The Pirate's Gold by Gordon Stables

"In the dead vast and middle of the night. " -- SHAKESPEARE.

"A sail! a sail! a promised prize to Hope. / Blow fair, thou breeze! she anchors ere the dark; / How gloriously her gallant course she goes, / Her white wings flying. / She walks the waters like a thing of life. " -- BYRON.

"‘After all my adventures and the hard work and fatigue I had undergone in burying the gold, I slept soundly that night. I must have gone off almost immediately after I turned in. At all events, I heard nothing until the little nigger, Joe, came to tell me that "Pletty soon, sah, de flies gobble up all de bleakfast suppose you no come."

"‘I was a little surprised that I saw no breakfast taken to the prisoners, and still more so when I went towards the door of their prison and found it ajar.

"‘I at once asked Morgan about the men. He smiled grimly.

"‘"Dead men tell no tales," he said.

"‘Then he resumed his walk up and down the deck.

"‘I was horrified. Curses rose to my lips, but I did not utter them. I believe my hand felt its way to my pistol-belt, and I rushed down below for fear of doing something desperate.

"‘Morgan had murdered his prisoners, poisoned them and thrown them into the sea through the port, for fear they might tell to others the whereabouts of the hidden gold.

"‘I threw myself into my bunk and reasoned out all my plans.

"‘As soon as I went to Jamaica I determined to leave Morgan and his blood-stained fleet for ever and aye. I would put myself in communication with O'More, who indeed already knew my English address, and as soon as they reached Ireland and got settled, I should hurry across and claim my bride.

"‘I told Morgan nothing about this, for certain I am that though he liked me well as a friend, had he known I was about to leave, or desert as he would have called it, his suspicions would have been aroused: and for fear of that hidden gold being taken, he would have found means to murder me as he had to murder those faithful and honest sailors.

"‘Well, Morgan was an excellent commander, and a thorough fighting sailor, but he was very far indeed from being a good scholar.

"‘I determined, therefore, to punish him for the crime he had just been guilty of.

"‘"That hidden gold shall never be thine, Morgan," I said to myself.

"‘Then I proceeded to execute a plan which I had well thought out.

"‘There in the privacy of my cabin I prepared a chart of the rocks, the sea-shore, the woods, and the haunted jungle, which to a casual observer in every way resembled the true chart I had given to Morgan. The figures and measurements, however, were entirely altered, so that with my new plan any one attempting to find the place where the gold was would be completely led astray.

"‘It was clever. I credit myself with being no fool.

"‘And now to change the two charts.

"‘Morgan's locker was easily opened, so I chose a time when he had just gone on deck. I hurried to his cabin with a heart that thumped almost audibly against my ribs.