Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1117 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

~_—_— ee ee re ee = + : ’ : ) ) | ; q bear tbe dispatches, [ will have you sent at once ashore, and Midshipman Nevitte can show you the way to the home of the Secretary of the. Navy,” said the lieutenant in command, and who had taken a great fancy to the mys- terious ‘youth during the voyage from the Gulf. Armed with his dispatches, and attired sim- ply in a sator suit, for he declined the kind loan of a middy’s dress offered him by Mid- shipman Nevitte, for he said he had no right to wear it, Merle went to the home of the Sec- retary of the Navy, and gaining an audience, delivered his dispatches. The Honorable Secretsry read them with deep interest and pleasure, and grasping Merle’s hand, said warmly: ““My fine ‘lad, you have done what a num- ber of our captains have failed to do, and, as Meredith says, you are fully entitled to a midshipman’s berth in our navy, and the Presi- dent will give it to you gladly, I know, for I will present you to His Excellency, and urge it with these dispatches ” The Honorable Secretary was as good as his word, and the President not only appointed Merle a midshipman, but ordered him back to Vera Cruz, to join Captain Meredith on the Sea Wolf, and as the bearer of important dispatches to American officers serving in the Gulf. After a week’s stay in Washington, Merle, accompanied by the faithful Mezrak, and dressed in a new middy’s uniform, departed by stage for Baltimore, where he was to take a packet-ship for New Orleans, from whence he could take another vessel to Vera Cruz Arriving at Baltimore, Merle found a swift- sailing brig was to sail the following day, and he at once secured passage on board for him- self and Mezrak, The vessel sailed on time, and Merle saw that she carried but fow passengers, though her cargo was one of great value, so the captain confidentially informed him, seeing thet he was a naval officer, adding: “T make the run with more confidence, now tbat Brandt the Buccaneer is captured. “That was a gallant youngster that captured him, and he deserves the middy’s berth the President gave him, and the papers are making a hero of him, and it is right they should.” Merle blushed and turned away; but it soon leaked out, through the purser, that he was the famous Merle the Middy, and he at once found himself a sea-lion on board the brig, a notoriety his retiring nature caused him to shrink from, while Mezrak by no means regarded with equanimity the attention bis cutre form and black face attracted, and wished himself and master well back upon Treasure Bland CHAPTER XXITT, A LEAP FOR LIFE, AmonG@ the passengers on the Neptune, which was the name of the brig on which Merle and Mezrak took passage to New Orleans, was a padre who seemed to be anxious to eultivate the friendship of the youth. But Merle did not like his face, in spite of his holy garb, and he was no person to pre- tend friendship for one he disliked, and he persistently shunned the priest and all of his party, which consisted of several brother padres and halt’ a dozen Sisters of Charity, who were all going to the convent in New Orleans, they saia. Mezrak had also taken a particular aversion to the oily-faced padre, and told Merle there was that in his face’ which made him believe him a wicked man, “Oh, he’s a wolf in lamb’s clothing, Mezrak, you may depend upon it,” said Merle to his “shadow,” as those on board the brig had mamed the black, For awhile all went along well, and the Re the Middy. _ making a ale Aa ie 7 Seat hace hom dete | ranking’ ‘a: good run of it, when Abaco was sighted. At the first view of the Hole in the Wall thepadre and his party congregated upon the quarter-deck and conversed together in a low tone, while Merle and Mezrak, who were forward at the time, stood watc hing them, Presently, without the slightest warning, or a suspicion of evil having entered the minds of the passengers, the padre suddenly threw off his priestly robe and a man in sailor garb was revealed, A man, too, who was armed with sword and pistols, as was also the whole party of supposed padres and Sisters of Charity, and who now were unmasked as desperate men. Like an avalanche they swept down upon the passengers and crew of the brig alike, and in an instant the vessel was in their power. “Tt is Brandt, the Buccaneer,” cried ,.Mezrak in his own tongue. At the same instant Merle had recognized the daring chief, and both he and Mezrak saw at a glance that resistance was now useless, ‘‘Take those two devils, for I have a debt to settle with them,” yelled Brandt Brentford: in stentorian tones, and half a dozen of his men sprung forward. to obey. Merle and Mezrak were both calm, and had determined to sell their lives dearly, when sud- denly the black cried: ‘Up into the rigging, master.” Instantly Merle obeyed, and with wonderful rapidity and agility the two made their way up to the fore cross-trees. “After the white imp and black devil,” yelled Brandt, and after them came his men. Then Merle saw what Mezrak’s quick eye had discovered—a loop-hole of escape, The brig was gliding slowly along in deep water, and not five fathoms from a rocky island, the bigh cliff of which almost overhung the decks. She was approaching a point where she must luff sharp, and Merle saw that as she did so the end of the heavy yard must almost touch the jagged rocks, for, left for a moment during the seizure by the pirates without a helmsman, the brig had drifted nearer inshore than was safe, and when at last one of Brandt’s crew did spring to the wheel, he saw that be must let her pass by the eni of the island before he dared luff. At a glance, as they bounded upon the yard, Brandt also saw the plan of escape so hastily formed by Mezrak and Merle, and he yelled, savagely: * Luff! luff sharp! curse you, helmsman!” The man tried to obey, and, with nimble foot, Merle ran along the yard, followed by Mezrak, while up the rigging after them came half a dozen buccaneers, their long knives in their teeth, while Brandt emptied his pistol at them from below “‘A thousand dollars each for the life of that boy and black hound,” shouted Brandt, the Buccaneer, in frenzied tones from the deck, But, reaching the ead of the yard just as the brig began to luff in answer to her helm, Merle glanced back, and crying out, ‘‘ Come, Mezrak, s made the leap for life. An instant he was poised in the air, and then lighted upon the rock in safety. The next instant, with a mighty bound, Mezrak also made the leap for life, and having further to jump, as the brig was swinging off, his foot just touched the edge of the rock. But, with a strength he had not believed he possessed, Merle grasped him by the out- stretched hand and dragged him forward. His foot slipped and he fell upon the rock half his length, but Merle held him with iron gripe and saved his life, Springing to his feet Mezrak drew Merle back from the edge of the cliff just in time to escape a volley of musketry from the deck of the brig, while there also rung in their ears the cheers of the imprisoned passengers and crew at their daring escape. As Merle and Mezrak moved away ‘o 906k a | swift-sailing vessel, with fair breezes was | place of safety, they suddenly startea back at 1s discovering several rough-looking men ap- proaching them sopms Be a rocky path upen the top of the cliff. CHAPTER XXIII, THE WRECKERS. Ir was very evident that the four men, whom Merle and Mezrak saw, were as much surprised as they were, at seeing them, for, they halted at sight of the youth and black, and communed excitedly together, as though by no means understanding their uncere- monious invasion of the isJand. In his cruise North on the Scorpion, Merle had heard from his brother officers of a band of wreckers who infested many of the Bahama islands, and by displaying false beacons on stormy nights lured vessels to destruction, He knew also that the United States had sent vessels especially to hunt out these inhuman wretches, and after a closer look at those in bis front he did not doubt but that they were some of the gang. ‘‘They are undoubtedly wreckers, Mezrak, and if so, worse than pirates, for they risk nothing to get gold, so let us beware,” he said. “There are only four,” said Mezrak, calmly. ‘Yes, and we are not armed, for I fired my last shot on the brig.” ‘‘Mezrak is armed, master,” was the low reply, and the slave took from the bosom ef his dress a pair of pistols and handed them to Merle, while he drew from the folds of his full trowsers a short cimeter. The wreckers also had weapons in their hands, but seemed considerably dismayed at the sight of Mezrak. ‘“Who are you, senors?” asked one of the wreckers. But as he spoke he fell dead, and the shot came from on board the brig, which had stood off some little distance and fired a volley of musketry over the top of the cliff. Taking advantage of this unexpected attack, Merle cried: ‘‘Come, Mezrak, now upon them,” Panic-stricken, the wreckers turned to fly, when a second of their number fell by a shot from Merle’s pistol, and driven mad, like hunted stags, the other two turned and stood at bay, firing a shot that brought Merle down, With a ery of frenzy, Mezrak bounded forward, and unhurt by the fire of his foes, rushed upon them like an enraged tiger, and unmindful of their resistance, seized one and then the other in his iron grasp, and drove his blade deep into their hearts, Throwing them aside as worthy of no further notice, he ran back to Merle, whom he found seated upon the ground, coolly examin- ing a bullet-wound in the calf of his leg, ‘‘Oh, master, you are wounded!” cried Mez- rak, in trembling tones. « And you avenged me, good Mezrak; but it is only slight, so do not worry, but bind it up for me.” The black at once took the youth in his arms and went further into the island, until he came to a spring of clear water. Then he carefully dressed the wound, saw that the ball bad cut its way out, and neither hurt the bone or cut an artery, and said; “T am happy, master, that it is no worse, Rest here, while 1 go and see if the brig has gone on and if there are more of these wretches on the island.” For an hour Mezrak was gone, while Merle calmly went to sleep in the cool shade of a tree, and then he returned with the report that the brig had sailed on;}\and was over a league away, and that he had found, anchored in a@ small basin near by, a small ‘sloop of about fifteen tons burden, and a man on board, ‘‘ Where is he, Mezrak?” “ Allah has him in his keeping, master,” was the significant reply. “Then we have a way to Jeave this islands” eagerly said Merle, icbooks.com