Beadle's Dime Library No. 111 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

— See ee } Jun’t know why, but I feel as if I could tell you everything.” “T am glad you feel such confidence in me, Betsy. And now, take my advice ; don’t love Frank Hewlet too hard until he does speak ot marriage! If his intentions are honorable, he ought not to keep them back; for he is quite well off, and able to marry. Father has several thousand dollars of his at interest.” ‘He is to be back soon—is he not’ asked ae “Yes. Father looks for the schooner every hour. How nice and cool this lemonade is! Ab! there comes Ethelbert. I hear his voice and step!” And a flush of warm delight passed over Ro- salette’s lovely face. “Ah! how are you, Miss Betsy? On my word, it is wrong for me to ask, you look so well,” eried Ethelbert, as he cume into the room. Then turning to his sister, he said: “You seem to have taken off your things for a stay, Sister Rosy ?” 3 “Why, yes. Mr. Hunt sent in word that you had premised to stay to dinner.”’ “Did he? Why, the rozuish old Falstaff! [ told him I would, if you consented.” “He said nothing about conditions ; but it would be a pity to disappoint him by refusing his kind invitation.” “So it would, sis. We will stay of course ; and I will go and talk with Mr Hunt, while you enjoy the company of Miss Betsy. The old gentleman is 80 anxious to hear the news from the city, that I must tell him all that I know, or he'll melt with warm weather and impa- tience.” And Ethelbert, with a light step, went back to talk to Nehemiah. CHAPTER VII. How much character may be read in the fea- tures! I have noticed the great difference in the looks of Ethelbert Drummond and his sis- ter. His hair, dark and glossy, curling around a brow and face completely Southern or Italian in its features and complexion; his large eyes so black that shadows were light in them; and so full of passion, to. Rosalette had one of those sweet English faces—ah ! but too well remembered is one, yet mirrored in the shattered marble of my heart— one of those sweet, pure, loving, English faces of lily and rose, framed in with hair of gold and starred with eyes of blue, which, once seen, can never, never be forgotten. Se in Ethelbert’s face you could read a haughty, proud, and oro pene spirit—wildly strong in its loves, fierce Y bitter in ite hate! Rosalette could hardly hate. Her gentle na- ture could not nurture that quick, wild, fire, which burns but the more intensely while time fans the flame; but she could love. Yet her love, of slow growth, and pure, too, as the flowers of earth, was strong, very strong, be- cause slow-growing love is ever deep-rooted. The brother and sister were pleasantly en- gaged on the morning of the day after their visit to the “Golden Anchor”. They were singing duets in the parlor of the cottage in the Pines, Rosalette playing the accompani- nents on the piano. A wild storm raged with- out, but they heeded it not; all was cozy and cheery within, and they drowned the sound of outward turmoil with the musie of their well- cultivated voices. . “Where is father?” asked Rosalette, during a pause in their singing. “Ido not know; but I think most likely he has gone down to the Bluff to look for the ‘Scud’; he has been expecting her in for two or three days. I saw him put on his oil-cloth coat and sou’wester hat an Sin oF more 81008. But he is coming. I hear his step.” Searcely had the words left Ethelbert’s lips when Mr. Drummond came in. His face was flushed with excitement, and he was almost breathless with haste. ‘“‘ Ethelbert, mount your horse and gallop to the village aa quick as you can, and call for men,to come to me at the Bluff!” he cried. “Tell them to bring ropes with them. A dis- masted vessel is drifting in toward the rocks, and I am almost sure it is the ‘Scud’. No boat can live outside, and it will be God's merey if we save n life from the vessel, for 1 have never seen a worse sea on in my whole life! Hurry, more, hurry!” helbert was off before the last words had heen spoken by his father ; and when Rosalette The Smuggler Captain, a bo get for her father, the brother was seen ga loping past the window, on his way to the village. “Are you going right back to the Bluff, father ?” asked Rosalette. “Yes, child, as quickly as I can.” ‘** As soon as [ can put up some restoratives, and such things as may be useful, I will go, too, father.” “No, no, Rosy—no, no! It blows terribly out there ; and such sights as we may have to wee are not for women to look upon. It is no place for you. Stay here, my child, stay here,” said the old gentleman, as he put on his sou’ wester, and hurried away again. ‘* A woman’s place is ever where she can be useful,” said Rosalette, quietly. . And getting a basket, she put liqsors and some dry flannel in it, aud wrapping a mantle around ber slender form, she followed her futher. CHAPTER VIII. With terrible strength the wind swept in over the face of the granite bluff upon which Mr. Drummond stood again, looking off with his spy-glauss toward a dark object which rose and fell upon the huge, foam-crested waves, not more than two or three miles froin the range of white, yeasty breakers, which rolled, and roared, and pitched their fleecy surges about at the foot of the bold rocks on which he stood. Only as he was sheltered more than breast-high by some huge boulders, whose lee he sought, could he stand and hold his glass steadily in ihe gale. ‘Tt isthe ‘Seud’—I know the hull—and only four men upon her deck ! They have a flag of distress flying on a short staff!’ said the old man to himself, as the helpless hulk continued to drift in toward the shore. ‘God help them! If they pass the outside reef, they must be dashed to pieces against the cliff! It will be a miracle if we save a single life !’’ A hand, laid lightly on his shoulder, eaused him to turn around, and he saw that Rosaletta had followed him. ‘Crouch down behind the rock, my girl, or you'll be blown away !” he shouted—for only a shout could be heard above the shrill trumpet- ing of the wild gale. ‘No danger, father. Can you see the vessel now?” she replied, putting her mouth close to his ear. “Yes; it is the ‘Scud’—a perfect wreck— only four men on her deck! Take the glass bad. look for yourself.” ‘Poor fellows, the sea seems to break all over them every few moments,” said Rosaletta, after a long, shuddering gaze through the lass. ae Yes, the vessel is water-logged. They are most likely lashed with ropes, to hold them from being swept overboard.” ‘Can they not reach the harbor, father?” “If they had a single spar standing, and could put out canvas enough to give the schooner steerage-way, they might; but they have not, and she is drifting to the northward of the entrance. By the way, she now drifts— she'll strike that reef out there, right in front of us !”’ “Oh, mercy, the vesse] must be dashed in pieces !”” ‘“ Yes; and if a single man escapes, it will be more than I expect. My dear girl, you ought not to stay here to see such a sight as this.”’ “Father, please do not send me away. Al though my heart were frozen with horror, ] could not look away now ; and I—even I—may be of some use by-and-by.” ; * Asx you like, my chika. F Gope the Villagers will soon be here. { see, by the stir down there, that Ethelbert has aroused them. They are gathering rapidly—men, snd even women and children, are coming. I wieh the women would keep away. ‘They do nothing but goream and cry.” “ You may think differently, father, if any of those poor, half-drowned men are washed ashore. Men can do daring deeds ; but when it comes to nursing the helpless, a woman's hand is the most tender.” — ‘Maybe you are right, girl—maybe you are right. But I'd rather hear thunder than a woman’s scream ; and be soaked in a four-hour’s shower, than tu see her tears.” “There comes Ethelbert, riding as tast as he can,” said Rosaletta, pointing to her brother, " he dashed along the path that led to the uff. In afew moments the young man arrived, ite" and, springing from his herse, loosed the bridie, game ia with some refreshments she had hurried , PP Hee vp a xeeereaagemnmeminpy Or \' : yd PERE ots + I, “aes ae Bret ; 5 , 4 5 — a oe and the sagacious anima! immediately turnea back toward its stable. “The men will soon be here, father,’ Ethelbert, as he glanced off to seaward. “ Yes, I see—the whole population of the vil- lage is coming.” ‘*No wonder,” said Rosaletta. “ Nearly all of the crew have wives and families there. Poor Betsy Hunt will feel dreadful about Captain Hewlétt, I know.” “Why don’t they let the anchors go—they must be on soundings now!” said Ethelbert, as he gazed at the drifting hull. | ‘There are over forty fathoms of water where she is, and it holds thirty close in to the reef there, where the rocks are not three feet under water. Her anchors wouldn’t hold her a min- ute in such a sea, with this gale blowing. ‘The vussel will hit the reef and go to pieces,” said Mr. Drummond. “Then my only hope is, tliat the men, or some of them, may drift in to thie foot of the bluff on pieces of the wreck, and elitech ropes which we'll lower down to them. ‘There is no other chance for their lives, that I can see.” “ A poor one it is,” said Ethelbert. “ But look how the villagers are hurrying here!” And he pointed to a long column of persons, who were running and walking toward them. Foremost of all, far ahead of the rest, came 4 female, whose disheveled hair streamed out from her bonnetless head on the gale, and who, without mantle or shawl, seemed almost to fly toward them. It was poor Betsy Hunt. Pale and breath- less, she reached the spot where Rosaletta stood, and as she strained her eyes in lookin off through the driving gale toward the vessel, she asked, in a husky whisper, yet such a whis- per as Resalette could hear; ‘Ta it. the ‘Soud’ ?”’ | “Yes,” replied Miss Drummend. ‘But keep up a brave heart, Betsy—father thinks the crew can be saved.” “QO God—no—no! They will all perish. He will perish right there before my eyes!” moaned the wretched girl ; “ but I will die, toe. The same watery grave that claims him shall receive me.” And ghastly pale, sick at heart, poor Betsy sank upon the ground at the feet of Rosalette, her face in her hands. Next came the wife of Mr. Alden, with # sweet baby in her arms, even she out-speeding the stalwart men who hurried on. If Love has not wings, there is locomotion in it. “Ts it the ‘Seud’?” she screamed in Mr. Drummond’s ear, as she reached his side. “Yes!” said the old gentleman, “Can you see my Harry there?” she next asked, “I can see four men, but canndt yet say whe they are,” he replied. “Jest you hold the baby, and let me look through the glass. Ican tell my Harry as far’ as I can see him.’ With a despairing look, Mr. Drummond took the baby, which was a plump little miniature of its stout mother, and it began to show its pleasant proclivities by entangling both of its chubby hands in the old gentleman’s hair. “Yes, yes—my Harry is there. I know him by the red handkercher he wears around his neck. “Twas the last thing, "ceptin’ a kiss, I vave him afore he wert to sea the last time. I say, Betsy Hunt, you're sittin’ there doin’ nothin’ , —won't you hold my baby? I’m goin’ to help the men, if there’s anything to do here. I'm as stout as any of ‘em.” | _ “Can you see him there?” asked Betsy, ris- ing, her face as white as the foum in the break- ers beyond. . “Yes, I can see Harry. I know’d him in a minute,” ? “I don’t mean him. Can you see Captain . Hewlett ?” And a faintly rosy flush came over Betsy's face as she spoke. . f ’ said “Oh! T'll look agi’n. Jest you take the baby. 7 It is pullin’ all o' Mr. Drummona’s hair out.”. Betsy took the child, aud Mrs, Alden—or. Bouncing Kate, as her husband called her— took the glass and looked again at the now plainly-to-be-seen hull. * Yes,” she said—* yes; I know the eapting by that long, black, curling hair of his. ,He's bare-headed and in his shirt-sleeves. He aud Harry are doin’ somethin’ for’ard now.” Mr. Drummond took the glass from the wom- au und looked, | - “ They're letting go their anchora,” he said, _ “but "twill be of little uses Pm aguid? Cc (0) comicbooks