Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR years following his flight from England. He saw the Chinaman in Singa- pore who had broken his nose with a bottle, the one-eyed Frenchman he had stabbed in New Amsterdam for a bag of pearls, the big Negro who had given him the scar from nose to chin. He had been a thug, a thief, a spy, a cheater at cards, a smuggler, a pirate, a professional murderer. He had robbed in every seaport of the Old World. On the night he had been set afloat on the hatch cover he had led a mutiny on the Cairo, an English merchantman turned pirate, and he had strangled the captain to death. While the mutiny raged an- other ship came up unnoticed and poured broadside after broadside into the Cairo, until it went down with all hands. But Shark had cheated death by clinging to the hatch-cover. The strangler groaned and opened his eyes. The girl was still sitting at his bedside. She arose and came closer. How do you feel, she asked. She was English. Shark's heart pounded. England! He was wanted in England! W'here am I? he said between swollen lips. This is a small island near Cuba, came the answer. Shark relaxed and reached for his money belt. It was gone. The girl saw his movement. Your money is safe. She pointed to a shelf where the belt lay. I want itf' he growled. The girl was surprised. Then she smiled. You fear you have lost somethingf' she said. , She placed the belt on the bed. Shark examined it and found his money intact. What were these people that they did not take his money? He was sick and helpless and they hadn't touched a thing. A man and a woman appeared in the doorway, they looked sympa- thetic. The girl introduced them as her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. John Burrows. I am Virginia Burrowsf' she added. The man smiled. 'iThe doctor will be here shortly, he told Shark. We sent for him at once. The woman held out a steaming bowl of broth. Eat this before you talk, she said. It will make you feel betterf' As Shark ate he reflected. So these were not his kind. In Shark's mind there were only two kinds of people-his kind and the lambs, or honest, hardworking people upon whom he lived. Shark and his kind despised them. They were the soft fools of a hard world. He smiled and disclosed two silver teeth in his lower jaw. As he finished the last spoonful of the broth he began his story. I am Petie Miller, a simple, honest sailor, sailing on the Freetown, with a cargo of tobacco for Amsterdam. We ran into a storm, sprang a leak, and went down with all hands. I found a hatch-cover and floated. What a terrible experience! the girl exclaimed. T nty

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THE REFLECTOR The Diamond skull WAVE like a black wall all but knocked the half-conscious man from his precarious position upon the hatch cover. For forty-eight hours he had been knocked about the restless sea, 40 burning with thirst and Weak from hunger. His steel-like grip upon the hatch cover was slowly weakening and it would not be long before he would slip unconscious into the sea. His eyes rested on a light, but Sharp Malone's swollen lips stretched into a bitter smile. He had seen lights before, but they weren't lights. They were illusions, mocking a dying man. But in the next moment Shark Malone knew that this was a real light. It was a lantern, and it was swinging. Then the light went out leaving blackness, and like the light Shark Malone slipped into blackness. His next sensation was one of softness. He was not lying on the hard, slippery hatch cover but upon a dry, soft bed. His head was full of pains. There was a roaring in his ears. His thigh throbbed and burned as though on Hre. He saw a gleam of gold. It blurred, cleared into a girl's head shining in the light of the lamp. She was sewing. Over her shoulder he could see a tall woman who suddenly swirled and van- ished. Shark Malone felt himself sinking into unconsciousness again. He was not Shark Malone, he was a boy of five, Petie Malone. His father, a half-owner of the Sword and Cutlass, a filthy waterfront saloon, had taught him how to pick pockets. At the age of five he was earning his living in this way. By the time he was twelve he was called Shark. He was cruel and brutal, and robbed lonely wayfarers in dark streets. He enjoyed life immensely, not knowing he was a brutal thief, a menace to humanity. When he needed money he would take up a station on a dark street and rob honest workmen coming home from work. The first a victim would know was a pair of steel-like hands around his neck, and then if Shark was in good humor he would strangle him within an inch of death and then rob him. More often he would squeeze until there was a sound like a pencil snapping. It was easier robbing the dead. On the night of August 27, 1664, Shark, waiting motionless in a doorway, saw an old man coming hurriedly down the dark street. He was dressed in the height of fashion and carried a gold-headed cane. As he passed Shark's hiding place Shark stepped out, but his swift hands missed their mark. The old man swung around and struck Shark with his cane. Hungry and in a dark mood, Shark caught up a cobblestone and felt the white head of the old man crunch under his blows. He struck again and again until his rage abated and his hands were covered with blood. A door behind Shark opened and light streamed out upon the scene. Shark fled. That night he left Liverpool, a marked man. He sailed on the Cassandra bound for the Barbary coast with a cargo of Shanghaid sailors. W7 ith the burning of his thigh, in his delirium, Shark relived the five 7 V. Qfy, if f Nineteen

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THE REFLECTOR Yes,m, it was. I've been a sailor all my life. I was born in Lon- don. My father was a Cobbler. He died when I was sixteen. My mother died only a year ago. I'm all alone now, ma'am. I'm sorry, Petie,', said the girl sympathetically. Shark saw the glint of tears in her eyes, and thoughts of the last time he had seen his mother, a drunken, filthy hag, in Liverpool, when she had thrown a broken bottle at him. The girl sat knitting. What are you doing, ma'am?,' he asked finally. I thought you were asleep, Petie. Fm making a shirt for you. You have but a rag or two of your ownf, Making a shirt for me?,' Shark repeated. He swore in amazement. The last time he had been shipwrecked, he had fallen in with his own kind, who stripped him of all he owned and left him on the beach. When you're up and wellf' Virginia said, you'll need clothes to Wear. And you'll be well soonf' As she sat knitting, Virginia told him how they were slowly dying of fever and starvation. Unless-then her face brightened hopefully. What? The girl jumped up. I'll show youf' She climbed upon a heavy iron chest and took a key from a crack high in the wall. She unlocked the chest and took from it a bundle of cloth. Carrying it to the bed she unwrapped it and Shark Malone gazed upon the most amazing thing he had ever seen. It was a diamond skull! The gruesome object glittered in the lamplight and shone out at the strangler. It was a death's head set with diamonds! His dream of heaven! Each socket was set with a triangle of three great diamonds and in their center a small ruby gleamed. The teeth were gone from the mouth cavity and in their places were large diamonds. Two diamonds Were set in the nose cavity. The whole top of the skull glittered with them. The skull was set in a base of gold three inches high encrusted with more diamonds and perfectly matched pearls. Unconsciously the strangler's hands stiffened into iron instruments of death. Where did you get it?,, he gasped. The girl shivered faintly. My father found it four years ago, in the roots of a palm, over- turned by a hurricane. It was in an eathenware jug, packed in dirt. It must have been 'lying there a long time. When he brought the jug home, he found this. What are you going to do with it? I Was,,' the girl said, going to save them all. Dick Bradford was going to take it to Havana, where he would sail for France to sell it. With the money he received he would buy a ship and come and take them to Virginia in the colonies. Twenfy-one