-...':.. :■-:-. [Byi;EIiIOT WABJBURTON.] ■' ' • -•7/.\:. .-.'■■.■ -CHAPTER; XL ; -A ■■■.'.' • ; "Nothing .he does or seems, But : smakea of something- greater than himself

SHAKSEBAttEi

• • ,;- M^n-ysc!ar<Jely* affords a wider "range ,fprd,etoJapinent in his intellectual,. than in-his physical nature. There is hardly a 'wider; moral: difference between the mature philosopher and the schoolboy!, • than; exists ; physically between the town^bred, "lounging, dandy, and the seaman inured to .effort, hardship, and d ail g"er ; from his childhood ; the former suffers acutely from a scratch or bruise; the ; Tatter almost insensible to any external injury short of that which maims him;- -he-has 1 become, as it were,, .annealed in the fire of. adyersit}^ arid' is indifferent to sufferings that w.ould.be^aganizing..to untried -nerves.; In the history of the buccaneers, we find curious"proofss "proofs of the invulner. ability, to, which, the human body may be.:. brought; The great majority of these men- no- doubt. perished in the ordeal of their probation," but those who, survived it almost realised the fable of Achilles. Impassive to" climate, disease,; and hardship, indifferent to wounds, capable of enduring- incredible absti nence', from, food, they faced the wild! bull' in the forest,- the shark in. the: seas, and made sport, even with the' deadly alligator. As for their* exploits : among. their fellow-men, they seem to transcend all fiction. Hugh galleons captured^ and their crews destroyed by the .demoniac .strength and resolution : of half a score of them in an open boat; ; wealthy, well-fortified cities sacked by : a ship's crew.; whole provinces laid; waste and plundered- by a- mere hand ful of these, desperadoes. ••• Such facts. -abound in the naval historres-of" the: time, and would be incredible -if they, were not borne witness to, as-well by their enemies as their friends. There is a striking anecdote of them which is told by Oexmelin in his pecu-: liar manner, and which Par tan de scribed with the veracity of an eye witness. T n illustration ot the - fore going 1 remarks, it may as well be mentioned here, as it was the rescued stranger who succeeded in eliciting it from the olr* sailor. Partan held aloof from this man. 