Beadle's Dime Library No. 18 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

~~ —_ —— 24 —_- . —~e . “I agree with yuu there, perfectly,” said the Englishman. “I like, when I strike, to see where my blow falls; and if I am struck, to see where the blow comes from.” Allen, after this coincidence in his own opin- ion, did not deem it necessary to consult his officers further; but gave the order for his boats to fall back a few hundred yards, toa low island of bare sand which the had assed but a little while before, and which Monona had described as being near the hidden inlet. Here the men were ullowed to land, and di- rected to rest until further orders. Meanwhile, a couple of light boats were detached to re- connoitre along the shore, and to prevent any danger of surprise. But the night wore on, and nothing occurred to denote the vicinity of the foe. CHAPTER XLVI. Ere the day dawned, the drifting clouds thickened and darkened, and a thin, drizzling rain began to fall, and a murky fog arose which made the coast, close as it was, loom up vague and indistinct. The men did not seem to be in very high spirits, for though they knew a ficht was almost certainly before them, the weather was not favorable for burning owder in. And the ghastly sight of the fatehered woman and her boat’s crew was rather disheartening ; for they had no sym- pathy for the victims of the pirate chief, as they would have had, had they been comrades of their own, or even innocent persons who had not themselves been pirates. Allen was very gloomy, and he strove in vain to shake off the feelings which lay like a Jeaden weight upon his heart. Seymour noticed it, and strove to cheer him up. “Take a drop of old cogniac from my flask!” said the warm-hearted Englishman. “ We will soon whip these bloody sharks out of their nest, and then you will return to re- ceive the praises and the smiles of your beau- tifal bride !” ‘*Seymour,” responded the young officer, “TI shall never see her again. I felt such would be the case when I parted from her, Ihave felt it ever since, feel it now! It does not at all unman me, though it will be hard for her.” “Pooh, nonsense! Banish such thoughts, my dear fellow. Come, take a nip.” “No—thank you, no! [ need no artificial stimulant to raise my spirits. It will be time for us to move in a few moments, and then you will see me as cheerful as ever. There somes the boat which I last sent out to try and discover the inlet. By the way they spring on their oars, the offiver seems to be in haste, and has, I hope, discovered what he sought for.” “T hope he has; for this eursed rain pierces s fellow through and through,” said the noble- man, as he took a pull at his flask to soften the feelings of the inner man. «“ What news, Harkness ?” cried Allen to the officer commanding the boat, when he pulled up within hail. “1 have found the inlet, sir!” responded the officer. “ But it is strongly guarded by men lanted at batteries in the turns; but it can i flanked overland, I think, sir, and the men driven from the guns, when we can go in with the boats without loss.” “Thanks for the suggestion!" said Allen. “We will first run down to the inlet, and see how it looks. Come into my boat and act as a pilot, if you please.” he officer obeyed the order; and imme- diately after, Allen gave the word for all the men to embark, ao leading the column of three boats abreast, he moved on to the spot where the officer told him the inlet opened. It was no wonder that they passed it undis- | covered so often as they had, for they were within a few boats’ lengths of the angular opening in the cliff before it could be seen, {though they were looking for it. Here, rely- ing uj on the information which the officer yhad gained in a daring reconnoisanee, Allen divided his men, directing two parties, one of Englishmen and the other of Americans, to scale the cliffs and drive the men from the batteries, while he, with the rest, attacked and drove them in from the front. To Seymour he gave the command of the land-forces, seo- onda by his own first lieutenant, while the gallant chaplain kept command of Seymour's ig, which kept close alongside that of the eacler. The lan '-partics being op shore, the order treat. The boats pressed on, making turn after George!” cried the brave chaplain. * On—on—swee The New York Library. to advance was given, and up the rugged cliffs | each time dashed in like a tigress before” him, went the hardy tars, with many a wild cheer, many a hearty hurrah. Soon dropping shots were heard from their guns, and then rattling volleys told that they were warmly engaged. “Forward men! Spring to your oars—now comes our time!” eried Allen, and with one wild hurrah the boat column dashed into the narrow entrance. Soon, at a short turn, they met the black muzzles of a battery frowning in their very faces, but the diversion on the shore saved them from what must have been utter destruction, for the guns were so placed as to completely enfilade that reach of the’ channel. But the gunners had been shot down at their guns, or had fled in boats which they had ready to use,in ease of being forced to re turn, each of wich was guarded by a bat- tery, but from all of which the men had been driven by Seymour’s dashing attack, until at last they came to an open stretch, from which they could see the inner harbor, with its ves- sels all drawn up broadside to the shore, with their guns so bearing as to sweep the water with their deadly contents. Jeaying boats to take in the parties which had acted so gallant- ly on the Jand, Allen made searce a moment's be now, but dashed on as rapidly as pos- sible. Searcely had he reached the open water wher the fire of thé whole piratical line opened upon him, and a battery in front of the house by the main flag-staff on shore, poured in‘a terrible fire. “On my brave boys—on—the blood-thirsty fiends shall pay treble for every drop of blood they shed !”” he shouted, as standing up in his boat, he urged his staunch oarsmen onward. * Forward, for God and the holy Saint * Onward, and let the deuce take him that's bindmost !” cried the gallant Seymour And though man after man fell dead at his oars, and the enot fell. like hail among them, the boats pressed swiftly on in the face of the deadly fire, not pausing to return it, but seek- ing only to come hand to hand with the scourges before them. Allen, still standing up in his boat, con- spicuous for his courage, and but too good a mark with his commanding figure, still led the van, his clear voice heard plainly above the rattle of fire-arms and the dash of. plung- ing oars. Seymour as well as other of the officers, though they could not but admire his reckless courage, begged him not to expose himself so much; but he did not heed their entreaties. the cursed fiends from the face of the earth,” was his ery. Bravely, nobly the advancing boats dashed upon the Jine of piratical boats, and though they were defended with the sternness of de- spair, the Americans swept down the pirates ‘ike grain before the sickle of the reaper. Che pirates retreated back, step by step, firing each vessel as they were forced to aban don it. And their conquerors were thus forced literally to follow them over a wall of fire. But they did not pause for smoke or flames who had not stopped for the showers ot iron and of lead, but on with thirsty steel in their hands they sprung. Allen had at last gained the shore, where Coleefrinas himself, heading his men, forgetful of his wound, and raging like a wounded lion, fought. “Coward—one blow with you, and I am conteut!” shouted Allen, as hé saw him. Alas! those words were the last that ever his brave lips uttered. While yet his taunt- ing voice rung out upon the air, and ere Col- cefrinas could yy s his reply, td e fatal bullet from some random hand sped on its course and the hero of the day, the gallant Allen, fel! forward on the crimsoned sand—a corpse. ° For a moment, his men, appalled with their loss, and grief-stricken, faltered and fell back ; pvt when Seymour lifted him from the earth, and avenge your leader!” they falted no long er)...» , With one united cry for revenge, they preas ed forward, and the remainder of the pirates _ began to yield. Colcefrinas was again wound ed, and twice was almost in the hands of his foes. But Mariano, with her long, black hair _ streaming in the air, her dark eyes flashin | fire, and her dress half-womanish, yet partial ly such as she had worn when acting as page, | and shouted: “ Forward, Americans—forward { ee + ee and beating back the astonished Americans, rescued him from their hands. At last, the pirates were pressed into his house as a last resort; and thither they would have been fol- lowed, had not the building, in a moment after, been shattered into a thousand fragments, by the explosion of a mine beneath it. Sevmour and the remainder of the officers supposed that Coleefrinas and the rest of his band, rendered hopeless by the desperation of their situation, had themselves destroyed the building and perished in its ruins. | Not so. By a safe avenue, al] that had survived the terrible slaughter in the vessels: and on the beach, now headed by Mariano, were hastening unseen to their last stronghold | in the mountains, bearing with them their dis- abled chief, who with his own hand. had fired the train that blew his house into the air— the smoke and dust completely hiding them and thus seeuring their retreat. Finding no more resistance, the attacking force now completed their work of destruction, destroying every boat and building, spiking the guns which had done so much damage, and cutting down every tree which bore fruit. Then silently and sadly they gathered togeth- er their dead, and prepared to return to their vessels. They had: conquered the enemy, de- stroyed their vessels, and utterly desolated their rendezvous; and, as they supposed, com- letely annihilated them; but the victory had een dearly won. The most of those who fell on the English’ and American side were, with brief but solemn ceremony, buried on the shore—the pirates be- ing left as they fell, to rot and whiten the earth with their bones. But the remains of Allen, nobly beautiful even in death, were earefully taken up and laid in his boat, with his ecuntry’s flag for a pall and rowed by his sorrow-stricken ‘crew, carried back to the head of the eolumn which’ he had led, so that his widowed bride might’ have the sad satisfaction of gazing onee more on him whom she had loved so well, and who had fallen while yet the sunlight of bliss was warm upon his brow. CHAPTER XLVII. It was almost night. when, the. returning: boats reached the vessels. With kindly feels ings ard tender sensibility, Beymour and the chaplain, Mr. Mordaunt, preceded the boat: . which contained the body of poor AHen some distance, to endeavor to break the i.ews of her gallant husband’s untimely fall, as gently as possible, to poor Maraquita. : To their utter surprise, they found that lad seated in the cabin, ealm and quiet, but wi the pallur of death on her cheek, which was». made more visible by the dress which she:wore. It was black. She had robes of mourning. they came in, and in a low tone said, as: she: motioned them to seats : “You are kind. You come to speak words’ of consolation to the widow! . You need ‘not: shake your heads—it is not mercy, for know: all. 1 saw him when he fell—I knew he never would return!” The officers thought that ber reason had left» her, for she could not have known positively of the fall of her husband. But mysterious: in- fluences sometimes bear to us the knowledge And so there had come to” her some spirit unseea—but fel haps his. own—which whispered to Kerdneart/that thetic of great sorrows. forth it must beat alone. ) Seeing her so calm, the chaplain thought that he might utter a few words of consolation tonsonant with the duties of his holy aot seem to heed his words. said. “TI wish to look upon his pale face! Bring him to me quickly!” . a oe left the cabin, and tears were cours- © ing do wn the brave man’s cheeks, for he had: never seen a grief so still and so very pitiful as’ hers. Had she shrieked and sobbed a hair, the violence of her demonstrations would have destroyed the intensity of its effect upon the witnesses. Butin her sorrow, there was an utter abandonment—an intensity of desolation: more potent than many sobs and tears. | __ Seymour met the men, who were carefully | lifting the corpse of their almost idolized com- | mander on board. Too much agitated to _ speak, he motioned.to the cabin and jed the’ way. The body was carried in and laid dowg Micboo (E(@) already donned the» She smiled gently, but oh, how sadly ! ad)» rofes- sion, and eudeavored to do so. But she did» “ Why do gee bring him to me?” she’ © torn her © 7 tema lial AP i —Eo S) (G (0)