Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 206 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

One Eye, the Cannoneer. ** A white cloth hung out to dry from the last window of the cottage of our friend Toby, the negro,” returned Herrera. ‘*And how was he to know when to hang it out, Ferrier?’ “By watching Miss Mason’s cottage and the summer house at Longwood. A cloth from Miss Mason’s end window, or on the summer house, is Toby’s signal.” Here came a tap at the door and the black coxswain of the barge looked in. ‘“‘Toby has hung out the signal, captain,” he _ gaid, hurriedly, ‘* and the boat is ready to go to the tent. They are getting ready to fire the sunset gun.” The captain’s countenanee cleared as if by magic, and he smiled brightly. ‘*So be it, comrades,” he cried. ‘‘ To-night we'll settle the question forever. Herrera, has the Penelope gone to sea?” | ‘** Not yet,” was the rather uneasy reply, ‘‘ and I notice that quite an array of glasses is leveled at us, captain.” Delmont looked at the other keenly. * Do you think he suspects us?” **T think he does.” ** Are his sails loose?” ‘No; he has apparently ade up his mind to stay all night,” * Wait till the fog settles and then slip the cable and sweep out.’ ** But the lights, captain.” ‘*Set them as usual, and leave them all afloat on buoys.” ** Very good, captain.” Delmont was leaving the cabin, when the _ old sailor interposed, * Suppose we are fired on?” ‘* Keep on your course and row like mad. If we are sunk, we are sunk.” Herrera or Ferrier nodded. “And yourself, captain?” ‘‘T expect to be shot,” was the tranquil reply, *‘ unless the fog comes on very thick. In that case, have a chance. If I am alive to-morrow morning, I will meet you at the foot of Diana’s Point. Now, farewell, old friend. Martin will be in command till I come,” And the two comrades, bound together in one of the most hazardous schemes that was ever concocted by man, upheld by nothing but a sentiment of romantic adoration of the fallen emperor, shook hands and separated, the mar- quis to step into the boat and be rowed to the quay, where was spread the gorgeous festival at pen the English garrison was to be intoxi- cated. The magnificently clad Mexican stepped ashore, the observed of all observers, and gave orders audibly that the boat should return to the yacht and await orders from the shore which would come in the shape of the band playing ‘‘Home, Sweet Home!” Then the boat rowed away, and he went to the marquee, where a few of the crew of the yacht, witha number of negroes from the town, were hover- ing round the tables; and ordered the sides of the huge marquee to be looped up that all ight see the feast was ready. e sight of the long tables, glittering with silver plate, raised a general murmur of admir- ation in the crowd, in the midst of which the Hngiieh band struck up ‘‘ God save the King,” as Sir Hudson Lowe in his carriage, followed jo brilliant staff of officers, drove down the street and alighted. - The Don was the first man to welcome him, and from that moment the guests began to ar- rive so quick! ‘Byars for a quarter of an hour he could hard! said to be at rest a moment, as he moved from one to another, welcoming all. And then it came out that this courteous host had no one of his followers on whom he could depend to assist him in placing his guests, and the march to the tables, which should have - been, according to Sir Hudson’s ideas, a stately and orderly ceremonial, ended in a sort of gen- eral scramble for the best places, at the end of which Sir Hudson found that hardly an officer of his staff was visible, while the tent was a scene of confusion in which the buzz of voices mingled with the pop of champagne corks, and no one seemed to have any idea of anything be- Seay a general spree, drinking as much as pos- sible. The fact was that, life at St. Helena under Sir Hudson was so stiff and formal, that the officers welcomed this interruption the more fervently because they saw that the strange Mexican was unused to conducting large feasts, and had no idea of Eoglish customs. I stead of a ponderous silent ceremony, with leag tiresome speeches, the tables were sur- rounded by jolly people, eating, drinking and talking together, and when Sir Hudson wanted to rise and propose a toast, no ove lis- tened to him, and he saw clearly that more than half the younger officers were already on the road te intoxication. He turned to his host and made signs that he %e cabs hey < Pky Son tage Rae net dr anything so far, but was looking placidly oer ‘the prey haan turned to a negro be- hind him, and made him a sigu, by lifting his Instantly the negro beat a large silver, gong with all his might, and in the short silence that followed Sir Hudson jumped up and cried: ‘* Gentlemen will you keep silences a moment, while toasts are ——. I give you our worthy host Don Alberto Delmont, a warm friend of England and a fierce hater of the Usurper.” The half-intoxicated youths at the table raised a cheer, and began to hammer their glasses, crying: ‘*Delmont! Delmont! Speech! Speech!” Then the Mexican rose smilingly and began to speak: ** Senores y caballeros—dat is vat you call— gentilmen—lL vos not mosh acquaint your language, bote I spik de sentiment of my ’art, ven I say you all welcome. Drink all de champagne dere be ashore. I do not vant see von bottel back. And to make begin, I pro- pose de ’ealt’ of Sare Lowe—de man vat all de vorld know—de biggest—vat you call—turna- key inde vorld. He’ave big prison, big pris- oner, and he keep ’eem tight—eh, caramba! ’e a: ’eem tight—’ere is Sare ’Udsone.” he officers shouted and laughed at the epithet ‘‘turnkey” applied to Sir Hudson, which they attributed to the Don’s bad En- lish, but the governor himself scowled and ooked offended with no one to eonfide his feel- ings to, for the officers of his staff kept away on purpose, enjoying their chief’s predicament, and he heard the cry all over the tent: ‘*That’s good! The turnkey! By Jove! did ou hear that? Three cheers for the Don! ere, waiter, fill my glass!” And the feast went on getting more and more uproarious, till the loud boom of a gun from the fort over the harbor announced that it was nine o’clock, and Sir Hudson called out; ‘* Where’s Colonel Robertson? Colonel! Here!” But no colonel was to be found in the uproar- ious crowd, which had broken up into groups. drinking and smoking round the table in a devil-may-care spirit; and when Sir Hudson looked round for bis host, lo! he had gone, too, lost in the crowd. The governor, who had drank but little, be- gan for the first time to have a sort of suspicion that all was not right. He rose from his seat, looked round, and found that quite a number of the officers were under the table, fast asleep, while the others were discussing matters with a vehemence that showed they were all more or less drunk. He looked out from the wall of the tent and saw that heavy sea fogs had rolled in and blot- ted out the lights of the ships and town. And of the yacht’s crew not one was to be seen in the marquee, where the town negroes were gathered in a corner, getting di unk in their own style on the leavings of half-empty bottles. Sir Hudson passed from his chair, now in con- siderable of a fright, looking for a sober officer to whom to give an order, when the fog and darkness outside were suddenly illuminated by a bright flash, followed by the report of a shotted gun, firing grape, as one could tell by the sharp whirring of the fragments. It came from the harbor, and was followed by another and another in quick succession, at which the drunken men in the marquee started up in confusion, and began to shout all sorts of inquiries, till Sir Hudson jumped on a table, roaring: ‘‘Hivery officer to his quarters at orce! There is a plot somewhere! hero is the mar- quis? Search for him and arrest him!” In a very few minutes the tent was balf- empty, when Sir Hudson shouted for the officers of his staff, and received only a single response from Captain Gervaise, who came lurching toward him with a smile on his face, repeating: “What is’t, S’r Hudson? Redge Gervaise al’s on juty.” *You’re drunk, sir!” said Sir Hudson, an- grily. ‘‘ What are you doing bere? You are under arrest, sir.” Gervaise snapped his fingers. ‘* Rest be hanged! Ive got a substitute on spy duty. Jonesy—he’s there. Boney’s safe nuff, ole fel. Sick’sa dog. Ooray!” Sir Hudson turned angrily away, and went out to find his carriage, when he heard the clat- ter of hoofs at full speed, as some one rode up and a voice cried: ‘Sir Hudson? Where’s Sir Hudson Lowe?” ‘Here! here! What is it?’ cried the gover- nor, in shaking tones. ‘*Has the prisoner es- caped?’ The one haunting supposition was forever there, and it found voice. ** No, sir.” Out of the fog rode an English orderly dra- goon, and Sir Hudson asked: ‘“Well, what is it? Where are vou from?” ‘From Longwood, sir. Mr. Jones, of the 583d, is on duty there to-night, sir, and he sent me to tell you how General Bonyparty has been took bad, sir, and if there’s any doctors they ought to be sent upl” Sir Hudson uttered a sigh of relief. “Ts that all? Thank God!’ I thought it was worse. What was that firing about? ‘*T don’t know, sir. I was a-gallopin’ as ’ard as I could, when I seen the fog lit wp in the ‘arbor below, and jest at that minute a wessel sailed out to sea out of the edge of the fog. ‘man in the fog. —— ———K———— TS “TT Couldn’t see in the dark what it was, sir, but see the sails, as was funny kind, sir, three- cornered. Never see sich a thing afore, sir.” ‘‘ Three-cornered!” ejaculated the governor. ‘‘ By Heavens, it must be the felucca.” Then he rushed down to the edge of the quay, calling loudly for a boat, and immediately after- ward heard the dash of oars, as a Jarge boat came tearing in, bumping up on the steps in the fog, when a voice cried: ‘* Avast there, you fools! Do you want to stave the boat? Bowman out there!—hook on to something!” ‘* What’s that boat?” cried Sir Hudson. Sir Hudson Lowe. Answer quick!” ‘* Jolly-boat of the Penelope, sir!” cried the ‘‘l’m Lieutenant Chumley, sir, s nt by Captain Wright to find you. Some- thing’s wrong. Wait till 1 find the steps in this fog and I'll tell you, sir.” “Here they are—bere!” cried Sir Hudson, impatiently, and then he saw the bow of the boat, and soon after a naval officer weyers ashore and came up to bim, saying, in a leud voice: “Send up to Longwood at once, sir! The captain thinks somethivg’s wrong. The felucca has slipped off in the dark, leaving her lights tied to three buoys; and we wasted three rounds on them when we heard the dip of ber oars. She’s cut and run, and we suspect ber to be French and an emissary of Bonaparte.” By this time the whole port was alive, lights flying in the fog, people shouting, and the whole town aroused, while rumors of all sorts were passing to and fro. Sir Hudson, puzzled and anxious, said: ‘lve just had a message that the prisoner bas been taken ill. Can that be a part of the plot, do you think, sir?’ Tom Chumley scratched his head. ‘‘Shouldn’t. wonder, sir. These devils are vp to all sorts of tricks. I only found out what was the matter by accident. I had a glass, and recognized the captain of the felucca as a young man who played a desperate game to sink us four years ago. He was dressed Mexican fash- ion, and we thought you had him safe enough, as be went ashore.” ‘* He shall be arrested!” cried the governor. ‘‘Go back and tell Wright to put to sea at once and catch that felucca. Ill attend to the rest. Good-night, sir.” Chumley touched his cap. “Please, Sir Hudson—” “Well?” ‘Tt can’t be done till morning. The fog lies so thick we dare not go for fear of grounding on something.” “The felucca’s gone, sir, on your own story, hasn’t she?” ‘Yes, sir. She draws less than ten feet, we twenty-two. She has sweeps; we can’t move without wind, and there’s no wind till the fog lifts.” ‘Then scour the harbor with boats till it lifts, and then catch her, sir.” ‘Very good, sir.” Then Sir Hudson strode back to the marquee, still lighted up from the lately-abandoned feast, and found at last a sober officer, who, havin been on duty outside, had escaped the genera debauch, and whom be ordered to look for his carriage. The officer saluted. - ‘Beg pardon, sir; but that’s just what I was looking for. It's gone, sir, orderlies and al].” ‘“Gone? Impossible!” ‘‘ Indeed it has, sir. I’ve sent out the alarm, but the fog prevents us seeing the telegraph signals, and no one seems to know where it has gone. Sir Hudson turned very pale, and just at that moment, as if to confirm his worst fears, out boomed a gun, high above the fog, which they knew came from the citadel, behind which was the Governor’s House. It was the signal that the prisoner had es- caped | Sir Hudson uttered a low cry of dismay. “Get me a boree—soreething--any thle ie | must get out of this accursed fog before I can see,” he said; and the officer at once answered: ‘‘There’s the orderly’s horse. It’s the only one to be found, Sir Hudson—” ‘‘ Where is it, sir?” ‘*‘ Here, sir ” The impatient governor climbed on the ani- mal, hatless as he was, without spurs, and dashed in his heels, when the animal, a hard- mouthed old troop-horse, gave » grunt and trotted slowly off, with the gait of an elephant. In vain did the governor shake the bridle, kick and curse; the old horse, finding that its rider had no spurs or whip, kept its own pace and subsided to a walk, climbing the hill to the citadel, where at last Sir Hudson emerged from the fog and beheld the stars shining brightly above him. The citadel was not far off, and he rode to- ward it, cursing oJ] the way, to be halted by a sentry, who cocked his musket and shou sternly: “ Who goes there?” “Sir Hudson Lowe, governor,” cried the un- happy offiver, foreseeing more delay. es Tm JOO GOMUNGE (E(0) _ ee —— > a ——