Hark  to  the  insult  loud,  the  bitter  sneer,
The  fierce  threat  answering  to  the  brutal  jeer ;
Oaths  fly  like  pistol-shots,  and  vengeful  words
Clash  ydth  each  other  like  conflicting  swords  —
The  robber's  quarrel  by  such  sounds  is  shown.
And  true  men  hare  some  chance  to  gain  their  own.
Captivity,  a  Poem.
When  Cleveland,  borne  off  in  triumpli  from  his
assailants  in  Kirkwall,  found  himself  once  more  on
board  the  pirate-vessel,  his  arrival  was  hailed  with
hearty  cheers  by  a  considerable  part  of  the  crew,
who  rushed  to  shake  hands  with  him,  and  offer  their
congratulations  on  his  return  ;  for  the  situation  of  a
Buccanier  Captain  raised  him  very  little  above  the
level  of  the  lowest  of  his  crew,  who,  in  all  social  in-
tercourse, claimed  the  privilege  of  being  his  equal.
When  his  faction,  for  so  these  clamorous  friends
might  be  termed,  had  expressed  their  own  greet-
ings, they  hurried  Cleveland  forward  to  the  stern,
where  Goffe,  their  present  commander,  was  seated
on  a  gun,  listening  in  a  sullen  and  discontented
mood  to  the  shout  which  announced  Cleveland's
welcome.  He  was  a  man  betwixt  forty  and  fifty,
rather  under  the  middle  size,  but  so  very  strongly
made,  that  his  crew  used  to  compare  him  to  a  sixty-
four  cut  down.  Black-haired,  bull-necked,  and
beetle-browed,  his  clumsy  strength  and  ferocious
countenance  contrasted   strongly   with   the  manly


202  THE  PIRATE.
