The Buccaneer - A Tale

Twelve years--twelve eventful years--had passed, and, ere our work is

done, we must entreat our readers to visit with us, once again, the old

Isle of Shepey. The thoughtless, good-tempered, dissipated, extravagant,

ungrateful, unprincipled Charles, had been called by the sedate,

thinking, and moral people of England to reign over them. But with

English whim, or English wisdom, we have at present nought to do; we

leave abler and stronger heads to determine, when reviewing the page of

history, whether we are or are not a most change-loving people--lovers

of change for the sake of change.

Our business is with an aged man, seated, on a pleasant evening of the

year 1668, under a noble oak, whose spreading branches shadowed a brook

that babbled at his feet.

The beams of the setting sun were deepening the yellow tints of yet

early autumn, and many of the trees looked as if steeped in liquid gold.

In the distance, the ocean, quiet, calm, unruffled, was sleeping beneath

the sober sky, and not a breeze wafted its murmurs to the little

streamlet by the side of which that old man sat. He was but one of a

group; four healthy and handsome children crowded around him, watching,

with all the intense hope and anxiety of that happy age, the progress of

his work. He was occupied, as grandfathers often are, in constructing a

toy for his grandchildren. The prettiest of the party was a dark-eyed

rosy girl of about four, perhaps five--for her countenance had more

intelligence than generally belongs to either age, while her figure was

slight and small, small enough for a child not numbering more than three

years: she, too, was employed--stitching, with a long awkward needle,

something which looked very like the sail of a baby-boat. A boy,

somewhat older than herself, was twisting tow into cordage, while the

eldest, the man of the family, issued his directions, or rather his

commands, to both, in the customary style of lads when overlooking their

juniors. The next to him was probably grandpapa's especial pet, for he

knelt at the old man's knee, watching patiently, and taking good note,

how he secured the principal mast steadily in the centre of the mimic

vessel, it had been his kind task to frame for the youngsters'

amusement.

It must not be forgotten that a very pretty spaniel crouched at the

little maid's feet, and ever and anon lifted its mild gentle eyes to the

countenance of its mistress.

"Con," said the eldest boy, "you are making those stitches as long as

your own little fingers; and you must remember, that if the work is not

done neatly, the wind may get into the turnings and throw the ship on

her beam-ends."