'He made a good end, John,' he said, rising from his knees, 'and I pray
that our end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best of
us the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may well pray, as every
Sunday, to be delivered in it. But there is another time which those who
wrote this Litany thought no less perilous, and bade us pray to be
delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray that if, after all, this
wealth comes to your hand you may be led to use it well; for though I do
not hold with foolish tales, or think a curse hangs on riches themselves,
yet if riches have been set apart for a good purpose, even by evil men,
as Colonel John Mohune set apart this treasure, it cannot be but that we
shall do grievous wrong in putting them to other use. So fare you well,
and remember that there are other treasures besides this, and that a good
woman's love is worth far more than all the gold and jewels of the
world--as I once knew.' And with that he left me.
I guessed that he had spoken with Grace that day, and as I lay dozing in
front of the fire, alone in this old room I knew so well, alone with that
silent friend who had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but
yet sorrowed not as one without hope.
* * * * *
What need to tell this tale at any more length, since you may know, by my
telling it, that all went well? for what man would sit down to write a
history that ended in his own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to
my hands, and if I do not say how great it was, 'tis that I may not wake
envy, for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of that
money I never touched penny-piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the
past, but laid it out in good works, with Mr. Glennie and Grace to help
me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel
John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a haven
for ever for all worn-out sailors of that coast. Next, we sought the
guidance of the Brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the
Snout, to be a Channel beacon for sea-going ships, as Maskew's match had
been a light for our fishing-boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified the
church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it with
deal and baize, that made it most commodious to sit in of the Sabbath.
There was also much old glass which we removed, and reglazed all the
windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit,
reading-desk, and seat for Master Clerk and new Commandment boards each
side of the Holy Table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the
countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set in
order, and then safely walled up, and after that nothing was more ever
heard of Blackbeard and his lost Mohunes. And as for the landers, I
cannot say where they went; and if a cargo is still run of a dark night
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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