Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

but I will not have my title thrust at, an - to me, 24 -— ~~ —- parture from New York only three days ago, some passengers—one of them alady. Those passengers are friends of mine. One of them is old Commodore Barton, and the other— Why, good Heavens, Mr. Eaton, what is the matter with you?’ For Eaton had risen from his chair, and was gasping for breath, as he asked, in low tones: “Did you say Barton, sir? Not Commodore Barton? And yousayalaiy. For God’s sake don’t say it is his daughter!” Hull stared at tne young man in surprise. ‘Why, yes. Is it possible that you know him and ber?” Eaton crushed back his.emotions, to answer, as quick as he could: ‘Captain Hull, I was engaged to Miss Bar- ton, before my whole life was blasted by the verdict of the court-martial, of which you were amember. Sir, you shall have the news you seek, tx fore morning; and»you can depend on one thing, that, if it is possible to take back the Nautilus, it shall be done this very night. Good-night, sir.” Wit out avy more ceremonious leave-taking, he rusbed out of the cabin, and took his own boat again, to the Saucy Jane. When he got on board, he asked Blair whether be could see him a moment, and then told him the whole story of his hopes and fears, He asked only for permission to take a boat, and go through the fog, hunting the Nau- tilus. ‘* And when vou find her, what are you going to do with her?’ tue privateersman asked, in the driest of voices. *‘ You don’t surely expect to take her, wiih a single boatful of men? No, Mr. Eaton; I am not overburiened with scruples as to the prudence of an expedition, as you are aware; but there are limits to even my reshness. I shall not allow any such foolbardy exploit as that. You are the skipper of the Siucy Jane, and your place is on board of her, to take care of my wife and myself,” a Eaten groaned. His repulse was so different from what he had experienced from Blair, who had been kindness itself, that he did not know what to do, and burst out: *“ But, my God, captain, sheis in danger, ard may be in worse peril if I cannot help her. What am | to do?” Blair gave a dry sniff as he retorted: “Well, that’s a_ pretty eee one, to me. What shall you do? Why, of course, we must take back the Nuutilus, and the young lady with her.” Exton looked at his commander with so much bewilderment, that Blair burst out laughing, and cried: ‘“Why, good Heavens, do you suppose that Frank Blair would let the man whose coolness won me my wife, g° out in a boat ona night like this, in the midst of an English squadron, when I can gu with bim, and help to see fair play? No, sir, if you go, the Saucy Jane goes with you, and my wife shall say yes to that, Here. Jenny, Jenny, Lady Jane Blair, my love and all the rest of the titles, come in here, an let us telk to you, about a love affair of Mr, -Eaton’s.”” The door of one of the state-rooms opened, and Lady Jane Blair, as beautiful as ever, came out, with a pretty little frown on her face, to say save £ ‘Frank, | wish you would not be so ridicu- You can call me any name you please; made fun of in the way you bave got into lately. What is the matter? Blair told her and asked: ‘*And now, Jenny dear, tell me what we shall do? Are you afraid to stay in this schooner, while we are fighting or not? Lf you are— Lady Jane interrupted him unceremoniously to say: oe Am I afraid to stay in your vessel while there is fighting? I like that—upon my word, I do! As if I hadn’t been on board her already, through all the fighting you bave bad! No, sir; Tam not afraid to be in any place you are, and you know that as well asl do, Go on and do any fighting you have to do without reference Tam only your wife now, and of no im- nee. | ' “ Bat, Jenny,” said the privateersman, coax: ingly. “‘ remember that if it bad not been for here, you would never bave been m wife; and here he is, with the young lady he is engaged to in the hands of the enemy, and all be wants is leave to go and take her away from the Johnny Bulls—1I beg your pardon, my dear, I mean the British government—just as I ran away with you. Then, anotber thing you for- et—that if we manage to get back Miss Barton Sa Be enemy, you will havea friend on board the schooner, and you two women can keep each other company when we are on deck,” The argument evidently mollified Lady Jane’s temper, and at last she said, in an ungracious sort of ite ; ‘* Well, | suppose we shall bave to give Mr. _ Eaton a chance to make a runaway match as well as ourselves, Frank. Doas you please; but if the schooner gets taken by those Johnny Bulls, that you were talking about just now, ’ _ The Saucy Jane, Privateer. don’t say I didn’t tell you to keep away from them.” Lady Jane could not help the last remark for the life of ber; and Blair cried out, witha laugh of great amusement: ‘“Why, my dear, you surely don’t suppoze that the Johns can take the Saucy Jane, any more than they could rob me of my wife? No, no, my love; all the Johnny Bulls this side of London can’t do that. We are going to succeed to-night, and you can write that down fora certainty, Lady Jane Blair, my dear,” CHAPTER XXIII. CUTTING OUT. THE night was well spent when the watch on the cap!ured Nautilus (in charge of a priz» crew from the Shannon) being then in the midst of adense fog, called whe officer in charge to acquaint bim that a boat was coming to the prizs from one of the ships in company. At this time, the Engiiso squadron was clus- tered pretty close together, with a view to speaking purposes; and no one knew exactly where the Yankees were, except that it was supposed that they would try all they knew to escape under the cover of darkness, The British officer—a young lieutenant—was on deck in a minute, alert and ready fer orders, expecting to be sent off to St. John’s or Hali- fax witb the prize, to give the frigates full swing at the American ship they were so anx- ious to capture. } The last thing in his mind was that any of the Yankees would have the audacity to think of venturing into the midst of the English squad- ron. The fog lay over the water in dense folds, and the calm was absolute, when the watch first called the commander of the prize, and the only sign of the vicinity of any other ships was the occasional flap of a sail, as a flaw of wind struck it and made the biocks rattle in the sheaves. Eieutenant Everton was full of enthusiasm in his profession, and had a very good pros- pect of rising therein. He came of a good family, which is a great thing in the English navy, and his father had influence in the Admiralty. He had a fair prospect of being placed in command of the prize, as soon as she should have been condemned and sold to the Govern- ment; and the Nautilus was a very swift little brig, and would be re-armed as soon as she got to St, Jobn’s, She bad lost all her guns in the chase in which she bad been taken, when the weather was heavy and the large ships had bad the best of her; but in light winds, such as those that revuailed that night, she was more than a match or any ship in the squadron. In fact, unknown to Lieutenant Everton, the Nautilus, under the occasional puffs of wind, had forged a long way ahead of all her consorts, and was alone with the Belvidera for ber nearest neighbor. The young officer listened to the sounds that had attracted the attention of the lookout, and finally observed: — ‘That does not sound like a boat, Connell. There is no noise of the rowlocks, though I hear the dip of oars. It sounds to me more like sweeps. Let me see; is it possible that any of those Yankee coasters can be poking about in the fog, thinking that there is nobody here? If so, we shall distinguish ourselves by making another captare,” Connell was an old boatswain’s mate, who had been put on board the priz+, on account of his age and experience, to take care of the young man. He touched his hat, although it was too dark to see the salute, which was madein the instinct of old discipline, and answered his youthful commander: ‘Not wery likely, your honor, if I may make bold to say. I think your bonor will find that it’s that ’ere Yankee schooner that ’ad the impi- dence to hopen fire on the Belvidera this mornin’,” ‘‘Ob, nonsense, Connell,” retorted the lieu- tenant, incredulously. “ I'll admit that he was an impudent little beggar, because he had a long gun; but that is rather toorich. The idea of his bringing his little craft into the middle of this squadron! Why, we should eat him up without salt,” Connell’s only answer was; ‘Does your honor ’ave any objection to makin’ a signal that the frigates will ear, so as to make sure that there ain’t no sich thin about? I wouldn’t like to be caught nappin’, your honor, and we ain’t got enough men aboard to make a fight, if so be the enemy does try to take us in the dark,” Everton laughed. * Ob, confound “, Connell, I don’t like to make any signals, in case it should turn out that I bad got frightened without any reason, Let us bail the boat, or whatever it is that is coming; and then, if the answer is suspicious, we shall be able to hail the Belvidera.” Connell’s answer was to put bis hands to his lips at once and roar at the full stretch of his powerful lungs: cn te ee € nore ahoy! Who are ye, and where are ye oin . There was a cessation of the sound of oars, and an answering hail came back from the fog: ‘‘ Ay, ay, what ship is that?’ Before Connell could frame an answer, Ever- ton called out: ‘*None of your nonsense there. or we'll fire on vou. Give your name and number at once, do you hear?’ The answer from the fog was delayed this time longer than before, but it finally came; ‘*Sbip aboy! What ship’s that?’ The sound of oars had ceased entirely, and Everton shouted out in answer: ‘* His majesty’s brig Nautilus. Who are you?” No answer was returned to his hail, but a voice was heard in the fog, crying out in low, but excited tones: ‘‘Give way, boys; that is the brig!” The dip of oars was audible in the fog once more, and Everton, with too late a realization of the fact that an enemy was really approach- ing, called out in haste: ‘* All hands to repel boarders! On deck, all of you! QuIcK!” Connell repeated the cry, and, ruining to the batchway, roared down at the full stretch of his lungs—boatswain’s mate’s lungs at that: ‘* All hands! All hands to repel boarders !” The next few minutes were a chaos of con- fusion. The weak prize-crew of the captured brig, awakened from their slumbers by the cry of the boatswain’s mate, came hurryin up the batchway. ladders, all in a turmoil o haste and excitement; to bear the dip of oars in the water, closer and closer every instant, and the tall spars of the schooner, Saucy Jane came driving through the fog, above the side o the brig. lll fared it then with the English, that the American eaptain of the Nautilus, in his efforts to escape from the Pritish squadron, had thrown all bis guns overboard, and that none bad been put on the prize, when she was given to Ever- on. | The Englishmen had been only a boat’s crew in one of the Shannon’s cutters, and numberec less than twenty, all told. They had the arms with which they had left the ship, pistols and eutlasses; and they mau- aged to opened a feeble fire, as the schooner ranged alongside, But the Saucy Jane was handled by a man who had been in such expeditions before, and her crew were in excellent discipline. They crouched below the bulwarks of the schooner, till her bow passed over the waist of the brig, when, with a ringing vell, they sprung up and made a simultaneous leap into the rigging of the Nautilus, and came swarming over ber bul- warks like a swarm of bees, stinging bard with cold steel, but not firing a shot. Eaton, aware that, the less noise he made, the less he was liable to incur the interference of the large ships, all round him in the fog, had prohibited any pistols being taken by the boarders, and depended on the rush and the confusion of the enemy for bis victory. He had not reckoned without his host. The Englishmen were half-beaten before the’ fight opened, by the nervous tremors of sudden wak- ing, and uncertainty of the enemy they were to confront, Everton and Connell knew or sus- pected; but the rest had not even seen the schooner, before she came crashing into the midst of them; and ber men came over the bul- warks in a rush that aided to complete their demoralization. Inside of three minutes, they began to run below, and the men of the privateer were in full possession of the Nautilus, Everton and Connell, who had resisted the first rush manfully, were both down, wounded severely; the lieutenant insemsible from a cut over the scalp, which he had received from the hands of old Hackett, who had fol'owed Eaton in the first onset of the boarders. Connell had suffered even more severely; for he had been spitted through the body y &. pike, sent, in the fashion of a harpoon, by the lung arm of Fol- ger, who had been called ‘‘ the best harpooner in the island of Nantucket” when he hed sailed with Blair on the whaling voyages that had formed the captain’s apprenticesbip to the sea. In sbort, the capture of the Nautilus from the British prize-crew was effected by the Saucy Jane, with even more ease than the first cap- ture by the British themselves, when she had been chased by the whole squadron that was now around her in the fog, When it was all over, Blair, who had followed his friend into the brig, with the intention of doing what be could to help, observed, with a kizbt laugh that told of his relief: ‘‘ Well, by heavens, we are well out of that, Eaton! 1 thought Johnny Bull would bave given us more trouble than tbat. Go ahead and find your girl, and I will s e to things on deck. Hurry up; for we don’t know how many of the frigates may be snooping round after us, in the shake of a laml’3 tail, as my poor old father used to say.” Eaton pressed his hand gratefully, The per- mission was just what he desired, and y had not dered to ask for it. His duty as the eomicbooks r ‘7