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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
116
Breathlessly
we
listened
whenever
my
brother
would
relate
the
story,
which
he
did
not
at
all
enjoy
doing,
for
a
cutlass
had
been
swung
over
his
head,
and
his
life
threatened
by
the
pirate's
boatswain,
demanding
more
money,
after
all
had
been
taken.
A
Genoese
messmate,
Iachimo,
shortened
to
plain
"Jack"
by
the
"Mexican's"
crew,
came
to
see
my
brother
one
day,
and
at
the
dinner
table
he
went
through
the
whole
adventure
in
pantomime,
which
we
children
watched
with
wide-eyed
terror
and
amusement.
For
there
was
some
comedy
mixed
with
what
had
been
so
nearly
a
tragedy,
and
Jack
made
us
see
the
very
whites
of
the
black
cook's
eyes,
who,
favored
by
his
color,
had
hidden
himself--all
except
that
dilated
whiteness--between
two
great
casks
in
the
bold.
Jack
himself
had
fallen
through
a
trap-door,
was
badly
hurt,
and
could
not
extricate
himself.
It
was
very
ludicrous.
Jack
crept
under
the
table
to
show
us
how
he
and
the
cook
made
eyes
at
each
other
down
there
in
the
darkness,
not
daring
to
speak.
The
pantomime
was
necessary,
for
the
Genoese
had
very
little
English
at
his
command.
When
the
pirate
crew
were
brought
into
Salem
for
trial,
my
brother
had
the
questionable
satisfaction
of
identifying
in
the
court-room
the
ruffian
of
a
boatswain
who
had
threatened
his
life.
This
boatswain
and
several
others
of
the
crew
were
executed
in
Boston.
The
boy
found
his
brief
sailor-experience
quite
enough
for
him,
and
afterward
settled
down
quietly
to
the
trade
of
a
carpenter.
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