Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 386 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

a ~ s ~ * q > - ———— — <—"—- . : Ss ih | Captain Cutl ee ee Se ee Paylight bad broken upon the waves once more, and a brilliant glow along the eastern horizon told that the sun would soon show him- self above the burnished rim, All around the sea was lovely in varied colors produced by the strengthening light, but not a sail was visible through the elegant glass used by the Vampire’s ill-bumored passenger. The buccaneer brig was the only moving thing on the surface of the water, and it looked lone- ly amid the loneliness of the sea, “Vd like to know what’s going on below,” said the Frenchman, as he abruptly closed the glass and threw a quick glance toward the ladder. ‘* Fortunately tor youj/Captain Cutlass, the girl is unarmed and I am not near to perform the service [I performed last night, Confound it! why didn’t I let her get even with you?” If Colonol Cristo had followed the buccaneer captain below he would have seen him advance straight toward the well, almost luxuriously- furnished room to which Lona Seward had been conducted on her arrival on board the Vampire. There was a certain eagerness in the captain’s eyes that seemed to quicken his steps, and when he reached the door of the room first mentioned he bestowed several light raps upon it. The response was the immediate approach of some one on the inside and the next moment the door opened, and the buccaneer stood face to face with the Pearl of Cartagena, Traces of a restless night just ended were clearly visible on the beautiful girl’s pale fea- tures, and her eyes lit up suddenly as she recog- Bane the man to whom she had just opened the oor. ‘*Do you want to enter here?” she asked, as she held the door partly open, though her form stood between Captain Cutlass and the interior of the cosey little cabin, ‘‘ You are master on this ship. This room even is not mine,” The buccaneer was taken aback by the ap- parent resignation in which the girl’s words were spoken, He had expected to bave her fly at him likea tigress, but the torture and grief of a single night had subdued her, ‘*I came hither to see you, and I will enter,” he said, and the next moment he had crossed the threshold of the cabin and the door was closed bebind bim, Captain Cutlass, a tiger of blood whenever he led his sea scourges over an enemy’s deck, ap- peared a different man in the presence of the American girl, He looked into her dark eyes, and instinctive- ly took a backward step. ‘*Stay, since you have come,” she said with a smile that mystified him. ‘* Captain Cutlass, | am unarmed and your prisoner, not your pas- senger. Listentome. Thereiscoming for last night’s work a day of vengeance whose retri- bution will make the heavens dark, You say you will land me in Cartagena, but I will not stay there.” ‘* It is your home,” ‘“Nay! My home is on the sea—on your pillage-ground!” the girl retorted gquickly. ‘*The drama which opened with a dead man lashed to a raft will close with a scene more startling than that.” ‘*Then, by Jove! I had better not land you at Cartagena!” cried the buccaneer, ‘‘Please yourself. I need not be consulted.” said Lona. ‘‘I care not where you land me, or whether you decide to carry me with you wherever you sail the waters in search of hu- man prey and golden treasure. The end wi!l be the same. Your decision, whatever it is, will not abate my vengeance one jot! I believe that you are not afraid to convey me to my old home,” ‘*No! I have sworn to plunder it.” “1 know that, and the man you sent adrift on the raft had sworn also that your attack should end your career.” Captain Cutlass smiled as the recollection of his inhumanity came back to bim, “What took my father from Cartagena?’ asked Lona eagerly. ‘Ido not know. Theship that carried him was bound to Porto Bello.” ‘‘He was bastening to me!” exclaimed the girl, and she took a mad stride toward the buc- caneer: ‘And you stopped bim!” For a moment she stood before the Vampire’s captain, all the revenge of her nature boiling in her bosom, then she turned suddenly away. ‘*Go! leave me!” she cried, ‘The planks you tread groan under the weight of your crimes, Take me to Cartagena, or to some lone island in mid-sea—l care not where; I will live for vengeance. Down upon your head, Captain ree eT ee een eee nnn ene nee en ee EE eS lS Cutlass, pest of the tropic seas, I call the ven- geance of Heaven long delayed!” She looked like an insulted queen of tragedy in the presence of the buccaneer, Her look and quivering finger were enough to make him recoil. ‘‘I will send the colonel down to you,” he said smiling. ‘*Do! Throw into my cabin a nest of ser- pents; only leave me yourself. As for Colonel Cristo, I will welcome him, Always welcome to a lady is the man she loves,” Why did Captain Cutlass start at the last sentence? Could it be that Lona Seward loved the dark- eyed Frenchman? No; she was trying the buccanecr, He did not stop to irritate her further with his presence, but hastily left the cabin, to hear the door shut madly behind him. ‘* What! has he gained her heart for all?’ he said to himself as he walked away. ‘ By the heat of Hades! I will see who wins in this ocean game of hearts,” Three minutes later he appeared on deck, and in his blind rage almost ran against the colonel, ‘You are under arrest!” he thundered, as Colonel Cristo turned white. ‘‘Go to your cabin and remain there. If you show yourself hae of it, ’ll hang you at the Vampire's yard! These ferocious sentences seemed to glue the bloodless colonel to the floor of the deck, ‘In the name of heaven, captain, what have I done?” he stammered, \ ‘“You’ve done enough!” was the flashing retort. ‘* Yonder’s the ladder, and you know where the cabin is. Here, Lieutenant Dramon, accompany this Paris edition of treachery to bis room, and place a guard over him, He’ll be lucky if he ever gets to attend mass in Carta- gena,” Colonel Cristo did not move till the hand of the Vampire’s lieutenant touched him; then he shook it loose, ‘*[ demand to know—” ** You demand on this ship?’ was the inter- ruption, ‘‘To the cabin with bim, Mr. Dramon, and then superintend the construction of a raft!” Hd 5 heart of the Frenchman sunk within im. CHAPTER V. A SPANIARDS COMPLIMENTS, THE sun rose hizher and higher, burnishing tbe waves that danced about the Vampire's keel, and lending to them a glare that dazzled the eyes, Toward evening the wind, which had been fresh and bope-giving, suddenly died away, and the sails of the buccaneer flapped no longer around her masts, Instead of night bringing on a new breeze, it brougbt a dead calm, so that the ocean pest lay steady in the moonlight, while Captain Cutlass, in no good mood, cursed the unpropitious hour, The calm became so monotonous as the hours crept on that the crew grew uneasy and more than ever superstitious, Captain Cutlass, in his angry mood, drove every one below, and took his station on the quarter-deck with a night-glass in band. Alongside of the Vampire rested a rather singular craft about twenty feet square, with an upright mast in the center. It was araft which was rough and had been newly constructed. ‘* I won’t send him adrift tilla breeze strikes us,” murmured the buccaneer captain as he glanced down at the raft as idle as his own ves- sel in the water. ‘‘ He’ll curse a blue streak and probably beg, but what of that? She has been foolish enough to declare that she loves him, and that’s enough. When they get ahead of Captain Cutlass they get up before day- break,” ‘Sail ho!” rung out from the crow-nest over- head so suddenly that the Gulf buccaneer started and threw a quick inquisitive glance upward, ‘Sail, the deuce!” he growled. ‘* This calm extends for miles.” ‘Sail ho! off the starboard quarter!” was the answer, ** Do you see it?” ““ Ay, ay, sir.” Captain Cutlass turned his glass in the direc- tion indicated by the watch, and swept the vast stretch of sea that lay before him. ‘*Can you make her out?’ he sent up to the watch, ** Not yet.” ‘** Does she bear toward us?” ass, the Ocean Spider. 5 SS “She seems to be making dead toward the Vampire,” was the answer. Before Captain Cutlass could reply, a puff of warm wind struck bis cheek and tbe sails flut- tered as they were partly filled by the breath, ‘‘That’s what brings her on if she bas the ad- vantage of the wind,” he said. ‘‘ What course marks she now?” ‘The same as before.” The buccaneer did not quit his tracks, but stood still and scanned the sea over his star- board, anxious to see the sail which had been re- ported by the watch. He did not think fora moment that a vessel could be bearing down upon bim with the speed indicated by the man in the _cro’-nest, His name had terrorized not only the entire Gulf, but the Caribbean and the cities on the shores of both bodies of water. He had been hunted, but not lately. More than one chase after him bad ended dis astrously for his enemies, and he bad added new power to the prestige of bis infamous name, Yet, here was a ship reported to be bearing down upon him, a ship unrecognized in the fan- tastic moonlight that painted with silver the crests of the waves brought into being by the wind which had just sprung up, Jt was enough to render the buccaneer a trifle uneasy. ‘‘ What isshe now?” he sent up to the watchin anxious tones after a minute’s silence on bis art. ee I can’t make her out yet.” ‘** Not yet?” Captain Cutlass bit his lip behind his last words, and began to ascend to the lookout. ‘**T’ll name ber,” be said, almost savagely to himself. ‘‘I don’t claim to have night-eyes, but I’]l make her out all the same!” He reached the lookout’s side, and gazed over his outstretched arm which pointed in a norta- westerly direction across the sea, ‘“We’re moving just a little, captain, bat that ship is actually driving before the wind,” said the sailor, Captain Cutlass made no reply for a moment. ‘*By Jehu! sbe will run afoul of us if she keeps on that way,” he suddenly exclaimed. ‘‘Our sails begin to answer to the breeze that sends her along. We sball kave a brush with some one within thirty minutes,” Captain Cutlass finished his last sentence ab- ruptly and scrambled down on deck, where he found himself face to face with Lieutenant Dramon, an athletic fellow who would have been handsome if bis one eye had not had a greenish glitter like a cat’s, ‘Station the gunners and open the arm- chests,” he said to the officer, ‘‘ We'll have an- other tussle within twenty minutes,” “ With whom?” ‘* Heaven knows, and I don’t care!” The lieutenant walked away, and once more Captain Cutlass turned toward the strange sail which seemed to be in league with the super- natural powers so rapidly did it approach. He could see the masts outlined against the moon, and now and then the night planet seemed to be blotted out by a sail. He saw the boarders reach the deck and station themselves ready to obey bis command, and at each heavy brass gun on the starboard side, stood men whom he could trust. The silence of death reigned on board the Vampire, and the men said not a word when they saw Captain Cutlass swing himself to his accustomed place among the rigging in the row, ee She comes on like a man rushing straight to doom,” he said between his teeth as he turved tothe strange ship now distinctly visi- ble and bearing down upon him as if deter- mined to strike him fairly regardless of conse- quences, ‘Ready down there, all of ye!” he eent down below. ‘* When I give the signal open on the sea fool with every availabie gun, ond if that doesn’t stop Lim, we’ll blood his decks!” A moment Jater the lookout overbead uttered an exclamation which found an echo on Cap- tain Cutlass’s lips, ‘By Jove! she wears! She will pass us, crossing under our prow unless she veers again!” The words of the lookows seemed to infuriate the buccaneer. ‘‘What! is the stranger going to escape us?” he cried, ‘‘ Am I going to miss a brilliant op- portunity to show another sea-fly that my flag still rules the warm waters! Ready, down there!” ‘‘ Ay, ay; ready it is, sir!” came up from the JNA