Beadle's Dime Library No. 230 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

| The Flying Dutchman of 1880. enubbed him all the voyage, rnd his cowardly behavior on the raft had disgusted me so I had been positively rude to him. And these boys of nineteen fall in love with married women, older than themselves, much easier than they do with oung ladies, while Mrs. Peters had the advan- ge of having had several hours with him be- fore. He would talk to her when he wouldn’t talk to me; and at first it was discouraging; for Mrs. Peters played every card she knew, and I could see from her eyes that she was exulting in her success, But when one feels determined to succeed, one is apt to do so; and I had made up my mind to fascinete little Hyatt, just to spite Peters, And I did it at last, so that he began to talk quite freely to me, and tell me all sorts of thi just like the boy be was; while I con- fess that I used my eyes ina way that I ought not to bave done, till the poor boy actual! - gan to talk sweet to me, and Mrs, Peters couldn’t stop him. But it was getting to be a great bore, as soon as I bad him safely, and I began to wish grandpa would come back, when Mrs, Peters observed spitefully: “I think I see your mother beckoning to you, Mr. Cyril.” *Lev’s go and find her,” said I, Jumping up; for l really did see the old lady on the other side of the big room, making signals to her son, and I wanted more fun. Il knew that old Mrs. Hyatt thought all the girls were in love with her pet Cyril Adolphus, ‘and that she had been guarding him like a lioness all through the voyage, so I wanted to ‘Like what?” I asked him. “No offense, mademoiselle. I mean only so open in their likes and dislikes,” he answered, placidly. ‘‘The worthy lady in red velvet seemed to be a little afraid of me, from the way she looked at me.” ‘*Ob, that is because she has heard so many ghost stories about you,” said I, to cover up ber rudeness, ‘No, no, we are not all like Hyatt. She is superstitious?” ( ‘And you, are not you a little superstitious too?” he asked, with his charming smile. ‘‘I have a way of reading faces, Miss Bruce, and I think yeu are a little bit afraid of me.” I found myself already trembling at some- thing, but I tried to hide it and laugh as I an- swered : ‘‘Todeed no! Why should I be?’ ‘You are correct,” he said, gravely. ‘‘ You at least have no cause to fear me, whatever may be the case with others. By the by, have you known Lord Teviot very long?” ‘‘No. He was introduced to us first to-night at dinner,” I said. * And bas he—pardon the question—said any- thing to you to prejudice you against me?” asked Mr, Vanderdecken. I hesitated a moment. Had we been alone, I don’t think I should have answered; but there is something in the solitude of a crowded room that enables one to say things one would dread to say elsewhere, so I answered: ‘Yes. He implored us not to go on and told us you were a monster 0 ness. He smiled slightly. ‘* He said that, did he? This pure Lord Teviot! oe ship, wicked- tease her a little. It was very wicked of me, 1 | Well, well, time will show. I shall say nothing know; but I do all sorts of things when I get going and grandpa’s not near to stop me. against him. He is, I have heard, a distin- guished soldier. Ah, here is your grandfather rs. Peters couldn’t well object; so I seized | with his excellency.” Cyril’s arm and marched bim over to bis mo- But we could not get to them for the crowd, ther, he looking sulky and ashamed of himself; | and, while we were waiting, Mr. Vanderdecken for he was a regular silly and hated to obey his | continued, in a low, confidential tone: mother, like all spoiled children. And I didn’t give her time to say a word be- fore I began to talk about whata nice time we'd had, and bow sorry I was we were going away in the morning, and I should be sorry all my life I'd not known Cyril Adolpbus better, when we were on the Spindrift, for he was such good company and so, so wicked. And Cyril Adolpbus he blushed and giggled, like the born silly he was, and tried to look | | | wicked, while his mother was ready to burst | with pride, though she tried to look grave over | it. And in the midst of it all, who should come glance over our party and passed on, with an expression [ shall never forget. t seemed to say to me: “I’ve wasted my solicitude; you belong toa very vulgar set, young lady. Good-by.” I don’t know how it was, but that glance set me to thinking of where I was going next day, and | forgot all about the Hyatts and every- thing else, till Mrs. Hyatt said: ‘“Why, what’s the matter, Miss Mamie? What's come over you? You look as if you’d seen that ghost again?” I tried to laugh, but her words struck me, “Ghost? What ghost, Mrs. Hyatt?” ‘Why, the Fiyiog Dutchman to be sure? Hain’t you seen him to-night?” she said, in her Ninth Ward way. ‘I’m sure he looks enough like a ghost to be the real one, though folks say he’s uel a great * dh Sia oy to the old ori- ginal ghost. Didn’t ‘*Tell me, have the Teviots made you think me avery bad man, Miss Brice?” [ couldn’t help looking up, and found those splendid dark eyes bent on mine with a wistful look that seemed as if it cet me at my easé at once. 80 I said: ‘No, Mr. Vanderdecken, nothing but your own actions can make me think you that. Grandpa and I are not the people to listen to every tale of gossip we hear, and believe it.” ‘* You are right,” he said, earnestly. ‘“* There are two sides to every tale, and the misfortune | is that, in race conflicts, only one side is heard | by either party. You will not fear to embark along but Lord Teviot, who flashed one cold , on board my vessel?” } | “Not with Stanape, | said I. And then we got through the crowd, and Van- derdecken gave me up to grandpa, who took me away from the ball almost immediately after, end told me what he had been doing on the way ome. ‘‘ The Governor tells me that Maister Vander- decken is a most table person, Mamie; for I confess the stories of yonder lordling frighted me not a little, and I des to find out all I could about him. He’s the son of a great Dutch planter in Java and Sumatra, who was distip- guished, twenty years ago, for a the on] man in the East Indies that dared lift up hb voice in favor of the puir Hindoos, after the Sepoy mutiny. Ye ken, Mamie? no, ye dinna ken, but Tl tell ye. In those days *twas the fashion to call the Hindoos demons in human shape, because they broke out in their blind, ig- ou see the evil eyes of | norant way, as the Irish and the French and ither him, and bis nasty white-yellow face? He made | puir oppressed folk huve broken out at times, and me sick to see him.” +“ hom thought. will to the end of the world. And Maister Van- are you talking of?” said I, pretend- | derdecken was the one man that davred tell ing I didn’t understand, to find out what she | them sae, in their triumph and revenge. And the Governor tells me he saved more than one ‘“‘] mean that pale man with the wicked eyes, | hag rajah, who fled to him, and carried 3 that every one is so civil to—that Mr. Vander- decken They say he gets all his riches from— you know who—thbe Old Fellow himself. But I don’t want any of his riches or his civility either. 1 believe if I was to see him close to me of a sudden in the dark I’d be scared to death, Miss Mawie, Ugh! isn’t he a wicked-looking wretch?’ ‘“Miss Bruce,” here said a soft, deep voice, pest at. Mrs. Hyatt’s elbow, “your grandfather $ commissioned metobring youtohim, May I offer my arm?” 1 could hardly help bursting out Jaughing to see Mrs. Hyatt’s face as she looked round and saw Mr, Vanderdecken at her very side, with bis pale, impassive face and his glittering eyes. ‘Tue good woman started to one side as if sbe had sen a snake, with a shudder and an ex-| claroation, which Mr, Vanderdecken did not otice in the least, and then I took his arm, and eft them all staring ufter us, as if they had seen a ghost. ~The only token Mr. Vanderdecken gave of aving seen or heard anything was the dry ob- rvation to me: | Oy ur friends are from America, Miss Pag < fe they all like that in America?’ he asked again; and the question made me angry. ' ' ' | ' ' I said; for I didn’t know what else to | us: im off to Java, refusing to give him up, and that’s one of the reasons Lord Teviot hates bim sae sair.” “ But how is it that the Governor doesn’t share the hatred, sig i ‘*T dinna ken, lassie. I’m tauld Singapore’s no like Calcutta, and prejudice is nee sae strang here. And the Governor’s no a Scot nor Briton, but joost an Irelander, and not long ont here. Ony way, he’s tauld me we can troost to Maister Vanderdecken for a generous host, and as rich as mony a king—if not richer. His father was weel enough, but they say the son’s mair than twice as rich since the mutiny. Some think he’s like the Rothschilds in Europe, avd that he has had control of the treasures of money of the rajahs that fled to him, I dinva ken muckle of that. Come, lassie; here’s the botel. Let’s get a bit o’ sleep, and tell Inez to pack up foy the morning.” But of course we didn’t get very much sleep | that night till after we had packed up every- thing, for it is not to be su I was going to have my packing to be done in a hurry, and our rooms were full of boxes that we’d got since we came to Singapore. At six, next morning, the Malay waiter told ‘* Vanderdecken sahib’s coolies come take sa- hib’s boxes to sbippe-.” Aud we went aboard, arter settling our bills. | are different. I fell in love with this one; for 13 CHAPTER VI. | MR. VANDERDECKEN AT SEA. I por’t bardly know how to describe Mr. Vanderdecken’s yacht, for, as I have said be- fore, I’m no sailor, and hate sailors’ talk. I don’t know how she was rigged, except that it was like the Spindrift. ey called her a steamer, but I couldn’t see any chimney or — about her, and she left the harbor under sail, — But one t I can say, that I never saw such a lovely ship inside. Her decks were so white and clean one could have eaten dinner off the bare boards, and everything else was finished off with beautiful dark polished woods and silver railings, like one of the pretty little yachts we see at home. And such a crewI never saw before. Nota white man among them. They were all dark men, with glowing black eyes and splendid dresses, with sbaw! turbans and sashes full of daggers with gold handles, and they were all bare-footed and bare-armed, with gold brace- lets and anklets, while all had ear-rings in their ears. Their dark faces frightened me af first, but they were so silent and respectful I over that, and besides, I was used to dark people from having Inez for my maid so long. Mr. Vanderdecken received us on ‘board dressed in a sort of uniform, half Oriental, and very splendid. He looked much bandsomer than he had in plain black, and more like my idea] of a pirate chief, for I couldn’t help think- >» — ing of him as a pirate after all ’'d seen and heard of him. The ship moved slowly out of the harbor and I noticed that every ship we passed had her side lined with people staring at us, There were two British men-of-war ly outside, and we could see the brass buttons the officers in groups, all of them staring at us through telescopes. | One sbip lay close to where we passed, and I noticed a red-faced officer, particularly earnest in his gaze, till we came so close that he put bis telescope down. He looked the sort of man who is used to being obeyed, and as we glided by he called out: “Ship ahoy! Where are you bound?” —— Mr. Vanderdecken looked up at bim, and co the tri- ch seemed to make the officer v-ry angry, for be called out some bad language at once. made no answer beyond pointing up colored flag that floated above us, whi full view, and called back: ‘‘Monsieur, I bave ladies on board. You will please moderate your len age, Or I shall be obliged to hold you responsible, ‘ a. The red-faced cfficer seemed to be so much taken aback at this, that be ectually could not find words to speak; and Mr. Vanderdecken shook his finger at bim, with the parting sa- ‘‘T know your whole race, monsieur, eA them all. I go to Batavia, and if you dare fol low, I will promise you something you never had before.’ ; vo = And what is that?” called out the English officer. @ ‘*A lesson in manners,” said Mr. Vanti decken, coldly. ‘‘My name is Vanderdec , monsieur.” And then the breeze carried us so far that could not catch the answer, though the = man seemed to be more angry than ever, for we could hear his hoarse tonesshouting. e And then, as we looked, we saw a number of dark figures go climbing up the ropes, and Mr. Vanderdecken said to grandpa, in his placi _ ~ a way: - “The gentleman is angry. On my word, he is going to chase us. Let us go cown to the cabin, where our breakfast awaitsus. When we come up a can beat them all.” OM 4 He turned round and said sousetbing to his dark men in a strange language that I knew must be Malay, having heard it so often in Singapore. They all made bim a low obeisance in perfect silence, and be led us to the vabin-door, The last thing I saw of the English man-of- war the white sails were ryky down from ber yards, and a cloud of thick, black smoke cowing from her chimney, while our helmsman was turning the wheel, and a very tall, thin Malay, in gorgeous dress, was Coming on oar ect as if he was going to take com- mand, | I don’t know what if was that struck me in his figure, but it seemed somehow’ as if Pd seen it before, though a momentr’s oe a vinced me tbat was not possiiJe. Still, I man- aged to catch a good glimpse of him as I went down into the cabin, and saw that he was very tall, very thin and wiry in bis figure, and that he had bushy black hair and a little black mus- tache. 1 had never seen him before, P Then I went down into the cabin, and there, I must say, I was not amazed but en- chanted. | ; 2 202't Know mucn about ships; but cabins Comicbooks (E Mr. Vanderdecken instantly stepped out in | n, you shall see how the Phantom — . (E() a 7 1 ee El a -