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Transcriber's note:

      A Table of Contents and List of Illustrations have been added.

      Text in italics is enclosed by _underscores_.

      Text in bold face is enclosed by =equal signs=.

      Specific changes to the text are listed at the end of the book.





CAPTAIN BRAND, OF THE "CENTIPEDE."

A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies:
His Loves and Exploits,

Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner
by Which He Departed This Life.

by

HARRY GRINGO,
(H. A. WISE, U.S.N.),

Author of "Los Gringos," "Tales for the Marines," and
"Scampavias."

    "Our God and sailors we alike adore,
    In time of danger--not before;
    The danger passed, both are alike requited:
    God is forgotten, and the sailor slighted."

With Illustrations.







[Illustration: CAPTAIN BRAND.]



New York:
Harper & Brothers, Publishers,
Franklin Square.
1864.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four, by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.




CONTENTS
   CHAPTER                                                        PAGE

           Part I
        I. Spreading the Strands                                     5
       II. Calm                                                      7
      III. High Noon                                                15
       IV. Sunset                                                   21
        V. Darkness                                                 24
       VI. Danger                                                   33
      VII. The Meeting and Mourning                                 42
     VIII. Captain Brand at Home                                    44
       IX. Captain and Mate                                         53
        X. An Old Spaniard with One Eye                             61
       XI. Conversation in Pockets and Sleeves                      69
      XII. Doctor and Priest                                        73
     XIII. A Manly Fandango                                         79
      XIV. A Pirates' Dinner                                        85
       XV. Drowning a Mother to Murder a Daughter                   92
      XVI. Nuptials of the Girl with Dark Eyes                     103
     XVII. Doom of Dona Lucia                                      112
    XVIII. End of the Banquet                                      119
      XIX. Fandango on One Leg                                     122
       XX. Business                                                133
      XXI. Treasure                                                138
     XXII. Pleasure                                                144
    XXIII. Work                                                    150
     XXIV. Caught in a Net                                         154
      XXV. The Mouse that Gnawed the Net                           160
     XXVI. The Hurricane                                           166
    XXVII. The Virgin Mary                                         168
   XXVIII. The Ark that Jack Built                                 173

           Part II
     XXIX. Laying Up the Strands                                   179
      XXX. Old Friends                                             186
     XXXI. The Commander of the "Rosalie"                          193
    XXXII. A Splice Parted                                         198
   XXXIII. The Blue Pennant in the Cabin                           201
    XXXIV. The Devil to Pay                                        203
     XXXV. And the Pitch Hot                                       208
    XXXVI. The Chase                                               214
   XXXVII. The Wreck of the "Centipede"                            220
  XXXVIII. Vultures and Sharks                                     226
    XXXIX. Escondido                                               231
       XL. Paul Darcantel                                          236
      XLI. Instinct and Wonder                                     243
     XLII. Truth and Terror                                        247
    XL