Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 187 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

—— tree eee ee I loved you when I first saw you--when I was little more than 4 child, and looked up to you as a flower looks up to its star. I love you now that I am near- a man—that I have a man’s heart and hopes. ou will forgive me, Rose, for speaking so. It may be a boy’s enthusiasm—but it is a boy’s faith, a boy’s hope, a boy’s love—and they will not fade, oi grow warmer and deeper when manhood comes me. During this warm, passionate outburst, in which the whole soul of the speaker seemed to flow out upon his voice, and in which his frame swayed to- ward her as if irresistibly driven by attraction, Rose stood pale and silent. But ere he ceased a flush re- lieved her pallor, a rosy hue which overspread her face as from a light within. She, too, seemed sway- ed toward him, her “an trembled, her hands were in- voluntarily extended, “Do not say that I have sinned beyond redemp- tion,”’ he cried, after a momentary pause, in whicn she had made no response. ‘* Do not say that I have insulted you—a poor waif like me. I would never have dared to speak but that you told me you were reduced to my own level in fortune. In worth you are yet far above my level.”’ ** Not so,” she cried,in reply. ‘‘I am but a butter- fly of | fashion—you a true-souled and courageous man.’ Fred caught her extended hands, the warm light of hope burning in his eyes. He drew her unresist- a, Dig tag him. e are but boy and girl vet,” he said, in a whispering tone. ‘ But we will be man and woman. I love you and will make myself worthy of you. Say that I love not quite in vain. Say that you will wait forme. Have I your answer, Rose?” Yes,’ she softly replied, yielding to his gentle force, as his hand slipped round her slender waist, his impassioned eyes looked down into her moist and love-lit orbs. CHAPTER XXVI. AN UNEVEN FIGHT. A WEEK and more had passed since the dateof our last chapter. It was growing late in September. Summer had fairly vanished, and the chill of au- tumn was in the air, but still some scant visitors lin- gered at the shore. Rose Darlington seemed in no hurry to return home, and her indulgent father consented to pro- long his visit. He, in fact, had the same object in view as herself. That object was Fred Halyard. But it was Fred Halyard considered from very dif- ferent points of view. Will Howard was still at the shore, occupying his time in gunning and fishing, and keeping but scant intercourse with Mr. Darlington, none at all with his daughter. This was not alto ether Will’s fault, for Rose would have nothing to do with him. The young man had repented somewhat of his hasty words on the day of the picnic, and would willingly have withdrawn from the position in which they had placed him, But it is often much easier to get into a scrape than to get out of it, as he now found to his cost. And as he did not fail to observe a certain intercourse between Rose and Fred Hal- — ~s exasperation against that youth was re- dou Fred thus had two bitter enemies in Beach acy fa the second be Amos Yarnall, who was far the most dangerous foe, as being more ruthless and ut- terly unsuspected, And from certain interviews be- tween these two persons it seemed probable that they had discovered this mutual feeling. uble of which he did not dream was evidently concocting for Fred Halyard. When he rowed Amos Yarnall up the inlet, one September after- noon, on a fishing sepusion, he never imagined that he had in his boat his most deadly foe. Yet if he had witnessed the close conference be- tween the two conspirators that morning, or had noticed the care which Yarnall took to have the boat from an Mga point, he might not have nso men at ease. As it was he sawed with a mind free from anxiety to the desired fishing-grounds, which were three or four miles up the inlet. Here the boat was anchor- ed, and Bia passenger net to fisding & an easy, care- Jess sort of way t was not likely to very soon empty the ocean of its finny inhabitants. yu will not catch many unless you are more wide awake,”’ remarked . “They are here— plenty of them. But they don’t come up to any man’s whistle. I will show you how we coasters can coax them from the water.’ Fred was preparing his own lines as he spoke. He now threw them in, and soon justified his boast by hauling up fish after fish, while yet Mr. Yarnall had not succeeded in getting one to the surface. The fish were numerous and various in kind, and bit at the bait with an avidity that required little skill in the sportsman. Weakfish, sea-trout and bluefish were drawn up in abundance, and even a s en or two of that rare epicurean dish the pshead graced Fred’s skill with the lines. Even the amateur, Mr. Yarnall, began to catch some fish under his instructions. As night approached their boat showed very favorable results of the day’s sport in the large number of fish which covered its bottom, their rg yee shining like silver in the slant rays of the declining sup. ae an we have gone very vere Fett BS D king complacently at the 1res. aca that can sét up a fine boast in Beach City of Ay. SOL A Oe if you don’t spoil it by tell- in truth he 8 You can have all the credit,’’ returned Fred, Jaughingly. ‘*I don’t need to now to wake my reputation as a fisherma olks there know that I am sure death to fish,” a eee — + ee ee -_— me ee eee “*Then they had best not know that you were with me,” replied Mr. Yarnall, ‘or I will get very little credit for my day’s work. Fortunately there have been no boats about here this afternoon.”’ ‘*There comes one now,” remarked Fred, pointing down the inlet. Mr. Yarnall looked in the direction indicated. A quick gleam flashed across his face as he caught sight of a small boat, rowed by a single oarsman, about a quarter of a mile distant. ‘* Let us goup this channel,” he remarked to Fred. ‘We can let him pass without seeing us.’ The channel indicated was a narrow e which the sea had cut across Turtle Island; very contracted inwardly, but opening into a wide mout on its seaward side. Lt really cut the island into two distinct divisions. A few sweeps of Fred’s oars sent the boat up this channel, where a bend near its entrance effectually concealed the fishermen from observation. But they were not going to make so easy an es- cape. After a few minutes the sound of oars be- came quite audible, and it soon became evident that the coming boat was turning into the same passage. A few more strokes and it shot round the curve and moved up beside theirs. Fred looked up in surprise at this unexpected movement. Itwas with deeper surprise, and a flush of indignation, that he saw the occupant of the in- truding boat. The latter was no other than his foe, Will Howard. bred’s eyes rested on his face with a steady and rather fierce scrutiny which seemed to somewhat disconcert Will. “Well, sir,”’ remarked Fred, “one would think that you were anxious to see me, since you have taken the trouble to follow me in here.” “You don’t give me a fair chance to see you on the beach,”’ replied Will. ‘‘ After your challenge to a meeting I thought you had heart enough to keep to it like a man; and not to squirm out of m way, and force me to follow you up in this man- ner.” ‘I do not remember taking any special trouble to avoid you,’’ replied Fred, with a scornful curl of the lip. ‘Or to meet you either, for that matter. I hardly think you are worth the trouble.” “Coward!” cried Will, fiercely. ‘You dare not meet me on solid ground.”’ @ sprung ashore to the hard sand bordering the stream. ‘This is no sage boat, where you havea double advantage. We will have it out here, if you do not want to proclaimed a cowardly cur through all Beach City.” ‘*T am not very much afraid of you,” replied Fred, with a cool look that still further angered his antagonist, ‘either of your tongue or of your fists,” “You are aliar and acoward!” exclaimed Will, fiercely. ‘* Aninsulter of woman and acur before men. I wish to Heaven I had brought a horsewhip so that I could give you the chastisement such a dog deserves."’ ‘* Don’t trouble yourself to get in too great a rage. It is bad for the digestion,’”’ returned Fred as he qui- etly rose, and stepped from the boat. “I did not intend to soil my hands with you. But, as you are so very eager, and as I remember that I promised you the garg aie you deserve—”’ He did not finish, for his infuriated antagonist at this instant aimed a fierce blow at him which Fred only avoided by a quick stoop. He returned the compliment by catching Will by the shoulder, ere he recovered from the impulse of the blow, and, with a = trip, laying him at full length, prostrate on the Sa Fred slipped off his coat and mere By on the ground. “You will see that it is a fair fight, Mr. Yarnall?”’ he asked. “* Certainly,” replied that individual, ah uP an oar and helping himself from the boat with it. There was a hidden gleam in his eye that looked bad ae Fred, if he could get an unseen advantage of m. But Will was up and at him in, like a mada- dened animal, He was a trained boxer, and took care, now, to avoid the danger which his impetuosi- ty had led him into before. He had, in this, the ad- vantage of Fred, who knew but littie of boxing, but who made up by alertness and activity for the skill of his antagonist. For full five minutes the fight went on without a fair blow being gained by either party, and with no effect, except a degree of weariness, the result of their vigorous exertions. ‘“*I do not see that you are making any very active headway,” said Fred, tauntingly. ‘I fancied you og pee boxers could settle a greenhorn like me in no time.”’ Will Howard was growing too furious to have the expected advantage of his cool foe. He answered this last taunt by a rush and a grapple, with the urpose of ending in a hand-to-hand struggle what *he could notin a stand-up fight. Amos Yarnall had been standing at a short dis- tance, resting upon his oar, He nowcame nearer, as he saw them struggling in a fierce wrestle. Will Howard's rage had given his foe the exact opportu- nity he wished. If no boxer, Fred Halyard was the best wrestler on the coast. Howard, too, had some rience at wrestling, and was much the heavier and stronger of the two, so that Fred found hima toupher antagonist than he had expected. and down the sands my Ske. Semper clasped in a& strained embrace, lifting, bending, ‘ripping now the one, now the other, having the best of it, but both still weeping their fect, For a moment Wil] Howard gained an advantage fo his foe back step after step, Fred sought vigoro to recover, and had praced his nght foot firmly on a hard knoll of sand, when he felt the foot enddenly kicked from under him. It was Amos -__— - — Fred staggered backward, d g his antagonist with him. But, even as he fell, he played an old wrestler’s trick of his on Will Howard, which quite turned the tables. Flinging his left foot backward he gained a moment's leverage on the sand, and, In that instant, with a quick twist, the position of the wrestlers was reversed, They fell heavily together on the narrow beach, Will Howard under and Fred on top. With a low laugh of triumph the victor lifted his head, and shook the clustering hair out of his eyes. He looked down in the dark face beneath bim, con tracted with the rage of defeat, but with a gleam in the eyes whose cause Fred could not perceive. It was but an instant of triumph. It was followed by a whistling sound and a loud crash. A feeling ran through Fred’s nerves as if a rock had fallen with crushing force upon his brain, Then his senses vanished, his grasp relaxed, he rolled over and over on the sands with the impulse given by Will How- ard's effort to rise. And there stood Amus Yarnall with lifted oar, as if ready for another blow. It was the butt of tho oar which had fallen on Fred’s head, seemingly with force enough to crush in his skull. The two villains looked at each other, and then at the insensible and bleeding form, with dilated eyes, Amos Yarnall took a step forward and again raise’ the oar. His arm was grasped by Will. ‘Would you murder him?” the latter hissed, through his closed teeth. ‘‘It is satisfaction we want, not murder. I doubt if you have not done for him already.” He involuntarily trembled as he looked into Fred's white face, and noted the slow red stream that was painting the sands a dreadful crimson, Amos Yarnall looked at Will for a moment—a steady, unblenching look. “So it is not murder you want?” he queried, with a strange light in his eyes. “No! A thousand times no! have killed him—” “Don't get excited now, he is only stunned,” re- turned the cool villain. ‘‘I may have hit a little harder than I intended, but he will come to before a half-hour. And he is losing no blood to hurt. We had better leave him to make his way off the island, as he left you once.” “That's so,” said Will, with a momentary return of fury at the recollection. ‘*‘And there go the boats—floating out into the in- let,"’ Mr. Yarnall suddenly cried. ‘*After them quick, or we may be left on the island ourselves.” The water was setting through the channel, and had carried the boats so far that they were barely in time to overtake them. * Let us tow his boat out and set it adrift,’ said Amos. ‘No one knows that I am out with him, so! am safe on that point if anything goes wrong. It will be dark before we get to the city, and the boat will hardly be discovered before morning, so that he is good for a night on the island,”’ ‘Hadn't we best examine him further?’ asked Will. ‘‘He may be hurt worse than you think,”’ “No, heis not, It is only a scalp wound, I am doctor enough to see that, And let me tell yon that it is dangerous for you and me to remain here. would be awkward to be seen.”’ Yielding to this somewhat two-sided reasoning Will took up his oars and commenced to row out into the inlet, dragging Fred’s empty boat. He did not notice that Yarnall’s words had shown a belief in Fred's death. Nor had he observed, tn his excitement, a fact which his villainous compan- ion was bat ay Nh hly aware of, This was that Fred lay not two feet from the wa- ter’s edge, on a piece of gently-sloping sand, his head nearest the water. And this with a rising tide, which, in half an hour, would overflow the spot where he lay. Amos Yarnall had good secret rea- son in his haste to get his less villainous conipanion away from that locality. There was every reason to believe that the water would finish what the oar had only partly accomplished. Indeed, had they remained, they would have seen the water slowly, silently, encroaching upon the sands, inch by inch. It reaches and laps Fred’s disheveled hate It touches his head, lapping the bleeding wound. It slowly deepens, crawling up inch by inch, Half his a is submerged, ears are buried beneath the ng tide. It has reached his chin. It is flowing overhiseyes. Only hismouth and nostrils are free from the insidious, creeping waters. Nowit washes his closed lips. Two minutes more of this rapid swell and his nostrils will be clos- ed, his breath cut off, death come upon him with the loss of the breath of life! CHAPTER XXVIII. IN TURTLE ISLAND THOROUGHTARE. Hap the occurrences of our last chapter taken lace later they might have been interfered with om another source than the boats of stray fishei- men. For as soon as night fell a long, narrow boat "eg out from the inlet back of Beach City, manned y six stout oarsmen, and an equally stout cox- swald, who was no other than our old friend, Harry ins, For a week now they had been nightly patrolling the inlet, between Turtle Island and the swamps. The Mary Ann, with her contraband goods, might be looked for at any moment, and they were deter- mined to be not cheated of their prey as they had uegn Ss a i ae epee mat rol was supplemen y a signal-guard on the h lands bat of the swamp. From the inlet it would have been impossible to see the lights of a vessel beyond the island. A guard was there: By Heaven, if you Eomichoo cS (E(0)