Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CAPTAIN TEACH. ANNO DOMINI, 1719. Where the great magnolia trees, Kiss the sleeping summer seas, And their perfume floats out softly, o'er the shimmering Bocca Grand; Where the drooping fronds of palm, Whisper through the tropic calm, Lay Teach, the pirate Captain, with his anchor on the sand. On the larboard lay the land, On the starboard shoals of sand, While away beyond the breakers leapt with sullen moan and cry: And the sweep of land and bay, Stretched for leagues and leagues away, Till the low, long, winding headland touched the arches of the sky. On the Bocca calm and blue, Lay the pirate and his crew, With his evil-gotten treasure, and his evil-gotten fame; Little dreaming of the fete, Coming sure, though coming late, By the hands of England's Captain, of unsullied soul and name. Sir Robert Mayne came sailing— With brave hearts that knew no failing, Hearts reared in merry England, the birthland of the free- In the good ship England's Glory— Famed in many a song and story— With her pennant, like a sea-bird's wing, out-streaming on the lee. " Shot the guns, run out the guards; Strike the topmasts, trim the yards— I am ready for the devil! and for all his English crew !— Aim your longest cannon there ! Sight it true, and sight it fair— A chest of Spanish silver for the first shot through and through!" Thus spoke the pirate Teach, In his boastful, vaunting speech, Like an evil-minded braggart, with an evil heart and soul. But his hour of doom was nigh, And the day that he must die Had dawned on land and ocean—his day of doom and dole. Spoke Sir Robert, calm and slow, " Men of mine, who fear no foe, Many a fight we've fought together, many a long and hard-won fight! Men of mine, for love of wives...