“Sure by rights she should be gaoler and hold all men’s hearts in ward,” said Paradise, with a low bow to my unfortunate captive.

While he spoke a most remarkable transformation was going on.  The minister’s grave, rugged, and deeply lined face smoothed itself and shed ten years at least; in the eyes that I had seen wet with noble tears a laughing devil now lurked, while his strong mouth became a loose-lipped, devil-may-care one.  His head with its aureole of bushy, grizzled hair set itself jauntily upon one side, and from it and from his face and his whole great frame breathed a wicked jollity quite indescribable.

“Odsbodikins, captain!” he cried.  “Kirby’s luck!—­’twill pass into a saw!  Adzooks! and so you’re captain once more, and I’m mate once more, and we’ve a ship once more, and we’re off once more

    To sail the Spanish Main,
    And give the Spaniard pain,
        Heave ho, bully boy, heave ho!

By ’r lakin!  I’m too dry to sing.  It will take all the wine of Xeres in the next galleon to unparch my tongue!”

NOTES

=the grave=:—­This refers to the latter part of chapter 21 of To Have and to Hold; the hero, Ralph Percy, who has been shipwrecked with his companions, discovers a group of pirates burying their dead captain.

=pezos and pieces of eight=:—­peso is the Spanish word for dollar; pieces of eight are dollars also, each dollar containing eight reals.

=the man in black and silver=:—­Paradise, an Englishman.

=frails=:—­Baskets made of rushes.

=Kirby=:—­A renowned pirate mentioned in chapter 21.

=Maracaibo=:—­The city or the gulf of that name in Venezuela.

=galleasses=:—­Heavy, low-built vessels having sails as well as oars.

=Lucayas=:—­An old name for the Bahama Islands.

=de Leon=:—­Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513; he searched long for a fountain which would restore youth.

=aqua vitae=:—­Latin for water of life.

=Summer Isles=:—­Another name for the Bermuda Islands.

=Cartagena=:—­A city in Spain.

=Lima=:—­A city in Peru.

=Toledo=:—­A “Toledo blade”—­a sword of the very finest temper, made in Toledo, Spain.

=the Low Countries=:—­Holland and Belgium.

=senor=:—­The Spanish word for sir.

=Weyanoke=:—­The home of the hero, near Jamestown, Virginia.

=Sparrow=:—­A minister, one of the hero’s companions; see chapter 3 of To Have and to Hold.

=guarda costa=:—­Coast guard.

=Diccon=:—­Ralph Percy’s servant.

=the gentleman without a sword=:—­Lord Carnal, an enemy of Percy.

=the lady=:—­She is really Percy’s wife.

=Odsbodikins=; =Adzooks=:—­Oaths much used two centuries ago.

=By ’r lakin=:—­By our ladykin (little lady); an oath by the Virgin Mary.