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(! IK vo^S?SS. ' } PORT THE PALMETTO HERALD 18 PCIIL1KI1ED ltY w. w. 3r .LSOX ?fc CO., EVEttT THURSDAY MOltMYG, AT PORT ROYAL, S. O. Qfice ear. Merchant? R?hc a/ul Palmetto Avenue. Terms I Single Cnpv . Five Cent.*. <1. .. lln,X,.,l nA?t,.g ,+a 50 Per Annum to any Address '. .. .$:i UO Payment invariably in. Advance. A limited number of ADVERTISEMENTS received at Tweuty-flve Cents per Line, JOB PRINTING executed neatly ami promptly. ?:v. .. . 11ERGAXTE, TIIE BLOODHOl'ND. The cazadors of Cuba were a very peculiar and interesting type of men, employed manv years ago by the Spanish governors of the colony as a sort of rural police. Pirates iufesfec. the coast in those days, making their fastnesses in the mountains, where they used to store their booty in secret caverns, and hold their wild*orgies for weeks together. Thither, ' - - frnirt inctifO fliul uis<?, iiei^iu jv.. .? sometimes from injustice?would frequently resort, and there are many strange traditions yet to be heard among the inhabitants of the island with regard to the doings af these outlaws in past times. To pounce upon them in their fastnesses, when the perpetration of some great crime demanded prompt measures, was a service attended with much ditlieulty and danger, and one to be successfully performed only with the aid of dogs. From this originated the organi^ ' ' - ? 1 -P 1 1.. z.ition ot me cazauors?:i uaim m uiirttv and courageous men under the immediate control of the alcadc provinciale, or chief magistrate of the colony. The costume of the eazador was simple, but picturesque. It consisted of a shirt made of striped cotton stuff", and loose trowsers of the same material. His wide-brimmed lint, with sound top, was plaited kind of coarse, reedy grass, used also hy the natives for thatching their houses, and he always carried a small cross suspended from bis neck. Tiie boots generally worn by him were of peculiar make. They were formed by skinning the hind legs of a wild hog, and thrusting the feet into these reeking socks, so as to give them the proper shape while they were yet pliant and warm. The superfluous corn ? .v? 1 i t rs were then parca ori ana scwcu up, and the cazador had his boots, which were complete when they had undergone a slight curing process with wood ashes and salt, lie wore a waist-belt with a large silver buckle, and to this was appended a broad cutlass, which he kept exceedingly sliarp. These men were wonderfully abstemious in their haoits. With 110 provisions, except a little salt, they would roam the forests for weeks together, subsisting upon the fruits and farinaceous productions that abound there, sometimes varying their diet with tlie flesh of a wild hog, when they had the chance of killing one. Each of these cazadors was obliged to maintain three bloodhounds, two of which only he took with him to the woods, the third being left at home as a reserve. These dogs were of a peculiar breed, with taper heads, and their ears sharply cropped to prevent laceration by the prickly thickets through which they had to pass. In addition to his hounds, the cazador was provided with a couple of small dogs having remarkably keen noses, which were found useful in hitting nil* the scent when the hounds had overrun a trail. These were called lialladors, or tinders. A hound was not considered (it to be put upon the trail of a fugitive until thoroughly trained to refrain from seizing ills prey, unless in scll-dcfence?his business being to keep it at bay until joined - * rri J . UV 1US raasu.T. I li \ wi'rc uui-uiuiumii) taick-skinncd do^s, these bloodhounds, and it is well for them that they were so, |J a I m c 1 ROYAL, S. C., THU1 f )r the amount of thrashing they had to undergo to bring them to this state of self-denial was such that no ordinary dog could have survived. This discipline was administered to them either with a knotted whip, made of the hide of the wild hog, or with the flat of the heavy sword. The savage tciiaeity of these dogs, when provoked, caused them to he regarded with great terror. When taken out by their masters, they were kept closely muzzled, to prevent accidents, and people were generally warned against touching or speaking to them. One day, a cazador had unmuzzled one of his dogs, lit in fn i-trliilr Wlitln lii? Jltfen tion was drawn away for a moment, the animal, attracted by the smell of meat, ran to where an old woman was cooking at a tire in the open air. She threatened him with a stick, to drive him away, whereupon he seized flier by the throat, and killed her lieiore assistance came. So tenacious was his grip that it was found necessary to sever his head from his body; nor even then did the rigid muscles relax their hold, and the ghastly, head remained lor some time affixed to the neck of the unfortnnatc victim. I /?!' tlw.cn nn9o/)nra rvneci?iiCPil fl Villi V/* lll\OU VIIMIUUI.7 |?WUV^v?. ? bloodhound of so headstrong and sanguinary a disposition, that neither the whip nor anything else had any effect upon him. lie was a dog of unusual sue and beauty, on which account his' owner was unwilling to destroy him: and yet, unmindtul of the proverb, ''Give a' dog a had name and hang him," he l>estowed upon tlie delinquent the appellation of Bcrgautc, which is the Spanish for "'scoundrel." The principal objection to Bergante was, that he would always kill whatever lie had a chance to hunt} from a wild pig to a wild pirate, it hav* ing proved impossible to correct his taste for blood. Ttie ouly person who had any. control over him was a negro slave, be 1 longing to a neighboring ecclesiastic, anil who was noted tor exercising a sort m magnetic power over animals. One (lay this negro, having been cruelly beaten by an overseer lor some trivial misdeI mcanor, ran away and hid himself hi the woods. Days elapsed, and the negro had not returned; and hv and by a rumor came that he had joined a gang of Spanish mutineers, who, after killing the captain and mate of a British brig, on which they were employed as sailors, had run the vessel ashore, and taken to the woods. Dogs were onU-red out to hunt these criminals, and, as hot work was expected by the eazndors, Bergante the bloodhound was one of the ammuls selected to perform the duty. T-v ? .1-_ : 1? 4U? I i, ?? , L/Cl'p 111 I ill" JUIIglU W1U UWtUIWN liUHLupon a trail. Their owners called them all oil; however, except Bergante, who was let out of the slips, and went off upon the track with great furv. His loudmouthed baying was heard for some time, j until it gradually died away into the dis: tance, and all wiis still. The huntt^s foli lowed. and other hounds were slipped from time to time; hut, after a hunt of j three days, nothing came of it. The ; hounds came straggling in to their mas! tcrs, all except Bergante, who was snp! posed to have met more than his match, J and to have fallen bv the weapons of I sotnc of the forest outlaws. Several weeks had elapsed ; when, as a j cazador lay concealed one day among ; some rocks in the heart of the forest, with his hounds crouching by him, he heard ; far away the well-known haying of Bergante the bloodhound: From the high l ground where he lay in ambush, the ca: zador commanded a View of a deep glade | in the woods, toward which the cry of i the dog appeared to be tending. The I glade was but sparsely dotted with shrubs, and on to it there presently omAt./Tiwl ?t UMIII 1* \tv tcl\r\ u'oe tiiui^u n Him IIUW n no iimnii*Q ; for a pond at the other end of the glade, but was pulled down and throttled by the | uursuing dog before he could reach it. I llere was somet hing like a revelation at tto i)fl USD AY, AUGUST 18, hand, and the eazndor lay very still and ! waited for its development. There was likely to be a hunter where a hunt was ! joing on, he thought; nor was he mistaken; ft?r, in a few minutes, a dusky I figure, all in tattered array, appeared up-; on the plain, and, having called off the i.dog, wh&tflRfe croucMrig to him. pfoj exededto cut up the wild boar. Distant | as this scene was, the sharp eye of the cazador detected the fugitive slave in the dusky form of the hunter, and, as there was a large reward offered for the capture of that runaway, lie slipped quietly from his ambuscade, and. motioning to his dogs to follow him silently, took a circuitous route through the bush, and presently came upon the glade, within filly paces of the negro, to whom he called ouf, ordering him to surrender at once, or stand his chance of beiug killed by the dogs. ' What can your dogs do?"asked the negro, with a del islve laugh. "You have beaten all the spirit out of them, and i they have not a bite left. But if I only I (joint my finger at you. mi/ dog here will ?_ ?:. **iunf tlinfit lwf<ui> Vtlll CUU ttlise I UK J VU* UiiViH, WV?V? V J ? your cuftaw**' * The 'cazador, who knew Hint * the redoubtable lk-rgante was no respecte r of persons, saw that there was some reason m this.' Therefore, instead of taking fori cH>lc Measures, he brought the negro to a 1 parley, and elicited from him the fact- that I he had not joined a band of pirates, as reported. but had been living for many weeks upon the proceeds ot the chase, assisted by the dog B.-rgaatc, who, instead of attacking him when let out upon his trail, had been his faithful friend and companion ever since. The negro also stated that the pirates, six in number, had quarrelled among themselves, and and that two of them?men of the most desperate character?were now concealed in a ravine not far off. They had 110 tire? - **.wl 1^* ^oc'iltr r-oniitr.ul t1w? ! ."Uliis ami illiciti ib; itiviij ? ??., ...? negro fttfVitght, By the cazador and himself, with the assistance of the terrible, bloodhound, whose appearance now. covered as he was with dust and brambles, and his head clotted with the blood of the wild boar, was enough to-strike terror to the heart of the most reckless desperado. The matter was soon arranged. It was stipulated bv the cazador that he. would procure pardon and a re ward for the negro, if enabled by the guidance and assistance of the latter to capture any of the pirates, dead or alive. Taking a boar-path indicated by the negro, they soon came up a small watercourse, on the margin of which they presently found the mark of a naked loot, which the cazador knew to be that of a white man. Then the hounds .vere let out of their leashes, excepting Bergante, who was kept tightly in hand by the negro. They went oft on the trail, and it was not long before their loud yells proclaimed that they had brought some quarry to hay. The hunters plunged on after them through the ravine. They niRSfil si larire rock, under the shelter of I"" ? O- ' . which a fire was burning, and some blankets and cooking utensils lay scattered alioiit. Following the baying of the dogs, which now became tinnier, they came upon one of them, dead, with a long sheath-knife sticking in his heart. There was a similar kuile in a tree close by, into which it had been driven with great torce. It had just missed the other dog, probably, and the pirates were e\ iifcutiy great knife throwers, but they bad lost two of tlicir weapons at any rate. 1... -.5 n ? ?1?A /dliOf liAlin/1 Tl'O J voi'ir i tie uuvmg ui ine viiivi iiuuiui muj i\i i furious now, and close at hand, and, oil coining up with him, the hunters tbnnd him crouching at a safe distance from two awful desperadoes, who stood with their hacks against a huge fallen tree, one of them armed with a short boardingpike, and the othei with a sailors knife. At tins sight Bergaute made one furiuis bound, and. tearing himself away from the grip of the negro, was fastened in an "V ? 10? I ( PRrCF, lOO'r*' \rive C'entis. instant upon the throat of the ruffian with the boarding-pike, and rolled with him to the ground in a tangle of unequal strife. The man was dead in a moment, and the huge dog lav panting upon his corpse, crunching die broken neck-bones with smothered growls. Terriiied at the'* * / ilio Xfhof nirntrt ilivovtr Pi^U^ UIV wuivi tutVTT M weapon and fell uj>on his knees. "He would do anything if tliey would save him from that terrible hound : lirst he would h-iew them treasure, and then he would betray the other pirates iuto their hands. With difficulty the negro again got the bloodhound into the leash, and then, lrd by the pirate, they retraced their steps to the camp lately passed by them. There, buried under a jutting ledge of the rock, they found a large amount of treasure in gold, which had "been taken by the mutineers from the English brig. The pirate was then securely handcuffed, and ordered to lead them at ouec to the haunt of other tfespcradoes. on pain of being at once given over to Bergaute for execution. Indeed the latter had to be restrained with a double leash, and held by both the cn/.idor and the negro, to prevent him from springing upon the prisoner, and throttling him as he had done his comrade. Ere long they came upon four pirates, ensconced among some loose boulders, sun! aniu.il with their long knives, prepared to make a desperate resistance. The caz.idor first hound his prisoner securely to a tree,.and then the dogs were Ioose<l and the tight was a terrible one? for the sight of blood had excited the fuiy of the other hound, and he had his man down in a moment. Two of the * others were throttled by llergantc, but not until he had received soine fearful gashes' from their knives. The other was captured alive; and. ere night had fallen, the captors had returned to the town, with their prisoners, and a great quantity of valuable treasure which the hitter gave up to lliciir \s hen they found that there was no longer any object in concealing it. The pirates, dead as well as alive, were all identified by a sailor who had escaped from the vessel seized bv them, and the captured ones Ave re tried, found guilty, and executed. Six tall poles were planted firmly upon the beach, near where the vessel had been mil ashore, and the remains of the murderers were placed in large iron cages slung at the heads of these, as a warning to such desperadoes. Years afterwards the grinning skeletons yet swung there to and fro. The carrion crows could pass between the bars oft he cages, in which they held their horrible revels day after day, while the vultures, prevented by their size from entering, clung, and hovered, aiul squabbled outside. The Avholc scene was one of weird and terrible imprcssiveness, and the place was known to mariners as Skeleton Beach, for many a year alter. The negro was not only pardoned, but was presented with his liberty and a large sum of money, for the part taken by liim in this important capture. Fur tiier than this, he leceived an appoint-* ment as a paid assistant to the eazadors; and there are traditions of many a daring act in which he was subsequently concerned, in conjunction with JJcrgnnte. the Bloodhound.?.Wic York Ledger. Lady Chandos, who was still a coquette in her advanced maturity, came to a party after eleven o'clock. * "How late you are, my charmer.-" said the mistress of the house, provoking Iv. "lam quite ashamed," answered her ladyship, "hut lav mail! is so very slow: she takes more than an hour and a hah' to do my hair." "Fortunately." observed one of her friends, "you are not obliged to stay at lioiiio whilf shu is doin^ il.' I;-a fop should r ut liiso.rn thr\:r. !: would Ik* liunikcv'-idc.