Beadle's Dime Library No. 230 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

ar u coat, used as a | gen inted him in the last voyage.” such a cabin I never sawin all my life in the prettiest yacht. It was nearly as.large as the saloon of the Spindrift, and had..state-rooms round it like that; but the partitions were all made of cane- work, so as to let the air in every where. And the.cane was covered with gold, and the loveliest kind of japanned lacquer work, so that the whole cabin looked like a fairy palace, so light and cool and flimsy was it. he curtains, cushions, carpet, everything wags lis and gold, in heavy, staff brocades, that any lady might have. given thirty dollars a yard for, to make into a court-dress. Silk seemed to be as common as cotton in this wonderfully beautiful cabin, and, for all that we were close to the equator, the air down there was cool and perfumy as early spring at home. : There was very little furniture; nothing but piles ef cushions.on the brocade rugs, scattered here and there, while the floor and fittings were all in satinwood, and some spicy kind that smelled like sandalwood. the middle of the floor was spread a low table, with cushions all round it, and Mr. Van- derdecken said to grandpa: “You will not mind eating in our Mala style, monsieur? You know lama half-blood, and we abominate the stiff, angular chairs of Europe. If you prefer it, however, you shall have one, and a high table.” Grandpa looked a little puzzled as he said: ** Ye'll not take it ill, sir, if Isay I'm getting auld and stiff, and I’m frighted that I canna get up frae the flure if I once git doon there.” . Vanderdecken smiled: ** Nay, then, we will treat you in our Malay fashion to aged princes, give you two bearers to raise you and let you down, I am sure you will like it as a novelty, and we will try it, if you wish,”. ‘* Whatever ye like, Maister Vanderdecken,” said grandpa resignedly. ‘Pm in yer hands, sir Then this singular man clapped his hands, and into the room tripped eight or ten young Malay girls, as graceful as fawns, with great liquid eyes, They were all attired in the same Malay style, ‘with bare feet, bang!es, ear and nose rings, and a sort of crape scarf crossed over their bosoms as their only dress, except a sarong, as the call it, somet ing bet ween a shawl and a petti- skirt. Mr. Vanderdecken said something in Malay, and they took hold of grandpa as if he had been a baby and let him softly down on a cushion; then did the same office for me and our host, as if.they were used to it. t was the perfection of Eastern luxury. } One didn’t even bave to sit down to table, Poor [nez stood blusbing and confused at one ae e didn't know what to do exactly. couldn’t talk Malay, and when they came pic! ut ber down to table she began to stammer in Spanish that she was only the maid. m } ed at grandpa, who said: “4 the lassie gang wi’ the rest. Maister Vanderdecken, what'll we do wi’ my daughter’s maid, sir?’ dary easerdecken said something in Malay, and two of the girls beckoned Inez to follow them.into some of the mysterious realms of the , where we saw no more of her till after breakfast. It was a most delicious meal; for in that climate one has all sorts of fruits ) panes nowhere else, and the table of the | seemed to be supplied with every- M . Vanderdecken was the most courteous of hosts and [ was charmed with his demeanor, so so different from what Lord Teviot _ Qf course I had understood something of what he had meant to convey, and I confess that I watched him very closely and jealously, as did grandpa, with all his politeness. But a prince could not bave been more respectful and digni- fied, and I began to wonder what the Teviots have n thinking of, when, all of a sudden came a loud boom over the sea, that made grandpa and me jump so that I dropped my Teh sire,” said grandpa, ‘‘ what’s that?” “It isa gun,” said Mr. Vanderdecken, quietly. * Don’t be alarmed, It is probably the Cyclops ‘The Cyclops” echoed I. ‘‘Isn’t that an iron-clad? 1 heard them call her so at the ce. . Vanderdecken smiled. rape § es. Ncphs % coe is = shi rb as w e hot. tempered captain. ng an iron-clad, I will defy her to catch us on the way to Batavia.” "We heard a shuffling on deck, as if the Ma- lays were running about with bare feet, and the - ‘voice of some one shouting something in Malay. “Eb 7 saat av Sale, ; OO grandpa, suddenly, “ what's that voice? I’ve heard it before, I’m sure, “Hardly,” said Mr, Vanderdecken, coldly. “That is my first officer, Mr. Hassim. I shipped “'Tis buta _ “I crave pardon,” said grandpa. te ——— i ----ooor ee: eee eC ees e_ esse —_—— _—--—— — | trick of voice, I sup "Tis a curious thing | how men’s voices wil resemble each other.” | ‘‘ And does Mr. Hassim’s voice remind you | Of any that you have heard before?” asked our ost. . Grandpa shook his head, “T canna tell, sir. I’m growing auld and ie memory fails me_belike. I'll ba’e to bear it _mair than once to be able to say.” Hardly bad he spoken when we beard another gun, followed very soon after by a sound like the puff of an express train, past the cabin windows. Mr. Vanderdecken’s eyes flashed, but he said nothing for a moment, and presently we felt a Coaaone motion in the ship, which I recog- “Why, have you a steam-engine?”’ I asked, ‘“‘T saw no signs of this being a steamer.” Mr. Vanderdecken bowed his head in an ab- sent way, asif thinking of something else, and answered: “We have an avxiliary engine. Will you pardon me if I go on deck for a few moments? I wish to give some orders to my men,” ‘‘ Certainly, certainly,” said grandpa hastily. “ T sincerely trust there’s nae danger, sir.” “Danger!” echoed Vanderdecken, with a sin- gular, mournful smile. ‘* And if there is, sir, be sure it shall not come near you. No, there is no real danger to any but me. I will beg you, Mr. Bruce, while I am on deek, to explore the inmost recesses of my ship. All is open to you. You will be able to see for yourself whether I am the depraved sensualist represented to you. I will rejoin you later.” He rose from bis cushion and went on deck, where I soon heard his voice calling out some orders in the Mal y language, while the shuf- fling of bare feet grew more and more rapid. Grandpa and I tried to go on with our break- fast, but it was of no use. We felt too un- easy. ~ _.Grandpa beckoned to the girls, who hed been standing behind with fans and fly-flans to keep us cool, and they instantly came and lifted us up, as if they were used to the work. Asif both thinking of the same thing, we went to the stern of the ship, where we knew there must be windows, and found the sun shining brightly on the tops of innumerable little waves, while in full sight from the wirdow we saw the tall white pyramid of sail of a ship coming after us, but a long way off. Behind this ship again were a number of little brown sails, that we knew to belong to the na- tive vessels, and the low dark line of the shore was growing bluer and more distant all the time. And just as we looked, I saw a big white cloud go ms round the a with a red flash in the middle of it, and grandpa caught me up in his arms yg: “Hb, od save ye, my bairn, they're firing at us ‘Firing at us?’ I echoed stupidly. * But what for? We have done nothing.” , Ile made no answer, for just at that moment we heard the deep, distant boom of the gun and saw a line of white spray coming toward us, as if something were skipping over the waves, ‘Th! *tis a cannon-shot! God save my puir bairn. We'll all be killit,” groaned grandpa, clutching me close, But, somehow, I didn’t feel so much afraid, for I have very good eyes, and I saw that, what- evor it was, the thing was not going to hit us at all, but going off to one side, And it didn’t hit us, either, for presently I saw a great white cloud of spray, as if a big rock had tumbled into the sea, and Isaid to grandpa: ‘‘ See, it has sunk, and it hasn’t reached us,” Hardly had I spoken, when another white cloud came from the ship, and, now I knew what it was, | waited and traced the path of the shot, for all the world as if I had been an old sailor or soldier. It came toward us just as straight as could be, this time. and I began to tremble and shrink though I’d never seen such a thing before, till all of a sudden came the white burst of be and I knew it had sunk, not more than half a block away, right under our cabin windows. _ Then I heard a loud yell on deck, as if the people there were rejoicing, too, and almost im- mediately after came the hissing sound of a sky- rocket, as it seemed to me, though I never heard of a skyrocket neang let off in the daytime. I saw something like a little black stick go shooting through the air toward the ship, and then came a loud report, and a tremendous cloud of black and blue smoke appeared in the air, taking to itself a regular form, exactly like a buge dragon, and completely hiding the strange sbip as it brooded over the sea. The smoke seemed so thick and greasy that the wind had very little effect on it for nearly half a minute, and then it began to melt away and come driving after us on the wind, com- pletely hiding ship and shore, till it slowly faded, but not for at least three or four min- utes. And when at lest it became thin enough to see through, the than b fore, and grandpa said: . The Flying Dutchman of 1880. et IF ‘* Eh, lassie, but et’s God’s mercy has saved us. 1 think she’s out of gunshot.” ‘* And what was that smoke?” I asked. Grandpa shook his head. ‘* Eh, lassie, tis a fearsome thing. I’m nae sa@ sure but there’s something uncanny about this ship, after all. Ye mind the awful black emoke, and the shape of the evil beast of darkness. Lassie, I wish we had ne’er come aboard.” But I could not feel the way he did, for if seemed to me we had nothing more to fear now from the ship. Certainly she had stopped firing, and grew more and more distant every moment we looked at ber, So I said to grandpa: ‘Don’t you remember what Mr, Denyse said?” ** Denyse? what Denyse?” said he testily. ‘Mr. Denyse, mate of the Spindrift—oh, no, you weren’t there when he told me. It was at the hotel when be came to say good-by to me,” ‘** And what did he say, lassie?” ‘He told me that the Japanese and Chinese of these seas bad so much hocus-pocns, that they could frighten almost anybody. That smoke must be something of the sort, grandpa.” ‘* Maybe it is, lassie. I’m no saying no.” ‘*Then what’s the use of being frightened if it’s on our side? Come and let’s do what Mr. Van- derdecken told us we might do: explore the at we set out to look over the state-rooms and found them as beautiful as all else. The very sheets on the beds were made of fine white silk, that seemed to be able to be washed and meant for it too. It wasn’t shining like a dress silk at all, but I knew it was real China silk, from thé feel of it. And all the furniture was in the same quaint Chinese and Japanese style I'd seen in pictures, with gold or beavy gildin on everything, and such china as our people a bome would go crazy over. ] didn’t think much of the ugly bronze and old dragons and bideous images that I saw, but *ve no doubt they cost a good deal of money. And when we got through the main cathe 1 called for Inez and she came to me so trans- formed that ] didn’t know her at first. Tbey had made a regular Malay of her, with @ costiy brocade sarong and a China crape scarf, and bangles and ear-rings, and all the rest of it, till one couldn’t have told her from the rest, only sbe had larger eyes, longer lashed, and her hair was finer in texture. She smiled and looked bashful, when I said: “Why, Inez, who fixed you up so?” ‘* Surya did it.” she told me. ** Anc whois Surya?” ‘One of these muchacrhas, mi senorita, She have been bring up at Luzon, in de Philippine Island, and she talk Spanish,” said Inez. Then I told her to lead me on, and sbow me all there was to be seen in the oe and we went on a regular exploring trip, with the pretty Malay girls, till we forgot which was mistress and which maid, and I found mie learning Malay words for everything saw in the ship. t can’t begin to describe all I saw on that won- derful yal It seemed to meas if Mr. Vander- decken tried how much money he could put on everything, no matter where it was, Even the very kitchen had silver saucepans and stewpans, and the girls told me, as well as they could, that it saved them so much trouble in keeping clean, that they would not use any- thing else. They showed me the store-rocoms, down in what the sailors in the Spindrift called the hold”; and a dark, dismal] place it was in the Spindrift. Captain Hutton took me there once for fun, and I was frightened out of my life at the great enormous rats (as big as dogs, I was going to say, but I won’t), and the darkness and close, stuffy heat, and the cobwebs and cock- roaches. But the store-room of the Phantim was quite light, though there wasn’t a window any where; and I couldn’t tell where the light came from. Itseemed to glow out of the w s floor, ceiling, everywhere, as soon as we shu the door, so we could see each other plainly and, count the nails in the boards. It rather fright- ened me, this mysterious light, and I got out. into the real daylight as soon as I could, an@ back to the cabin, when I began to get tired of life below stairs, and asked grandpa if I mightn’t go on deck, as he seemed to be tired, He told me to take Inez with me, and not to be too free in my manner. ‘For, lassie,” said be, ‘‘ ye dinna ken what barm may lurk in this smooth-spoken man, and I dinna like her majesty’s ships firing at him.” Grandps was @ erican, who bad come to the United States as a child, but I no- ticed that, as be grew older, he seemed to come back to old prejudices in a way that sometimes Ts me, it was yp firms nye 9 firs thie “*] suppose you think her majesty’s shit never make a mistake,” said I, a Tittle spiteful. ly. ‘‘I sappose that red-faced captain fot _ because Mr. Vanderdecken sauced bim back, sar tebe ay Vanderdecken’s such a wretch,” thinking me, I confess 1 was! (ECON AMIE went up on deck, leaving grandpe ship was ever so much further off | shaking his head mY ; J00KS (Ele)