Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 206 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

"it. 8 ~ — — oo One Eye, lugger hoisted when we were in irons after that last shot of hers?” ‘* He didn’t show any.” “‘ Had no flag.” ** None, I'll swear.” ‘* T saw none.” ** What do you mean?” Tom listened with a smile to the clamor, and then retorted, triumphantly: ‘‘No—you saw nothing—you were all in a devil of a stew about going on the breakers, and never looked her way. ell, Jdid, and Il swear before Heaven she hoisted a tricolor as she sailed away. That settles it. She’s Bonapart- | ist, and we’re justified im sinking her.” CHAPTER VL. A BOY CAPTAIN. MEANTIME, on board the lugger, things had | We = been going on in a way that denoted she was she will swim, but if we receive one of her manned by reckless men, careless of their lives. | broadsides, it will be good-by, Jean, to us.” At the moment when the frigate drove them Albert shook bis head. so nearly on shore and yawed to give them | ‘I don’t believe it. her broadside, Jean Martin, stripped to the | gunnery experiments, Martin waist, his dark hair and huge beard flying in the wind, stood at the breech of the long thirty- two-pounder gun amidships, and laughed bit- terlvy, remarking: *That’s the way with you English, but you’ll find out there’s no Brueys or Villeneuve here. No blundering, my friend; neither can afford Now!” As he spoke, he jumped to one side, and the sailor by the vent applied the long linstock, when the lucky shot, that disabled the Pene- i ’s rudder so skillfully, was fired. ‘he French sailors burst into shouts of delight ‘* Well, my captain?” as they saw their huge foe’so suddenly rendered | ‘ Well, Martin, we tried a twenty-four and a helpless, but Martin only gave a short, scornful | thirty-two for range, and the thirty-two laugh, and turned toward the quarter-deck, | carries nearly a quarter of a mile further than saying: _ the twenty-four at bigh angles, with a difference ‘I told you we'd do it, captain. of three hundred yards in the point-blank.” got into control again we shall be behind the | ‘ From which you think—” cape. What shall we do to show him we defy | ‘Prom which I know that we can him?” | into that frigate when she cannot 1eac the latitude and longitude b gunnery. oe man’s suggestion that they coul them to St. Helena. get a chance to sink this Briton on our voyage, and the emperor will have one enemy the less.” Jean Martin uttered a guffaw at this, which was before the frigate fired. ae ” thousand, perhaps.” ‘* Ah, you mean battles.” “Certainly, my captain.” This was said very Ale ‘*T see,” answered Albert tranquilly, ‘* but those go for nothing.” ‘* For nothing!” “Certainly. There is too much confusion to | note effects. But at St. Cyr, under the em- peror’s orders, we instituted some real experi- ments.” Before he’s ut shot us, for Delmont smiled. she carries twenty-fours.” ‘* Set the tricolor, I suppose. know what flag we sail under.” | first fired at them and destroyed the figure-head ‘Tt is right, my captain,” cried the one-eyed | sailor, with a grin of pleasure. ‘Let the cursed | for a while demoralized, even Martin, in bis rosbifs see it, sailors.’ | excitement and surprise, rapping out orders to And up fluttered the tricolor to the peak of the spanker, as the lugger skimmed on and bauled her wind to double the cape, beyond which was safety, N+ for long did it fly, and it was hidden from the land by the lugger’s sails; but when it came down they had rounded the point and were run- ning out into a shallow bay, where they knew the frigate could not follow them. Then Delmont said to Martin: ‘Tt is enough now, We have avenged the insult to our dead empress. Let us hasten on our voyage before this vaunting Englishman.” Martin nodded and said to the sailors: ‘* Ay, ay, secure the guns, It will not do in these days to be fighting in broad pag nl While the men are replacing the lashings of pee long gun, it is time that we took a survey of e lugger. Sika well deserved the name of ‘‘ La Belle,” for she was very beautiful. No yacht could have been neater in every respect, and her ropes were coiled away with a precision unu- sual save in a ship-of-war. Her decks were as white as snow, all her fit- tings painted white, even her standing rigging covered with white paint instead of tar, so that in a heavy sea, with little canvas spread, she might be almost invisibie in. the foam a couple of miles off. Her very guns and gun-carriages were covered with the same white vail, giving her a strange, unearthly look, while all the men visible were dressed in a uniform of white flannel, with which their dark faces and beards contrasted strony And what a crew they had! First, there was Albert Delmont, a mere boy, but with a reckless look in his young face, clouded with deep gloom, that told of one who was ready for any desperate service. Old Jean Martin, his black hair and beard grizzling fast, bis solitary eye roving restlessly round the horizon, the other covered by a black patch that gave him a savage look. shots, and it was Martin who, when every sailor Tbe other men were swarthy, thick-set fel- | on board was saying his prayers in secret, and lows, with broad shoulders and savage faces, | expecting to be driven on shore, announced that heavily bearded, their white dress making them he was going to run the gantlet of the bi look more swarthy than ever. ship’s battery, and get the lugger out of peri The lugger had only five guns, but they were | instead of going back. unusually large for a vessel of her size in those And it was Martin, after the battle was over dap and the lugger was safe out of gunshot of the n fitting her out, Jean Martin had uncon- frigate, running out toward Cape La Hogue, sciously acted in advance of his age, and had | who said to Albert in confidence: concentrated his strength into a few guns that ‘““My captain, keep up appearances, and the threw the greatest ible weight of metal, all : men will think you're an old saiJor. You have of one caliber, the broadside guns being carro- | the making of an admiral, and I’ve heard say nades. there was one English admiral called Blake who By Delmont’s consent, though the latter was | was a soldier till be was forty, and then turned nominal commander of the expedition, Jean | admiral, and a good one, too.” had assumed charge of the lugger, while the Albert smiled rather faintly. ORRE ex-soldier became a docile pupil in his “ Perhaps I may become a sailor in time,” he ands, in all matters pertaining to the sea. said; ‘‘but—I don’t know whot is the matter But Delmont had one point of sup°riority over with me now, Jean. I feel strangely, as if I all his crew, which made them look up to him. ' were about—would you believe it—to—” He may as well once, And in all the confusion, it was the boy Albert, at whom the old sailors looked with distrust, who remained perfectly cool, and, bringing out two compasses from the cabin, of a pattern the men had never seen before, called to Martin: ‘*Come here, quick, old grumbler. Did you never take an enemy’s range before?” Then Martin, looking amazed and a little frightened, obeyed, and took one of the com- passes, with which Albert sent him to the bow of the lugger, directing him to stand at a cer- tain spot he would find marked on the deck, and take the bearings of the British frigate. Ignorant as the sailors were of the principles of triangulation, they looked on al! these opera- tions with distrust, and when the young cap- tain finally ordered the long gun cleared away and told them they wer: out of renge of the enemy, but able to hit bim themselves, they all looked surly and incredulous except Martin, who said emphatically: ‘‘ Don’t look sulky. Marshal Ney never mis- took his man. Tbe little captain knows his business, Clear away the gun and load it.” And it was Albert Delmont, who apparently had never been to sea in his life, who pointed the first gun which struck the bow of the Pene- lope, announcing, before he fired, what he was going to do. . And when Jean Martin, looking through the glass, found that be had accomplished his prom- ise and announced the fact, the simple French sailors, superstitious like all their class, changed their opinion of the young officer, and obeyed him from that moment with perfect docility, And from that moment Jean Martin became jealous of Albert, not as a chief, but as a can- noneer; for the old sailor was remarkably proud of his own powers as a marksman, and became infatuated with a desire to beat that first shot. It was Martin who fired the second and third ‘ He was the mye man on board that could find ce) the stars, and he knew even more than Martin about guns and When they came out of Hovre, it was not without design that the lugger had followed the Penelope so closely. The ship’s destination was notorious, and Martin had agreed readil - the o no etter than to make the British frigate guide ‘* Besides,” said this audacious boy, in the plenitude of bis reckless assurance, ‘‘we may Did you ever seé any ‘‘Well, my captain, a few—that is, about a of La Belle Creole, at which the crew seemed | | | | ‘ily. It was just at that moment when the frigate haul the lugger’s wind and get out of range at ‘‘No, no, my captain, that would never do! | till you’re quite well. hit the frigate a good many times, and the Cannoneer. ——- Here he turned very white indeed, and Jean took him by the arm, whispering: ‘*“Come to the cabin. Don’t let them see it. T’ll tell you what’s the matter.” Then he turned to the crew. ‘‘ Mathieu Canot, take the deck. The captain and I are going down to study the charts. Keep well out to sea; but don’t lose sight of the frigate.” hen he hurried the young man to the cabin, to the stern windows, and whispered: ‘‘It is only maladie du mer; but don’t let them see it. I’ve told them you are a naval officer, or they would never have come under ou. Throw up all you like out of the stern, and then take brandy—as much as you like— get drunk if you will—bu’ don’t come on deck I'll tell them that you need sleep.” “But why didn’t I give way before?” asked Albert, a little while after, when he felt better for the brandy. Martin shrugged bis shoulders. ‘‘ An affair of the nerves. There was no time to get sea-sick then. I've know a whole cabin full of women nearly dead, to get up as well as ever, when some one started the cry of fire. Go to sleep. my captain, and when you get up you will be well. say it, and I have been at sea for ten years and ten more in the artillery of the Old Guard. But what did you think of my shot to-day?” ‘1 think it was wonderful, Martin. How did you do it?” Martin smiled proudly. ‘‘A matter of feeling, my captain. When I love a gun I know how she will act, and I love that gun. I have christened ber ‘La Belle Vengeuse,’ and we two will make her satisfy the debt we owe the English. What are your orders now?” ‘‘Keep the frigate in sight and get into the Atlantic Ocean before her,” said Albert, sleep- ‘*As soon as I've conquered the sea I'll conquer that fellow before we get to St. Helena.” Then he fell asleep, and did not wake up till next morning, when he went on deck to find the lugger under a close-reefed jib and main- sail, beating out of the channel] in the teeth of a southwesterly gale, with the frigate Penelope in sight about five miles to leewhnd, bull down. He felt quite well, but ravenously hungry, and asked Martin, who was on deck: ‘‘Has the frigate shown any disposition to chase us?” Martin shook bis head. ‘* She doesn’t see us, in my opinion. The sea fog is so dense, the spray so white, that we are almost invisible. It is an old trick of the smug- glers, this white paint. It is good till it wears off, and that takes a little time. But you are well, my captain?’ “Quite, I think, and hungry as—. How soon do we have breakfast?” ‘* At once, my captain. We have set the two watches now. I take the starboard, and Mathieu Canot the port watch. You, as the chief, are not supposed to stand a watch at all.” As they went down, Albert remarked: **T told you it would not take long for me to Jearn to be a sailor, I know the names of your ropes already, and can give the necessary or- ders to make sail and tack.” “You have, indeed, my captain, learned as much as I did in my first six months, and you have only been three weeks in a port and two days atsea. But let me say a word in your ear. Do not let the men hear you give orders, save through me, till I tell you it is safe. You are in your place when we are fighting, but not now, Then they went down to breakfast, and Al- bert found his appetite so enormous that he felt ashamed of it. And when they came on deck again the gale had increased, and the lugger was getting perilously near the coast of Eng- land, so that it became necessary to tack, whic operation Albert watched carefully, storing up the orders in his mind for future use, when he should command in truth. For this young man, who had been kept in school while others were fighting battles of the giants, had become so fiery in his impatience for command that he was ready to do and dare anything. The mad enthusiasm with which he and oth- ers had started on their present wild expedition to pi | off the captive emperor from his prison was only one of many cases, but Albert was one of the first to make the attempt, and his very audacity was the secret of his coming nearer success than older men. None but a young man, knowing his mission, would have dared to dog a frigate going on pur- pose to prevent such attempts; and the very impudence with which he had fired at the frig- ate had raised the spirits of his men, and added another charce of success to his expedition. For the sailors of the Belle Creole were all men of middle age, who had not been at sea, save in fishing boats, since the British bad driv- en the Gallic fleets from the Channel and de- stroyed French commerce. Cowed by a long succession of reverses, it needed a man of iron will and fearless nature to rouse them to the deeds it was necessary for (E(o) mic JOOKS , . . Lendl 4< =" (El)