The Boy Captain of the Black Swallow — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

26 ing down swiftly upon her so as to meet her obliquely. Thurrel now seeing that the litile vessel was @ fishing smack, instead of an armed tender, as he supposed it to be, gave orders to his helms- inan to keep away; for'as he steered, collision seemed inevitable. But finding that the smack also kept more away to meet him, and suppos- ing this act to proceed from ignorance or care- lessness, he seized his trumpet, and, in a loud hail, commanded her to luff. He was not obeyed, when, with an oath, he called to his own steersman, Bissey, to put the helm hard up. Arthur did the same. Tharrel sprang into the weather rigging, and shouted, in a voice hoarse with rage and alarm: “Luff, you scoundrel! Luff, I say! Put your helm hard down, or I will fire into you! You will be aboard of me!” “TJ mean to come aboard of you,” responded ae ina loud, clear tone. “ Stand by, men, a Nearer and closer the two vessels rushed to- gether. Thurrel, in his fierce rage, fired a pistol, which he drew from his belt, at Arthur, who was at the helm of his vessel, but whom, in the darkness, he did not, of course, recognise. He could only see the form of the helmsman he would have shot. The next moment the bows of the smack struck the schooner just forward of her main rigging. Theshock was tremendous, and crash went the bulwarks, while the stump bowsprit of the smack snapped off short, and was pitched end over end heavily upon the ‘ Arnold’s” deck, striking her capstan in its fall, * Now cast your grapnels, and let swing the kedge, and we will bold her,” shouted Arthur, springing from the no longer useful helm, and brandishing his cutlass. The suction of the water swung the smack’s stern instantly round, broadside to the schooner’s side, her bows hugging the “ Arnold’s” main chains, The grapnels were now thrown'on board and drawn tight, and the heavy kedge, let go by the fall, swung through the air, and plunged down upon the forecastle of the “ Arnold,” breaking the deck with its heavy descent. “Now follow me, my friends, and she is yours !” shouted Arthur, throwing himself upon the quarter-deck of the schooner. Thurrel, who at first looked upon the collision as an accident, too late saw its object was hostile. When he heard the orders given to east grapnels and board, he hurriedly called to his men to resist. But they were so paralysed by the sudden surprise, that not a man of them resisted, but in a body they retreated before the unkrown and daring enemy, and fied be- neath the hatches and buried themselves in the forecastle. Thurrel and Bissey retreated aft, the former calling upon the boarders to know what and who they were. He fired two pistols as he reached the taffrail, which had no other effect than to make a momentary light, by which he saw that his deck was in the hands of nearly a score of armed men, and that their leader was Arthur Denwood, THE BOY CAPTAIN OF THE “BLACK SWALLOW. Arthur, by the fiash, recognised his foc, and bounded towards him. “Talbert Thurrel, you are my prisoner! Surrender, and your life shall he spared !” ‘Not without a blow for vengeance,” an- swered Thurrel, springing upon bim with a ent- lass, and dealing him a heavy wound upon the left arm, Jerry, at the instant he did it, east himself upon him and brought him down bodily to the deck. “Lie dar, you dog!” he cried, pressing his foot upon him. “If massa say de word, you dead afore you breathe !” * Don’t hurt him, Jerry. Do you surrender, Bissey ?” “ Yes,” answered the mate, throwing down his cutlass. Thurrel writhed and struggled beneath the negro, but his efforts to rise were unavailing. Arthur, heedless of his wounds, immediately gave orders to have the men who had fled down forward called up, one by one, disarmed, and at the same time gave his attention to the schooner, which, without a steersman, had come up into the wind, and every sail was shivering and flapping against the spars, with a loud and confused noise. Ben seized the helni and kept her away till everything drew freely again, when Arthur gent fire men into the smack, which had suffered no other injury than the loss of her bowsprit, with orders to cut her clear, rig a bowsprit from @ spar, and stand on after him. The two vessels, in less than ten minutes after coming together, were separated and clear of each other, and both in the hands of the brave party under Arthur's command, ‘What shall be done with Thurrel, sir?” asked Ben, now that the two vessels were steering along side by side. “He kicks and growls like a wolf.” “ Jerry, lead him into the cabin. By-and- by we willsee what is to be done with him. [ must first take care of the prize.” “ Johnny Bull will lose his fowls and fresh provisions, and have to go to another market,” said Ben. “How shall we stand on now, sir?” * Flow does she steer >” asked Arthur, after Thurrel had been taken below, gnashing his teeth at his fate, and maddened at an event as unlooked-for as it was mysterious; for how Arthur Denwood should cross his course and capture him at the head of an armed crew, he could not conceive. It seemed to him like a dreadful dream. In an instant, as it were, while sailing along securely, and full of the prospect of wealth from his dishonest and treacherous enterprise, all at once, as if arisen from the sea, his direst foe had leaped ape his deck, possessed him- self of his vessel, and made him a prisoner. He gnashed his teeth and groaned with rage and anguish at the thought. Jerry had rot got him below without the aid of the otheis, and there with ropes the black bound him firmly, seeuring the end of the piece of rigging oO COPMEOOC) S (E@) 3