Chapter 14
THE PIRATE SHIPOne green light squinting over Kidd's Creek, which is near the
mouth of the pirate river, marked where the brig, the JOLLY ROGER,
lay, low in the water; a rakish-looking [speedy-looking] craft foul
to the hull, every beam in her detestable, like ground strewn with
mangled feathers. She was the cannibal of the seas, and scarce
needed that watchful eye, for she floated immune in the horror of
her name.
She was wrapped in the blanket of night, through which no sound
from her could have reached the shore. There was little sound, and
none agreeable save the whir of the ship's sewing machine at which
Smee sat, ever industrious and obliging, the essence of the
commonplace, pathetic Smee. I know not why he was so infinitely
pathetic, unless it were because he
