Читать книгу The Secret Chart; or, Treasure Hunting in Hayti онлайн

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“I don’t know. Read what you have found, if it is interesting.”

“There is a long account here, but if you can keep quiet a few moments, I’ll make it out, in spite of the many creases and the dirt.”

Then Nelse began the following:

“North of that wild promontory which projects itself into the tropic waters of the Mexican Gulf at the northwestern extremity of Hayti, and four miles to seaward of the ancient town, lies a rocky inlet known as Tortuga de Mar. In size and aspect it is insignificant. Yet, lilliputian and unfamiliar though it now is, it gave birth to the most merciless and picturesque class of marine cutthroats known to history.”

“Keep that until we start,” Gil said, impatiently, as his cousin paused to take a long breath. “Just now we want to get our traps aboard, instead of reading some musty tale.”

“Wait a moment, and find out what it means. We’ve got plenty of time,” Nelse said, and then he continued:

“Back in the opening decades of the seventeenth century adventurous criminals from throughout the Antilles began to collect on the islet, and in a few years Tortuga became the recognized headquarters of the Spanish Main. From it as from a fever germ went out a fire of blood, piracy, and lawlessness which spread over the waters of the Western World.