Beadle's Half Dime Library Vol. IX, No. 230: The Yankee Rajah; or, The Fate of the Black Shereef — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— — —— realize, and in some other land reap the benefits of our years of labor, The men armed against us now are not the soft Orientals, but men of my race, who will fight while there is blood in their veins.” “(T must bend this girl tomy will before I go. Zarina has fallen in love with her, and perhaps ‘Poor Zarina,” said Heid, a subdued light upon his dark face. ‘‘l wonder, sometimes, that God has suffered us to live and prosper so jong.” ‘““Bah! Make your report and let me under- stand what it is you fear, and stop preaching.” ““T fear nothing, Shereef. I have carried my life in my hand too long to greatly care how soon I lay it down,” was the hot reply. “Go on, then; les me know how you have obeyed my orders.” Reid gavea rapid account of the battle with the Tokio and the manner in which Ellen was eaptured, together with the destruction which was done by the Mystery. ‘Then the man whonavigates that craft must be a skillful engineer,” declared the Shereef ‘‘for I do not believe in necromancy. I will meet him by skill as great as his, I hope, and drive him from these seas. “You have done your work well, Reid, and I cannot find fault with you. And now I give the Malays into your eharge, and you must keep them in order and sea that they donot run amuck. I suppose that they are frightened by the Torpedo.” ‘Nothing will induce them to go near that cursed island again,” replied Reid. __ ‘They lack the bull-dog instinct of the Anglo- Saxon race,” said the Shereef. ‘‘Come with me, and we will break a bottle together after I deal out justice to two mutineers.’ ‘““Whoarethey?” _ : ‘Zarack and Amo,” answered the chief. ‘*] suppose it is good to make an example now and then, but remember that they have many friends.” “7 care not for that. Sound the signal,” answered the Shereef, fray, 7 Reid lifted a bugle which hung at his belt and sounded a clear call. The beat of many feet followed, and the crews of the proas, a motley crowd of all nations, came pouring in. _“Zarack and Amo, stand forth,” cried the Shereef, as he seated himself upon a great chair at one end of the room. ‘I have to complain of you, in that you refused to obey orders in Shanghae.” is _ Two gigantic Malays marched up in front of the chair. ni “See, my children,” said the Shereef, ad- dressing the pirates. ‘These men have done wickedly. In an hour when I needed them most, they were mad with arrack, and nearly betrayed the secrets of the band. What say you to this, Zarack?’ : ‘*My lord has spoken truth,” averred the Malay. “ And you, Amo?” ; “The Shereef cannot lie,” was the answer. zs You have a pistol in your belt, Amo; draw it. The man obeyed. “Cock it?) 2 35 : The snap of the lock was heard. “ Place it to your temple.” Without a tremor the man did as he was commanded. : “There is but one thing for you to do—you who would have betrayed the great secret. Fire!” thundered the Shereef. : The erack of the pistol was heard, and Amo sunk dead before the chair of justice, in his turn, drew a pistol from his belt. | “T am ready, my Shereef,” he said, The Black Shereef looked at him for a mo-— ment with a kindling eye. 2 “You are a brave man, Zarack. Put up your weapon for I forgive you.” Zarack returned the pistol to his belt as un- moved as before. “Take up the hody of Amo, my children,” commanded the Shereef. ‘He sinned, but he has atoned. Bury bim as a great Malay war- rior, with all the honors due to his mighty name.” | The pirates lifted the body of the dead Malay and trooped from the great hall. Not one had raised his voice to expostulate, although Amo was a favorite eon an long breath. “ By George! I thought there would be a mutiny, Shereef, but you have got a good nerve; rit say that much.” “He who rules such men must rule them by the strong hand,” was the reply. ‘‘ Let the next threes days be given to feasting, and arcer | | harbor with mufiled oars, bearing full five hun- | dred men, bound on an errand of vengeance, | For, by this time, they knew that the tributary | In g Zarack, | em. Tom Heid drew a | The Yankee Rajah. our enemies at Godong Beg.” And for three days the city unholy orgies, but such as the: f passed. Blood was shed, bodies were cast into the sea, but the Black Shereef sat serenely in his palace, and concocted a plan which he hoped would free him from his enemies, led by the Yankee Rajah. was the scene of | THE MALAY FLEET. Tue Black Shereef slept in a room half-way up a tower looking out upon the harbor. On the night after the great feast he retired to his rooms early, but not to rest. Dismissing his at- tendants, he flung open the casement, anddraw- ing a luxurious divan close to the low window- sill, he reclined upon it, looking out upon the heaving sea. From this tower he had a range for miles in the direction of Godong Beg, and even as he gazed he saw, shimmering on the horizon, the white sails of a craft of some description. Catching up a night glass he leveled it at the sail, and recognized the Wave Witch. A wild ery of joy came to his Jips. ‘Tis her, by all the Malay gods!” he hissed. Oh, if the wind goes down; if that sly dog will only give us time to get round him!” the clapped his hands and a slave ran in. “The Shereef Reid,” he cried. ‘Tell him to make haste.” The slave hurried out, and five minutes later Reid came in hastily, half dressed, but carrying ns pistols in his belt and a naked sword in his and. ‘‘ Come here,” cried the Black Shereef, quick- | ly. “Take this glass and look at yonder schooner and tell me whoitis.” . Reid took but a single look and knew the schooner. _ 3 (x ‘‘The Yankee Rajah!” he shouted. ‘By heaven, the fellow has good nerve to venture so near us here. Do you know that the wind is | going down and that he may be ina trap? See that! as I live by bread he is heading up toward the harbor as coolly as if be owned the city.” ‘'' Very well,” said the Shereef, guigtl . "Go and get the Malays together quickly. No noise of any kind, but man all the proas in the port and let them be prepared. I will have that schooner, and when Marco and the Yankee Rajah are in my power, may my right arm wither to the shoulder if both the dogs do not pray for deathat my hands. Away with you attack her.” Reid was gone in an instant, and five minutes | later hundreds of forms were seen flitting about | in the moonlight. The gleam of arms and a suppressed hum told that these were men pre- paring for battle. Half an hour later the | snake-like proas began to crawl out of the | and as soon as the proas are ready go out and chief who had attacked the Rajah on his way to Gadong Beg had been defeated, and his proas put to flight, and many of them had lost friends, is The wind went down, and_then, idly rocking | on the tranquil sea, lay the Wave Witch, with perhaps half a dozen men on deck, and the Yan- kee Rajah swinging lazily in a hammock be- tween the masts, with a night glass in his hand, from time to time turning it upon theapproach- vroas in an indolent way. hie oe ‘he man has gone mad,” muttered Reid, who stood on the deck of the leading proa; “‘ or has he indeed some reason for all this confi- dence? I don’t half like it.” The proas on the wings separated and began to crawl out to get to windward of the schooner and cut off her escape by sea, should the wind rise, and yet the Rajah never changed his indo- lent attitude, but, taking a long Manila cheroot froma case at his side, began to smoke, tran- quilly, an amused simile upon his thin face. "'Tarnation cute, them critters ar’,” he mut- tered. ‘‘Wal, wal, wal! this world is all a fleeting show and I reckon it is almost time for the cireus to open. See ‘em sneak ’round us. That’s right, boys—the further you get to sea the better we like it.” ak Four of the proas lay inshore, perhaps a league from the schooner, while the remaining six aimed to secure positions of vantage. The Rajah rolled ever in his hammock and watched | these attentively as_they spread out, perhaps | halts mile apart, ac] blocked the passage sea- ““T judge there'll be fun on the ocean in | mighty short order now,” muttered the Rajah. | ‘that we will see what had better be done with | ‘‘Oh, you darned fools, do | man to be caught napping?” you think Iam the As he spoke there was a slight trembling un- they had often | der the keel of the schooner, and the smile deepened on his face, while a wild cry broke from the lips of the Malays inshore, who were waiting for the others to take position. The schooner, without a wind, without a sail, be- gan to glide swiftly through the water toward the open sea, The oars dropped from their palsied hands as this strange phenomenon took place and a ringing laugh broke from the lips of the Rajah. : , 7 ‘*Row on, you dogs,” screamed Reid, wild with rage. ‘‘Though he can sail without a wind, I'll have that schooner or sink along- side,” Scarcely had he spoken when the proa on the Tight was seen to heave up suddenly from the sea while cries of horror were heard and the long craft began to settle rapidly and in a mo- ment more went down, leaving the men to bat- tle with the water. A moment later and the two others except that of Tom Reid sunk in the same remarkable way. | Reid was no coward, but such a strange fa- tality as this might have appalled the stoutest heart, and the Malays in his boat suddenly turned the proa, and, bending to their oars, began to row with all their strength toward the harbor, In vain Tom Reid stormed and threat- ened and even drew his weapons on them but it was of no avail. So thoroughly were the frightened that even the fear of instant death at his hands could not stop them, and the proa dashed into the harbor. is The Black Shereef, who was watching the progress of events from his tower, came dash-~ ing down, overturning all who came in his way, and ran toward the harbor, where he sprung into a boat and boarded the proa with his wea- | pons in his hands, “Dogs and cowards!” he screamed, ‘turn again, or by all the gods I will shoot you down in your tracks. Shall we leave our brothers te | die yonder? Shereef Reid, you are a coward,” "You lie!’ hissed Reid. ‘‘I have given the best years of my life to ous service, and when you say I am a coward, I say again, you lie! id them turn the proa and “board yonder cursed schooner, and see who is the coward— you or I!” . The rowers stopped, so utterly were they un- der the influence of the Black Shereef, and rowed out of the passage at a mad pace, heading to- ward the schooner, which they expected to find closely engaged with the six proas which bar- | red her passage to the sea. But as they cleared the harbor they saw the Wave Witch rocking as before on the tranquil sea; but of all the prcas which had gone so boldly out to attack her, not one was in sight. Every one had dis- appeared, and the sea was dotted here and us ere with the heads of men swimming for their ives, “What say you now, Shereef?” cried Reid. ‘©’ Am I a coward or have we reason to fear? Give the word to board her, and though there | be death in the track Iam not the one who will give back a step.” . The Shereef gave 8 signal to stop rowing and remained for a time in deep thought, his head bent and a look of indecisian on his face. At lasthespoke: ; “You were right, Reid,” he said, quickly. Let us save all the men we can and get back to the city. They are masters cn the sea, but | we can defend the harbor yet.” CHAPTER XI, | THE BLACK PANTHER—A VISION OF THE PAST, No time was lost, and when all was done | scarcely two hundred of the band who had gone out so bravely to the attack on the schooner remained alive, and many of their bravest chiefs had sunk to rise no more, The Malays hung their heads, for they felt the shame of this crushing defeat. Not one of them could say how the proas had been sunk, for although they feared that the Mystery had taken part in it. that dreaded craft had not been seen, as on for- mer occasions. They remembered only that they had felt a shock and the bottom was torn out of the proas, the water rushing in so rapid- ly that it was impossible to stop the leak, | “Tt is closing in on us, Reid,’’said the Shereef, in a low voice. ‘‘Give orders to the men to stretch the chains across the mouth of the harbor. We can bar the schooner out, at least.” Reid shook his head and as the proa landed, | turned aside to obey the orders, while the | Shereef, unatten ded, made his way to the aac: As he passed the suite of rooms which ha SS Lcomicbooks:cor na