Beadle's Dime Library No. 230 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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26 | relief that the launch was coming back puffing te go ahead slow; ever the swells at full Iordered steam up felt convinced, from the persistence of the | a long time. pirate, that I had to keep out of his range, We steamed on, just fast enough to let the little jaunch catch up but it was half an hour before she was alon de, during which time the pirate sent no less than nine rockets after ber, so close that the little craft had to double and twist like abare before the dogs, to avoid being sent to kingdom come. — hen she was abeam at last, I threw her a tow-line; and we went ahead full speed for a good two miles, before we dared to slow up and take her in, so bard did that persistent pirate press us, showing that he must be a steamer of very swift model, to go so fast, with all his top hamper set, and no wind. But the Queen was more than a match for him at his best, and drew out of range long enough to hook on the falls and haul in the launch at last, wjth all her men in ber. Then I heaved a great sigh of relief, for I felt we were safe from pursuit, — with their exertions. I took a last look ‘at the black cloud, which was plain enough to be seen, brooding over the for I | seain the form of a dragon, keeping its shape I knew when it cleared off, we couldn’t help but see the Flying Dutchman, as he could not possibly get away on the open sea. Then I went into the cabin and Peters fol- lowed and told me what bad happened. They bad come down on the boats just as the irates had got within two cable lengtbs of the ugitives. There were five men in the fore- most boat, who seemed to be nearly exhausted One of them was steer- | ing. & ‘As they came up abeam of the fugitives the irates in the pursuing boat uttered a yell and can to fire, not at the launch, but at the boat, and Peters saw the steersman start up and fal! _ back, while one of the oarsmen dropped from | his seat. |p At that minute came the first rocket and went close to the launch and still closer to the boat. Then the men in the launch opened fire and dashed in to screen the fugitives. eters saw several men in the pirate boat drop, The first thing 1 did was to order full speed | but she pulled straight on, never heeding the ahead, and then I went to inspect the launch | launch, as if determined on exterminating the and find if any one was burt. Doctor Sam Peters jumped down on deck ina great state of excitement, gras other boat. The next five minutes witnessed a confused my hand, | struggle in which, Peters admitted, he lost his wrung it hard, and then fairly hugged me, be- | head, and thought only of sinking the pirate fore he saida word. His face was working with | boat, forgetting the other. some deep emotion, and as soon as he could speak he ejaculated: It was ended by the explosion of the third rocket, and then they came to their senses in ‘*By heavens; Denyse, I thought he had us | the launch and steamed over to the place where twice, but we’ve beaten the infernal villain at ; the boat had been blown up before their eyes. last. We've beaten him, we’ve beaten him!” “Did you save any one from the boat?’ I asked, fearing his answer. He nodded, and hugged me again, ejaculat- g: * T tell you we’ve beaten him! By heavens I wish I was a woman, so [ could have a good ery over it. Denyse, you're a trump.” He seemed almost beside himself with joy— so unlike his usual calm, cynical manner, that I wondered at him. . What has happened?’ I asked him. “Is any one hurt in the launch?” “Not a man,” he auswered, delightedly— ‘not one. I tell you, we’ve beaten the cruel devil, Ask Nelson; he’s a man all over, and he bandled the Jaunch like his namesake, Lord Nelson, of the Nile. Oh, Denyse! I want to go on a big drunk—I want to howl like a maniac! I'm so glad! -Civilization is a fraud. I want to be a savage, and ep “Well, then, yell away!” I said, shortly; **and, when you’ve got your senses, tell me how mmany you saved.” I was a little provoked at him, and was turn- ing away to question Nelson, who had not of- fered to report yet, though it was his clear duty, but stood in the midst of a crowd of sail- ors, all jabbering away together, tll the disci- — ot the ship looked asif it ee to he dogs. I couldn’t account for it all, so un- their usual ways. had some one in the midst of the crowd, who seemed to be sick or wounded— for I saw his figure lying on a stretcher held by several men; and I was pushing my way forward to find out what it meant, when Peters gave a yell, enough to make one’s hair stand on end, and shouted: ‘* Men, I propose three cheers for the Queen, and three more for Lars Nelson! Give it to em good! Hurrah” And away they all went like mad, till ’m sure we must have been heard on board the pirate, though he was a good three miles astern. Then Sam Peters got in front of me, and said, in a way that showed he was coming to his senses: “ Denyse, dear old fellow, I beg your ' : but I own I was nearly crazy with y. Asa favor to me, don’t ask Nelson to re- and don’t say anything sharp to the men; t come into the cabin. I want to tell you something very, very strange and providential that bas happened to us tonight. I ask the privilege to be the first to tell you.” Before I answered, I took a good look astern, and saw that the Fiying Dutchman had begun to burn his devilish black smoke which appeared to be lying still on the water. ““You’re sure there’s no one hurt in the launch?” I said doubtfully to Peters, ‘‘ Not a man, onmyhonor. We kept up such a fire that we drove them off.” ai you say you saved some one from the _ “We did; only one, but be had a narrow es- cape, I tell you. For heaven’s sake, Denyse, come into the cabin, I have sometbing import- ant to tell you. Let Mr. Roberts handle the ship till you come out. The danger’s over.” 1 wie to him and I have since been sorry I turned to Roberts, my first officer, and told bim: ‘‘ Keep that black smoke in sight, and don’t go near enough for danger, but don’t let it escape you.” ‘‘ All right, sir,” said Roberts confidently. “The ackguard sha’n’t get eff, while I’m on See eee ee eee ee Only one man had seen the catastrophe and that was Lars Nelson. He swore that he saw one man dive over- board before the rocket struck as if be saw it coming and knew they could not avoid it in their crippled state. They heard the pirates yell triumphantly, saw the Flying Dutchman moving again, and knew they had no time to lose to save themselves. At that moment Lars Nelson gave a shout and leaped into the sea, swimming toward a dark object like a man’s head that bad just come up, not fifty feet from the launch’s stern. Peters saw him seiza it; knew it must be a pos: ible surviy r of that pny oe boat, and he shouted to stop the engine and back water, so as to keep the stern of the launch still to the enemy and diminish the mark for rockets, They had a narrow shave of it before they picked up Nelson, and while they drew him and the rescued man on board, the pirate sent two rockets at them, one of which came so close that Peters owned he trembled and eweat like a coward. I didn’t wonder. Tbe man saved was insensible but seemed to have no wound wh tever. He had been stunned by the shock of the explosion and was almost dead when Peters felt him. Then—hbe told me—he turned over the launch to Nelson who handled her in the skillful way I had seen him, while the doctor set to work to resuscitate the drowned man. “I tell you, Denyse,” he said, “it was hard work to keep one’s coolness and attend to the patient with that merciless demon sending bis torpedoes after us, and the knowledge that if one hit us we should all be blownto atoms. The danger wasn’t over after they’d passed on, either, as I knew, for if we ran over a spent one we were bound to explode it. Once I heard the crash end thought we bad done so, but Lars called down to me in the cockpit that he’d done it with a bullet because he hadn't time to turn. And all that time I was working away at the r drowned fellow, pressing in his ribs and etting them go with a spring to induce artificial respiration, and still he lay there, so still, I feared it was labor thrown away. At last I heard a cheer and the noise of your ship's crew and knew we were alongside, and still be had not moved. I knew you'd given us a tow by the jerky motion of the launch, but I'd no time to think of anything but my patient, till all ofa sudden I heard him draw in his breath with that horrible choking groan that sounds so pain- ful but makes a physician so proud, Then I knew I’d saved him and I went at him with a will, slapping him bard to restore his conscious- ness, now bis breath had come at last. By the time he was fairly awake, you slowed up totake usin, And now, who do you think that man is, now on board the Queen? ‘‘I’m sure I don’t know,” said I, feeling ex- cited, but hardly knowing why. ‘‘ No mysteries, Peters, tell me.” He jumped up and brought down his hand on my sbeulder wi ha ne that shook me all over. ‘Why, you sedate old navigator,” be shouted, ‘‘can’t you see why I’m socrazy! It's Muneo JOHNSTON, by beavens! I’m free from my pledge to that infernal old pirate, Vanderdecken, and = the Eternal, Clarence Denyse, Ill bunt him down to the gallows, if you'll belp me, if we have to follow him all round the world.” * I jum up, as much excited as he was, and web each other like two girls. Then [ rushed out on deck and found that he had told me the truth. There lay the poor fellow on a eot they had made up for him on deck before the cabin door The Flying Dutchman of 1880. — i ae —— SS oe ee ee oon ~ knew me and held out his hand saying aintly: ‘*God bless you, Denyse. You and Peters bave saved me from worse than death if they had caught me,” Peters wouldn’t let me say much to bim; for he was pe * autocratic in bis capacity as a pbysician. He had him carried into the cabin and told me I’d best look after that villain Van- derdecken for fear he might escape. I knew there was no fear of that. There Ja the thick black smoke still on the sea and while that was there, 1 knew he couldn’t be far off: though I couldn’t see him. Peters seemed to know who he was, and called him Vander- decken, which I know to be the legendary hero of the Dutch sea story, but I didn’t want to ask any questions till I bad my responsibility settled. Ve had sighted the first flash of the guns about four bellsin the first night-watch and I was surprised to bear them strike six bells soon after I came on deck. ‘‘ Surely,” I thought, ‘‘ we’ve been more than an hour in this trouble. They must have lost their heads ” I called Roberts and asked what he meant by letting the ship’s bells be struck irregularly. ‘*Trregularly,” says be, surprised, “ why, sir, they’re all right. It’s six bells in the morning watch. Don’t you see the dawn coming?’ I “ao eastward, and I didn’t say another word, ' Roberts had kept his head better than I had. I had not noticed the lapse of time. Instead of one hour, we had been five into our fight and it was three in the morning with the sun com- ing. ‘‘ Now,” I thought, ‘if I don't find out more about this pirate in broad daylight it’s strange,” 1 waited anxiously for the dawn and it came at last. There lay the black column of smoke on the sea, but as the sun rose a smart breeze sprung up and the smoke began to bend over and drive away to the northeast. , I watched it anxiously for the spars of the pirate, but as the breeze waxed stronger and the white-caps began to show all over the sea, Gun ay to teel my heart going down into my ts. Not only were no spars there, but inside of five minutes from the time the sun was fairly up I became convinced that no ship was there, Yet the smoke still rose thick as ever from the bosom of the sea, drifting off to leeward like a huge black plume. swept the bor zon eagerly. Nothing was in sight. Not aspeck of sail dotted the blue line, and I knew we were far out of the line of trade. The pirate bad given us the slip, and I had to make the best of it. I looked at the men and saw that their super- stitions were being roused egain, so I went into the cabin and said to Sam Peters, who was dozing on a sofa: ‘*The pirate has gone, but there’s a smoke on the sea. Ask Johnston what it means, Maybe be knows.” Peters rubbed bis eyes and I had to repeat my question before he fairly comprehended me. . Then he went into a state-room and presently came out with Mungo Johnston, looking very pale, but wrapped in one of Sam’s dr - gowns and able to walk and talk. I saw the man had improved greatly in per- sonal appearance, orig to a very handsome beard he bad grown, while bis freckles had dis appeared in a deep uniform tan that almost hid his paleness. ‘‘T’l) come on deck,” he said to me. ‘Don’t go near the smoke. There is no end to bis strat- agems, and he is bound to wipe us out if he can. I'll see what itis. I think I know.” We went on deck and he looked long and keenly at the smoke, At last he said: “Itisareft. There is a man on it. He is feeding the fire. The Phantom has stolen away | bebin t move “Not while I’ve been on deck. Mr. Roberts, did me move while I was below with Doctor Pe- ters ‘‘No, sir,” said Roberts; and then he stam- mered: “Excuse me, sir, but one of the lookouts said he thought he saw some vessel off to the south while you were below, but it was a brig, sir, with nothing unnatural about her, and I thought it could not be our creft, sir.” Mungo Johnston nodded. ) ‘‘T thonght so, That was the Phantom, with her mainmast gone. Denyse, you'll never see her again. It shows me that Vanderdecken bas the smoke in the night. Has this vessel. given up the game at last. You may proceed { on your voyage in safety. As for him, it’s no use looking for bim. ou would never find him, and if you did vou might rue the day, as others have done,” ‘But who is he?’ I said, impatiently. ‘‘ What does it all mean?” ‘‘Ay, ay,” echoed Peters; ‘“‘that’s what 3 want to know, and he won’t tell me a word, though I’ve brought him back to life, the un- grateful scamp.” Johnston turned toward him with a faint “You don’t mean that, Peters, I know you EoOmicbooks