Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 108 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

' The Duke of Diamonds. 3 about with grave faces, swearing at the men in a way that denoted suppressed excitement. — ‘¢ What does this mean? Are they all going mad, Helen?” asked the fair Lorelia of her niece, who was looking on at the bustle by her side with a pale face. Helen Lawton pointed to the huge black cloud, which had now united with that on the horizon, and spread like a pall over three- fourths of the heavens. ‘“‘'m afraid we’re going to have a storm aunt,” she said, in a low, frightened voice. ‘ i heard the captain say something about a ty- hoon to Mr. McShane, though he didn’t in- nd me to hear.” , The Hon. Lorelia turned as pale as her niece under her rouge. ‘‘ A typhoon!” she whispered. ‘‘ Oh, heavens! Helen, we shall all be drowned.” At that moment a vivid flash of lightning came from the cloud above them, ran down the conductors on the foremast, which seemed for a moment to be all ablaze with intense blue light; then vanished in darkness, made more terrible by a deafening crash of thunder. The Hon. Lorelia shrieked dismally, while Helen Lawton staggered and would have fallen, had not the American, who was coming aft with O’Shea, caught her in his arms. The Irish captain might possibly have passed by, leaving his younger comrade to do the part 4 squire of dames; but the dismayed Lorelia, with all the impulsive eagerness of sixteen, rushed into his arms in a violent fit of hysterics. Helen Lawton had fainted away in dead ear- nest, but her aunt made up for her silence by a succession of the most violent screams, nearly strangling the stalwart captain as she clung ae his neck, and imploring him to “ Save me! Save me!” And just when her screams were loudest, came several bright flashes, followed by deafen- ing peals of thunder; as the rain, in one broad, gray sheet, poured down like a cataract. Clarence Hart had seen it coming, and had al- ready borne his fair burden below, consigning her to the care of the stewardess; but the Hon. Lorelia’s hysterics were cut short in a strangled shriek, as the water came down. O'Shea, with a few muttered words that sounded very much like profanity, helped her to the companion hatch, and saw her down-stairs, after which he returned on deck, to find the ship plowing ahead, still in a dead calm, through a dense sheet of rain that hid all the horizon, the air as loomy as if it were night, and no sound save the rush of the cloudy cataract. But this was not to last long. A moment later, the lightning and thunder recommenced, and soon became incessant, while gusts of wind, alternately cold and hot, struck the ship from opposite quarters with the sud- denness of aérial trip-hammers. Then they heard a loud, roaring sound, loud- er than even the thunder, and down on the port quarter came the full fury of the typhoon, blowing a hundred and fifty miles an hour, cut- ting the tops of the waves off as with a knife, i filling the air with the sharp, stinging spray of the ‘‘spindrift.” It struck the ship, stripped though she was, and made a clean sweep of all three masts at ence, with its first effort, while the O'Shea found himself thrown headlong across the deck into the lee-scuppers, where at least twenty sailors and officers were already wallowing. For several minutes the typhoon howled over the ship from stern to bows; then lulled for about twenty seconds; when, erash/ came a fiercer blast than ever on the starboard beam. First it was south, then north; now east, anon west; till the wind had boxed the compass in every pointalong the zigzag pathof thetyphoon. Now the sea a and et tearing wet on voted vessel in grea en mountains. S/Snoa who had crawinl ap under the shel- ter of the stern rail, heard the captain yell out some order to the man at the wheel, just asa towering n monster came sweeping down on the ddle-box. The Bhi % lied swerved round to meet the wave, but too late to prevent mischief. The captain himself was on the bridge, between the boxes, and the soldier saw him throw up his hands asif ina momentary access of despair. Then the wave struck the dle-box; there was a sound of crashing wood; a cloud of white foam, Theship quivered from stem to stern as the engines went whirling round unchecked by any resistance; then sheswept round in a circle, like a wild duck with a broken wing; while wave after wave poured in upon her, buffetin her from port to starboard with a succession 0 heavy blows, in the midst of which came the crashing of wood, resolving itself into splinters. Thoroughly dismayed, the stout soldier stared wildly before him, and saw that the sea had made a clean breach of both paddle-boxes, wrecking the dles completely and a the stout iron of the wheels as if they been mere wires. The captain had vanished, and nota man save himself seemed to be left on deck, while the sea to leeward was Covered with pieces of wreck, token of how the remorse- less waves had swept the Benares frem stem to stern. Le LLL LLL es = CHAPTER IV. THE DIAMOND DUKE. Tue Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf is low and marshy, the districts of El Aksha and Oman being notoriously unhealthy. The peo- ple are much darker than their neighbors of the interior highlands of Nedjed, and get their liv- ing by fishing and the slave trade, when not working in the rice-fields. The little town of Tuat, low and mud-walled, with a single mosque, and not more than a thousand inabitants, became one of the princi- pal depéts of the slave trade after the Imaum of Muscat made his renowned treaty with Eng- land, by which the trade was supposed to be abolished in his dominions. The English cruisers had made matters on the coast of Africa pretty hot for the slavers, but a few dhows succeeded in running the blockade every year, and these made the best of their way to El Katif and Tuat, knowing that English ships rarely went beyond Muscat or into the Gulf. A single gunboat of the East Indian navy, cruising around Bushire on the Persian coast, is the only vestige of law and order in those seas; and the British Resident at Bushire never interferes with the opposite coast. But, Tuat is something besides a slave dep6t. It lies behind the famous island of Bahrein, the home of the pearl!-fishery, and every Arab on the coast, from El Katif to Muscat, is a keen —— ee nS a judge of pearls.. In fact, the pearls are the | prime cause of the slave trade, for the divers are all negroes, forced to risk their lives against the sharks, whether they like it or not. When we come to Tuat it is late in June, and the fishing season has set inin full vigor. The little town lies scorching in the sun on its black mud flat, and the portis full of boats, putting out and coming in from Bahrein, just in sight at the other side of the sound. But, outside of the little dirty Arab craft that ply to and fro, lies at anchor a vessel of very different appearance, with a trim neatness about her that tells of civilization. Not very high in the water, for one might easily climb into her waist from a rowsboas Hy stepping into the main chains, she is yet far larger than the biggest of the pearl-boats and dhows that are scattered about. A Yankee ship- master would judge her as ‘‘ about three hun- dred and fifty tons, old measurement; nearer four hundred, new style;” and would as unhes- itatingly call her a yacht. No trading-vessel ever had such a gloss to her dark brown paint, like mahogany, or such a bright gold streak running from bow to stern. No trader ever kept her decks so white and clean, or her masts stayed so truly. But this yacht,if yacht she be, has a look about her décidedly Oriental, for her rig is that of the Arab or Mediterranean *‘lateener;” with short sturdy masts, raking forward, and taper- a of enormous length, rising in the air as high asthe masts of an ordi schooner. The sails are furled snugly away, however, with a care and neatness that no Oriental vessel ever displayed, and contradict the presumption raised by the rest of the rig. A few sailors, grouped on the forecastle or busied around the brass-work of the yacht, polishing up in man-of-war style, while they work like Europeans, are as decidedly natives of these tropical seas; swartby Arabs; supple Hin- doos; active little Malays; all dressed in uni- form of Moslem cut, turbaned, jacketed and pct with bare feet, their sashes full of weapons; a most truculent-looking crew for a yacht, though silent and orderly as so many man-of-war’s-men. The vessel has no guns visible, but there are several neat teakwood brass-bound cases, ranged at intervals along the bulwarks, inside, that havea strangeappearance, being about the size of an ordinary gun, without any carriage, and placed opposite the ports. What thesecases may be and what they contain, in our days of ortable Gatlings and Hotchkiss guns, is prob- ematical; but the yacht has withal the look of a craft that can take care of herself, even among the slave-hunters and other rascally cut- throats of the coasts of El] Aksha and Oman. The deck of the vessel is flush or level, the quarter-deck not being raised above the rest, and the cabin being down-stairs. Pacing to and fro near the stern rail, with a keen eye on thecrew, tosee that they do their work, strides a tall, thin, bony man, with broad angular shoulders and asharp eager face. His eyes are of thot greenish hazel, with yellow specks, that betoken keen sight: and his beard is of that intense blue-black that only accom- panies the Persian method of dyeing with henna and indigo.* At the sides it is scanty and thin, but grows heavily on mouth and chin, and is *Turks and Persians almost universally dye their beards aap the operation a taking several ays to perfect it, First they use ‘a decoe- tion of henna, the same with which harem beauties stain the tips of their fingers. This turns the board a bright brickdust red, in which state the hair re- mains several days, the owner not seeming to take any shame from the looks of his face. The dyeing is then completed with indigo, which confers @ lus- trous blue-black that lasts some time. ' i trimmed to a point, which lies en his breast, and which he frequently strokes caressingly. This personage wears a brilliant uniferm of scarlet and green, with the buttons of the House of sq owe and the ensign which droops lazily from the at the stern of the yacht bears the colors of Portugal. He seems to talk any of a dozen Oriental lan- guages, for his sharp, stern voice addresses each of the seamen in his own tongue, though per- aa equally illin all, for what the reader can Still, Portuguese appears to be the official lan- puage of the pagre. or it is in Portuguese that e snaps out his last order. ‘“‘Call all hands to receive His Grace, the ose of Diamantina; and pipe the boats for shore. Instantly a great black-bearded giant, the sil- ver anchor on whose sleeve proclaims him to be the boatswain, sounds his shrill whistle in true man-of-war style, when up the hatchways come tumbling fifty or sixty men, who range them- selves in regular order and stand looking te- ward the cabin. Presently a head is seen rising above the brass rail and a eas man comes up on deck and touches his hat in answer to the salutes of the crew. Whatever may be the attire of the rest of the ship’s company, this young man might muster in dress and manner in any part of the world for a rich yacht-owner. His dark blue suit, fitting irreproachably, white vest and slip- pers, broad hat of Guayaquil , are all so studiously plain that ae: show the master of dress among his gaudily-clad dependents. Neither uniform, weapons, nor jewels mark the young Duke of Diamantina; owner of half the diamonds in the world (according to report) and spending money like water. Plain gold studs and a slender watch-chain are the only traces of ornament about him, and there is nothing to distract attention from his handsome face and figure. Both of these are of remarkable 6, a He is above the medium hight, and his frame looks slight and agile, though there is a depth of chest about it, such as we find when we look closer at the Apollo Belvidere. His face is of that dark aquiline character we expect to find in southern races, with ificent eyes, thin curling lips, intensely black hair and mustache, setting off splendid teeth when he smiles, as he does now to the officer in uniform. ** Well, Dom Gil,” he says, in a tone of la approval, ‘“‘you have brought these cubs into shape at last Isee. Iam satisfied now that we can go to Calcutta without being ashamed of the vessel.” The keen-looking officer with the black beard looks pena at the men and answers: “I think they will do, after awhile, your grace, though it’s a good deal of trouble to get them to stop their talking. Will your grace take the long-boat or the gig?” “‘The long-boat. I think I shall go to Bah- rein to-day,” replies the duke. ‘‘Have you heard whether they have found any specially large pearls, Dom Gil?’ **One of the pearl-boats came in this morn- ing with the joy-song, your grace, and, when I asked, they told me that Haroun the Wahabee had brought the largest find of fifty years.” The duke displayed his white teeth, as his lip curled in a gentle smile. “‘Send the men to their berths,” he said, quietly. ‘‘Haroun the Wahabee is very oblig- ing to save me a hot row in the sun. Send for him to my cabin,” Dom Gil bowed, and the duke returned to his cabin, the pleasantest and coolest retreat im- aginable on that blazing day. A strong current of air came in through the stern windows and traveled up the wind cooled as it went by a fine spray of — water, thrown across each window of the yacht by a self-acting atomizer. The furniture was that taste and comfort could desire and lux- ury purchase, cool silk cushions, ebony and sil- ver couches seated with cane network, books, pictures, statuettes, trophies of arms. The duke threw himself down on a silk-cover- ed divan, smooth and cool, by the stern win- dow, and looked lazily out tosea. The tide had swung the yacht’s stern out in that direction and brought into the midst of his field of vision a large slave dhow, slowly gliding into the port of Tuat under a faint breeze from the south. She was crowded with negroes, who had been shaken up out of their confined position during the voyage, now that there was no further dan- of their escape, and the slavers were busy Enookitig off their irons, The duke looked at them with a slight ex- on of d - He had often seen slave hows before, and the breeze brought from this one a sicke efiuvium. He cla his hands and a little black boy entered room with his master’s long hookah which the duke began to smoke in self-defense. He was not used to disagreeable thi and the presence of this horrible slave dhow annoyed him greatly. It glided slowly on, nearer and nearer the yacht, and at last the e (ee) micbooksyco —