Beadle's Dime Library No. 247 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

a ee ? VO" hes 4 “ Stevers ur t het story?” Tue decter listened w short account of Stevens's experience, when he answered: ‘‘ Stevens is a crank, I'm afraid, and his story is exaggerated.” * But I wasin the light-house myself when we were attacked,” said Julian warmly. ‘I can testify of my own knowledge that we were attacked, while you know whether or not I was shot by these men.” The doctor shrugged his shoulders. **As to the shooting there is no doubt, but T’m not so sure whether you did not bring it on yourself, Mr. Grey.”’ ‘ Bring it on myself? How?’ ‘‘ By prying into their affairs, These people were doing you no harm, They only asked to be let alone.” ‘* But they didn't leave other people alone. I saw them robbing wrecks myself.” ‘* Are you sure the wreckers belonged to this party up at the lake?’ ‘Of course I am.” *‘ How do you know?” Julian hesitated and had to acknowledge to himself that it was only hearsay and sus- picion on which he based his judgment. Wil- liams noted his hesitation, and said to him in an earnest tone: ‘* Grey, you’re a stranger here, while I was born and raised in Florida, When I wasa boy, the Indians owned all this Everglade, and a bad lot they were. It took the United States Government eight years to get rid of them, and even then a number of men remained be- hind, belonging to the Seminoles, and no one has seen much of them since that time. I’ve heard of these Florida Wreckers, and I’ve heard of Alligator Ike, as they call him at Jacksonville. He has been well known asa trader for ten years past, and has controlled all the alligator hides that have been sent to market,” *But you did not know he was a rebel general, keeping up a shadow of resistance to the best Government the world ever saw,” said , Julian warmly. The doctor smiled. ‘* No, I didn’t, but we all down here look at things a little different from what you do. We own we were whipped, but you can’t expect us to fall down and worship the people that whipped us, because they didn’t bang us all. Besides, there is something hidden behind all this settlement by the voleano which I don’t ‘anderstand and I fancy the key to part of the mystery lies in the hands of your father and mother.” ‘* Mine?” echoed Julian, amazed. “Yes. Has it never seemed strange to you that your father allowed young Peyton to go from him into the interior in full uniform and never detained him asa prisoner when be was entirely in his power?’ ‘Why, I attributed that to his generosity.” You were right; but what reason had he to be generous to the son of General Peyton, or Alligator Ike, whichever you please to call him?” Julian was compelled to acknowledge that he did not know, and Williams continued: **Tt’s all coming to an end now, and we’ll find out pretty soon. I wish we could see the yacht, Grey. I don’t like her silence.” They paddled on among the islands and halted at sunset in the midst of an overflowed prairie, where the game was so plentiful and tame that they saw it had not been much, if at all hunted. They shot a heron and lighted a fire in the shelter of a wood as night came on, when they cooked supper and went to sleep, tired out with a hard day’s paddling. Julian slept uneasily and dreamed that he had met Clara Peyton, and that she wes reproaching him for disturbing her people in their retreat, till finally she said to | him: “You think your people are all right and that we are a parcel of wretches, but I tell you that we will never, never, while there is a man or a girl left here, utter the word we scorn, ‘surrender.’ ” : Then it seemed to him as if some one had seized him from behind and he struggled bard, with a feelingasif all the strength had gone out of him, | The clutch awakened him, and he saw that it was day, while Alligator Ike stood over him with a pistol in his hand, saying: ‘** Surrender or die!” hile Julian gave him a | Alligatsr ike. CHAPTER XXIX. THE FLAG OF TRUCE. For a moment Julian felt his muscles con- tracting for aspring with the instinct of resist- ance, and then he saw that ke was surrounded by men in gray, well armed, tbat Dr. Wil- liams lay on the ground by him with a pistol pointing at bis head in the bands of Ned Pey- ton; so he made a virtue of necessity by say- ing: ‘‘T surrender of course, You can murder us if you like, but you’ll be sorry for it.” Alligator Ike made him no direct answer, but he turned to a man beside him saying: ‘Sergeant Dummit, take the arms of the prisoners, and keep them under guard till we get to the station,” Then forward came the very “cracker” who had surrendered to Julian a month before and possessed himself of the young gentleman’s dandified weapons with a grin on his usually rather stupid face, observing: ‘Come, Yank, reckon I’ve got the drop on you this time. Hey! What d’ye say?’ Then Julian was permitted to rise, and saw that he was surrounded by a party of about thirty men in all sorts of nondescript garbs of gray and brown; but all wearing cross-belts and carrying rifles. Three long skiffs or bateaux, with pointed bows, square sterns and flat bottoms, lay in the water by the island, and exp'ained how the sleepers had been stolen upon, while it seemed to Julian as he looked at the flooded Everglade, that the water had risen consider- ably during the night, while the sky was coy- ered with dark clouds with ill-defined misty edges and a fine rain was beginning to fail in the early dawn, He and the doctor were transferred to one of the long bateaux, and the men in gray and brown filled all three and began to pole off across the marsh to the north. Alligator Ike or General Peyton still wore his full Confederate uniform, and sat in the stern of the bateau by the prisoners, with a grave and impenetrable face. Ned Peyton was in another boat, and had not beld any communication with either of the prisoners, seeming to Julian asif he was bent on keeping his eyes averted from them. When Julian tried to speak to his captor, Alligator Ike said, in a stern tone: ** You all are not asked to talk. We all can do that ourselves.” At this strong hint Julian relapsed into si- lence, and the tbree boats pushed on in a rain that was increasing momentarily, till it be- came a perfect deluge, in the midst of which they poled their way along with no shelter, till every one was wet to the skin, and no sign ap- peared of a cessation of the rain. There was no wind, but the clouds seemed as if they were trying to turn themselves inside out, while heavy peals of thunder and vivid flashes of lightning showed the character of the disturbance to be electric. The curtain of rain and the vail of clouds overhead produced a darkness that very much resembled the coming of night, and blotted out all the features of the landscape as they poled their way along. Dr. Williams nudged Julian, and muttered: ‘“‘ Bad weather for fever, if there’s no whisky to behad. Warm rainis the worst thing in the world for fever,” “Silence in the boat,” sternly interrupted the voice of Alligator Ike, and then they poled on again in silence, It seemed to Julian as if they went on in this way for half a day, but really it could not have been over a couple of hours, when he heard the voice of Ned Peyton from the leading boat: ‘** Hallo! in the rear, general.” ‘‘ Well?” responded Alligator Ike, briefly. “*The lake’s ahead, sir, and I can see the Yankee steam-launch dodging about.” ‘Run in to Shelter Island, then,” said Ike, quietly. “We've got wherewithal to deal now, Captain Peyton,” The bateaux pursued their way in the rain to an island covered with a dense thicket of orange -trees, under whose branches, that drooped over the water, all three ran silently and tied up to an overhanging bank, hollowed by the currents. Then Alligator Ike said to Julian: **Git up and git ashore.” He seemed to take a pleasure in emphasizing his “cracker” dialect, though Julian knew that he could drop it on occasion. The young man could do notbing but obey | | ERNE er —- ; ' LLL CC ttt ' ——— est 25 —— sd | | ee — ee t he orders, so he stepped on shore and was taken through the dripping woods to a small clearing in the center of the island where was erected a low log cabin, thatched with palmetto. Alligator Ike went to this hut, opened a door, and said briefly: “Git in thar!” They obeyed, and had the pleasure of seeing asentry put on the door, in the person ofa tall, grim-looking cracker, who carried a long, old-fashioned, muzzie-loading rifle in his buge paws, and to whom the general said: “Tf either of them tries to get out, puta hole through one and jab the bayonet into the other. Do you understand?” The cracker saluted just like an old soldier, * All right, gineral,”’ be answered, Then the general turned to Doctor Williams: ‘*T didn’t expect to see you down hyar,” he said sternly, “‘consorting with the Yanks to drive us out of the last refuge we had,” “ Don’t be unjust,” retorted Williams with much spirit. ‘‘You might know, from seeing me here, that no one wanted to hurt you. I had no evil intentions, neither had Mr, Grey bere; but when we were shot at, you couldn’t expect but that I, for one, would fire back.” Alligator Ike seemed pleased at the reply. ** Ay, ay,” he said, “‘ the old stock will fight, won’t it Williams?” “Yes, and the young one too,” retorted Williams, laying his hand on Julian’s shoulder. ‘If it had not been for this young gentleman here, we should not have made half so good a fight; and as itis you had to catch us asleep, or you could never have taken us, What are you going to do with us now, Pey- ton?’ Peyton smiled in rather a dubious manner. ‘We shall see, after a while,” he said, and then he walked out of the cabin into the rain, leaving the two friends alone in the hut. For some time they were silent, and then when it began to clear up outside, as it did soon, Williams began to feel about in his pockets and produced bis pipe and tobacco, ““No use being wretched while the great consoler, nicotine, is here,” be said, philosophi- cally, ‘* Now, if we only had a light, we might be as bappy as ever, but, alas, for the luck, all my matches are wet I fear.” Julian fumbled ip his pockets and produced a water-proof match-safe, which atill contained three matches, so that the two friends were enabled to light their pipes and smoke away their bad humor, which they did for some min- utes, when the sentry looked in at the door and remarked with an affable smile: “Tm powerful fond of a smoke myself, but I hain’t got sich a thing as a spunk of fire any- whar. Pity, too.” ‘You can have some of ours,” replied Wil- liams instantly, with a side look at Julian, ‘This gentleman’s quite a rich man, Mr.—ab, what’s your name?” , **My name’s McCoy,” returned the “ crack- er” in a still more affable tone, edging into the cabin a little. ‘‘Seat! Haow it rained! ’Pears like I'd never seen sich a rain since I cum to Floridy. Got any ’baccer, gents?” He bad drawn out an old black brierwood pipe and was Jooking round with that vague and speculative air that pervades the old topers in a country bar-room, when a stranger walks up to the bar and iooks over one shoulder, to see how many there are in the room. Julian could not resist a smile at the cool assurance displayed, but Williams pressed his arm warningly as he observed: ‘‘Ah, by the by, Grey, you bad some cigars in your case, didn’t youf Give the gentleman one, It’s better than a pipe.” Julian took the hint and produced his last cigar, which be banded to the sentry, who re- ceived it with much affability and stuck it into his cheek with gusto. Then the doctor rose and began to puff at his pipe to raise it to a glow, but with such little apparent success that he ejaculated: **Confound it! the pipe’s going out, the to- bacco’s so wet. Here, Grey, come here and give us a little fire, like a good fellow,” Julian did as he was requested, beginning to see the drift of the plot; so that, a moment later, the three men had their faces together, while the sentry had set his musket against a wall, and was eagerly puffing away at the balf- empty bowl of the doctor’s pipe to eget a light. In that moment Julian Grey dealt him a sud- den blow under the ear that felled him to the floor like a slaughtered ox, while Williams ‘ “ ge Comicboo (S SS) (E(o)}