Beadle's Dime Library No. 103 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

= 20 — Merle, The Mutineer. een -_ . o— —— —_ a scene that will bring joy to their hearts, let them at- | the sails, and Merle saw it crowded with a tend the execution, appointed to take place atsunset | wildly excited crowd, while upon the deck and water spattered the bullets of the infuriated Spanish soldiery, whose very excitement caused them to fire at random. Two minutes after they struck the water the greater part of the bold fugitives, encouraged by the voice of Merle, had reached the yacht, the cable was slipped, the sails let fall, and the swift vessel forged ahead just as the last disk of the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. ‘*How many, Buntline?” called out Merle, as he took the helm and headed for the open sea. ** Thirty, sir.” ‘*Sixteen gone! thank Heaven there are no more. If the muskets of the marines had been loaded with ball, not half of us would have reached the yacht. **Ha! old Moro, we have to run your gantlet now! Never mind, we will do it, for you can- not reach us.” And the fleet vessel glided swiftly out to sea, t <8 ‘When entreaties failed to move the Governor- | General to pardon, a plot was entered upon to rave, which, even though with desperate risks, bids fair to meet success, “A FRIEND OF MERLE TH™ MUTINEER.” ‘It is written in a bold hand, and I hcepe it is | truthful,” said the captain. | ‘*Might it not be written by some one who | was cruel enough to wish us to be here to wit- | ness the execution?’ asked Estelle. ‘‘No, I hardly think human nature can te so | fallen as that. It was left by a priest at the ho- | tel, the waiter said who handed it to me. ‘* Why any one in Havanashould wish to save | Merle, [ cannot understand, for I know of no friends he has here excepting ourselves. “If guilty of the charges made against him, and I admit appearances condemn him, much as | I love him I would not stand between him and | geese i but I confess I do not like this | under clouds of canvas, leaving behind her, a igh-handed act of the Governor-General, who | scene of the wildest excitement the surprised would not listen to me when I requested that Havanese had ever known. | i the prisoners be held to await the action of the So great was the confusion that it was some United States, and the ye Consul here, in | time before order could be formed out of chaos, the absence of the Consul, not the pluck to | and officers dispatched to the harbor, to order demand it.” every armed vessel there in pursuit. 3 What excuse does the Governor-General ** Ah, senor! will ycu kind! give me a seatin give, Arthur?” asked Estelle. your carriage? My father, tattain De Silva, has driven off without me to go in pursuit of the mutineers.” : : | It was Rena De Silva that spoke, and she ad- ‘There is the place of execution—oh, God! | dressed Arthur Grenville: but she did not tell my heart will break!” cried Mildred. him that she had purposely left her carriage Slowly, like the march of soldiers to the grave, | that she might thus meet the American trian moved the column now, the music breathing | of Merle. forth a plaintive requiem. | “Certainly, senorita! Nearer and nearer they approached the hol- | low square, the dense masses of humanity open- | ing to let the swe gare pass, and a breathless | silence over all. | Arriving atthe designated spot the column | came to a halt, and the marine guard was | | | ‘* That they are pirates; took a Spanish vessel in Cuban waters, and hence are not entitled toa trial.’ carriage just in advance of us. your arm and led her to his carriage, where, asking her name, he presented her to his wife and to Mildred. marched out of the line, the doomed men with- in the human and solid wall. Halting his men, Captain Angelos was about to give the order to the condemned mutineers to | march into position, when Merle, saluting him, | and with a ringing voice, heard by all, com- manded his crew to take their stands on the | death-line. | ‘“Santissima Maria! what splendid pluck | hands clasped and outstretched toward bim. ‘He is safe, and fully half his men escaped with him.” ‘* Are you certain he was not hurt?” ‘** If you mean the leader, senorita, I saw him distinctly with my glass; he seemed unharmed; but what a daring escape!” said Rena, with a look of admiration at Mildred’s beautiful face. ‘* Thank God!” and the maiden sunk back on her seat and covered her face with her hands, while Arthur Grenville, replying to Rena, said: ‘*It was a most marvelous escape indeed. They deserve to elude their pursuers and doubt- less will. Where can I drive you, senorita?” The senorita gave the address of her home, and there Captain Grenville left her, she thank- ing him most warmly for his kindness to her. Dropping Estelle and Mildred at the hotel, ar- | Captain Grenville drove rapidly down to the bor, and then one sweeping glance at the im- | harbor, for he was anxious to see how quickly mense sea of faces, and the wal! of soldiery pursuit would be made, and he sincerely hoped keeping back the curious, eager crowd. _ | that the yacht would escape, as Mildred’s strong As the marines faced the long, single line of faith in’ Merle had caused him to think him doomed men, Merle pei trey forward, and again | saluting Captain Angelos, took his position at the right of his crew, while in a loud voice he | cried: ‘* We are ready, senor!” Not a sound was now heard, in all that vast multitude; every man and woman felt their hearts stand still in expectancy, and the deep roll of the muffled drums made them start. ‘** Attention, battalion!” The command was in the ringing voice of Andrea Angelos, addressing his two hundred | marines, honored by their selection as the exe- | cutioners. | As they came to “attention,” another order that young buccaneer has,” cried the Governor- General to Don Fernando Miguel, the command- ant of El Moro. ‘“Magnificent! and his example makes his men show almost equal nerve, your Excellency,” was the reply. As the men marched to the death-line, some | twenty paces from the cliff, which overbung the | harbor, Merle glanced quickly around him—to | seaward, toward the city, down upon the har- represented. t was late when he returned to the hotel, but he found Mildred and Estelle awaiting him. Mildred, anxiously. the favorable part—the yacht has two hours’ good start of her pursuers, five in number, and they will have to beat out of the harbor, which gives her another great advantage, while the night has come up cloudy, is very dark, and Merle is sailor enough, with all this in bis favor, to elude the whole Spanish fleet.” ‘* Heaven, I thank thee!” cried Mildred, while Estelle bit her lip with a Cae vexation. ‘* Now to the remarkable part. A boat from the yacht came in while I was at the pier.” ‘* A boat!” exclaimed Mildred and Estelle in a breath. ** Yes, and itcontained none other than our faithful Dave, who told me he knew of the in- tended escape, because Merle had powerful was heard; but not in Spanish, and it thrilled through every heart, as in ringing tones Merle, the Mutineer, commanded: ‘* Ready, all! For your lives follow me !” | Then, with a few mighty bounds, the brave | man leaped clear of the cliff, and down, down | he went, sheer forty feet into the sea, while | above him the air was filled with flying forms, | as his whole crew followed him over the dizzy | bight. down to the beach, examined the position of Above them resounded wild yells of alarm, | the yacht, and told him to have her ready to the shouts of officers to their men, and then the | sail at a moment’s notice. This is all that Dave rapid and scattering rattle of musketry as the knew, or at least would tel) me.” marines poured in their fire. But every man of the mutineer crew passed over the cliff alive, though a few, losing their presence of mind, fell headlong into the water | | over the cliff?” “Yes, and when fairly under way Merle or- dered Dave into the gig, told him to row back and were stunned. to Havana, and tell me that Merton Ainslie Coming to the surface, coher down deep, | should return with the yacht within two weeks’ Merle struck out boldly toward his own beauti- | time. To you, Mildred, he sent word not to ful yacht, that was lying at anchor not half a cabie’s length from him, and as his men arose they quickly followed him, several of whom, oe Fs to swim, were supported by their com- rades. There seemed a show of resistance on the yacht; but a dozen men leaped upon it, and Merton Ainslie and his black crew were driven pellmell into the cabin and locked in, not at all unwilling prisoners, for Dave had told the mate and his companions “ somet’in’ mighty fine was goin’ ter happen.” One glance at the cliff, as his men sprung to lose trust in him, for all would yet come well.” ‘* I believe it! I know it, Captain Grenville, and, like Merle, I will bide my time.” His promise to captain Grenville Merle faith- fully kept, for ere the two weeks had passed, Merton Ainslie returned in the yacht, having landed the daring fugitives at a certain point on the Mexican coast, they having successfully eluded their pursuers. The next day the little yacht sailed for home; but Mildred’s face no longer wore the haggard, | anxious look that bad rested there of late, for Merton Ainslio had brought ber a letter from Merle, telling her that ere many days he would be with her, and to judge him not until she heard all. But: ‘*Man proposes— God disposes.”’ CHAPTER XXVI. A STARTLING RENCOUNTER. WHEN the morning broke, following the dis- appointment to the Havanese, in missing the execution, the little yacht, loaded deep with the large crew she bore, was bounding along, many leagues from the ame te harbor from which it had taken flight. At the helm stood the daring leader, a mere | boy in years, yet a man with few equals, | Only a few days before his face had been | bright with ambitious hope, and as calm as a cloudless sky, for the future was opening to him | on his favorite field, the sea, and he felt that he | might yet win a name famous among his fellow- men. A short week, and a name had been won; but ah! how different from his hopes. Now he was branded as a mutineer, a deserter from the navy, and even the name of pirate was hurled upon him, and he was a fugitive.” | Had he been alone he would have faced the consequences without fear; but these men were _under his protection, those who had rebelled on | his account fortune with those brave fellows, for he would _not desert them; hence he made no plea for him- self, and haughtily refused to fly, when freedom and the die was cast that bound his _ was offered to him, unless his companions went | } | i | ' ' ' | | | | | | | | | | | his proud spirit, and if he suffered friends at work for him, and who had come | gas with him. The good padre, who had gone to each man- I observed you in the | in his cell, had told him, when he made known I have a seatat the plan of escape, desperate as it was, but the isposal,” and he offered the maiden his | only one, how their chief had refused to desert them, and their love for him was riveted with links that could never be broken—they would follow him to the utmost ends of the earth, ‘Oh, sir, what of him?’ cried Mildred, her through all dangers that might beset them. No word had he held with them, when led from their cells in the gloomy Moro; only a = into each stern face, as he walked down he line, and what they saw in his fearless eyes = them hope, and even when facing their oom, they had patiently awaited his command. Each knew, for his eyes showed him all, the desperate chances for escape; but before them lay certain death, only a few seconds removed, and over the cliff, down into the dark waters, a hope of life contronted them, and the reader has seen how they faced the alternative, not a man shrinking from the dizzy leap. True, a third of their number had gone to their death in the attempt, and a dozen of those who had reached the yacht were wounded, some eighty, some painfully, and some mor- tally; but all had run the same chances, and the fortunate ones, in bewailing the fate of their comrades, could not but congratulate them- selves, Thus, as the lights of Havana aha dim in the distance, and their fleet vessel bounded along, less in the wrong than Wilber Sebastian had after having set the faithful Dave adrift in the gig, on his mission to Arthur Grenville, the rave seamen formed a line, and marching aft ch grasped, in his turn, the hand of Merle. ea ‘Tell me, please tell me the result,” cried | No words were spoken, only that silent grasp of the hand, and it told volumes, far more than ‘‘Most favorable, and remarkable! First to | words could have done. When the morning light came, no sail was visible upon the horizon—the fleet yacht had either outrun all pursuit, or the pursuers had one off on another course, and the men who ad been so near death the day before breathed freely, and from their lips burst one long, loud shout of joy. But Merle still stood at the helm, pale, hag- gard, and his splendid eyes filled with a deeper gloom than had ever before haunted them while upon his beardless face rested a look hard to fathom. There was a stern threat in it, and those who saw him felt that a day of reckoning would come. The humiliation of the lash had not broken in from the es in his flesh, he showed no sign of it; but calmly attended to his duty, and directed the destiny of his vessel and those under him. One request he had made of his followers, at the time he had left Dave in his boat dancing ‘But he was on board when Merle sprung astern upon the waters, and that was that not one of them should make known to Merton Ainslie, or the crew of the yacht, a single cir- cumstance that had occurred upon the schooner, _and they had promised. From Merton Ainslie he learned why the yacht had come in pursuit—driven by the de- mand, rather than the request, of Mildred Mon- teith, and from what the young mate told him, he felt assured that the maiden held suspicion against Wilber Sebastian. | Now, as he stood at the helm, one of the men came to him and said: ‘“Shipmate Jack is in a bad way, sir, and wants to let loose his tongue-tackle with you, if so it please you.” “* Jack Buntline?’ ‘Yes, sir; he was wounded in our little fly, an’ he seems uncommon bad.” ‘‘T will go at once; Mr. Ainslie, will you S) JOO (EO) Eomic 1