Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 377 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

(f : u y © } ah, eae ot ~% > < 4 ; 5 y - -s * - aaah. - A af a Yr ws } | 77 f bs « » , + . > + be ‘ ‘ ; : Fy vs me.) aay i Nt aa a went over the side into her boat, refusing the offer of the young captain, to allow his men to aid her in rigging the spar, ‘*Wind come round; better go; this heap bad place with wind north, ” said the Indian pilot, walking up and joining Mark. “All right, Pasquagoula, we will get out as soon as the boat returns, for the wind is chang- ing,” answered Mark, and half an hour after the schooner was again out in open water, though the little sloop had not heeded his warn- ing and followed him away from the unsafe anchorage. So rough continued the sea, and as the wind did not abate, Mark Bonodel would not leave the deck during the night; but at dawn was about to retire, when Sutro came to relieve him, when the lieutenant said: ‘‘Captain Bonodel, [ am sorry to tell you, sir, that one of the boat’s crew last night robbed a young girl who was on the sloop of this trinket,” ‘‘ What! did one of my men dare do an act so vile?” angrily exclaimed the youth. ‘Yes, sir, and he offered it for sale to the boatswain, who reported it to me and I took it from him, ‘“‘Tt seems there was a sOUNE. girl on the sloop, and about her neck she wore this chain and locket, which the man robbed her of when they were ‘getting the spar on board,” and tho officer placed the trinket in the hands of Mark Bonodel. It was a heavy double-miniature locket, stud- ded upon one side with precious stones, and upon the other were engraved some names and a date. The chain was massive and of solid gold, and fastened with a clasp, which was broken and tied with a thread, the latter having been cut iby the cunning thief, One glance at it and Mark Bonodel uttered a ery, while his face flushed and paled by turns. At first he could not utter a word, and then he said, in a hoarse voice: iy Senor Sutro, I know this locket and chain, though I have not seen them for eight long years, and then this chain was about the neck of my little sister, the one I now am seeking the world over to find. “* See, here are the names of my father and mother; ‘Sé+MARK—LITA. “*May Ist, 17— ““That was the date of their marriage, and their miniatures are within. See!” _. He touched a spring and the locket flew open, revealing skillfully-painted likenesses of a hand- ‘SOx oung man and a beautiful maiden. y God! I have found my little sister Lita : e tastes and, Senor Sutro, I forgive and bless the man who.stole this locket, “Ho, lads! to your posts, for back to the island we go, for there awaits me one whom I have sworn (0 find.” ‘‘Ready about!” sung out Senor Sutro, and ‘the schooner was at once put on her course back to the island, where she had parted with the little sloop, Mark Bonodel the while pacing the deck in nervous, anxious expectation, the locket and cnain clasped tightly in bis hand. A few bours’ run and the island was sighted, but nowbere visible was the little sloop, Tt had disappeared, but whether it ad sailed away or gove down none could tell; and white as a corpse, Mark Bonodel groaned: ‘‘Round and lost within a few short bours, No, no, no, not lost, for J will find ier if Igo the world over !” CHAPTER V. THE WATER WOLVES. A SMALL sloop was gliding rapidly through the waters, a few days prior to the scenes re- lated in the foregoing chapters, and though her surroundings were dangerous in the extreme, the man at her helm picked bis way through reef, rock and island with a skill and nerve that showed constant exposure to peril. ~ The sloop was some twenty tons’ burden, car- ried a large sail and jib, a:.d ber hull seemed to have been constructad for both speed and car- Trying capacity. She stood well up neaen the pressure of the ; - seven-knot breeze that was blowing, and though the numerous islands, currents and reefs about her rendered the waters rough she kept her decks dry. There were but three persons visible on board laid one of these held the helm. The latter was a man with a striking face, one that appeared, as it were, a wreck of what __ Bonodel, the Boy Rover. | had once been noble, but which a life of crime had indelibly stamped. He wore a stern, impatient look, and bis eyes were almost fierce in their flashes. Dressed as a seaman, he wore a belt of arms, and seemed like one who would use them upon the slightest provocation. About bim were the perils of sunken rocks, reefs and innumerable islands, for be was cruis- ing in one of the most dangerous localities of the Bahamas; but he seemed to know his way and unhesitatingly pursued it. Near him, in tbe door of the companionway leading to the little cabin, sata woman. Her appearance was ‘strange, for she was dressed in rich silks, velvets and Jaces and wore diamond jewelry in profusion. The rich clothing’was soiled by ill-usage, and she seemed to wear it as she would have done a homespun dress, with no care to keep it from destruction. Her face was still beautiful, though she had reached the medium of life; but, like the man ’s, it bore the impression of evil which had sullied its loveliness long ago. She was idly watching the wake of the sloop as it glided along, but the varied expressiouws flitting over her face showed that her thoughts were busy. Lying forward, at the little cabin, at full length upon the ‘deck, was the toird person upon the sloop. It was a young man, possessing fine pbysical proportions, with a face that wes very handsome, thoigh darkly bronzed by exposure. He was dressed in a fanciful costume, such as a buccaneer might wear, and seemed to be something of a dandy in bis attire. His face was a study, forit had not been trained to hide his feeli ings, and nearly every thought, good or evil, flitting across it could be plain! read, ambold, I half-fear that we should not have turned back, when almost in sight of our port,” suddenly said the woman, addressing the man at the helm. ‘You know why I did so; of Leo’s dream.” ‘*T know, and yet I feel that we should have disregarded that, when we had our treasures here On board, and once they were disposed of we could have returned to the island, gotten all else there, and set sail for some port where we could land in safety.” ‘‘ We can do that as itis, for Leo and the girl can carry the rest of the booty upon tbe other craft,” “T hope so; but I tell you I don’t feel just right about the way things are going of late, and the warnings we have received cause me to be anxious to leave the island, give up our wild life, and settle down to enjoy the riches we have accumulated.” ‘‘You have my desire exactly, wife; but I did not wish to go until we had gotten a large fortune,” ‘* And that we Lave certainly.” ‘‘- Yes, even if the booty goes at half value; but bad we gone on into Havana, after Leo hud dreamed he saw me hanged, I am confident that some evil would bave befallen us.” ‘‘We were not once so superstitious, Wam- bold.” ‘*No, we were not then wicked, and it is the evil who are the most superstitious,” responded the man. ‘“ Well, back to the island we go, load the other craft with booty, and, taking the girl, sail for some American port where we can dis- poss of our treasure and live in peace; is that it was on account it?” ‘. Yes, ” ‘You do not fear that the girl may betray what we have been?” ** No, for I shall have Leo marry her, and he will soon teach her what she can and cannot talk about, when among other people; but should she be troublesome, why I wi simply ut my knife in her beart.” ‘‘ And thus lose the fortune we hope to get by restoring ber to her people, for you know tbat the old man, whom we found on the wreck with her, told you, before he died, that she was the daughter of rich people, sent off for some reason, which he believed was for others to get ker fortune?’ ‘Yes, I remember all; but I would rather lose any fortune she may bring us, than lose my life through her tongue.” ‘*Certainly, Wambold; but now tell me what you think of that little craft which the girl calls the Sea Ghost?” ‘‘T think there is some trick ss it, as there is about the rae Pirate. .3 t ad ~ ———— * ¢-ee- ey _- ‘‘ But how could she run into the basin in our island?” “That I cannot understand, unless she has some pilot on board who knows the channel,” ‘But, you, Leo, the girl, and the two pilots on the Phantom Pirate are the only ones who know the channel,” ‘*That is so,” said the man thoughtfully. “You know of no one else?” ** Not one.” “And yet the Ghost Craft came into the basin ia a storm!” ‘That is true, wife.” ‘‘ And if it was a human crew on board, how did they know your name and mine, to leave us the warning they did?’ ‘‘By Heaven! but Ido not know, wife,” ex- citedly said the man. “T tell you, Aifred, the vessel is a spirit craft, as the girl gays, and we must not tarry on that island. : ‘* We have been wicked, oh! so wicked in our ives. ‘We wronged one whom you loved, because she loved another, and I bated her because she married the man I had hoped to marry. ‘‘Then, I deserted by the man, you. by the woman, we loved each other through the very hatred we felt for them, and we became man and wife. “From that moment our evil lives began, and Heaven bave mercy on us for the sins we have since committed, my first being to poison the woman I bated as my rival, and your's to rob and kill your brother. : “Now, after long years, we find ourselves wreckers, and known as the Water Wolves of the B: ihamas, from our cruel deeds, ° ** We have amassed a fortune, but it is cover- ed with blood. ‘* We have a haunt we have believed impreg- nable, and yet it has been invaded at night by a spirit craft, and a warning left’ that we must die within the year, ‘‘ Away from that island, the Death Rock, whic has so we been our baven of refuge, I feel that we may live happy lives.” ‘Happy?’ groaned the man, evidently im- pressed by the woman’s rapid retrospection of . their guilty past. ‘* Well, we can live lives of ease, of luxury, | and no longer in fear of death at the yard-arm, or b bullet.” hope so sincerely, and I promise you, wife,” we will depart from Death Rock Island as soon as possible. "7 I shall hold you to your promise, Wambold, for I sbudder at the thought of returning there even for a night, and, for all our treasure, L would not do hat that girl has done.” “Remain alone upon the island?” sc Yes. ” : ‘*She knows no fear.” “I believe you, for she s the cliff, on the rope ladder, in the wildest — storms, and lights the Destt’s Head Beacon, when I dare not even Jook over the edge.” _ gs herself over ‘Yes, she has a cool head, and is a better « pilot through the channel than either Leo or myself, for there are times when the storm breaks from thé northeast that I would not run the gantlet by day, and yet she did so by night, as you know.” * And a fearful 2, it was, too; but she isa remarkable girl, and I only hope’ she will not betra No us.” o fear of her doing so intentiona ly, for she is true as steel: ; but baving been reared ignorance of wrong-doing, even when she lights the false beacon, she might, if not watched, sometime betray us without understanding what she was doing.” ‘‘Yes, she is as innocent as an infant, and Leo says that she does rot know what love is, for, when he told her he loved her, she said she did not have the feeling for bim, which she had - reas in books that those had who loved each» other, ‘Bah! what does Leo care whether she loves — him or not? She shall marry bim and that set- tles it,” rudely said the man. “Sail ho! "You must be blind that you ‘don’t see her,” suddenly celled out the yee man who was lying forward, springing to bis feet. The man and woman started at his words, and turned their eyes in the direction in which he gazed. They had almost forgotten where they cay woe during their earnest conversation, the e- chanically rags Mee sloop upon her way, “She has masts and is a small schooner,” cried the ety as he saw the top-_ bam r of a craft above an island. es, and such is that spirit craft,” . said ‘ | ye Ts , a) a oe Ha 4. mi, < 4 - . % Ns mK: 3