Half idly, Richard asked more questions and grew interested in the man's tales, for the fellow's varied experiences had given him a sort of shrewd cunning, which in a higher walk of life might have been almost worthy the name of diplomacy, and he knew how to fit his tale to his audience.  It was obvious that he was nothing better than a pirate, but he managed to gloss over the barbarities of the life so well, and to dwell on its picturesque and adventurous side so successfully, that Dick began insensibly to soften in his judgment of the wanderer.  As the night wore on, Astbury's description of a buccanneer's life grew more and more glowing; he exercised a good deal of rude art in his pictures of the career that awaited a gentleman of spirit among the keys of the Carribean Sea, and at last he burst out--