Beadle's Dime Library, No. 198 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

—— a - -- ~ — —_— — ——- gertion Caleb did not tell bis master that he had spread the news more than anybody else. ‘This is fearful, for now my poor son must know all,” said Captain Wyndham, as he paced the room. A moment after he said: ‘‘Come, Caleb, let us get home at once, for I am calm now.” The negro seized the carpet-sack of his mas- (er, and started toward the door, just as a knock came, **Come in!” called out the captain sternly. The door opened, and in stepped the elegant form of Frank Forrester. ‘* Pardon me, Captain Wyndham, but—” be- gan the visitor in his suave manner, but Cap- tain Wyndham interrupted with: “Ah! yes, you said you wished to see me, sir; but I have just been the recipient of very sad tidings from home, and must beg that you excuse me, as I start at once on my return.” ‘ But, sir, it is absolutely necessary that I see you at once.” ‘‘ And I say nothing is so important to meas to go at once to those who need me,” returned ‘Captain Wyndham, with some asperity of man- ner. ‘And pardon me again, sir, but my com- munication is equally as important, for it comes from one who seeks redress of you.” ‘‘ Who is it, sir?” asked Captain Wyndham, with surprise. ‘‘Mr. Mark Mortimer,” “That boy demand redress of me, sir?” sneered Captain Wyndbam, his face flushing with anger. “Tt seems, sir, that your boy, as you are pleased to apply that term to my friend, who is the senior of your boy, has just killed the father of Mr. Mark Mortimer, and this it is the intention of my friend to avenge. ‘‘Then he must abide my time, sir,’’ was the haughty reply. ‘‘ But he is anxious to return to his home, as he has received communications calling him thither at once, and demands a meeting with you before he goes,so what shall I tell my _ friend?” “Tell your friend and my foe, Mr. Mark Mortimer, to go to the devil,” and Captain Wyndham strode from the room, leaving Mr. Forrester gazing after him ina kind of dumb amazement, which had, for the time being, driven the perpetual smile from bis face. CHAPTER XX. THE THREAT. Mr. FRANK FORRESTER was a man of the world, and seldom was it that he could be thrown off his very equal balance. But it must be confessed that be was consid- erably nonplused by the very cavalier manner in which Captain Percy Wyndham had com- missioned him to tell his friend, Mark Morti- mer, to seek his Satanic Majesty. As soon as he recovered bis usual suavity of manner he turned on his heel and went whist- ling down the corridor of the hotel until he reached room number thirteen. Here he paused, and a knock was answered by an invitation to enter. He found himself in a large and handsomely furnished parlor, with a bedroom attached, and it held but one occupant, who was pacing the room with anxious step and careworn face. It was a young man who was just twenty- one, yet looked older, as there rested upon his face the indelible stamp of dissipation. is face was a strikingly handsome one, however, though not wholly frank and honest, and his form was one envied by many an awkward youth who knew him. He was dressed almost flashily, yet looked the gentleman withal, and his manner was haughty, in fact overbearing to all who were not his equals. One glance iuto his face showed such a re- semblance to the late Major Mortimer, that no one could fail to recognize in him the son of that gentleman. ‘‘Well, Forrester, what tidings?’ he asked quickly, as his friend entered. ‘He deelines to meet you now.” “Declines to meet me?” was the surprised question, ** Now, he does.” “* What did he say?” ‘He told me to tell you to go to the devil, Mark,” ‘*By Heaven! he sent me that word?” and the face of the youth flushed with temper. “Yes, but I felt assured you would not —EEEEEE as we se ee eee a ee in fact started while I was there, and simp- The Skeleton Schooner oblige him; but joking aside, Mortimer, he said he was going to return to his home, and —— _— —— - a ee - —— = —-—— -_— 11 At fast the glory of day died upon the waters and night cast its;shadow over all, causing the yachts to look like specter vessels ee eee ly hinted that he was at your service atan- gliding through the gluom and over the waves. other time.” ‘‘ Then I start home too.” *“ So soon?” you the news I received. yacht, Quickstep. ‘* Here it is.” i With the darkness the wind slightly in- | creased, and the dew dampening the sails | helped the speed of the little vessels consider- ‘“‘Yes, for I bad not time to explain fully to | ably, and the pace and scene would have given _ joy to most hearts, as the four yachts were ‘Tt seems that—but I will read you the | pow clumped together within the space of a letter of my friend Morgan Massey, and which | quarter of a mile square, he sent by two of my slaves in my father’s | | on his starboard and the Quickstep on his port Captain Wyndham yet led, with the Lance quarter, while the Jack-o’-lantern was coming He took from his pocket a letter and read | on-dead astern at a slapping pace, which dimin- aloud as follows: “Tae EVERGLADES.”’ ““My Dear Percy:— “Tam pained to have to make known to you sad tidings from hone, to the effect that your good father fought a duel, without seconds, an hour ago, with young Wyndham, and was shot dead. with my father, coming upon the scene, we the major d Mrs. Wyndham, while near by was Percy, her son. ‘*There were also two of the Lakelands ,_ and lying by his side ig & Swoon | Tite or weather-stsined, but of a misty hue | “The cause of the quarrel I do not know; hat, # foun Slaves | there, and all I learned was that Percy Wyndham | had slain your father. ‘**T came on to The Everglades and broke the | news to your sister, who fell in a faint, and is still her nurse tells me seriously ill; but I have gent for | your physician, and now hasten to get this off to you, ng your ments return, ** Yours **MorGan Massry."’ “ P. §.—My father has just come to the mansion with the , and “~ that Duke, the major's valet, attacked young Wyn wound that may peere fatal. ‘*Father says e was driven mad with grief and a desire for revenge he thin “The doctor is here, and we will do all in our power until your arrival. ** MorGan."’ “You will go at once, Mark?’ asked Frank Forrester. “Certainly, and I beg you to accompany me.” “Willingly, so I will cali your servant, order a carriage and drive to the lake, and we may have a race with Captain Wyndham,” answered Forrester, as pleasantly as though he was going on a pleasure excursion, and not to a house of mourning. ‘If we overhaul bis craft I swear by heaven he shall meet me, for I would like to feel that I had avenged my poor father ere I looked upon his dead face. “I tell you, Forrester, the major was a dead shot, quick as lightning, and 1 believe there was underhand work used against him.” “Tt would seem so, especially as there were no seconds,” chimed in Frank Forrester. ‘Well, I'll sift the matter to the dregs and revenge my father, 1 swear to you,” said the young man, with almost savage earnestness. CHAPTER XXI. THE JACK-O'-LANTERN, ‘*Massa, there comes that Lantern yacht, sah, for they is settin’ sail.” The remark came from Dot, one of the negro sailors on the yacht of Captain Wynd- ham, and was addressed to his master, who sat at the helm of his vessel, which was a little over a league from where it had dropped an- cbor that very morning. It was just sunset, but back in the little harbor among the fishing smacks was visible the handsome craft known as the Jack-o’-lan- tern, and she was just heading out into open water almost in the wake of Captain Wynd- ham’s vessel. Astern of the yacht came the Lance, in which was Caleb and his negro comrade, who had brought the fateful letter to their master, and not far off her starboard quarter could be seen the Guickstep, the favorite craft of the dead major, and which also had flown to New Orleans with the tidings of death and sorrow at The Everglades. They were certainly four beautiful vessels, and under the pressure of an eight-knot breeze were bowling along, the three in advance sail- ing about equal in speed, but the Jack-o’-lan- tern astern creeping up rapidly. But Captain Wyndham seemed in no humor for the beauty of the scene, gilded by the glories of sunset, as he sat at the tiller, his face dark, stern and even bard in its expression of anger and grief commingled. He clutched the carved tiller with a force that made it quiver, and eyed his course ahead as though longing to fly swiftly away and solve the mysteries yet hidden from him in his own home. ‘ ; dham, but received a ' j ! ished the distance each moment between her and her leaders. As the darkness came on, in spite of his grief and gloomy thoughts, Captain Wyndham’s sailor eye detected a marked peculiarity in the yacht Jack-o’-lantern. In the daylight he had observed her sails were a peculiar color, for they were neither that was indescribable. Her bull also, instead of being white or black, was of the same remarkable shade, and when darkness settled upon the face of the deep the effect was observable at once, for the beautiful vessel would hard y have been visible at all, where the others were in full view, had it not been for a greenish-red lantern that hung upon the very end of her bow-sprit. This light was plainly visible, and to an ordinary observer would have appeared to be indeed a Jack-o’-lantern floating over the face of the deep. | Having observed this peculiarity, and which be saw, connected with the vessel's former a career and the recent tragedy, caused the ne- groes to feel a superstitious dread of her, Cap- tain Wyndham kept his eyes fixed upon the strange craft, and soon noticed, that although she was within a few cable lengths she yet was seen most indistinctly. * Why has that craft followed me, unless it bears aboard of it young Mortimer, determined to force me to a meeting with him?’ said Cap- tain Wyndham to bimself, as he watched the yacbt drawing closer and closer to him. “It is a strange craft, and that man For- rester handles her well, and I would like to solve the mystery of her beating me to port yesterday, for it is most remarkable that he did 80 ‘“Who ber commander is few seemed to know, for all I could learn of him to-day was that he possessed plenty of money, spent his time between New Orleans and Mobile, and was a. great yacbtsman, while he was also a most successful gambler. ‘I suppose Young Mortimer has gotten him to come with him to The Everglades to be his second, for I fee] confident the young hot-blood will push the affair with me, and I wili be more than conteut, as he is a dead shot like his father, and I would dislike exceedingly to have Percy exposed a second time to the danger of a meeting on the field. ‘Ah me! after many years, Mark Morti- mer, your crimes against me and poor Nina, have been punished by our son,” Thus mused the unhappy man as he sailed on, until the sea began to grow lighter and lighter, and far away over the waters appeared a ball of molten gold rising from the dark depths. ‘*There comes the moon, and I will see what effect its light has on the sails and hull of that strange craft,” said Captain Wyndham. Waiting until the moon rode well above the horizon, he glanced astern. The Jack-o’-lantern bad crept steadily up until she was now abreast of the Quickstep and Lance, which the yacht of Captain Wynd- ham had slightly gained on, and the beautiful little vessels were coming along together. But, to bis surprise, the effect of the moon- light upon the line of the bull and sails of the Jack-o’-lantern, were to make them only a lit- tle more distinct than before. Brightly the sails of the lance and Quickstep shone out, and their dark hulls were plainly visible, but the craft between them looked al- most like a phantom, gliding over the waters like the ghost of a departed vessel, “That is remarkable indeed, but he holds directly in my wake, and although my yacht is doing her best, he is gaining rapidly, and I will soon have a close look at her,” said Cap- tain Wyndham; but little he knew what that close look would end ~ ith. Eomicbooks (E (Elo)