IF YOU DON'T READ THIS NOW YOU'LL HATE YOURSELF LATER

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IF YOU DON'T READ THIS NOW YOU'LL HATE YOURSELF LATER

The scoundrel with the broken head burst into a loud laugh. "D' ye remember the bark we took off Porto Bello, with the priests aboard? Oho! Oho!" The rogue with the ruff grinned. "I reckon the padres remem- ber it, and find hell easy lying. This hole's deep enough, I'm thinking." They both clambered out, and one squatted at the head of the grave and mopped his face with his delicate handkerchief, while the other swung his fine cloak with an air and dug his bare toes in the sand. The two boats now grated upon the beach, and several of their occupants, springing out, dragged them up on the sand. "We'll never get another like him that's gone," said the worthy at the head of the grave, gloomily regarding the something wrapped in white. "That's gospel truth," assented the other, with a prodigious sigh. "He was a man what was a man. He never stuck at noth- ing. Don or priest, man or woman, good red gold or dirty sil- ver,—it was all one to him. But he's dead and gone!" "Now, if we had a captain like Kirby," suggested the first. "Kirby keeps to the Summer Isles," said the second. "'T is n't often now that he swoops down as far as the Indies." The man with the broken head laughed. "When he does, there's a noise in that part of the world." "And that's gospel truth, too," swore the other, with an oath of admiration. By this the score or more who had come in the two boats were halfway up the beach. In front, side by side, as each con- ceding no inch of leadership, walked three men: a large man, with a villainous face much scarred, and a huge, bushy, dark red beard; a tall dark man, with a thin fierce face and blood- shot eyes, the Spaniard by his looks; and a slight man, with the face and bearing of an English gentleman. The men behind them differed no whit from the two gravediggers, being as scoundrelly of face, as great of strength, and as curiously at- tired. They came straight to the open grave, and the dead man beside it. The three who seemed of most importance disposed themselves, still side by side, at the head of the grave, and their following took the foot.