Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 172 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

The Black Pirate; The Mystery of Re Golden Fetters. A Romance of the * ast Days of Piracy. BY COLONEL PRENTISS INGRAHAM, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ MERLE, THE MUTINEER,” ‘‘ MON- TEZUMA, THE MERCILESS,” “ THE MAD MARINER,” ‘‘ WILD BILL,” ETC. PROLOGUE. THE DEATH-SHIP. Nigut upon the Atlantic, and not a single star visible above to cast its twinkling light down into the black waters. , No wind-lashed waves, no hurricane sweeping over the limitless expanse to try the nerve of brave seamen who may be abroad upon the waters, but only a silence like unto death, dark- ness that was tangible, inky clouds rolling along the face of the heavens and casting deeper shadows upon the sea, while the swell rises and falls like the heaving of Nature’s bosom in vast at gear No night-bird is abroad upon tireless wing, no white sail is in sight, only the solitude of the calm and mighty deep, which seems to wait with bated breath the breaking of those storm- clouds hovering above it and the fury of the mad winds enveloped in the funereal vails of the marching tempest, which seem to sweep the very ai as they skurry along. a Out of the gloom suddenly breaks a wild ery, and yet no vessel is in sight. “Help! Water! water! fur the love of God, give me water, or I shall go mad !” A cry for water and an ocean beneath the one whose pleading is thus shrieked forth in the stillness and gloom. ** Oh, God, have mercy! Iam dying for one drop of water to quench this hellish thirst !" Again did the cry burst forth, and a deep voice answered in stern command, and all was still once more. But only for an instant the dread stillness, and then came the steady dip of oars, the click, click in the row locks, and now upon the top of the mighty, a swell, now down between the watery hilis, comes a boat in view. The steady movement of the oars showed that disciplined seamen held them in band, and there were eight of them, keeping up a long, monoto- nous, though not strong stroke. . Shooting into sight came the long, black man- of-war’s boat, and besides the rowers there were five other forms visible, one in the bow, and leaning far over as he gazed into the gloom ahead, striving to penetrate its blackness. One man sat at the helm, upon which his hand seemed to rest mechanically, and three others crouched down in the bottom of the boat in an attitude of hopeless despair, or of bitter suffering. ‘‘ Sail ho! sail ho! now for water to quench my burning tongue! ‘Sail ho! I say, for yonder comes a brave vessel to give us aid, to give us food, and to give us icy, crystal water.” . At the wild cry from the man bending over the bow the oarsmen at once stopped rowing and turned their heads eagerly to glance for the coming vessel, while the three crouching forms ait looked up with anxious, hopeful cries. ** Resume your oars, men, for it is but a fancy of his mad brain,” came the stern order of the man at the helm, and once more, with steady rise aud fall, the oars began their work, while the three crouching beings again dropped their beads, and from their lips came groans of despair. : but eagerly the hunger-maddened look-out in the bows kept his gaze peering into the gloom ahead, until, with a groan, he seemed to realize that there was no sail in sight, only one con- jured up in his heated imagination. j aie” God! it is no sai), and we are lost ! lost / ost The cry seemed wrung from his inmost heart and he sunk down upon his knees and buried his face in his bands, the stroke and splash of oars alone breaking the deathlike stillness. Suddenly springing to his feet the thirst- crazed look-out shrieked forth: ** Ho, captain! do you not know that there is no bope for us? See! we are thirteen! ay, thirteen, that ill- omened 1fimber, and one must die, and then kelp will come.” gain the oars ceased their steady movement, and a thrill of borror seemed to fall upon all. “ Yes, thirteen !” | Nearly every voice had spoken the words and the eyes of each read the faces of the others. * One must die !” It was the man in the bow that spoke, and a chorus of voices echoed: * Yes, one must die!” No one before had noticed the unlucky num- ber in the boat, which the cunning brain of the madman had discovered, and upon him they now looked with almost savage eyes, meen nnn nen esses shee "he Black Pirate. eee 4 He read their thoughts, and cried, hastily; boat asked himself again and again, and with ‘Here, let us decide who shall be the one to | no solution of the mystery he raised his voice die, and decide by lot.” and hailed: ‘“‘ No! burl bim into the sea, for he is mad al- ‘* Ho, the barque, aboy !” 3 ready,” cried an oarsman, and his comrades| No answer came, and once more be cried: half-sprung to their feet, as though tocarry out | ‘‘ Ho, the barque! Will you give succor to a the cruel proposition. shipwrecked crew ?” “ Hold!” o answer still came, and with an impatient All recognized that stern voice, and beheld | extlamation he said: the tall form of the belmsman standing upright, “Give way, men! We will board him, and by a pistol in either hand. waking his lazy crew up in time to save their ‘Resume your oars, men, or I will lessen the | vessel, win our welcome.” number without lot.” And on sped the long-boat, until only a few They seemed to know him, and sunk back | lengths distant, when suddenly a wild flash ef without a word upon their seats. lightning rent the beavens in twain, and every As they arose the man in the bow had he bebeld a sight that must go with them te crouched down in mortal terror, although |t eir graves, for there lay the buge black hull through the long night he had been praying for | rolling to and fro i the waters, her sails im death, yet sbrunk from it when near at hand. tatters, and from her yard-arms, mizzen-geff, ‘Come, I have here twelve pieces of silver | and end of the flying jib-boom were swinging and one of gold; let all draw from the captain’s hwman forms! = hat, and the one who gets the gold must die,” ‘Good God! it is the gallows ship! Bach he said, eagerly, as soon as he saw that he was | water for your lives, men, or we are doomed !”" safe from attack. The cry rung out fiercely from the lips of the “So shall it be, men,” said the helmsman, | captain, and the long-boat fairly bounded out whom the madman had called captain, and, | of the water, under the tremendous pressure of taking the twelve pieces of silver and the one of | the oars of her horrified crew. ld, he threw them into his hat, and after mix- in re well, said, sternly CH APTER I * Draw! ; The madman, who bad crept aft, thrust his | THE HIDDEN SIN, hand in first, and drawing it out, a burst of de- Upon the bold and rugged coast of England, moniacal laughter rung over the dark waters as | ever washed by the restless seas, still stands a he saw that he held in his hand a piece of silver. | gloomy pile of rock, which in the olden time There was a low curse from the oarsmen at | was known as Castle Welcome Haven, from the this luck of the madman’s, and then one by one | fact of its snug harborage, beneath the shadow all drew their lots. of its walls, and the warm greeting extended te And from each lip escaped a ery of joy as _ all who met its hospitality. each band drew forth a piece of silver. Now it is known as Castle Curse, and the old- At last but two remained to draw, and one of | time dwellers near its desolate and broad do- these, an oarsman, thrust in his trembling hand, | main, tell weird stories of the rambling old clutched one of the two pieces.in the hat, and | rock-pile, whose only inhabitants vow are the fell half-fainting in the bottom of the boat, as . sea-fowl, owls and bats, for human beings give he saw that he, too, had escaped. it a wide berth, and the pe pg lad whose ‘*Men, the gold piece is left, and tbe lot of | flocks feed on the hills and valleys in full view death bus fallen to me. of its turrets, is careful that none of his sheep ‘**So be it, I shall not murmur.” or cattle shall stray beneath the shadow of its It was the captain who spoke, and in his gray, crumbling stones. stern, deep voice there was no sign of tremor, But into that castle I would have my reader and the hand that held the fatal piece of gold accompany me, ata time when its balls were was as firm as iron. not deserted, and its lord and master dwelt A groan escaped from every lip when it was there in almost regal splendor. seen who held the death-lot, while suddenly | A younger son of a noble he had inherited no came in ringing tones from the madman: | title and estates, but going to the East Indies ‘‘No, no! you shall not die, for J will take he had amassed a vast fortune, and returning te your place!” England had purchased Castle Welcome Haven, With a burst of laughter a his lips he _ and settled down to a life of luxury and bachelor sprung into the dark waters an sunk grom the freedom, while his elder brother, the one whe sight of bis terrified companions, | had become the inheritor of a baronetcy and Eagerly they gazed down into the black | fortune from their father, had —— the former depths, and long they watched and. waited in | left, having run through with the latter by ex- breathless silence, travagant living. But no form came to the surface to catch Although he had never liked even his younger their eyes, no voice was heard off on the waters, | brother, when they were boys together, upom no splasb of a drowning man, and, almost like his return with a large fortune, the baronet, ° guilty wretches, they huddled togetber, no lip | with his beautiful daughter, Eve, bad promptly rofaning the deathlike stillness unti many | ca!led upon him, to welcome him back to En- ong minutes had gone by. gland, after his long stay in foreign lands. ‘** Men, resume your oars!” Alvin Alstone, the East Indian millionsire, at The deep voice of their chief caused all to | once read his brother’s motive, as well as the start, as though a spirit of the deep had ad | fact that his lovely niece was no fortune-bunter, dressed them, but silently the oarsmen obeyed, | but seemed to possess a noble soul. the three forms that had before crouched in the ‘Pll give Eve a small legacy, but Sir Grey bottom of the boat resumed their places, and | Alstone, my scheming brother, who, in the the long, black boat, hardly blacker than the | long ago re me only his hatred, need not gloom resting upon the sea, again moved for- | e t me to give him my gold now.” ward over the waters. uch had been the decision of the bachelor- ** Sail ho!” millionaire, after the departure of Sir Grey and This time the cry came from no madman’s | Eve from Castle Welcome Haven. lips, and it was not conjured up by an anguish- But the returned East Indian lived not long heated brain, for it was spoken in the ringing to enjoy his hard-earned wealth,.asa few montis ee a tones of the helmsman, whose eyes had con- | after his settling down to a life of ease in bis stantly peered into the darkness ahead. grand castle home, he was stricken down with Involuntarily the oarsmen turned, and the | disease, and death boldly stalked into the grand three crouching forms came upright, and, like | halls to claim its victim. one voice came the cry of wild joy that went In the chamber where lies the dying man all from every lip. is hushed, and nurses creep to and fro on tip- It was no madman’s hallucination, for each | toe; but below stairs in the vast library a one of the drifting, despairing, ye ce boat’s | strange scene is taking place, for two men are crew beheld not two cables’ length ahead a large | there in angry converse. ; vessel rising and falling upon the ocean swell. | One of them is the baronet, Sir roe Alstone, ‘* Thank , we are just in time, for within | the other is a tall, sad-faced man in the garb of half an hour the tempest will break upon the | a priest. sai: te pon the faces of both are trouble and anger ‘Give way, men!” ‘ stamped, and the veice of Sir Grey is trembling And, at the command of their chief, the oars- | with passion as he says: ‘men bent with a will to their work, and the | ‘‘ You know then, Brandt, that my brother long-boat forged rapidly forward. has made his will in favor of this young spend- earer and sae to the vessel it drew, and | thrifj noble, Lord Caverly?” the helmsman saw that she was lying to, and “I do,” was the answer in the deep, low tones yet had considerable sail set, as it flapped dis- | of Pere Brandt. | mally with each rise of the hull upon a passing | ‘‘ And myself, priest?” swell, “‘ He leaves nothing to.” But no light gleamed forth from the fore ‘* Curse him for that.” rigging, no glimmer came from binnacle or Ec Sir Grey Alstone, curse not the one in, and all was darkness on board. upon whom the finger of death is l.id. Nearer and nearer drew the boat, and yet “When God’s hand is upon & man withhold there was heard no hail from the officer on | your impious touch,” sternly said the priest. deck, and the creaking of blocks and swinging “Don’t preach to me, Pere Brandt, for I am yards, Sapring of canvas and clanking ef chains | in no mood for it, but tell me what legacy has e only were : he left my child?” Why was vse tempest brewing, no nim > a She gets one thousand pounds asa marriage ble seamen scaled the ri a owry. } Why was it that, ina ess that was tan 6 One theusand curses !” almost shrieked the gible, no light was kept? barenet. These questions the stern helmsman ef the! ‘‘ That is all, Sir Grey.” : Gomicbooks.com