Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 280 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

fear I would break down, and J do not wish to dle. *““T have said that our poor Pearl was in the power of a pirate, and she is; for, eraft Brandt the Buccaneer released us, and we were on the way in a small coaster up to the city, we were retaken by the Sea Marauder. “ You have told me, Annabel, when I dared not speak, how you and Pearl were inveigled from home by a foe of min3, and of your being wrecked, and knowing that Brandt had seized the packet-brig Montezuma, upoo which I was ® prisoner, and then picked up the boat in which was Pearl. ** All this is true; but Brandt let us go free, bad as men say he is, and we fell into the elatches of this pirate, Captain Pierre. ‘Upon the very smack, from which he took us, he went on to the city, pretending to the skipper that he was a rich gentleman who had been captured and released upon payment of ransom. “Neither myself or Pearl saw him; but he left us, and his vegsel, in charge of his first officer, a dashing, handsome young man, and a gentleman in manner, whatever bis crimes may “He ordered the lieutenant to a secret re- treat he called the Lost Pond, on the coast some leagues: from the Mississippi Delta, and thither we went, while he visited New Orleans to get more men and several heavier guns for his truly splendid little vessel, that he might eruise in search of the Gold Ship, and finding her, be able to capture her. “‘ The lieutenant refused the bribes I offered him, to free us, for he would not betray his commander; but he learned, through an Indian spy that his vessel was near, and he determined to capture ber. ‘He believed, if he could take the Gold Ship, he would be freely forgiven for setting Pearl and myself free, which was his inten- tion, for he seemed to be a noble fellow and pitied us, well knowing the cruel nature of his commander. ‘Being short of officers, he asked my aid, and I, looking upon this vessel as the world believes it, to be little less than a pirate, will- ingly consented, especially as upon our success depended our freedom. — “I therefore took command of two of the pirate boats, under Lieutenant Murell, and the result you know. “ He, and those of his crew not killed and wounded retreated to the boats and escaped when beaten back by you, Captain Monte, and remained bebiud, and our daughter is in the ds of the pirates, who must have reported me ap dead” “But, from what you say, sir, of this young pirate lieutenant, there is every reason to be- Heve that he will act with honor, now that she ia 0 wholly in his power,” said Merle, ‘* Of that, sir, I have no doubt, pirate though be is; but his captain may have. returned, and I know what he is.” There was a certain significance in his tone and words, in referring to the Sea Marauder, that fmpressed those who heard him with the idea that he knew more of the outlaw chief than he had admitted, and Mrs, Branch asked iu a low tone: ‘**Do you know this Captain Pierre, Basil?” “T do, Annabel.” “‘ Has he come to hate you?” “ He has.” “How know you this?” “From certain things I saw, that belonged to him on the schooner, I discovered just who this Captain Pierre Dupont of the Sea Marau- der is, “ Pierre Dupont?” cried Mrs, Branch, start- ing up. “Yos.” “Why, Basil, that was the name of the man who professed to have been sent by you, for Pearl and myself.” ‘*T know it.” * He told. us to call him Pierre, and we did wo; but bis name was Pierre Dupont.” : Merle Monte’s Fate, * = = “ And that explaim the mystery of his de serting the»Gold Ship, the night we lay off: that inlet, waiting te ren in with dawm and attack the pirate vessel reported at anchar there,” said Merle. ** Yes, i¢ was his vessel, and he escaped by swimming to it, and, in the darkness. got his boats out with muffled oars, and towed to sea,” replied Basil Branch, and he added: “This his lieutenant told me, and more, for he said that his captain had gone to New Orleans and sent down word to him to lie in wait for the Galveston packet schooner Fly- away and capture her, and that he would find him, and more valuable prisoners passengers on board. “The schooner, so says the Lieutenant Mu- rell, had given chase to the Flyaway, which was a very nimble-footed craft, and had es- caped him in a storm tbat had come on.” “That is true, every word of it, and this Pierre, or Dupont, tried all he could to make Captain Trenor believe that the schooner in chase was an American cruiser. “ That night the Flyaway was wrecked, and you know the rest,” said Mrs. Branch. “ Well, I know just who this Captain Pierre Dupont is, Annabel,” responded Basil Branch. ‘** And who is he, Basil?’ ‘*Do you remember that I once detected a man, I believed to be a gentleman, and who was so looked upon, in cheating his opponent in a game of cards, on which hung a heavy stake?” *‘I do remember him,” said Mrs. Branch in a low tone, “That man was the one your father had se- lected for your husband, though I believe you did not love him; but my expose of his ras- cality bent him in dishonor from his circle of friends, and he went from bad to worse, until he become the head of a band of river pirates, known as the Mississippi Marauders, “One night, Captain Monte, I rescued my wife here, and her father, from that band. ‘‘Mr. Tracey, Annabel’s father, was severe- ly wounded, and I had him taken to my plan- tation home, The Retreat, and there he died.” “It was the very night, too, that your father died, Basil, and you were standing on the river-bank, sorrowing for his loss, when you heard the fighting upon the river, and came to our rescue; but are you ill?” and Mrs, Branch sprung toward her husband, who had suddenly become livid. ** No, no, it isa passing weakness,” he said, quickly, ‘*Perhaps we are taxing your strength too much,” suggested Merle. ‘*No; let us have it over with now,” he murmured, and then he continued, and in a stronger voice: “Well, your old lover, Annabel, led those Marauders that night, and escaped by swim- ming ashore, though he was wounded by me, “It was reported that he was killed that night, and so we all believed, as you know, but what I discovered upon the Sea Marauder proved to me that her captain is none other than—” “Dupont Pierson!” almost sbrieked Mrs, Branch, ** Yes, and he has changed his name of Du- pont Pierson to Pierre Dupont, and that of Marauder of the Mississippi, to The Sea Ma- rauder.” ““Now I recall him, though his long beard, and the changes in his face that seventeen or eighteen years have made, made him unknown to me then as Pierre,” said Mrs. Branch. “Yes, he is an old foe, and, when in his power to accomplish it well, he sought revenge against us, and though you and have escaped him, Annabel, our child is in his power,” CHAPTER XII. A MYSTERY SOLVED. THESE were crushing thoughts for the poor mother and the father, to feel that Pearl, their beautiful daughter, was at the mercy of their old foe, who sought revenge against them. True, Basil Branch took some hope in the . thought of what he knew of Vance Murell, the. pirate lieutenant, and felt that he would pro- tect Pearl all in his power. Yet still he feared for the worst, and earn- estly urged Merle Monte to do all in his power to capture the Sea Marauder, As he had been, allowed the .freedom,of the deck on the schooner, and even to fish in the lagoon, when Pearl was.on the vessel, he felt be could again find the Lost Pond, and he begged Merle to head at once for that part of the coast, and, by the time they reached there, he would be well enoughh.to be lowered into a small boat and make the search at least. — This Merle decided to do, as something might have detained Captain Pierre in the city and the schooner yet be awaiting his coming im the Lost Pond. Merle could also understand, from the de- scription given. of the place by Basil Branch, why he had been unable to find the little vessel. At once, then, the Gold Ship was put about and headed for the neighborhood of the Delta of the Mississippi once more. While en route, one pleasant day, Merle en-~ tered the cabin, and, telling Mrs. Branch to go on deck and get some fresh air, said that be would remain by the side of her husband, She was utterly worn out with worry and nursing, and readily consented, and Merle threw himself into an easy-chair beside his guest. “Mr. Branch,” he said, after a few words om ordinary topics, ‘‘may I ask you what claim Brandt, the Buccaneer, had upon you?” The wounded man turned very. white, and for a inoment did not reply, Then he said: “‘T do not understand you.” ‘“‘T asked what claim Brandt, the Buectneer, holds upon you?” “None, sir,” the wounded man said, with some indignation of tone. “Tbelieve you, sir; but when.I last.saw Brandt, the Buccaneer, when I parted with bim on his way to the city to be tried. and hanged, he asked me to do him a favor.” ‘Well, Captain Monte?” “That favor was to send a message te New Orleans, to seek out one Basil Branch, a planter and a gambler, he said—” “ Sir hd ‘Those were his words, Mr. Branch,” “Pray continue, sir,” said the planter, with something very like a sneer in bis tone, ‘* You shall hear all, sir, ‘‘He asked that my messenger should seek you and make known to. you that he wasa prisoner on board the Sea Wolf. ‘‘In Heaven’s name, what good would that do bim?’ “You are the best judge of that, Mr. Branch,” ‘Captain Monte, you deal in innuendoes,” “‘I will be more explicit, sir. “When I captured Brandt and his men off Galveston, through the aid of your noble wife, who led him into a trap ‘et for him, I brought him on board of this vessel in irons for safer keeping. “‘In the state-room in which he was confined, Mezrak, my slave, found a roll of papers whick he had evidently dropped there unintention- ally. ‘‘T have them here, and one is a letter from you to him, telling him that you will get him a crew to seize the brig, and see that her own men desert her from some cause. ‘‘ And also, that, as you are driven to de- spair by your losses at the gaming-table, and have beggared your wife and daughter, you will go with him as a lieutenant, to get money enough to raise your family above want once more, and that the world will know nothing or your sin, an@ those you love will be none the wiser. “This letter, Mr. Branch, lets out the secret, solves the mystery, and more, another paper is a copy of i given you to go to New Orleans and get him more men and bez JOOKS: GOmMmilG Cor neem