Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 206 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

1O es us in the calm and is trying to escape, disguised with seaweed, as a wreck. { want you to carry her by boarding and bring her bere. If you are resisted kill every man ou board, Mr. Weatherston.”’ ery ag, sire” ‘*TDo you wish to command the boats?,’ “Tf you please, sir.” ie Now that there wes a prospect of fighting, Weatherston brightened up and the men in the boats were grinning. Mr. Weatherston touched his cap. *““ Any orders, sir?” *“None but what Ive said. Use your discre- tion, Weatherston. Mr. Chumley will take the pinnace, Mr. Duncomb the jélly-boat, and the senior young gentlemen will command the cutters. God be with you, gentlemen. Make "eee the stern of the lugger and be sure you take ner.” Now that the morose captain saw a chance of injuring his hated foe, the sullenness had gone from his face. His manner was actually kind as he dispatched his boats on what all knew to be a perilous errand. They had felt the metal of the lugger before, and although they could not see her from the ship’s deck, knew that the captain was not easily deceived, The men gave a cheer, bent to the oars, and the five boats shot away from the side of the frigate, a twenty-four-pound carronade grin- ning in the bow of the launch, the marines sit- ting in the stern-sheets with their muskets rest- ing hetween their knees, grim and silent as usual. @ The captain of the Penelope watched them till they became mere black specks on the hori- zon, and then went up the mizzen rigging with his glass from which he could command a view of the mass of seaweed that concealed the lug- er. : As soon as he covered her with the glass he uttered a low ery. The lugger had moved. When Chutaley saw her she was on the star- board quarter, when the captain sighted first, she was directly astern. Now she was on the port quarter. Moreover, he could see plainly in the glass that his subordinate’s suspicions were well founded. , Part of the seaweed covering had fallen away, revealing the white side of the lugger and four sweeps were out, under which she was moving at a slow rate forward, while several white figures were busy tearing off the disguise that served them so far and revealing the vessel yo te dismasted. ‘They've seen the boats,” said Wright to himself, ‘‘ and are going to fight.” Then he looked for the boats and saw them rowing away dead astern of the frigate, in a di- rection that showed they bad missed their aim and lost the lugger. ' Whether this were so or not was yet uncer- tain. In a calm at sea out of sight of stationary objects it is hard to tell whether the shipswings round except by the compass. Wright shouted down: ee. On deck there. Is the vessel turning at The officer of the watch who had taken Dun- comb’s place looked at the compass card and answered: ‘Not a bit, sir; steady as a rock.” ‘Fire a gun about four points abaft the beam with three degrees elevation,” was the next order. The gun spoke out and the captain saw the shot skip over the sea toward the distant lugger, making a line of spray and ricochetting along for nearly two miles and a half. The boats, as he expected, took the hint, and changed their course toward the lugger, when the latter vessel suddenly altered her course and came sweeping toward the frigate as if to get between her and her boats. The captain growing anxious, still remained aloft till he could see the men on Ingzger and boats plainly through the glass, end knew from the actions of the crew of the frigate that the combatants were visible from the deck, when he came down and vo ome out the only re- maining boats of the frigate—third and fourth cutter and his own gig—to tow the Penelope’s head round and bring her broadside to bear on the lugger. ‘ By the time the order was executed, the boats had closed to the lugger, an: the French vessel ’ fired the first gun. Wright uttered a low groan of dismay as he looked at the boats through the glass. That first shot had knocked the launch to shivers and her crew were swimming to the other boats, while the Imgger was still three miles away from the ship, and consequently out of gunshot. A second gun was fired from that white hull ae the fell into confusion, turned tail and But whereas five boats had rowed for the lugger, ‘nog three were coming back. learly the gunnery on board that little vessel must be excellent. The boats had had enough of it and were ‘dared not venture within close range of bis One Eye, the Cannoneer, SO coming back in confusion, for which the cap- another broadside, and a twenty-four pound tain could not blame them. | shot tore through the bulwarks of the yachtand They were all loaded deeply with the sur- | dropped into the sea not ten feet off. vivors of the crews of the two sunken boats— Jean Martin shuddered, and said: launch and first cutter—and rowed slowly, ‘* Tf we are not careful he will sink us.” while, to the horror of the captain, the lugger Alfred laughed as coolly as ever. was coming after them, her eight long sweeps * Not a bit of it. We are at his extreme manned by four men each, whilea group of men | range now. That shot had just force ts pene- stood at the long gun amidships. trate two planks: that is all. We will retire a But the boats seemed to be holding their own | little and it will not have even that much.” in the race for life and the captain saw that Under the impulse of eigbt sweeps and the the lugger, if she chased them much further, ; muscle of thirty-two sailors the Belle Creole would come in range of his own broadside. moved off and the next shot from the frigate He ordered it loaded, though he bad not men | fell short. disposable for more than six or seven guns, and directed a high elevation to be given the sights. And, at that very moment the white lugger fired her long gun at the escaping boats and sunk the pinnace. Full of anguish at the sight, aggravated by bis own powerlessness, the captain ordered his broadside fired and saw the shot drop into the sea just beyond the boats, but without reaching the bull of the lugger. The latter instantly stopped, swept round her broadside to the boats and let drive both car- | ronades with such deadly aim that only a single | boat out of the five was left afloat and that CHAPTER VIII, ST. HELENA. OvT in the midst of the dark tropical sea, south of the line, rises the rock of St, Helena. The nearest land is the island of Ascension, desolate and barren, hot as an oven all the year round, with a scanty population living down by the little port where vessels stop for water. St. Helena is one of those islands that nobody in the world would covet, save for a purpose, and England was the only power, sixty years ago, that had any purpose to gain by occupying it, serving as it did as a half-way house for her one the second cutter, which had less men in it | Indiamen, where they could touch for water than any of the rest. | and fresh vegetables. Wright uttered a groan and covered his face | While as rocky as Ascension, it possesses a with bis hands, _ fertile soil around the base of its tall mountains, “My God!” he muttered, ‘‘ what have I done | and supports quite a little population of its to deserve this?” own. He had lost in ten minutes nearly half his At the period of Napoleon’s imprisonment, crew and the last boat was rowing frantically | slaveholding was still an English colonial insti- for the frigate in a way that showed the demor- | tution, and St. Helena had a black population alization of the men in her, while the sea was | of some extent. covered with the heads of swimmers, into the In the month of May, 1820, on one of the lofty midst of whom the white lugger moved slowly | peaks of this gloomy ate | island, a horse- and majestically. man rode recklessly up and down the rocky But as soon as the men could load the Pe- | road at speed, all alone. He seemed to delight nelope’s guns again another hail of iron was | in the fact that no one was near him, and when poured at the white Iugger and this time not | at last he reached the summit of a cliff that without its effect, for one shot was seen to | commanded an extensive view of the ocean, he strike her and the splinters flew in showers. | drew rein and uttered an exclamation of pleas- ‘* Give her another dose,” shouted Wright in | ure in the French language: his most vindictive way. ‘‘Curse her, we'll | ‘‘ Morblew! That is well.” get even now.” | There was no mistaking the figure and face The answer to the cry came from the distant | of that horseman, made familiar to all the vessel in the shape of a thirty-two-pound shot, | civilized world by bundreds of portraits. The which woop d along under the bows of the | green uniform with white facings, the little Penelope till it ended with a crash and loud | three-cornered hat, the white breeches and yells of pain. polished boots, belonged to but one man in the One of the towing boats had been struck and | world, the greatest warrior Europe had ever sunk, with two of the crew killed and two more | known, wounded, while the other boat instantly rowed It was Napoleon hirnself. behind the shelter of the ship. His pale face flushed slightly, his eyes flashed, Then for the first time Wright began to look | his nostrils dilated as he looked out over the serious as the plan of the foe dawned on him. sea, and he said aloud: 0 ayaa The lugger meant to destroy all his boats; “That is beautiful. It is magnificent; and, then choose her position at will and fire into him when he could not return the fire. And he saw no way to prevent it, if once she got on his bow or stern. At he ha ter succeeded in getting in safely. But Wright was too good a seaman to be with- out resources even in so desperate an emer- best of all, I am alone at last.” Indeed, he seemed to be quite alone, for all around him was bare rocks, save for a few scanty bushes, while below him stretcbed down resent she was under his broadside and | a steep descent, clothed with tropic grasses, but one boat left, unless the second cut- | brown and withered in the heat, while behind him was a lonely plateau of rocks that stretched for some miles, He was, in fact, on the ridge of the island, the highest point for a thousand miles, Never- theless. as be turned in his saddle to look to one side, his brow contracted and he uttered an angry cry: ‘* Peste! Not even here!” There was a cleft in the side of the precipice ancy. : He still had his broadside to the lugger and he was bound to keep it there. She was ee round toward his bow and his boat was behind it. He shouted down his direction to the boat to pull out again and keep the bow away from the | where he looked, and the shako of an English enemy, and in the mean time opened a hot fire | soldier could be seen above it; the man leaning on the lugger. on bis musket, staring at the emperor. He had one point of safety.. The little vessel| The angry prisoner wheeled his herse ord rode up to the man, asking, flercely: * Oui vous a place ici, coguin?” [Who placed you here, rascal 7] The man looked stolidly up. ‘‘ Anan?” was all he said. The emperor ground his teeth and turned deadly pale, as a spasm of intense pain crossed his face. For a moment he could say nothing. The fangs of that terrible cancer that had begun io eat out his life were fastened in his vitals, and his anger had brought on a paroxysm of torture, under which the sweat poured down from his forehead. | The Briton staring at him dimly perce’v d that something was the matter, and said, ciyil- ly enough: ** My orders is to stay here, sir. Be you poor- ly? ; can fire my piece and call up the cor- poral.’ The emperor understood English better than he spoke it, and shook his head faintly, mut- tering: ‘No, no, ce west pas necessaire—I do not vant it. Ah, mon Dieu!” Then, as the spasm passed away, he smiled in a ghastly way and said to the soldier: ‘* Voici, You dreenk my ’ealt’—eh?” He tossed the man a five-franc piece, and the soldier grinned pg aes “Thankye, yer honor, thankye. Yer honor, a reel gent all over.” Their little colloquy was broken by the tramp of a galloping horse, and an English cfficer ae up, looking pale and vexed, saying in neh; twenty -four-pounders, twenty of a side, and as long as he could keep her from raking him he could stand the hammering better than she could. He had already struck her once and might do it again, while she had but a single gun to fire at him effectively. Compelled as she was to make a long circuit the lugger could not succeed in preventing the ship from keeping her broadside on and before she could fire her long gun again, the second cutter with Tom Chumley and bis friend Char- ley Duncomb aboard came within hail of the ship. Not quite soon enough however. Albert Del- mont, a fierce light burning in his dark eyes, was standing by the long-gun as it was loaded and he said abruptly to Martin: “Stand aside. is shot must not be missed and the elevation has changed.” He stepped to the breech himself and took a turn of the elevating screw then pointed the gun carefully end cried, just as the cutter gained the stern of the frigate: ‘* Now fire!” The boat was a mere dancing dot under the stern of the ship and had almost passed out of sight before the white line of spray reached the Penelope’s rudder. When it did, however, there was a great shower of foam and splinters and the boy cap- tain turned to Martin with a sardonic stile. 7 n ‘‘The enemy has only one boat left, Jean, At that very moment the Penelope let fly ee _ ell two hours I shall sisk that ship.” IOO <€om cS (E()