Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 181 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

an well with the elegance of the surroundings. and beauty of the scenery without. ‘ Asmall chapel, with its cross of gold, adjoin- ed the villa on the right, and upon all sides were gardens of flowers and ornamental trees, with avenues of evergreens running down to the shores of the bay. } Beyond were the negro village, and the out- houses of the hacienda, all on the same grand scale. Such was the scene that Nita Sabinas, the Cu- ban beauty, gazed upon, while her skilled hand guided the pencil upon its work, | Suddenly she started to her feet with a half- ery of terror, dropping her portfolio upon the ground, while Alena, who had been having a peaceful siesta, also sprung.up with a cry of alarm and muttered her prayers, as the whole island seemed to shake, beneath the peals of ter- rific thunder that burst from the heavens. While sketching, she had forgotten the rising storm, until the livid flash and thunder roar came, startling her by its suddenness. But now that she saw the me y storm-clouds trailing over the sea, and beheld the tornado rushing landward with irresistible fury, she be- came perfectly calm, and with her dark man- tilla drawn around her form, stood gazing with admiration.upon the tempest that was enough to make the stoutest heart tremble with: dread. ‘‘Come, Sefiorita Nita, let, us hasten to the hacienda,” cried Alena, sinking upon her knees within the vine-coyered ruin, and still mutter- ing her prayers. ‘Nonsense, Alena, I do not fear the storm, so in remain here ; if you are afraid go to the villa. : ‘*T will not leave you, seiiprita; but your fa- ther will fear for you,” ‘“My father is not at the hacienda, as you know, Alena, to know that Il am here; but see! the tornado has struck the goleta and it is lost from sight in the spray and gloom. ; ‘‘Holy Mother grant, whoever be on that NOFA that. they go not down under the, tem- pest. , } A moment, she gazed earnestly at the spot where she had last seen the vessel, and then said, qin cists ‘ ‘* Alena, my glass!” The slave sprung to her feet and placed in the hands of the maiden a spy-glass, a magnificent instrument with silver tubes-and gems-set in the rims around the glasses. Placing itto her eye she arranges the focus to suit her vision; and after a long look ex- claimed; ‘‘It is a caravel, Alena, for I.see her now, driving like a specter vessel through the storm. ‘‘ But it is.a larger. vessel than my. brother’s goleta, yet she heads this way.” | ‘‘ Then it must be Don Isadoro’s goteta, Donna Nita, for what. other vessel like her would be standing toward the bay?’ answered Alena, ‘* She heads directly for the entrance to the bay, as though she knew the channel, and if she puts her helm hard down and runs sharp to the south, after passing Traitor Rock, I will know that it is my brother, for no. other pilot would dare run into the bay in sucha tornado,” } A moment she dropped the glass from her eye, and glancing around upon the now ter- rifically sublime scene, calm where she stood, a raging tempest a league away, she cried, with admiration: ’ _** Por mi vida! Alena, but this is a grand sigh t, and an awful one.” ‘Ob, Donna Nita, the goleta, the goleta!” suddenly cried the octoroon, pointing sea- ward, Quickly the lustrous eyes were turned sea- ward, and from the red lips broke a cry of alarm, for anddenty increasing in fury the tor- nado had torn the lateen sails of the caravel to threads, and hurled it upon its beam-ends. With dread.and hope commingled the maiden and slave gazed upon the gallant craft, and with her spy-glass to her eye, Donna Nita cried in trembling tones: ‘ Mother of God have mercy! The sea sweeps the crew into the waves; ah! there a tall form springs to the wheel, and the remaining seamen spring to obey his orders, ‘* Yes, they are setting sail—. Ha! Heaven I thank Thee! she rights once more; but_there again goes her canvas into ribbons. . *‘ Yet she drives on now before the tempest like a mad racer, and-Lean see no more for the tornado shuts out my view.” — ; ** Ob, Donna Nita, see! el ojo del hwracan !* Come, sefiorita, let..us fly to the hacienda for safety,” cried Alena, in wild, pleading accents, as the skies suddenly presented a fearfully ghastly light, that spread over the sea and land in advance of the hurricane, almost shutting out objects from view, and yet rolling over the sea in red waves not unlike the aurora borealis in the heavens, though reflected from a single ing focus, which was the ‘‘eye of the tem- est. Behind this baleful glare came the tornado, and trailing blackness; while the very earth *“The eye of the hurricane;” also called ‘‘The Light of Hell,” in the Caribbean Sea.—Tuu AUTHOR. trembled beneath the:roar of waters, howling of | The Scarlet Schooner. winds and rattle of thunder-peals. Nearer and nearer came tire tornado, the ojo del huracan changing its hues as it approached, the red fading into violet and the violet into inky blackness, until again it changed and the very waves seemed to be on fire beneath its lurid glare. ‘God have mercy upon that craft!” cried Nita Sabinas, springing back into the tower and dropping upon her knees by the side of the frightened Alend. — ut scarcely had she disappeared within the ruin, when the scene of calm on shore was bro- ken, and the hurricane leaped upon the land that shook beneath its shock, and alae? down rocks, uprooting trees, and crashing through the forest it went on with a force, ferocity and uproar which no pen can descr‘be. : Stones were hurled from the tower, and swept away like leaves; large rocks were split from the cliffs and fell into the seething waters of the bay, while the rain and sheets of flamin lightning descended to ether, and thunder pea succeeded thunder peal with the roar of a cease- less battle. Kneeling back in the tower, protected from the fierce tempest, Nita Sabinas gazed spell- bound upon the fearful sight of Nature in a passion, while r Alena, shrieking. forth her prayers to the Virgin, crouched down in a dark corner, a able object of terror, Presently a ery broke from Nita’s lips: “See! it is the goleta! ‘She has entered the bay and drives straight upon the rocks at gur very feet; ob, Alena! girl! arouse from your fright and behold!” But Alena only prayed the louder, and crouched the closer in the corner of the tower, while her mistress sprung to her feet, and cling- ing to the hammock, gazed forth upon the weird, fearful scene. in Across the bay the goleta was driving, and she knew that. under bare the rocks a hundred feet les it must stri eneath w ) | tower stood, and that all on board musf perish. ‘Oh Father above, even prayer to Thee will not save them now—all must die!” She covered her face with her hands to shut out the hideous sight of a noble vessel susng to ruin.and death, and when she again look saw that it was much nearer the rocky arm of the land, and driving still more swiftly to de- struction, ‘*Ha! there stands that same tall form I be- fore saw, and he is lashed to the wheel. ** No, no, he leaves it to grasp at that poor comrade who is torn from his hold on the bul- wark—he misses him, but has returned in safety to the wheel, to which another also clings. **See how coolly he gazes around upon the awful scene, as though he knew not fear— Ha! that cruel wave has swept the decks clear of all —no, no, he lives, and one other; they are still safe at the wheel. : ‘*Oh Heaven! that sea will sink the gallant craft; no, it nee once more, and he alone lives, I could love that brave, noble man, and, Mary Mother, save him from death, I plead to you from my inmost heart.” She.sunk on her knees as she uttered the short prayer, and when she again looked upon the vessel she saw the tall form suddenly leave the wheel and spring into the sea, while the next instant the little caravel went upon the rocks with a force that seemed to loosen them, from their very foundation. ! ‘Come, Alena! come, girl! he is not dead, and £ yet may save; him,” shouted the Cuban maiden, and gathering ber dress around her ske darted out of the tower down toward the shore, RR AE TY of the furious hurricane and her own safety. Down the rocky gs with the spray dash- ing over her, the rain falling in torrents upon er, and the winds almost taking her breath away, she went to the shore, upon which the rocks were piled in wild confusion. A short distance away, upon a jutting rock was the caravel, breaking in pieces, tha would be torn loose and hurled waters. Out over the seething foam she earnest- ne and to her lips arose a ery of joy, for amid the tossing débris of the wreck she beheld one human form, and she saw that he was alive and was manfully struggling to live. Nearer and nearer he came to the shore, and then was in the breakers, to be hurled away by a rude wave. ‘*‘ He shall not die before my eyes,” cried the brave girl, and unfasten her mantilla she tore it in several pieces, tied them together with a firm hand, and attaching to one end a small piece of timber from the wreck, threw it out to the grasp of the struggling man. He clutched it, just as a third time a wave drag g m back, and holding on with ncity hat oreward by the mad was the ten a drowning man can do, was firmly held there by the maiden until the surge of the waters backward momentarily ceased Then, exerting all her stre to him to da likewise, she drew him shorewar his feet touched the sands and he tottered out beyond the reach of the waves. That man was the one who had said to Jose th, and calling | prorena thes he would not die, and he had kept is word. But better had it been for Nita Sabinas had he sunk to the depths of the sea, CHAPTER III. A WOMAN’S LOVE, ONE pleasant afternoon, some two months af- ter the tornadc described in the foregoing chap- ter, Nita Sabinas wa8 sleeping upon the roof of her casa, for it was the hour of siesta, an hour when all Cuba delights to rest. Above her was stretched a silk awning, so Ited as to be a shade from the sun sinking estward. Her form was reclining upon a bamboo settee, and beneath her lovely head was a silken pillow, while by her side sat Alena, the octoroon a fan in her hand, which she moved spasmodieally, for a had yielded to the dreamy influence of the our. ' In the patio beneath, the slaves of the house- hold were also sleeping, soothed by the balm air, and all Nature seemed in repose, thoug not yet had “ Night’s dark wing o’er the earth been thrown.” Upon another part of the casa, also sheltered by an awning of silk, but reclining iu a ham- mock, was the form of a man, and the curl of smoke arising from a cigarrito between his lips showed that one person at least was awake in that time of dreamy repose and security which — characterizes the interior of a Cuban mansion in that climate of luxurious indulgence, Tossing his cigarrito suddenly away with an air of petulance, he arose to his feet and gazed seaward. . ‘*Ha! a sail; and itis the golcta, of Don Isa- doro Sabinas,” he exelaimed, as his quick eye caught sight of a lateen-rigged vessel far out upon the sea, and heading tor the entraiice to the ‘ Asti stood up, his tall, well-knit form drawn to its full hight, the same dark, stern faci scen on the caravel, the day of the tornado was re- | vealed. It was a strangely fascinating face, though a little stern, and stamped with a certain 1 eck- lessness that was seemingly called there by a life of adventure and danger; but there was an air of refinement and high breeding that de- noted that he had heen born and reared a gen-_ tleman, He was dressed in a blue navy undress jacket, white pants, a buff vest, and upon his shoulders were the straps. of a naval officer of the United States of the rank of captain. As he again turned to gaze upon the distant sail, it was observable that he wore his left arm in a silken sling, and the sunlight falling full upon his face showed that it was haggard and bore traces of recent suffering, — Long and ntertly he looked upon the sail in the offing, and his brow grew dark, and his eyes burned as if in anger, while, muttering between _his shut tec th something that sounded strangely like an oath, he began to pace the azotea with the quick, firm tread of one at home on a ship's quarter-deck, . Presently his evidently angry thoughts found voice, for he said, in an earnest undertone, com- muning with himself aloud; — “ Nombre de Dios! why does not the laggard ome? “He certainly received my letter, for that man on Don Isadoro’s goleta would not dare turn traitor to me. ' ‘*‘ But he does not come, and here is the Don’s Cc “yacht running in, when it was not expected for a week or more. ‘*T trust no suspicion has arisen in his mind to bring him back so soon. ‘‘T know that he does not like me, though I must say he treated me kindly, as does bis fa- ther; but then the seed of distrust is in the heart of the young man, and the father has in view the marriage with un caballero noble of Spain, and not with an Americano, ‘Hal! ha! ha! well, we shall see, my noble dons, who shall win the game at stake; itisa high one, and I shall play it to the bitter end.” or some moments he stood in silence, glanc- in cars down into the court, where still slumbered the slaves, upon the fountain, the tesselated pavement, the flowers of many hues, and then upon the grand old mansion, Then he once more turned h's gaze seaward and cried, in a joyous tone, as his eyes ighted up brilli any “« Madre de Dios! it is the lugger.” The voice awakened Nita Sabinas from her slumber, and her sudden start brought Alena, the octoroon, to her feet, and both turned their eyes upon the one who had aroused them, see- ing which he poh paca ia a along the roof to. where the maiden , and said, in a yoice that was soft and. winning: : “ Pardon, Sefiorita Nita, for ah disturbing ou, but yonder sail, your brother’s goleta re- g, surprised me,” ‘‘ Ah, it is Isadoro’s vessel, and she is enter- ing Pe channel; and there is another craft un- der the shadow of the land. “See, Sefior Aubrey, the lugger also heads. for our bay.” MICO) (E@) (c S) (E (0) Ee A EE A Nw a ee