Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

e f | _ » 2bbe. CHAPTER XIII, A SHARP NEGOTIATOR, THE ear) looked astonished at the terms, ‘* But to do that would be to put them all out of . the fight for the rest of the war, sir. You must be aware that, in less than two days, we expect the new squadron here, which will render it im- ossible for you to stay. In, that case, you will ave to take your prisoners to the United States, or lose them, and the chances are ten to one that you will lose them, and be captured yourself, on the way to your own country.” Eaton listened to him quieily; but he had not allowed his eyes to remain so quiet. They were roaming about the apartment, and had dropped on Lady Jane, who was sitting in the back of the room, with ber back to the envoy, but with a little mirror in one hand, of which he caught a glimpse, and which convinced him that she was the object of bis. search, While he was casting about in bis mind for a way of communicating with ber, the lady oer- self turned her face his way, for an instant,and fairly strack bim dumb with her extraordinary beauty, so that Le stammered and hesitated, when the earl addressed him again. ‘* You must see, Mr, Eaton, that the terms are inadmissible. Iam willing to do a good deal for the unfortunate men who have suffered such a disaster; but as for taking them back on pa- role, at this stage of the war, it cannot be doue, and yeu must know that as well as I do.” “lam aware of thet, my lord; but you must also be aware that the rulesof ordinary war- fare do not apply to privateers, Our vessel is not a regular. ship-of-war, but .a_ letter-of- marque, and, as sucb, amenable to no rules, as to prisoners, but what we choose to enforce ourselves. In other words, if we choose to de- mand a ransom for these men, and to give them up to you, we have a perfect right to do so; and our Government will not interfere to prevent us from enforcing our terms.” Lord Gowrie looked shocked, * Why, certainly, Nee put it in that way, | you have a right; but lthought you came from a regular man-of-war,” ‘‘] thought that 1 sent.in my message dis- tinctly, my lord, that the schooner that had taken your galley was the Lmerald, privateer. l certamly intended to do it.” “Ah, yes, I believe you did; but it bad escaped my mind, sir, Ah, well, what do wish to say further, then?” ‘‘ Simply that, if you.do not like the terms that | bave just given you for the prisoners, we will treat with you for iheir ransom, in the ' — a en So Saucy Jane, suppose I shall bave to submit toit, and take revenge, some day, in watching you at the yard arm.” Eaton rose and made a profound bow to the old nobleman, ‘‘] bope your lordsbip will never have that leasure, Not that 1 wish to deprive you efit; ut that what would be fun for you, would be decidedly unpleasant to me, The rate of ran- som that Captain Green and myself have agreed upon, is that of ten pounds a man, for the sail- ors; and a hundred for the officer in command. There are only sixty-seven men, all told, in the schooner, and Captain Ferris ought to be well worth a hundred pounds, Don’t you think so, my lord?” Lord Gowrie grunteda reluctant assent to the question, adding: * But a number of the men on board were slaves—” ‘Exactly so, and therefore we should be en- tirely justified in taking them away, and selling them ian America; but we do not wish to be bothered with them, and so offer them to you at the same price as the rest. That will make a total of seven hundred and seventy pounds ster- | Jing, which we prefer to have delivered to us in gold, on which all the prisoners shall be released unconditionally, How does that programme of Lord Gowrie. | ' ' | ; _ quickest way ta get rid of you is to do as | same style that the Algerians do, and for the | same prices.” The earl looked inexpressibly disgusted at the and managed to say, in a tone of grave remon- strance; lord, you will have to trust to our honor. suit you, my lord?” ‘* ] assent to it, because I have no alternative: and for no other reasou,” was the sullen answer ‘** Do you want the money be- fore you deliver the prisoners, and what secur- ity have we, if we pay it to you, that we shall ever see them?” The best of all security, my lord, the word of an American citizen! much of it, to be sure; but I value it too dearly to sellit fora paltry sum of money. No, my i) have the upper hand in this negotiation, and are enti'led to the advantage in terms.” The earl sighed heavily, as he had to admit that the.American bad reason on his side, and responded in the same stiff and sullen manner as before: ‘Very well, sir, very well; I suppose the ou say, and pay you off at once. I will do so,’ Yet he did not leave the room, as he appear- ed abovt to do, but lingered to say to his daugh- ter in a low voice: ‘* Jane, Jane, | insiston your leaving the room whenIdo. Itisascandal. It must not be.” Eaton heard the whisper but did not catch its import, till it was revealed to him by the an- | swer of Lady Jane herself, in a perfectly cool and audible way: cool proposition of the young privateersman, | ** But, my dear sir, if you do sucha thing as | that, you put yourself out of the pale of eivil- ized warfare, and are liable to be hung at the yard-arm of any of bis majesty’s ships that bap- pane to meet you, after you go away from ere. ‘* We are willing to take the risk of that, Goy- ernor. There is, however, another way in which you can save your men from the tortures of a schooner’s hold in such weather as this, on the way home to New York; and that is, to give your individual parole that they sball never be used in this, war, until there are enough American prisoners to offset them.” ‘*My iodividual parole? That is a different thing, sir. I could not keep it, when the squad- roa came in; for we have a lot of marines bere tbat are to be drafted into the fleet, as soon as it gets here.” ‘* Weare v ‘lling to take the chances on that, my lord, if you will take them off our bands, I will be frank wich you, aad say that we have but a small veosc!, and the quarters. are cramped; but that. rather than let these men go, afterthe bard work we had to take them, we are preparec to sec them all afloat in the sea, where we fouvc toenm, and let them swim to shore. if they can, aut if tae skarks will let them. That is the faci, mv iord, and it is needless to disguise it by fine wous.” So saying, Eaton took a seat and iccked at the old Govervor, as. much as tosay: °° Wit do you taink of that?’ His lordship hesitated a few moments, and at last asked: ‘‘ Well, suppose I do give my parsle—” “That would not be accepted now my lord. You bave refused to be bound by it..and. we wanta guarantee that our treaty will be ful- filled. If you cannot guarantee that these men shall not serve agaioft us, | must set them afloat again, and let them take their chances.” ‘But surely you will not be so barbarous as to murder them in cold blood.” ‘‘No. You ave at perfect liberty to send out any of your boats or galleys in the port, and save them,” replied Eaton coolly; * but you must re- member that any boat that makes its appearance outside of this harbor will be riddled with shot, before she can get tothe men in the water, On ‘** Much obliged, my lord; but I wish to speak to the American officer, to find if he has ever seen anything of Mr, Blair?” The earl, looking aghast at the boldness of his | daughter, could but reply hurriedly: | ‘* By all means. Ask all you want to ask; but it must be in my presence,” ‘Of course, my lord, I never dreamed of do- ing anything else,” was the virtuous reply of the lady, who really had had no such intentions, “IT merely wish to ask the gentleman if he _knows an officer of the name of Frank Blair, —s— — a —_—_—- oo oor OC > - -- Ore the whole, I should recommend to your lordship | to the ransom for your friends,’ hay whut ransom ‘do you want, sir?” asked and where he is now?’ Eaton could hardly credit his ears when he heard this question addressed openly to him; but he bad presence of mind to give the answer that had been agreed on between him and Blair on board the schooner, Assuming a look of great regret. he said: ‘* Pardon me, but did you say Blair?” “ Certainly,” was the impatient reply. ‘ Did you ever meet the gentleman, sir?’ Eaton put his hand to his eyes, and answered: | Privateer. — Ee ee ee 8 eee ee - ee ——— _—_—— the earl impatiently. ‘‘Itis an outrage; but I ! ‘‘ My dear sir, l am glad you came here. I am glad to have met you, and the last piece of news is the best of all.” Eaton looked over toward Lady Jane, lying back jin ber chair, pale as death, and asked: ‘** Is not the lady ill, sir? I hope it is not my iio Sha have bad anything to @o with her “attac ‘* Pooh,, pooh, pooh!” said the old ear), hastily. “Nothing the matter with her sir, nothing in the world. Only the beat. Take no notice, sir, if you poe I will go and get that money for you. The slave-owners shall pay the bulk of it. Yes, yes.” And the old gentleman, in his excitement, | went out of the door and forgot all about bis | ' | | | | | | } | You may not think | } a — | | | | a moment, papa? He is ‘‘ Alas, madam, the gentfeman is dead and | buried,” ‘ The words were hardly out of his mouth when he regretted he had said them; for Lady Jane Blair, her face turning as pale as death, lost all ber pretended composure, and fainted away with a suddenness that scared the young man out of bis wits. The old earl, on the other hand, was as mucb delighted at the news as Ferris bad shown him- self at tbe time he heard it in the cabin of the Saucy Jane, and displayed so little concern at uis daughter’s swoon, that he actually went on quesucuiig Kuton, without noticing her any more than if sue uac been out of the room. “Did you say the feuow wascead?” he asked, | petuous way in which she did everything eagerly, ‘Are you gjte sure, siry He is such an artful fellow, that l can bardly believe be is dead till I see his grave with my own eyes. You are sure Blair is dead?” Eaton concealed bis disgust at the tone in which the question was asked, to answer in a sad voice: vr ‘‘ Alas! my lord, it is oujg, too true! Poor blair was killed by a sperm;whale when she went into ber flurry, last year, and I saw bim taken down in a thousand gd gu of water, along with a whole boat’s crew of good fellows oar. es, my lord, there is no doubt about it—Frank Blair is as dead as a door he earl rubbed his bands and said in a more pleasant way than he had yet used: as ever pulled an a | daughter, though she was as near to being to- tally insensible as a woman can be when she faints with her eyes open and sees and hears all that goes on, without the power of moving. Such was t'e condition of Lady Jave Blair when Eaton ran to’her, as she sat in the chair, ready to fall off, and whispered in her ear: “Tt is all a scheme, dear lady. Blair is in command of the schooner, and he sent mein to give you this letter.” As he spoke, he slipped the letter of Blair into her hand as she lay back in the chair, and such. | was the secretive nature of the lady, that, faint- ing and all as she was, sbe managed to take the letter and hide it in the bosom of her dress be- fore ber respected parent made his appearance again, which he did within five minutes, with a large bag of sovereigns in bis hand, saying:’ “3 Here, sir, is your money, and you had ter count it, so that there may be no mistake.” Then be went over to his daughter, and Eaton heard bim attempting to console her in the style of a man who knows he has done a shabby thing and is trying to coax another to forgive and forget. Eaton, while be was counting the money, or pretending to do so, kept the corner of bis eye all the time on Lady Jane, and noticed that she was recovering her composure iv wonderfully short order; though her eyes were cast down, ang phe looked as if she were overwhelmed with grief. . He could almost see the angry heaving of her bosom, as she listened to the hypocritical efforts of the old earl to comfort her for the loss of a lover, by telling her that he was nota fit person for her to bave married, anyway, and that she was better off without bim. ' The efforts of the old ear! to belie Blair in his absence had an effect of which be little dream- ed. They served to break the last tie that bound the old man to the girl, and the gir] to the country of her birth. It was, perbaps, a sense Of this that made her say faintly to him at one time: ‘*Don’t—don’t; you will be sorry for it, Don’t sav anything more!” Lord Gowrie desisted at that feeble cry, and the young lady asked him, in the same faint way: »~ ‘May I speak with this gentleman alone for ead now, and you need not fearl shal. do you any disgrace. only want to ask a few questions about—bow— Frank died, That is all,” Her father seemed to be rather discomfited at the request, for he stammered and haggied over it for quite a while; bot he finally consented, and Lady Jane and Eaton found themselves alone to- gether again, with the understanding that ten — minutes would be allo « ed for the interchange of | condolences about the late lamented Blair. No sooner was the old man fairly out of the room than the young lady bent over to say, in a rapid, impetuous way: ‘‘ Now, then, speak quick! What does he want! It was cruel of you tosay what did, and | will be even with you yet forit. But speak quickly now—what is it he wants?’ “You will, find it all in that letter, Lady Jane. I believe be bas made an audacious pro- posal to you ip it that you may not be disposed to accept; but if you do, you are to follow the lan that be has laid down therein. My only instructions are, to ask you to burn tbe letter us soon us you have read it.” , She had already taken it from her bosom and was devouring it with an eagerness that had made her oblivious of spectators, ~ Eaton saw ber color deeply, as be looked at her reading. | She finished rapidly, and in the nervous, im- it into her bosom again, and said: “ Are you going back to him now?” ** As soon as I can get aboard, Lady Jane.” “Tell him,” she said, coloring deep! as be- fore, “‘that I willdoas besays. The signal is not safe; but you can tell him I will come tothe rendezvous at the time he mentions,” CHAPTER XIV. THE RENDEZVOUS. THE full light of a tropical moon was shining down on the palms and bananas of the Antilles. The intense heat of the day had give place to the coolness of night on the sea, while the land was hotter than ever, on account of the setting in of the land-breezs. > I : Out in the bay, the great gropers and Jew~. IJOO (ECON MIKE S) ] « ir ' - (Ele) . io ; ’ ; P f on