suspicions 
 against me." 
 
 "My suspicions!" I exclaimed, feeling the 
 hot blood surge into my brain and a pain as 
 though a rough hand griped my heart strings. 
 
 " Yea," she answered, and her voice was 
 
 34
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 heavy with sadness. " Hadst thou trusted me, 
 Jack, then wouldst thou have called out, on 
 seeing us as you left the forest. And once 
 here thou wouldst have come boldly to the door 
 claiming admittance and not played the eaves 
 dropper. Didst thou love me, Jack, thou 
 wouldst not distrust me." 
 
 " I do love thee, Antoinette," I cried, drop 
 ping on my knees and pressing her hand against 
 my brow, my cheeks and my lips. " I swear 
 that I love thee more than woman was ever 
 loved. But I did not understand." 
 
 " No, and because thou didst not understand 
 thou couldst not believe. But for the sake of 
 our life s happiness, if God see fit to so bless 
 us, I beg thee to trust me." Never sounded 
 sweeter music in my ears than the note of for 
 giveness in her voice. " Thou goest to rescue 
 my father, and I cannot tell thee how much of 
 love and gratitude is within my heart. Tis 
 on my lips, not on my hand that I would have 
 thee press thy kisses. They may be the last 
 thou may st ever give me, Jack, and I would 
 carry them to my grave." 
 
 341
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 THE next day dawned and I looked out 
 upon a laughing sea with eyes that 
 saw its beauty but dully. I did not 
 care for the sunrise except that it brought an 
 other day to her whom I had left standing in 
 the moonlight on the edge of the tobacco field 
 above the beach. I thought of her as riding 
 back to Charleston, under the guidance of 
 Marcie s husband, her eyes heavy from much 
 weeping and her thoughts on her father and the 
 lover who had gone to his rescue. Then the 
 vision changed and I saw her ride boldly into 
 the city with a laugh on her lips and tell of 
 my flight to the Governor, declaring my trea 
 sonable object and urging Richelieu s return 
 to France, using all the power of her great 
 beauty and her woman s wit in the same mad 
 cap daring that I had seen aboard the pirate. 
 Such, I knew, was her metal, though the night 
 before I had left her in a very passion of despair 
 at our parting. 
 
 34*
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 The time that must elapse before we reached 
 Chagres stretched out before me as tedious a 
 voyage to go through as was Elijah s in his 
 forty days journey to Horeb. Eight days 
 dragged by, then we reached Cape Tiburon, the 
 place chosen for a rendezvous, to lay in stores 
 for the venture. Here our two ships were 
 joined by eight others, large and small, armed 
 with sixteen, fourteen and ten pound guns, and 
 bearing the ransom of a town in wheat and 
 salted meat. Morgan, after personally inspect 
 ing each bark, called a council of war in the 
 state room of his flag ship, appointed peculiar 
 signals for all emergencies and divided the fleet 
 into two squadrons. The Admiral s division 
 carried a red banner with a white cross and at 
 the bowsprit a smaller flag of blue, white and 
 red, while the other squadron, which was under 
 the command of Captain Brantley, bore the 
 royal English and a white flag. 
 
 At the next sunrise we continued our journey 
 and, three days out, chased two caravels from 
 Cuba; but contrary winds arising they escaped 
 by shallow passages between some small islands 
 and Morgan sent up signals forbidding his cap 
 tains to follow. 
 
 " Tis my purpose to reach Chagres as soon 
 as our sails can take us, Captain Middleton," 
 he told me when we had watched the signals 
 
 343
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 pass. " I ll warrant you will not counsel de 
 lay." 
 
 " No, I will not counsel delay," I answered, 
 " nor, I fear me, quarter to those we find." 
 
 " There would be none amongst us to give 
 you obedience if you did," he replied. " To 
 sack Chagres and leave of its grim fortress not 
 one stone upon another has been the desire of 
 buccaneers since first I sailed the high seas. 
 Of the hundreds of our brotherhood who have 
 passed within its walls but one has come out 
 and by an escape that was scarce less than a 
 miracle. Twas from him that I had account 
 of their torture chamber and by it reason the 
 fate intended for the two we seek. An we 
 would not find the great War-Chief with his 
 eyes torn from their sockets, and Huguenin s 
 tongue pulled out by the roots, we must make 
 all speed and tarry not." 
 
 We did not tarry. Though the hours ap 
 peared to creep by at a snail s pace I knew that 
 every heart-beat brought us nearer our destina 
 tion. The men became busier, more alert under 
 the discipline that grew more strict as we neared 
 our journey s end. At last we came in sight 
 of the great mainland which the Spaniards in 
 their greed sought to hold to the exclusion of 
 all the world. I was on deck when the land 
 
 344
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 was cried and the Admiral coming from his 
 work in the state cabin stood at my side. 
 
 " Captain Brantley sacked a town to victual 
 our fleet, Captain Middleton, and now we will 
 storm yonder fort to obtain a guide," he said, 
 pointing to the fort whose guns guarded the 
 entrance of the bay towards which we sailed 
 and behind which stretched a city of no incon 
 siderable size. " I have always found that out 
 laws make the best guides for outlaws, and we 
 will find many such in the prisons of St. Cath 
 erine." 
 
 " Are you in such sore need of guides," I 
 questioned in surprise, for I saw that the stone 
 batteries that faced us, if resolutely manned, 
 would be able to beat off three such wooden 
 fleets as the one he led. 
 
 " Yea," he answered, " we need guides to 
 lead us to Panama and spies to carry the news 
 of our expedition and our object to Chagres. 
 Morgan has again taken to the high seas and 
 comes once more to fill his own coffers, and 
 enrich his pirates from Panama such is the 
 tale I would have go before us into Chagres, 
 else might the wily dons guess the object of 
 our coming. Then would we find the ones we 
 would rescue sojourners no longer in this world. 
 To-night we anchor in the little bay below the 
 
 345
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 port of St. Catherine s and at daybreak land 
 and, marching across that range of wooded 
 mountain, attack the city by nightfall." 
 
 With three old buccaneers who had harried 
 that coast under Mansvelt as our guides we 
 marched over those mountains and through the 
 dense tangle of tropical forest. There were two 
 hundred picked men and we took no provisions 
 for the march, neither food nor drink nothing 
 save our arms and ammunition though it was 
 plain to every one that there would be leagues 
 of rough travel. 
 
 " Tis our buccaneer custom to fast before 
 we feast, Captain Middleton," Brantley told me 
 as we fought our way through the dense woods, 
 close on the heels of Morgan. You may trust 
 our Admiral to lead us to the feast. He has 
 a keen scent for rich foods, and knows well 
 how to satisfy the cravings of his men s stom 
 achs." 
 
 The men about us laughed at his jest and one 
 began to sing an English ballad. Twas the 
 song that Antoinette had sung, swinging in 
 the rigging of the pirate ship. I turned and 
 looked at the man keenly. He was a young 
 Irishman, the man who had volunteered to go 
 as spy to Chagres, but I could not recall him as 
 one who had sailed aboard either the York or 
 the captured galleon. 
 
 346
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 " Tis become our war-song, Captain Middle- 
 ton," he said, the blood dyeing his face as he 
 caught my eyes fixed upon him. The war- 
 song of the prisoners whom the young court 
 beauty saved from the sea through her skill at 
 swords." 
 
 " Twere as well that ye sang her psalm, 
 young Paddy," an old buccaneer called. 
 " Sblood! twill take both His rod and His 
 staff to bring ye safely to Chagres and through 
 the errand ye were so blithe to undertake. By 
 r larkin! tis fools rush on when brave men 
 draw back." 
 
 " Pish ! brother," another cried, " let the lad 
 have his length of rope. Tis given us all in 
 our puppy clays, else would we old dogs lack 
 the experience that we call bravery." 
 
 " Ay ! " cried a third, " let the lad be. A 
 merry song puts springs into the heels and cour 
 age into the heart. Twas care that killed the 
 cat and fretting thins the blood and is damned 
 bad for the health. Let him sing our gallant s 
 ballad, twill make us march all the quicker." 
 
 So they chaffed each other, sometimes in 
 good part but oftener stopping in a brawl that 
 would have become a fight had not some com 
 rade more good-natured interfered, until we 
 came within half a league of the city. Then 
 Morgan turned about twas the first time that 
 
 347
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 he had more than glanced behind since the be 
 ginning of the march and ordered silence. 
 The men who swarmed up the hill and around 
 him ceased their clamor as though an angel 
 had spoken. He ordered a halt until nightfall. 
 Then would they surprise and take the city had 
 they any hope of supper. 
 
 Twas good dusk when we left the forest, 
 and as silent as the night creatures who flitted 
 around us we swept into the city whose only 
 noise was our footfalls in the empty streets. A 
 city of vacant houses so we found it. The 
 people all fled. For once, the buccaneer chief 
 was at his wits end. Had they gone to the 
 monasteries and convents on the mountains, to 
 the castle fort, or had they taken refuge in 
 the shipping which that morning lay in the 
 harbor, but now had sailed away? Just as the 
 signal was given for a council a great uproar 
 arose among the pirates who in rushing hither 
 and thither had come to the water front and 
 discovered the hiding place of the fugitives. 
 A little island lay in the harbor, and to it had 
 fled the entire population by means of a narrow 
 bridge. Like savage dogs who sight their prey 
 after a long hunt, the pirates made a rush for 
 the bridge. There came a blaze of light, a 
 volley of musketry, and the pirates in the lead 
 dropped groaning or silent forever. There was 
 
 348
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 another flash, another volley, the pirates turned 
 and would have fled as madly from the city as 
 they had rushed in had not Morgan and Brant- 
 ley faced them with drawn swords. 
 
 Their Admiral rated them as cowards too 
 contemptible to be named with dogs. He swore 
 at them, flinging at them such a villainous tor 
 rent of abuse as I had never heard fall from the 
 tongue of man. In a very transport of rage 
 he slashed with his sword at those who pressed 
 him, then jerking out a pistol swore to shoot 
 down any man who did not lend a hand in bear 
 ing their dead and wounded from the city. Like 
 whipped hounds they obeyed him and, in the 
 face of the enemy s fire, returned and lifting 
 their fallen brothers, bore them from the city 
 into the forest with the unwavering precision 
 of \vell disciplined troops. 
 
 Once safe in the forest his abuse ceased and 
 he became once more their undaunted com 
 mander. Praising their manner of retreat, he 
 forgot or appeared to forget, their panic and 
 bade them seek what rest they could against 
 the attack on the morrow and quiet the crav 
 ings of their stomachs with thoughts of the 
 feast which most assuredly would be theirs. He 
 busied himself in attentions on the wounded 
 and throughout the night superintended the 
 
 changes of sentinels. 
 
 349
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 Before dawn the camp was aroused by the 
 shrieks and meanings of the winds in the forest. 
 Tree-tops were twisted off, branches fell about 
 us bruising and wounding the half wakened 
 men, while great trees crashing down threat 
 ened them with instant death and forced them 
 to flee into the open country for safety. Cold 
 rain began to fall in torrents, and it seemed 
 as though we who had complained of the tor 
 rid heat of the sun the day before would freeze 
 to death. 
 
 At daybreak the rain ceased. The pirates 
 heard the Spanish drums beating the diane and 
 became as courageous as ever and as impatient 
 to attack. Quantities of wood and brush were 
 collected and fires started with the intention 
 of quickly drying our arms but the rain began 
 again, falling in such blinding sheets that it 
 appeared as though the skies were melting into 
 water. The complaints of the men became 
 loud and bitter and I looked for mutiny, when 
 Morgan, leaving the shanty into which the 
 wounded had been placed walked among us. 
 
 " Captain Brantley," he said, " you Cay 
 man, and you," pointing to the young Irish 
 man, " will skirt around the harbor with 
 all speed possible to the little cove where you 
 will find two canoes tied. Man one, hoist the 
 
 35
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 white flag, go to the island, seek out the Gov 
 ernor and deliver to him the message contained 
 in this paper." He handed Brantley a closely 
 folded paper drawn from the breast of his 
 doublet. "If you are not returned before the 
 noon hour I will attack as is writ." His tone 
 was one of short, sharp command and the men 
 obeyed almost without speaking. 
 
 As Brantley and those appointed to go with 
 him disappeared among the trees of the forest, 
 the pirates about me sprang to their feet and, 
 despite the cold and rain, began busy prepara 
 tions for the attack. Their complaining ceased 
 and there was no more talk of a retreat. 
 
 " They are but children, Captain Middle- 
 ton," Morgan told me as we stood together 
 watching the bands of eager foragers in their 
 search for fuel and anything eatable with which 
 to satisfy the cravings of their stomachs. " You 
 must keep them busy if you would have them 
 content. There are scarce a dozen amongst 
 them who would not rush pell mell into the 
 city in search of food of which they would 
 find none, for the Spaniards have left their 
 town as though swept with a broom so far as 
 things eatable are concerned were it not for 
 the cordon of sentries and the order to shoot 
 down all who attempt to go beyond the lines 
 
 35 1
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 of the camp. Twas the only way left me to 
 conceal our weakness and make the Spaniards 
 believe us the multitude from which they fled." 
 
 " You think they fancy us a multitude? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " Yea," he answered, " there stands their 
 city deserted and their island barricaded against 
 ten thousand. Every ship in the harbor has 
 put out to sea and the fortress fairly bristles 
 with soldiers. Twas on this evidence that I 
 demanded their surrender." 
 
 "Then you did demand their surrender?" 
 I questioned, amazed at his bold audacity. 
 
 " I threatened to put them to the sword if 
 they did not yield," he declared laughing at 
 the amazement which I knew was written on 
 my face. " I am no shrinking woman, Captain 
 Middleton, and know right well the metal of 
 the Spaniards. If I mistake not the man who 
 governs St. Catherine my terms will be ac 
 cepted." 
 
 That he rated the man justly was proved 
 on the arrival of Brantley charged with the 
 Governor s answer. This answer declared that 
 the Governor of St. Catherine had decided in 
 full conference with his councillors that it was 
 impossible for them to defend the city against 
 such an armada, and humbly begged the buc 
 caneer admiral to accept a certain blood- 
 
 35 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 less stratagem which would not only save his 
 own head but preserve the reputation of his 
 officers at home and abroad. Morgan was to 
 come at night and assault the fort of St. 
 Jerome, which stood near the bridge that joined 
 the island with the city. At the same time 
 troops were to land near the battery of St. Mat 
 thew on the island and take prisoner the 
 Governor as he fled for safety to St. Jerome. 
 Thus captured and threatened with the loss of 
 his own life and the destruction of his people, 
 he would surrender the city and the two forts. 
 
 Morgan accepted his terms, and that night, 
 after feasting on the provisions sent him by 
 this same brave Spanish official, he led out his 
 buccaneers and went through the mummery as 
 arranged. With much smoke and great con 
 sumption of powder, but no cannon balls, our 
 enemies were driven back, the island was sur 
 rendered and Spanish pride remained unhurt. 
 
 The object of our visit was still to seek. The 
 next morning when Morgan demanded the sur 
 render of the castle and its prisoners, the Gov 
 ernor shook his head. Like Chagres it was a 
 royal prison and under the control of a Gov 
 ernor appointed by His Most Catholic Majesty. 
 Its dungeons were crowded with prisoners both 
 from Old and New Spain people whose liberty 
 threatened the peace of the country and who 
 
 353
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 were sent to rot in its dungeons or endure the 
 pain of a thousand deaths in its torture cham 
 bers. Its Governor had sworn not to surrender 
 and it was the opinion of the valiant ruler, who 
 stood our prisoner, that it could not be taken. 
 
 " It can and shall be," Morgan cried with a 
 torrent of oaths against Spain and her manner 
 of warfare, as he turned and strode from the 
 governor s presence. " Bras de Fer," he thun 
 dered, to the captain of the Phoenix, " pick 
 you ten men and bring out the religious folk 
 from the convent, men and women all. Cap 
 tain Brantley, you with Captain Middleton and 
 the men under you, build ladders to escalade 
 the fort. See to it that they are both broad 
 and strong." 
 
 The tone of his voice left no room for ques 
 tioning, and the men called on sprang to do his 
 bidding, straining both muscles and brain. He 
 took as his own task the collecting and dis 
 tributing of arms and ammunition. So perfect 
 was his discipline, and so promptly were his 
 orders obeyed, that nightfall found his entire 
 force, save those who were left to guard the 
 city and its imprisoned inhabitants, outside the 
 walls of the castle and the attack begun. 
 
 Twas past midnight when I saw Master Ber 
 nard Schinking rush out the firing lines at the 
 head of a handful of buccaneers; some half 
 
 354
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 dozen priests were with them bearing scaling 
 ladders. 
 
 " To the walls ! brothers," the Dutchman 
 shouted. " To the walls and up the ladders 
 that the good fathers shall plant for us! The 
 Dons have hundreds of gunners to take the 
 place of those we pick off and should their bul 
 lets fail, they have the church plate and hogs 
 heads of other treasure to melt down and 
 mould." 
 
 The pirates answered as one man. With 
 wild yells and hurrahs they followed Schink- 
 ing s lead, swarming under the walls like a 
 pack of hounds springing at the quarry. They 
 threw their grenades, battered against the iron 
 door, unmindful of the flaming, bursting pots 
 and other missiles hurled down upon them, and 
 the comrades who fell groaning at their sides. 
 Schinking had touched the right cord solved 
 the mystery of where the treasures of the city 
 had been hidden. 
 
 " Bring up the sisters, Cayman," he 
 shouted, giving the order which I believe in 
 my heart Morgan himself would not have 
 voiced. " Tis with their weak hands we would 
 plant these ladders. Draw not back, man," he 
 shouted to me. " There are women in that 
 prison, women as young and well born as An 
 toinette, whose limbs and tender bodies know 
 
 355
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the tortures of the rack. On, brothers, on ! " he 
 cried to those who obeying his orders dragged 
 forward the terror stricken servants of the 
 church and with pistols and knives thrust into 
 their faces forced them to plant the ladders. 
 
 A cry of horror and rage burst from those 
 who manned the walls. Missiles ceased to fall 
 and every gun of the battery was silenced. The 
 stratagem had proved successful. The super 
 stitious Spaniards refused to obey their leaders 
 to the destruction of the consecrated servants of 
 God. A very babel arose within the walls. 
 The garrison had turned against their officers 
 and with the death dealing implements intended 
 for the destruction of the attacking party fought 
 among themselves. Scaling the walls unop 
 posed we sprang among them, hurling them 
 from the ramparts, clubbing them with our 
 guns, stabbing them with swords, as unresist 
 ing as frightened sheep. Driven into the court 
 yard of the prison they threw down their arms, 
 and begged for quarter, shouting out their 
 hatred for the Governor and the few officers 
 who in their efforts to save the castle had 
 sought to force them to destroy the nuns and 
 priests. 
 
 " Tis the dungeons as well as the treasure 
 coffers we would empty, Captain Middleton," 
 
 35 6
 
 " Missiles ceased to fall. The. stratagem had proved 
 successful."
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 Morgan cried, after the cannon had been 
 manned and the captured soldiers placed under 
 guard. " I would find my guide to Chagres 
 and give liberty to the miserable creatures we 
 shall rout out from those noisome holes. To 
 the prisoners of Spain the buccaneers are al 
 ways welcome." 
 
 We began our inspection of the cells, walk 
 ing through long damp corridors at the gaoler s 
 heels. Our swords were drawn and our scab 
 bards clanked against the rough stone walls. 
 
 " Not there," Morgan cried, as our guide 
 would have unlocked a door on the first pas 
 sage. " To the black-hole first. We will begin 
 at the bottom and work up." 
 
 " There are but two prisoners in the black- 
 hole," the gaoler growled. " And neither of 
 them is an Englishman." 
 
 " Whatever they be, so they are not Span 
 iards," Bras de Fer cried, " we knock off 
 their chains and give them freedom from the 
 black den in which they rot. Adzooks ! " 
 he exclaimed, as we turned into another passage 
 and found ourselves at the top of a third flight 
 of steps leading downwards; " tis to hell itself 
 he leads us." 
 
 " Tis under the moat," Morgan replied. 
 These royal prisons all have such holes, and, 
 
 357
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 like as not, twill be in just such a one at Cha- 
 gres that we shall find Huguenin and the War- 
 Chief." 
 
 We stopped. Cayman raised the torch 
 above his head that we might the better see 
 about us. It was the end of the passage. The 
 rough walls and floor were slippery with moist 
 ure and slimy creatures, noisome both to sight 
 and touch, crawled over them. The gaoler 
 thrust the great key into the lock, we heard it 
 grate, then he pressed his shoulder against the 
 door and forced it open slowly. 
 
 Twas a low-roofed room, more damp and 
 stifling than the passage leading to it. We 
 glanced around and at first I saw nothing, 
 then as the flickering light of the torch pene 
 trated the dark corners, driving out the mid 
 night blackness, I saw two figures. Human 
 beings they were, men, standing in the corner 
 farthest from the door. The smaller one was 
 somewhat in advance of his fellow prisoner, the 
 taller was like the overdrawn shadow of the 
 first. They faced us, but I could not tell 
 whether they were white, red, or black so dim 
 was the light that fell into their corner. Only 
 the outlines of their figures and their burning 
 eyes could be distinguished. 
 
 There was a deep indrawn breath as the torch 
 
 358
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 light fell upon them, an inarticulate exclama 
 tion, more animal than man. 
 
 " Morgan ! " a hoarse voice called. " Mor- 
 gan!" 
 
 " Great God ! " the Buccaneer chief cried, 
 springing forward. " Great God ! Uldric ! Ul- 
 dric! Lumulgee! Is it you? " 
 
 359
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 CHARLESTON lay stretched before us. 
 The waters of the harbor touched by 
 rays of the setting sun sparkled as 
 though with the light of countless brilliant 
 gems, but the sight brought me no gladness. 
 The dull pain that had pressed like a weight 
 upon me was quickened into life and seemed 
 a living hand griping my heart strings. 
 
 " If she sailed for France the week after you 
 left, Jack, there s been time for several ships 
 bringing tidings of her," Colonel Huguenin 
 said. We stood against the rail looking at 
 all about us as the merchantman sailed into the 
 harbor and those aboard hurried hither and 
 thither, making ready for our landing. 
 
 "Aye," I answered; "there has been time." 
 Twas a long journey and bitter to wed one 
 she does not love, my poor little maid," he said, 
 his voice heavy with emotion. " To look for 
 ward to a loveless marriage is like gazing into 
 the still grey of a snow-laden heaven. All 
 brightness is shut out and we see the days of 
 
 360
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 our life drop by with the cheerless monotony of 
 the fall of those cold, chilling flakes, and know 
 that not until the last day of mortality drops 
 away can we step into the sunlight of eternity." 
 
 " And she loved him not, you say ? " I asked, 
 turning and eyeing him narrowly. The bitter 
 ness in my heart was like gall, yet I knew that 
 one more drop would be added with the knowl 
 edge that she loved another. If forced by cir 
 cumstances too strong for her to battle against 
 she had married him, that I had schooled myself 
 to face with fortitude; but that she loved him 
 God! the pain shot deep, and it was with 
 my own hand that I twisted the skewers. " He 
 is the handsomest man at the French court, 
 Colonel Huguenin, and it is said that all the 
 ladies, even royalty itself, are victims to his 
 wit and beauty." 
 
 "She was not; that I ll swear!" Antoi 
 nette s father cried, and the assurance that rang 
 in his voice made my heart leap with joy. 
 There was a time when I feared for her, 
 knowing the lightness with which the Duke was 
 reputed to hold women, but it passed and I 
 knew that it had been but a girlish fancy. She 
 loved him not when she quitted France. Twas 
 as we learned at Jamaica; she claimed the pro 
 tection of King Louis as the promised wife of 
 his favorite to defend herself against the Eng- 
 
 361
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 lish James order to Moreton to deliver her to 
 the Spaniard. Twas a choice between two evils 
 and she chose the lesser; for a Frenchman, 
 however bad, lacks the ferocious cruelty of a 
 Don." 
 
 " Aye," I answered, and in my heart I 
 grudged that I could not gainsay it. 
 
 Then we left the deck and taking our places 
 in the long boat were rowed to the landing. 
 There were many friendly faces among the 
 crowd who gazed at us from the wharf and 
 when some one who recognized me cried out 
 my name there sounded a murmur of surprise 
 and men who were farther up the street rushed 
 down to the water s edge. Then I bethought 
 me and leaning forward lifted the hat from 
 Huguenin s head that all might see who it was 
 that came with me. A shout arose from the 
 crowd as though from the throat of one man. 
 Eager hands stretched out to receive and hold 
 the boat and cries of welcome and a babel of 
 questions greeted us as we sprang to the wharf. 
 
 "Bernard Schinking? Where is Master 
 Schinking, Colonel Huguenin ? " one man. an 
 old Dutchman, called out. " We know that 
 he brought tidings of you, and then sailed away 
 with Morgan s Buccaneers." 
 
 " And he sailed again with Morgan s Buc 
 caneers once they had freed me from the Span- 
 
 362
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ish dungeon and set us down safe at Jamaica," 
 Huguenin replied. 
 
 " Zounds ! but I would I were with them," 
 a younger man cried. " Tis a noble calling, 
 and I ll warrant Morgan is as gallant a gentle 
 man as ever slit throat or scuttled ship." 
 
 I felt a light touch on my shoulder and a 
 brown hand was stretched out to me, a hand 
 as smooth and firm as moulded in bronze. I 
 started and raised my eyes, and saw standing 
 before me him to whom I knew that hand be 
 longed. 
 
 " Acuera ! " I cried, throwing my free arm 
 across his shoulder. The feeling in my heart 
 was as though I greeted a brother. 
 
 "Captain Middleton," he answered; and, 
 from his eyes, I read that he understood and 
 returned my love. 
 
 " I saw them strike you down as we fought 
 in Augustine, Acuera," I told him, " and I 
 thought not to see you again this side the 
 Happy Hunting Grounds." 
 
 " They gave me many wounds, Captain Mid 
 dleton, and left me for dead; but I crawled to 
 the gate and finding it unguarded, let myself 
 out and into the forest," he answered. " For 
 two moons I hid by day, and at night dragging 
 myself farther away from the city came at last 
 into the camp of a band of Cherokee braves re- 
 
 3 6 3
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 turning to their country to the north of the 
 Choctaw nation from pearl fishing in the great 
 sea. They received the Choctaw brave as a 
 brother, dressing his wounds and bearing him 
 with them on their march into the borders of 
 the hunting grounds of his own people, else 
 Acuera would be with his father, the great war 
 rior of the Coosaws, in the Happy Hunting 
 Grounds of the Indians. The Great War-Chief 
 of the Choctaws ? " he asked, turning to Hu- 
 guenin. " He was sent captive with Colonel 
 Huguenin into the land of the Spaniard; does 
 he return in the same great ship ? " 
 
 For the space of two minutes there was com 
 plete silence, as Acuera gazed into the eyes of 
 the man he questioned. I saw his face become 
 as a still pool and knew that he steeled himself 
 against what he read. Then Huguenin, rais 
 ing his arm, pointed across the sea to the south 
 ward. 
 
 " I left him there, Acuera," he said. " Three 
 days out from the dungeon cells from which our 
 friends took him eaten by gangrene, we buried 
 him in the great sea across which he came as 
 a boy into the land of the Choctaw." 
 
 " Tis well," the young brave answered, 
 without so much as the quiver of a lash, and 
 his voice was as emotionless as his face. " He 
 went to meet in the Happy Hunting Ground 
 
 3 6 4
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 the Emperor of the Choctaws and so many of 
 his warriors that the leaves on the great tree 
 in the forest would scarce number them." 
 
 The temple, Acuera," I cried, " and the 
 great village? " 
 
 They are gone, Captain Middleton," he re 
 plied, a bitter smile twisting his lips and his 
 eyes gleaming like living coals. " Plundered 
 of their treasures by the Spanish dogs, who 
 swept from the earth by fire all that they could 
 not bear away on their horses. The Choctaw 
 braves roam in the Happy Hunting Grounds 
 with their fathers; their women and children 
 are driven into captivity or blown about as 
 dead leaves before a blast of the north wind." 
 
 With curses in my heart and black hatred 
 against the race whose history in the New 
 World was but a succession of such dastardly 
 deeds, I turned and made my way half blindly to 
 the Governor s house, followed by Huguenin 
 and many of those who had greeted us on the 
 wharf. Moreton had been told of our arrival 
 and met us at the door. His face was white 
 and haggard-looking, despite the joy that shone 
 in his eyes, and the hands with which he 
 grasped my shoulders trembled as those of a 
 man with palsy. 
 
 " I thought never to see you again, Captain 
 Middleton," he said, his voice hoarse with emo- 
 
 3 6 5
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 tion. " Mistress Antoinette told me of your 
 leaving and for what, and though each Sab 
 bath the whole colony has prayed for your safe 
 return and for the success of your enterprise, 
 there was not one among us who did not ask 
 with a doubting heart. God has blessed both 
 you and us, Colonel Huguenin." 
 
 " He has ever been my merciful, loving 
 Father, Governor Moreton, and as such I have 
 earnestly tried to worship and obey Him," Hu 
 guenin replied, reverently lifting the hat from 
 his head. 
 
 " He has blessed you with a noble daughter, 
 sir," he cried, and I saw the tears spring into 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Has your Honor no tidings of her? " Hu 
 guenin asked. " In Jamaica we learned of her 
 mission to France and according to that report 
 there has been time for later news of her acts." 
 
 " In every ship sailing since their arrival at 
 King Louis court I have had letters from Mis 
 tress Moreton 
 
 "From Mistress Moreton!" I exclaimed. 
 " Did she go with her ? " 
 
 " Yea," he answered. " She could not let 
 her go alone, unattended by an older woman, 
 on such a mission." 
 
 " True," I cried, and to my own ears my 
 voice was harsh with bitterness. " On such a
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 mission a girl ever needs a woman friend. 
 Court beauties as well as timid country maids 
 must have the counsels and consolation of a 
 married woman at such a time. Modesty is a 
 virtue that is best assumed by maids even 
 though they have it not." 
 
 Timid country maids? Modesty? " More- 
 ton repeated regarding me in puzzled surprise. 
 " I do not understand your meaning, Captain 
 Middleton, but you above all men know under 
 what obligations my wife stands to Mistress 
 Antoinette Huguenin. She could not have al 
 lowed her to go unattended to France even had 
 her mission been one of less grave import. How 
 bravely your daughter played the part thrust 
 on her and from what she rescued my wife as 
 well as herself, Colonel Huguenin, you have 
 doubtless been told, but there are not words 
 enough to express the gratitude in my heart. 
 When King James s ship sailed into our harbor 
 demanding the delivery of Mistress Antoinette, 
 that she might be returned to the governor at 
 Augustine, I made all resistance and delay that 
 was in my power. I sent for my council, and 
 for the burgesses; I writ out the paper resign 
 ing my Governor s warrant, and would have 
 given it them, forcing them to relieve me of 
 my power and throw me into prison as a traitor, 
 had not Richelieu claimed her as a loyal sub- 
 
 3 6 7
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 ject of King Louis and so protected her better 
 than aught that I could ever have done. At 
 best I could have but delayed for a few short 
 weeks obedience to King James s command by 
 refusing to basely give up the girl who had, at 
 the risk of more than life, saved my wife from 
 a fate most horrible. Richelieu took her to 
 France. That she has been kindly received at 
 the French court and has gained King Louis s 
 ear as reported by my wife s letters was proved 
 in a paper brought yesterday by the Mary. It 
 was an order rescinding the warrants for her 
 own and your surrender to the agent of the 
 King of Spain." 
 
 " Ah ! " Huguenin cried, his voice husky and 
 his eyes filling with tears as he grasped the 
 hand that Moreton extended to him. " Twas 
 a great sacrifice, but I knew that she would 
 leave no stone unturned, my faithful little maid. 
 But her marriage, when will that be cele 
 brated?" 
 
 Moreton s eyes widened with surprise, then 
 he turned them on me with something like a 
 smile gleaming in their depths. " That ques 
 tion can best be answered by another man, Col 
 onel Huguenin," he replied. " I had hoped to 
 see it celebrated in Charleston on her return 
 unless Captain Middleton prove so ardent a
 
 WHEN the LAND was TO UNO 
 
 lover that he must needs hasten to France to 
 wed her." 
 
 " But the Due de Richelieu? " I cried. " We 
 were told in Jamaica that she went to France 
 to wed him." 
 
 " Pish ! Captain Middleton," Moreton ex 
 claimed sternly. " Do you know so little the 
 lady whom you would wed that you rate her 
 word so lightly? You saw her here in this 
 room when she received the letter from the 
 King of France; you heard her words to the 
 French duke; and yet you believed an idle 
 rumor, misdoubted her love and her promises 
 to you. Such distrust is beneath you, man, 
 and dishonors the noble lady who has bestowed 
 on you the blessing of her love." 
 
 I dropped my eyes in very shame for I knew 
 that he spoke naught but the truth. Again I 
 had a vision of her as she had last appeared 
 to me and her words rang in my ears bringing 
 tears into my eyes : " An thou lovest me Jack, 
 thou wouldst have trusted me." 
 
 " Thou didst not tell me, Jack," Huguenin 
 cried, griping my hand, " thou didst not tell 
 me that Antoinette loved thee. An thou hadst, 
 boy, thou shouldst not have suffered, as I now 
 know that thou hast; for I would have reas 
 sured thee of the steadfastness of my little 
 
 3 6 9
 
 WHEN the LAND was YOUNG 
 
 maid s heart. I would not have allowed the 
 black demons of jealousy to eat thy heart out. 
 Thou hast earned both her heart and her hand, 
 and since thou hast her heart thou shalt have 
 her hand. Thou shalt go with me to France on 
 the next ship sailing and if it is thy will, lad, 
 we will take her to England and there thou 
 shalt wed her as I did her mother." 
 
 " And cheat your friends in Charleston out 
 of the joys of a great wedding and the sight of 
 a beautiful bride?" Moreton cried, laughing 
 with something like heartiness. " Had I the 
 powers of the king of Spain, Colonel Hugue- 
 nin, I would forbid your leaving the settle 
 ment; but as I am but an humble officer to King 
 James and the servant of the people of Carolina, 
 I must needs tell you that the Richard sails the 
 day after to-morrow, and wish you God 
 speed!" 
 
 37
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 THE great salon of Versailles was ablaze 
 with light and filled by such a throng 
 of gorgeously dressed men and women 
 that, when we entered, I was near rubbing my 
 eyes like a child suddenly awakened. The king 
 of France held his midweek appartement the 
 most brilliant of the three levees held during 
 every seven days and the viscount Uldric Hu- 
 guenin with his friend, Captain Middleton of 
 the province of Carolina, had been bidden. On 
 our arrival, the morning of this same day, we 
 had been received by a messenger from King 
 Louis who acquainted us with the fact that 
 Mademoiselle Huguenin had gone into the 
 country to visit her grandaunt, and when Hu 
 guenin would have followed her he was very 
 courteously informed that it was the King s 
 pleasure that we should attend his midweek 
 levee and remain at Versailles until such time 
 as the king should find it convenient to hear 
 an account of the New World from lips so 
 capable of telling its wonders. Thus con- 
 
 37 1
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 strained we controlled our impatience and with 
 smiling lips followed the young gallant ap 
 pointed to conduct us into the salon of Ver 
 sailles. 
 
 We stopped within the great doors dazzled 
 by a brilliancy unusual to our eyes so long ac 
 customed only to the rays of the sun upon the 
 moss-draped forest and the white-capped sea. 
 While our conductor was conversing with Hu- 
 guenin, pointing out the various notables who 
 had sprung from oblivion or grown old past 
 recognition, since he was last at court, I used 
 my eyes to such good purpose that I became 
 accustomed to the glare and shifting of colors 
 before me. 
 
 Among the laughing, chattering, whispering, 
 gaily dressed crowd who strutted before us 
 with their mincing tip-toe gait there was one 
 figure that caught and held my gaze. He was 
 well nigh the tallest man in the room, well 
 made and with a clear swinging stride despite 
 the high red heels of his square-toed shoes. 
 Though he stood with his side to me his face 
 was so shielded that I could scarce get a glimpse 
 of his features, so busy was he passing his ivory 
 comb through his periwig. I watched him, try 
 ing to reason in my mind who it was he so 
 closely resembled. Then he faced me. Clean 
 shaven, his skin was as brown as the inner bark 
 
 37 2
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 of a cedar; but I knew him not and turned 
 aside to note the people about whom Huguenin 
 talked. 
 
 " Mignard? Is it, indeed, Pierre Mignard? " 
 he was asking, and following the direction of 
 his eyes I saw an old man who leaned heavily 
 upon the arm of a beautiful girl laughing and 
 talking with a group who stood around them. 
 " When last I saw him, it was at the home of 
 Scarron. Poor, witty Scarron ! I can see him 
 now, wheeling himself about among his guests 
 in his cripple s chair, his roguish eyes spark 
 ling; laughing and scattering compliments; all 
 the while scratching himself with his ivory 
 wand. It was before Mignard made himself 
 famous painting with his left hand the face of 
 his own child as saints and angels of Heaven. 
 But Scarron ! We little thought in those days 
 to see the time when his prison-born wife would 
 hold the fortune of France in her dimpled hand. 
 You say that Mademoiselle Mignard is the 
 most beautiful woman in France?" he asked 
 turning to the young gallant. 
 
 " When Mademoiselle Huguenin is not by," 
 he answered with a shrug. " An she should 
 enter the room this minute all eyes would turn 
 her way. Yea, and remain that way even 
 should Louis himself come in." 
 
 " She favors the Due de Richelieu? " I asked 
 
 373
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 him, privately; for, brought face to face with 
 all the light and beauty of the French court in 
 which she had passed so much of her life, my 
 heart misgave me when I thought of the hard 
 ships of the only life that I could offer her. 
 " They will make a handsome couple, if King 
 Louis will but sanction their union." 
 
 " It is not the sanction of the King that is 
 lacking," he answered, glancing at Huguenin 
 whose eyes were still busy with those about 
 him; " for it is well known that Louis \vould 
 consent to almost any match that would hold 
 the beauty at his court though de Maintenon 
 likes her but indifferently well. But Mademoi 
 selle Huguenin turns as deaf an ear to the love 
 sighs of Richelieu as to all others except it be 
 the Due de Vendome." 
 
 "Due de Vendome," I echoed, startled; for 
 I knew his name well as a daring soldier, and 
 also that he was grandson to a king. 
 
 " Yea," he answered. " He is but just re 
 turned from some daring venture, the nature of 
 which tis said few men know, and is alike the 
 idol of the king, the court and the people. He 
 is ever at the side of Mademoiselle Antoinette, 
 and so much is he feared, both -on account of 
 his great strength and daring, and his influence 
 with the king, that all other men durst not so 
 
 374
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 much as cast a love glance in the lady s direc 
 tion. Tis said " 
 
 " Men alone grow old, Jack," Huguenin in 
 terrupted, and I turned unwillingly enough to 
 look in the direction he indicated. " It has 
 been upwards of twenty years since I was last 
 at court; yet, judging by Madame de Sevigne s 
 looks, twas but yesterday. Yonder she is with 
 the golden staff. See how the men listen to her 
 and hold their sides with laughter; and well 
 they may, for there is not such another wit in 
 all France. She once had a keen eye and a per 
 fect memory for faces. I will put them to 
 test," he cried, starting forward to join the 
 group about the famous lady. 
 
 A tall figure stepped in front of him, and 
 stopping extended his hand. It was the man 
 I had noted on first entering the grand salon. 
 Huguenin regarded him puzzled, half offended 
 by his interruption. The stranger s gaze 
 shifted in my direction and our eyes met. 
 
 " Bras de Fer ! " I cried, springing forward. 
 
 He caught my outstretched hands and held 
 them as though in a vice. 
 
 " Who at the court of King Louis is known 
 as Louis-Joseph due de Vendome, Captain Mid- 
 dleton," he exclaimed smiling. Then catching 
 the change that came over my face he ex- 
 
 375
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 claimed, " Pish ! man, let not a change of name 
 alter our friendship. Why should the name of 
 Vendome cause you to loose the grip you gave 
 Bras de Fer? We have stood shoulder to 
 shoulder in many a rough fight in the New 
 \Vorld, why should we fall apart in the court 
 of France ? Colonel Huguenin," he said, turn 
 ing and extending his hand to the man who 
 only a moment before had allowed it to pass 
 unnoticed, but who now grasped it heartily, 
 " it was when I came to court with my father 
 that I first met you. I was a child less than ten 
 years old. You remember my father? " 
 
 " Yes, and yourself," Huguenin replied, 
 " though you were as you say, a small child. I 
 never thought of that little lad as Morgan s 
 vice-admiral, the man to whom I owe more 
 than one heavy debt of gratitude. But I see it 
 all now, your resemblance to your father and 
 to the captain whom I left standing aboard the 
 Phoenix on the high seas." 
 
 " It was my humor," Vendome cried, laugh 
 ing. " I had tired of court life and France and 
 wished to see the world as it appeared to men 
 of less exalted birth. I had met Morgan here 
 when he visited court, when I was scarce more 
 than a child, and hearing many of his wild 
 adventures determined to follow his example 
 and take to the high seas. I sailed for His- 
 
 37 6
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 paniola and from there shipped as mate under 
 Hawkins. It was our third venture that car 
 ried us to Augustine, Captain Middleton." 
 
 " Twas a lucky fortune that led your Grace 
 on that trip," Huguenin exclaimed. 
 
 " Yet I have had my doubts," Vendome re 
 plied, and I saw r the fire in his eyes soften and 
 his lips droop pensively. " I have thought that 
 trip my undoing. But I would not have it left 
 out of my life, even though it has brought me 
 bitter fruits; there were fruits sweet as well as 
 bitter, though only the bitterness is for my 
 tasting." 
 
 " Tis to you I owe my life," I told him. 
 
 He regarded me fixedly for an instant, and 
 though I gazed into his eyes I could read noth 
 ing. 
 
 " No," he said finally answering my remark. 
 " You owe it to Mademoiselle Huguenin. She 
 told Hawkins of your hanging in the iron cage, 
 and would give him no peace until he went to 
 your rescue. Her persistence then should have 
 made us know her woman, for when was a man 
 ever so determined to save human life at the 
 sacrifice of filling his own purse. We were 
 blind fools in the days that followed, Captain 
 Middleton; yet she played her part with won 
 drous skill. Comes she back from the country 
 soon? " he asked of Huguenin and I saw that 
 
 377
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 there was more eagerness in his eyes than he 
 cared to show in his voice and manner. 
 
 Huguenin shook his head. " I do not know," 
 he answered. " When we landed and found 
 her gone, we would have followed after her, 
 but we were forbid to leave until such a time 
 as the king could find leisure to question us con 
 cerning life in the New World." 
 
 " An you would take the counsels of a 
 friend, Colonel Huguenin," Vendome said, and 
 I saw him glance around noting all those about 
 him, " you will not tarry too long in France. 
 England is a safer country for you." 
 
 " England! " I cried; for the demon of jeal 
 ousy in my heart made me doubt the sincerity 
 of his advice. " King James is Catholic and 
 likes no Protestants." 
 
 " Tis William of Orange that you should 
 consider, not James," he answered. " For even 
 now James s crown is toppling from his head. 
 If I mistake not the signs of the time his head 
 will topple from his body an he quits not the 
 English throne." 
 
 " You would " Huguenin began. 
 
 " The King comes ! " was his reply, and, 
 with a mighty jingling of trinkets and rustling 
 of brocades, all in the great room rose to their 
 feet and stood with their faces turned towards 
 the door as it swung open and Louis-le-Grand 
 
 378
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 entered. As by magic the crowd separated, 
 making way. Finding myself in the front I 
 would have stepped back had not Vendome 
 held me in place. 
 
 " You are well placed, Captain Middleton," 
 he whispered. " He hath the eyes of an eagle 
 and naught can escape him. He will see you 
 and it were best that you stand out boldly." 
 
 This man to whom all faces turned, and be 
 fore whom heads and knees alike were bent, 
 was not so tall as many of the women about 
 me and his costume was less gorgeous than 
 that of the majority of the men, and yet, withal, 
 there was so much of dignity in his counte 
 nance and bearing that I would have known 
 him king among ten thousand. His voice had 
 a mellow ring that was most pleasant as he 
 talked to the gentleman upon whose arm he 
 leaned, or threw out a remark or question to 
 those he noted in passing. 
 
 " Tis d Estrees," Vendome whispered; 
 " the wily cardinal. Louis is always bemoan 
 ing his lack of teeth, while d Estrees, hath a 
 mouthful, and is only too glad to show them. 
 What does he answer? " 
 
 " Ah, Sire," the Cardinal s voice came to us 
 distinctly, spoken with a sigh that one hears in 
 the autumn wind. " Who is there now that has 
 any? We all suffer alike with your majesty." 
 
 379
 
 At the end of the salon King Louis turned 
 and came back again. For the second time I 
 felt the calm blue eyes run over me. He halted 
 for an instant. 
 
 :i You buccaneers stand shoulder to shoulder, 
 cousin," he said, speaking to Vendome. 
 
 " It has been so reported by our enemies, 
 sire," Vendome answered. 
 
 They are ever the best judges of our metal, 
 cousin," he answered, with another flash of his 
 eyes over me and an inclination of his head as 
 he passed on. 
 
 As the doors closed behind him the signal 
 was given and dancing began. Vendome left 
 us for an instant then, returning he led the way 
 to a table placed a little to one side. We took 
 our seats and, taking up a pack of cards he be 
 gan to shuffle and deal them with all the ear 
 nestness of a man intent on his game. But I 
 knew his mind was not on the cards, and that 
 he but bided his time until he could be rid of 
 the young gallant who followed us and speak 
 to us privately. 
 
 " It is a stupid game, at best," the young 
 Frenchman exclaimed, throwing down his hand 
 when the game had gone hard against him. 
 " But since you gentlemen must needs play I 
 will find you a partner better suited to your 
 
 380
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 humor." He left his seat and was in the act 
 of turning from us when one who was his 
 double, so much alike were they in appearance, 
 touched him on the arm, whispered in his ear. 
 Then was gone. 
 
 " Twin cousins of de Maintenon, and Louis 
 particular spies," Vendome whispered in ex 
 planation. 
 
 " His Majesty would speak to the Viscount 
 Huguenin and Captain Middleton," the young 
 Frenchman said turning back and bowing to 
 us. " He bids me conduct you to him on the 
 instant." 
 
 With a low bow and without a word or sign 
 Vendome stepped aside and we passed out from 
 the salon, down corridors, all gilding and 
 flashing mirrors and as brilliantly lighted as 
 the great hall we had left. We stopped at 
 length before a guarded door and our guide 
 knocked. The door opened and he motioned 
 us in. 
 
 When the door closed behind us we stood 
 alone with him who had admitted us. 
 
 " De Palignac ! " Huguenin exclaimed, and 
 I saw the color forsake his face. 
 
 " You have a good memory, Viscount. It 
 has been many years since last we met," the 
 man replied. 
 
 381
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 " Many years," Huguenin s voice came like 
 an echo, and though he had grown deadly pale 
 his eyes told me it was not from fear. 
 
 : You stole my sister from my arms," De 
 Palignac said, " but, because of her daughter, I 
 would do you only kindness." Then he added : 
 " The King awaits you. Will you go?" mo 
 tioning towards a door that faced us. Hugue- 
 nin passed in. 
 
 " Captain Middleton," our conductor said, 
 turning toward me as they reached the door, 
 " you will remain here until such a time as his 
 Majesty sends for you. You will not find it 
 tedious waiting," he added, and there was in his 
 eyes a gleam of something that I did not un 
 derstand as he bowed and passed through the 
 door after Huguenin. 
 
 I stood as a man dazed by a heavy blow. I 
 stared first at the closed door through which 
 they had disappeared; then, turning, I strode 
 toward the one by which we had entered. As 
 I put out my hand to try it, I heard a deep 
 sigh and the rustle of silken skirts. With a 
 start I turned back and faced 
 
 In the same white gown, wearing a crimson 
 blossom in her hair she stood before me, just 
 as she had stood in the great room of the gov 
 ernor s house to receive King Louis letter. 
 But there was no sternness in her eyes; naught 
 
 382
 
 WHEN the LAND was TOUNG 
 
 but love was there, and her hands were held 
 out in gladness. 
 
 " Antoinette ! " I cried, and I held her in 
 my arms. 
 
 " There is no measure to my love," I told 
 her after we had grown more calm. 
 
 " No," she answered. " Nor for your faith 
 fulness. Even King Louis grants you have won 
 my love, Jack. And you have it, all that I 
 have to give." 
 
 " He will not oppose our marriage? " I asked. 
 " My heart has been sore with misgivings." 
 
 " It shall be healed with my love," she told 
 me, and her eyes were like the sunbeams that 
 come after an April shower. To-morrow, 
 when we sail away from France " 
 
 " From France? " I cried. 
 
 " Yea, Jack, to-morrow you and my father 
 and I leave France forever. It is for our 
 safety, and all is made ready. Within the week 
 King Louis withdraws his indulgence to Prot 
 estants. The edict given at Nantes will be 
 revoked." 
 
 383
 
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