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let our deaths be as swift and painless as you can conveniently make them.
Fred. I will. By the love I have for you, I swear it. Would that you could render this extermination unnecessary by accompanying me back to civilization!
King. No, Frederic, it cannot be. I don't think much of our profession, but, contrasted with respectability, it is comparatively honest. No, Frederic; I shall live and die a pirate king.
Song.—Pirate King.
Oh better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
All. You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
King. And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
All. It is. Hurrah for our Pirate King!
King. When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it's true.
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do ;
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than ever I do.
Though I am a Pirate King!
All. You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!
King. And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
All. It is! Hurrah for our Pirate King!
(After Song, the King. SAMUEL., and all the Pirates, except Frederic and Ruth. go off R. and R. U. E. Frederic comes down C, followed by Ruth.)
Ruth. Oh take me with you! I cannot live if I am left behind.
