The Buccaneer - A Tale

The door before which Burrell paused, was, in its way, a masterpiece of

art: it consisted of a mass of clay and flint, so skilfully put together

that the most acute searcher, even though he possessed the certainty of

its existence somewhere, must have failed to discover it from among the

natural lining of the rude but extensive cave. A low and gentle whistle

was answered by a like signal, and the door was drawn gradually inwards,

until sufficient space was afforded to permit Burrell to pass into a

large space, but less raw and wild than that from which he had just

entered.

In one corner of this singular hall, rose a motley pile of musketry,

rifles, hand-grenades, basket and cross-hilted swords, steel cuirasses,

which, from their rude and sullied condition, appeared to have suffered

much and hard service; buff and other coloured doublets, breast-plates,

shoulder-belts with gilt and plain buckles; manacles, some rusty, others

of glittering brightness: the muzzle of a small brass swivel projected

from beneath a number of flags and emblems of various nations, rolled

together with a degree of amity to which their former owners had long

been strangers. Over these again were heaped cloaks, caps, feathers, and

trappings, enough to form the stock wardrobe of a theatre. Nor were

there wanting thumb-screws and other instruments of torture, often

unsparingly exercised upon those who hid their treasure or retained

secrets they were desired to betray. Near to this miscellaneous

assemblage rose another heap, the base of which appeared to consist of

some half score of elephants' teeth, rough hemp, fragments of huge

cable, cable-yarn, and all manner of cordage; rolls of lewxerns',

martrons', and leopard-skins; wolf-skins, "tawed and untawed;" girdles

of silk, velvet, and leather; and on pegs, immediately over, hung half a

dozen mantles of miniver, and some wide robings of the pure spotted

ermine. Upon a huge sea-chest were heaped bales of costly Brabant,

Overyssels, and other rare linens, mingled with French and Italian lawns

of the finest texture; Turkish camlets, satins of China and Luca, plain

and wrought, and many other expensive and highly-taxed articles.

Delicious odours were diffused through the chamber from various cases of

perfume, musk, ambergris, and the costly attar; while along the north

wall were ranged different sized casks of Nantz brandy, Hollands, and

Jamaica rum; giving to the whole the appearance of a vast storehouse. An

enormous chafing-dish, filled with burning charcoal, stood near the

centre, and in a deep iron pan was placed a keg of oil, a hole having

been driven into its head, through which a sort of hempen wick had been

introduced; it flared and blazed like an overgrown flambeau, throwing a

warm and glowing light over the entire of the wild yet well-filled

apartment.