Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1117 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

eo" — “We can run to some lonely island in the Gulf, send the best number ashore in a boat after water, and then sail and leave them there, for the few we retain on board we can Manage. ‘Then we can drop anchor in some port, divide the spoils and go our own way, leaving the yacht ownerless,” said Brentford, as he sat one evening in the cabin, the very day after the vessel had entered the waters of what was then called the Gulf of Florida, and had Orange Key dead astern of her. ‘*'The Rais talks as though the treasure was his own to divide,” said Toolah, looking up from the face of the baby boy she held in her lap. * Mine! oh no, but I certainly expect a share of it.” “No, the treasure belongs to the son of the Sidi and him only, and he alone shall have it,” avswered the woman, ‘‘Ha! you speak boldly, for I am the one who has the say here,” was Brentford’s hot re- sponse. ‘No, the Sidi gave his orders to his slaves, and they swore by Allah’s name to do his bid- ding, and neither Mezrak, Valik or Toolah will break their oaths,” said Valik firmly. “Well, I intended the boy to have his share, and you too, but as you seem to wish it all for - yourselves, and count me out, I will leave it to the crew and they will decide that the treasure is to be divided.” Just as Valik was about to make reply Mez- rak came quickly into the cabin and said earnestly: ‘*Come, arm yourselves, for the crew know all, and are coming to take the vessel and the treasure from us.” This came like a thunderbolt upon Brentford, and knowing that the crew would use him severely for keeping the secret from them, he saw his only safety was in siding with the two slaves, whose great strength and prowess he well knew, and considered them in fact, a match for the men in open fight. ‘*Come, lads, we must defend the treasure the chief left his child, and I will then run the yacht to a place of safety.” Both Valik and Toolah now mistrusted Brent- ford, but he was the one for them to side with, they knew, and he alone could carry the yacht into a port, so, after a word with Mezrak, in their native tongue, they decided to seek his aid in earnest in defending the treasure, ‘‘The Rais will find us true to the pledge we gave the Sidi, and those dogs must die if they come to take away the treasure,” said Valik, and he seized his huge cimeter and placed in his belt several long-barrel pistols, while Mezrak did the same, and after conveying little Merle to an inner Toadkscoow: Toolah also came for- ward well armed, and well did she know the use of weapons. In the mean time the mutineers had decided upon their plan, which was to come aft, seize the Rais and two slaves, and then take the treasure aud divide it, after which the yacht was to be run ashore and every man escape into the interior with his booty. If the Rais and slaves resisted they were to be killed. But there were two of the crew who, though siding with their comrades, were not in the plot at heart, but only to save their lives, These were two American negroes, who too greatly feared the Fetish of the Abyssinians to dare side against them, and determined, if op- portunity offered, to go with them against their - shipmates before the mast, As Brentford heard the steps of the mutincers approaching, he looked out of-the companion- way and asked sternly: ‘What means this, men?’ One of his own countrymen, the ove who had first discovered the secret that was kept from them; stepped forward and answered: ‘‘It means, Boatswain Brentford, that you have not treated us square, but have lied to sd “ Back to the forecastle, dog of a mutineer, Merle, the Middy. AT RA A, ST NE TNS TET NS aA ———__———._ — _ ee | Oe OL eee eee eee... 7 ———— ee Or — ——— ESSENSE —— —C— or it will be the worse for you,” said Brent- ford, sternly. But not a man moved; and the ring-leader resumed: ‘“No, we’ll remain here, and it will be the worse for you, bo’sen. ‘‘Tf the chief had lived we’d have served him faithful to the end—ay, and his sweet lady, too. ‘But they is dead, and the babby is too young to know a friend from a foe, and we’ve sworn you shall not have the treasure this craft holds for yourself and them three nig- gers. ‘So just keep quiet, and we’ll give you all your lives; but if you resist you'll die right here,” There was no mistaking these words, and Brentford did not seem to care to, He bad desperate men to deal with, he knew, and he was determined to take desperate measures with them. As he had stood there Mezrak had whispered to him that Valik had been called forward, be- tween decks, by some one of the crew, and this gave him hope. Now Valik had returned and whispered: “The two black Americans are our friends, so you, Mezrak and Toolah attack in front, and I will go through and attack in their rear with our allies.” This gave Brentford hope that the. battle would be won by the few, and determined to gain another advantage by quick and decisive work, he said: “You are then determined to take this treasure, Brail?’ ‘¢- Yes, me and my sbipmates.” ‘‘ Tt does not belong to you.” ‘¢ Nor to you, bo’sen.” ‘‘You will be committing piracy upon the high seas,” ‘¢ Well, I guess it’s no more than most of us has done afore, and they do say you was a pirate afore you joined the yacht,” was the bold reply. To this bold assertion Brentford made no verbal reply; but he responded by suddenly raising a pistol over the companionway hatch and firing. A shriek burst from the lips of the mutineer, and he fell dead upon the deck before his hor- rified companions, wholly taken by surprise, knew what had happened. 4 9 wee - | CHAPTER X. _ THE FIGHT FOR THE TREASURE, Tue Nemesis, when the mutineers marched aft, was barely moving along, for a breeze was fanning the waters hardly sufficient to wave the white field of the flag of Persia so that the lion in its center.could be seen. One man was at the helm, and he was also a mutineer. At the fall of the leader the helmsman left his post and sprung tothe side of his ship- mates. It was the one who had been the friend of the dead man, and was his countryman, and he now took the lead by shouting: ‘* Now, men, that traitor has sealed his fate. ‘*Gut him down!’’ All that the mutineers needed then was a leader, and with wild cries they rushed toward the companionway. But suddenly before them sprung Brentford, a cimeter in one hand, a cutlass in the other, and by his side was Valik,, and behind these two Toolah came, a pistol in either hand. The mutineers were armed only with cut- lasses, and there were four shots from the de- fenders of the treasure as they got near enough to cross blades, and, though Toolah had fired two of them, they were all fatal. But, maddened by the loss of their com- rades, ‘the mutineers rushed on, and their cut- lasses met the blades of Brentford and Valik just as three shots were heard in their rear, and as more of their number feli Mezrak and the two American negroes attacked them, . - & \ i ha dd "i P * cf ar . r ieee ae This was a terrible surprise to the mutineers, for seven of their number were dead, and now they had to oppose a force only half their own, and all knew what Mezrak and Valik were in battle, and had no indifferent opinion of Brent- ford, while besides there were the two negroes of the crew whom they had relied upon, and Toolah, who, though a woman, they had looked upon as a witch, or at least akin to the Devil. Taking advé intage of the surprise of the mu- tineers, Brentford “pressed the fighting, and al- most in a minute’s time they were beaten back and flew toward the forecastle, crying for quarter, having only succeeded in slightly wounding Brentford and one of the American negroes. But Valik and Mezrak, when their blood was up, were in po humor to give quarter, and with — Toolah at their back, screaming wildly and performing a kind of Fetish battle-dance as she ran, they followed up the mutineers and cut them downm. Brentford called to them to spare several of the crew to aid in working the yacht, but they did not heed him, and their blows fell thick and fast upon the heads of the mutineers, until those who remained in -abject terror ran and sprung into the sea to escape the black giants, preferring to die by drowning rather than to meet death at their savage hands, When the last one of the mutineers bad been disposed of, either by death or being driven to jump into the sea, where death, too, must fol- low them, the three huge Abyssinians came slowly aft, their cimeters dripping with hu- man blood, ‘for Toolah had also wielded death- blows around her. As they approached him, Brentford shud- dered, for he realized how little they would re- gard his life did he give them cause to take it. But he was no map to tamely yield a point, and having made up his mind to possess the treasure, he did not intend to give it up with- out a desperate attempt to gain it. The American negroes were more than ever impressed with the strange blacks, and stood grinning at the service they had rendered them by making the plot of the mutineers known, and hoping sincerely that that their good act would save them from all fear of the Devil forever more. ‘Well, Valik, you and your companions have certainly punished those fellows most se- verely, though you have left us short-handed to work the yacht,” said Brentford. ‘‘We have not very far to go, and we are ’ enough to man her if we keep her under short- ened sail, for there are four of us besides your- self,” said Valik. “ Well, we will manage to get along; but now what is to be done?” ‘Run to the island the mighty Sidi. was wrecked upon when he was a mere baby like his own child here. /“Tt is an island seldom visited, and for long years held the treasure of the Sidi, and can do so again until his son is old enough to claim it as his own.” ‘And where is this island, Valike” asked Brentford, with an eagerness he could not keep back, ‘*On the Mexican coast. “Tf you will head for Vera Cruz, from therd I will get my bearings, and find it,” was the cautious reply of the black, who did not allow to pass unnoticed the manner of Brentford. Valik and Mezrak were both good sailors, yet they were not navigators, and depended upon Brentford to find the Mexican coast for them, after which the former felt his ability to discover the island he sought, if the weather was pleasant. If not, he would wait until it was, for he was determined not to trust Brentford with the se- cret of its exact locality, for he feared the man might return there with a force it would be useless to resist. Knowing that the blacks suspected him, and himself suspicious of them, Bfandt Brentford could but do one thing, and that was to head the yacht for Vera Cruz ' . . ‘ Fee 14 me > 5 ae . , ei Me og > iad . Be x* P. we Je? Zz Pt Ly id ip “4 A bots ob Weare Sie ane ~ comicboc es ‘ “ ‘ he ys. Ra ae ot adlgn © Le rok ne ee ks.c om. + at Cccemtice sll oath See - Be ‘ ee hs es E * so be? Sg - r eal A Ls Be eRe g Que ute a bee