At length, after the premises had been thoroughly reconnoitered, the crew of the cutter were permitted to go on shore. They were soon revelling amidst the costly merchandize and the luxuries, with which the cavern was gorged.
"Holloa, Price!" said Waters to a fellow mid, as he came out of the cave, dragging an old hag of a woman after him, apparently much against her will; "I've found the presiding goddess of the place. Isn't she a Venus?"
"Wenus indeed!" echoed the old beldame, "take that, young madcap, and larn better how to treat a lady!" administering a thwack on his ear that sent him staggering a rod from her.
Waters gathered himself together, and a general laugh took place at his expense.
"A fair representative of the amorous goddess--quite liberal with her love pats!" said Price in a tantalizing tone.
"Confound the old hag," muttered the discomfited mid, "if it were not a waste of good powder and ball, I'd make a riddle of her in the twinkling of a grog-can!"
This female and one man, found wounded and languishing on his pallet, were the only denizens of the place.
"Croesus! what hav'nt we here?" exclaimed Price, glancing over the medley of rich merchandize heaped together in one of the apartments of the huge cavern; "boxes of silks and satins, sashes, ribbons, lace, tortoise shell!--whew!--I say, Waters, what heathen are these pirates to let such a profusion of pretty gewgaws lay here, which ought to be setting off the fairy forms of the Spanish lasses! Now there's as handsome a piece of trumpery as one often sees," tying a delicate crimson silk _manta_ about him--"as I'm a sinner I'll carry that home to Nell Gray!--Ha! Burgundy wine?
Inspiring--divine Is the gush of bright wine; 'Tis the life, 'tis the breath of the soul, 'Tis the--the--
"Odds! but I must quicken my memory, and clear my pipes with a can of the critter to get into the spirit of song!"
He drew a beaker from the cask and took a deep draught.
"Capital, by Bacchus!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips,--"Try it, Waters, these fellows fare like princes."
"Bear a hand, Mr. Price, and don't set the men a bad example," thundered the first lieutenant, who had stationed himself as a sentinel outside.
In the meantime the men had not been idle. The sight of such a profusion of riches, all at their own mercy, had turned their brains, and the confusion that prevailed among the silks and finery would have rivalled that of a London milliner's shop on a gala day.