Beadle's Dime Library No. 157 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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8 M —— ee = Oo —_——_.-_—_ — ——- — a He was thinking should he get most from answered St. George quietly. ‘‘ What is the taking the supposed Mameluke envoy to Co.- matter now?” stantinople, o once. selling him to the The vy J Mameluke, tutored by slavery in Mourad. Oo habits of double-dealing, slipped in: ** Suppose you go and inform on me now, you | mean? That would be foolish, as you would rench at | ' ; ' ‘*'We are far enough to the north, and it has become necessary to change our course,” replied ‘“T have been trying to persuade Nikolai to sail for the west, and he refuses.” ‘*T expected as much. Why ” “He says he engaged to take me to Stamboul, lose all the money we are to pay you, and the | and he is going there, I think he suspects we Franks would seize it, and perhaps give you | are French.” the bastinado too.” Nikolai winced at that idea. He only knew the East, and his»memory of ‘Why not tell him so, and make him turn the boat to the west?’ ‘* Because to do so we must fight, and, if we former bastinadoes was vivid. Hehadnodoubt_ kill all the Greeks, we are as badly off as ever.’’ that the French behaved just as an Oriental would with the stick—used it to pay all incon- venient debts, Nikolai made up his mind. ** | will take you, if you will pay down fifteen “thousand piastres now and the rest when I land 0.” “Tt is a bargain.” Mourad turned away and coming down the quay. them and asked: ‘* Well, how much have you got?” Lafangere was full of excitement. ‘*] have sold the horses for seven thousand francs, and the harness for two thousand more. Then our order was for three thousand; so that we have twelve thousand francs in gold. Is it not grand? How much must we pay for our passage?” PY Fifteen thousand piastres, at four to the franc; that is, let me see—” “Three thousand seven hundred and fifty francs, leaving us eight thousand and two hun- dred and aed to spend in France, Monsieur Mourad, our fortunes are made. With that sum we can see Paris.” *‘Remember, we are not there yet. You must not spenk a word of French before the Greek. I think he will try to give us up to the first French frigate he meets.” ** Just what we want; but why?” ‘‘ Because he thinks us Turkish spies. If he knew we were French, he would try to sell. us to the English out yonder.” Lafangere whistled. ‘ ‘What an unconscionable scoundrel!” ‘He is a Greek, my friend, and they are all liars,” replied Mourad, calmly, ‘* Come, let us I see he is signaling his boat,” In fact, they saw the Greek waving his hand, and very soon after a small boat shot from the side of the xebec and came to the stairs, where Mourad and his two comrades got in and were rowed to the little vessel. . The Mameluke paid over the money and did all the business, while St. George and were compelled to assume the role of mutes, to avoid exposing their race, and Nikolai remarked suspiciously : “How quiet your friends are. One would think they were under a vow.” ‘They are,” said Mourad, readily. ‘‘ They took an oath after our defeat to speak to no man but me, till they had seen the sultan.” Then Nikolai went out of the little cabin, and they watched the crew of slim and swarthy Greeks bending to their sweeps as the xebec moved out of the harbor. At any other time they might have had diffi- eulty in leaving the place without a permit; but the co on and alarm were so great that the ied his two friends e hurried toward fangere } | | officials were uway from their posts, and it is robable thet a single division of troops could ave captured Alexandria by a brisk assault. Once outside, the crew spread the wide lateen sails of the little vessel, and she shot away over the waves ata x1 that caused Lafangere to whisper to St. George: ‘ ‘We can run from the English at any rate. I begin to feel as if we should yet revisit France,” | CHAPTER VIL. FEELING THE WAY. Nicur had closed over the Mediterranean, and the stars were shining all over the heavens, as the little xebec stretched away to the north, observed, in a tone of uneasi- ness pe St. ; ‘“*T don’t know what you think, but Iam of 9) 2 that we have gone long enough in this on. It is true I am no sailor, but I learned y at school, and I know the north star when lsee it over our bowsprit. This is not the way to France.” ‘‘My friend,” tranquilly replied the creole “I learned one thing in Italy under the eneral —to obey orders. e are in Mourad’s hands, and he will change our course when it is neces- sary.” ‘ That is all very well, but suppose he is. de- ceived, This Greek seems to us to Constantin ere is the Mameluke, and how is he to prevent it?” St. pointed forward, where they could see Mourad talking earnestly to the Gree and soon after he came to edge ee of concern on his me features. ‘*My friends,” he said, ‘I fear we shall have to fight, | ‘ f thought so from the moment we left port,” wn j= | bs Why 50?” ** Because we are not sailors.” St. George shrugged his shoulders. ‘It is not necessary to be bred a sailor to handle a vessel like this with a fair wind. I am a creole, and have crossed the Atlantic more than once. A man cannot do that without learning something of the sea,” Mourad looked at him attentively. ‘*Do you mean to say—?” he began. “I mean to say that | am going to France with these Greeks if they will let me: with- out them if they will not. To get there we must have discipline and a head. I propose that Lafangere, who is the oldest officer among us, take the command, that we call this Greek aft, and tell him who we are.” Mourad seemed to be «ae by his words, for he answered respectfully: ““T think you are always right, but I would rather you were the chief.’ ‘*So would I,” Inver poned Lafangere, ‘* What do I know of the sea? When we get to land I will do what you please: but I confess I feel like a fool here. I am ready to obey your orders, St. George.” ‘Very well,” answered the creole. ‘‘ Call the Greek here. Does he understand French?” vt think he does a little, but he will pretend ‘*Tell him then, in Arabic, Greek or whatever language you like.” ourad called to the Greek captain who had been watching them furtively from a group of sailors forward, and Nikolai instantly came to them, followed by the whole of his men, with a swaggering manner that boded ill for their afety. a Tell him to send his men forward,” said St. George, quietly, and as he spoke, he and Lafan- gere laid their hands on the pistols in their sashes, at which the Greeks fell back and allow- ed the captain to come on alone. ‘*Now tell him,” continued the creole, ‘‘ that we are three French officers, who have dis patches that must go to France, and that, if he takes us there safely, he shall have the money we promised him. Tell me his answer.” urad explained to Nikolai, and the Greek burst into a torrent of words which the Mame- luke translated as follows: ‘* He says that he is a poor man; that he never would have left Alexandria had we not deceived him; that it is quite impossible to reach France on account of the English cruisers, which swarm everywhere, and that he would rather go back to Alexandria and give up all the money than run the risk.” | St. George smiled, “TL see he is growing cautious. He wants to go back to giveus up to the English, who are, by this time, able to sail. Tell he has no oice. He must do as we wish.” Mourad translated the answer, and the Greek immediately ran back to his men and began to talk loudly to them. ‘He is trying to persuade them to take us prisoners,” said Mourad. ‘‘ What are your or- ders, Monsieur St. George?” St. George and Lafangere rose. “In the first place,” said the creole, “it is necessary for one of us to take the helm. Can ou two handle those fellows alone, or shall we trast one of our foes to steer the vessel?” All doubt on this point was ended by Nikolai calling loudly in Greek to the steersman, who immediately left the tiller and ran forward, let- ting the xebec fly up into the wind, which she would have done with disastrous effect, had not St. George seized the helm at the right moment. ‘*Now, gentlemen,” pursued the créole, as calmly as if nothing had happened, “there is no time to play with these men. They are twelve to three, * they have only their knives, and we have four pistols, a carbine and a saber each. Summon them to surrender, Mourad,” The Mameluke did as he was ordered, but Nikolai answered, oe ‘“You are nobody. e English are the rulers. You are rpg ot ‘Come and take us, then, if you can,” cried Mourad, and with that he leveled his istol at the Greek captain, who in a moment threw his knife full at the Mameluke’s breast. The flash and report of the ea te wh pistol e were instantaneous, and Nik when all the Greeks made a desperate rush aft with their knives. Mourad had received the Greek’s knife full on his chest, whence it dro off to the deck with a dull clang that told it had struck armor, and he and the maitre d’armes fired off their ourad, the Mameluke. — a - ——— long pistols with -such effect that their as- sailants turned and made for the fore-hatch, when they dived down in terror, leaving the aot and three dead men behind them on the eck. ‘Don’t go forward,” cried St. George, im a warning tone, as the Gascon was about to rush on. ‘There are eight yet, and your pistols are cmmpety. Load up.” nd, not till they had vine his orders, would the cautious creole permit them to go to the fore hatch, when Mourad looked down and called out: “Come up, one by one, or we will come down and kill you all.” Pretty soon a trembling Greek, who had thrown away his knife, came crawling up, and was brought to St. George, who questioned him through urad, and found that the captain had promised them all a share in the reward to be — by the English in case they took the Frenchmen in to Nelson’s fleet. ‘* Ask him if he and his comrades are willing to sail the boat under our orders,” said the creole. The Greek swore by all the saints in bis cal- endar to do the bidding of the French if they would spare his life, and the result was that the eight men of the crew left alive were brought up on deck, sworn to fidelity, disarmed of their knives, and set to work. The course of the little vessel was also changed to the west, and Lafangere remarked, as he saw a k sailor once more at the helm: ‘** We may get to France after all.” ‘We shall get to France,” responded St. tg ‘The only question is, how soon?” But Mourad still seemed uneasy, ‘* You cannot trust these Greeks,” he told the other. ‘* They are only waiting till we are asleep to change the course of the vessel. We shall have to keep watch.” *One at a time,” answered Lafangere. ‘It is only picket duty after all. Here we have three reliefs, and I would like to see these fel- lows get the best of three good Frenchmen like us. he takes first watch? I am willing, for I feel as if [ should need no sleep to-night.” It was oo that St. George and the Mame- luke should go to sleep in the little deck cabin, fully armed, while Lafangere acted as captain till he got too sleepy to watch longer, and, somewhat to the other’s surprise, the Gascon never waked them till the sun was cinbhi Baki of them, when he shook St. George by th. shoulder and told him; ‘*T kept them due west all night, but I see a ship ahead of us that may very Tikély beau En- set Not being a sailor, I don’t exact!: ow how to get out of his way.” St. gt. jumped up instantly and went out on deck, where he found that they were still sailing west with a fair breeze, while a large frigate lay, with her maintopsail aback, not two miles off, dead ahead, as if waiting for them. Away to the north were some blue hills, just rising out of the sea, and the creole observed to Lafangere: “That is Candia, and its bays are full of picaroens; so we cannot run in there, We must run for Africa again, if we hope to escape an English prison.” : But good Heavens!” exclaimed Lafangere, “haved not done right?’ ‘ St made no answer till he had taken the /helm and directed the ors by signs to trim the xebec flat to the wind so as to slant away from the te. Then he said to Lafangere: ‘You are not a sailor, it is true; but you must know that’s a ship’s guns are more power- ful than our fleld batteries, That frigate can sink us if we come within gunshot. See! she is after us ey | In fact, as they. were looking, the great yards of the huge ship s while a swarm of black —- ——- -_—_— saw the round, ts went rapidly up the rigging. She had rg BPA to under reefed topsails before, as if w ; but, as they looked, a white cloud of canvas was spread to the wind from he” Pla 5 and the m: c vessel n to rush ough the water, with the evident intention of cutting them off from further western progress. ‘How far do a ship’s gunscarry?”’ the maitre @armes asked with ape deal of interest, as soon as this became clear even to his lands- man’s eye. t. George shru his shoulders. “Tt depends on the We shall soon see what this ship carries. They were bowling along at a rapid pace, into the wind as close as they cou!d, and, as if to verify St. rge’s remark, a flash issued from the side of the frigate, and they saw the puffs of white spray as the ball went skipping over the waves, till it disap- papreds ut a quarter of a mile from their side n a direct line. | ‘‘Now you see for yourself,” remarked the creole dryly. ‘‘ You see, moreover, that there are good gunners aboard that ship, and that we have just a quarter of a mile to spare. Upon my faith, Lafangere, had you neglected to wake me for five minutes longer, that ball would have knocked a hole in us,” | €omicbooks.co _———