Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

ee ae ee ~“s nt ee Bo a nl ty! . ge The Saucy Jane, Privateer. —— eee eee + ee SS ee lord. The vessel is a suspicious character, after | Sco'chman, and ! believed it, til? he to’d me Yankee, whose vessel he had rightly divined to _with Lis own lips that he had deceived me, and all,” ‘‘ Why, why, what’s the matter now Ferri-?” **T see the reason the telegraphb-man calis the stranger suspicious,” replied Ferris, as he took the glass from his eye. ‘‘He bas an English flag flying at his mast-head, and his rig is one that no man ever saw on an English vessel since the flood.” ‘‘ What is that you are saying about rigs?” asked the old earl impatiently. ‘1 don’t know anything about the sea, Ferris. I bate it, ex- My DAUGHTER!!! cept to bathe in, in bot weather; and dread it | ( . _ Twas s> paralyzed with surprise at his audacity, so much sinee tae terrible tortures I suffered from sickness On my way here that I dare not | 'scamp had the further impu lence to assert that even apply fora change of government, though I kuow they would give it to me in a moment, because I dread the voyege away from bere so | much that I dare not undertake it for my life. As for rigs and sailors, 1 bate to hear tuem so much as mentioned sinca that—” The oli man choked at the recollection of the impudent Yankee who had fooled the whole population of Jamaica so effectually a few years hefore, and went on at last: ‘*T+ll me what you mean about the stranger, witbout any of your nautical slang, Ferris, if youcan, What makes this vessel suspicious?” Ferris explained: “This vessel out in the offiag—I beg your pardon, | mean in the southern sea, there—is rigged as a schooner of a kind that we never see in England, my lord. masts with fore-and-aft sails altogether. That is, she has no square sail on ber foretopmast! That is an American rig exclusively, my lord.” ‘ As I expected,” muttered the old peer, in a low tone. ‘‘ The scoundrel said he would come back, and he bas done so. That was the very vessel be had when he was here last, Ferris The rascal! the villain! the audacious scamp!” Ferris, who was an old staff officer, and c in- sequently a very discreet person, said nothing to invite his chief’s confidence, aware that he was likely to have it very speedily, if the old gentleman was left to himself. And Ferris was right; for, in a very few minutes, the earl said; ; ‘* Ferris, do you think you can keep a secret?” Ferris gmafied. ‘*T hope so, my lord.” ‘Ferris, I have .a great deal to tell you,” began the old man in a rather shaky voice. “The fact is, Ferris, that my daughter, Lady Jane, is interested in an American—a very handsome fellow, I must admit—but as impn- dent a rascal as ever was beard of. She met him here, two years ago, and the silly girl fancies herself in love with the feilow yet,” Ferris looked rather unbelieving. ** Indeed, my lord? I should not have fancied her ladyship to be pining with Jove for any one. She certainly has not that look.” Lord Gowrie nodded his head wisely, as he answered: “Ay, ay, Ferris, that is because you don’t know ber well, That girl has the obstinacy of tbe devil himself, and the slyness of a catina dairy, in these matters. Se wouldn't give in to me on the subject, and wouldn’t let any one else guess that she was thinking of bim; but, all the same, she is, sir, she és. Ferris, I want you to do something for me,” ‘ “You can command me, at any time, my ord,” ant Ferris, I—I—I want yon to find that Yan- eeand rid meof bim. He’s a pestilent fellow, : ad wants to be crushed and beaten down into tue earth. Can you do it for me, do you think?’ Ferris bowed in bis most respectful way. “I might have hesitated before, my lord: but 1.0w I have vo option but to say ‘ yes,’ with all my heart,” ‘And I tell you what it is, Ferris—” The old earl besitated again, “ Well, I may as well be frank with you. I have observed with pleasure that you have been paying a great deal of attention to Lady Jane, and [ tell you that you have permission to all you can to win ber affections; but I am afraid you will not make much pro ress emg you can get rid of this Yankee fellow, ‘ Blair?” echoed Ferris in sqme astonishment, 4 Wom that is your lordship’s family name, is rn The old Scotchman colored slightly. ‘* Yes, and that is how the caiman managed to get into my confidence and make such fools of all of us, ame is the same as wine, and he bas the family likeness, confound bim!” ‘*Is he then, by any chance, a relative of yours, my lord?’ ‘Not that I know of—that is, he must be, I suppose, in some degree, but not in any that you, as an Englishman, would be likely to recognize, We Scotchmen, you know, are more particular, and c unt to twentieth cousins. But ou must not think that because the relationship aglnemlodree, we are any more obliged to tako in every poor relation we have in the world, than you English are. No, Ferris, the fellow was entitled to be treated as a relative; but only a humble one; and not that, if I had known he was a Yankee, But he came as a in the same breath had the impudence to ask me for my daughter. Farcy it! MY daughter. A Yankee, to ask me for her! I declare that, even now, when I think of that fellow’s impudence, itmakes my gorge rise, and I feel as if it could not be true, that .t must be a dream.” ** And what did your lordship say to the Yan- } kee, when he asked for her ladyship?’ asked Ferris, when the earl had fiaished. “Say tohim! Say to him! Confound it, sir, that | couldn’t.speak for a minute; and then the bis request was authorized by my daughter.” ‘And was it?” asked Ferris, in a low voice, The old nobleman stammicred and hesitated a momenf, ‘“‘ Well, I—I—I don’t remember exactly—it’s so long ago, and Jane wass) young then, I—I am not sure but it was true in a sense, and that | some sort of contract hac been entered into be- | tween them, in an informal fashioo. But you know we are not in S ‘otland, where the state of the marriage is a scanial; but in Jamaica, where I am absolute under the crown, and where no one can get married without my leave. Yes, I believe there was gome idea on Jane’s She bas both her | part that she would die without him, and all that sort of thing; but you see how little it has affected her. Iam satisfied that if wecan keep this fellow from taking advantage of the pres- ent war to thrust himself before ber eyesas a hero, and keep him out of her sight, she will lis- ten to reason and doas [ wish ‘her, instead of ' } | | LL — going ber own foolish way.” ‘* | think, my lord,” observed Ferris thought- fully, ‘“‘ that you are right, and that it will be policy to get rid of this Yankee as soon as we can, to prevent his making his appearance in the light of a hero, even asa prisoner, I have known great havoc done in staid English house- holds, by the French prisoners from Spain; and Yankees may be just as dangerous. Oa the whole, I think that if we ever catch this par- ticular Yafhkee, we should do well to have bim shot at once as a traitor to the king, just as if the old rebellion were still in operation.” The old earl’s eyes glis‘ened for a moment, but be shook his head sorrowfully. **No, no, Ferris; that won’t do. I wish it would. I contd sleep more scundly at night if that could be done. But it’s no use, and you know it as well as 1 do. We've got to treat this | Yankee, if we ever meet him in war, as civilly es if he were a Frenchman ora Spaniard: unless he gets killed in action.” ‘That is by no means a difficult thing to pro- cure,” said Ferris coldly, ‘‘Il have seen many a man killed in action, who never knew what hit him; and if this Blair goes into war, he, of course, expects to teke its chances.” ‘Do you think that you could make sure of the scoundrel?” asked Lord Gowrie eagerly. “IT feel so sure of it,” replied the aide-de- camp, “that Lam willing to stake my success with Lady Jane on the issue. If I don’t kill him when [ meet him, it will only be because I get no chance to get near bim.” “That will do just as well,” interrupted Gowrie hurriedly. “I don’t want to murder the man, if he will only keep away from my daughter; but, rather than see her run awa with him, I believe | wou'd take the responsi- bility of ordering his execution, if be was taken prisoner and brought in bere,” ‘* That cau be done, too,” replied Ferris quiet- ly. “Itisnot to be supnosed that the Yankees are going to do much fighting with his er ty’s ships, when they get at them fairly. We shall be likely to bave eanee of prisoners, in a very short time, when the uew squadron comes in, and there will beno particular inquiry ifa few more or less prisoners are found to answer to their names, at a certain roll-call. If he ever comes in this direction, my lord, you may be sure I will do my best to catch bim ” ‘‘But suppose he doesn’t come on shore?’ in- quired the earl, ina doubtful way. “Then we must entice him onshore,” was the quiet reply. ‘‘If it is necessary to catch that man, my lord, and he comes into this neighbor- bood, be sure I will catch him somehow. Of course if he keeps av'ay, no one wants to burt bim; but if he comes here, he will put his head into the lion’s mouth, and must take the con- sequences,” » saying, the aide-de-camp saluted his chief, and left the room with the remark: ‘I will be sure I am right before I do any- thing, my lord,” : Then be went away, and the old Earl of Gow- rie was left to his own reflections, (not over pleasant ones), at the pro pect of seeing bis willful daughter ina fresb scandal, that must end in making the name of Gowrie a theme for fun in Yankee papers. and in the organs *. the no less cffen:ive Whig opposition, at me, | CHAPTER IX. THE GALLEY. WHILE the most noble Earl of Gowrie was thus hatching plots to catch the audacious he the one now approaching the island, op board the Saucy Jane herself, a lively discussion was going on, between the captain and the first mate, as to whether the island was defended by any ships-of- war. The strength of the English West India squadron was known to be great, and it con- tained many fine vessels; but whether it had a ship or smaller craft, swift enough to catch the Saucy Jane, was the problem yet to be solved; and they were going to work to solve it in the audacious way peculiar to a Yankee sea- man, by taking the chances of capture or escape at once, and braving the whole power of the British,in front of Kingston, at a time when the danger was grestest. The keen eves of Eaton soon discovered that they had attracted notice frém the shore; for the semaphore arms could be seen waving wild- ly to and fro, asthe little schiooner advanced toward the port, and aired her British flag, in plain sight of tke town, as if to pretend frriend- ship. 1s con’t see mnch usein flying that piece of bunting,” said Eaton, as they came right in front of the water batteries of Kingston, and saw, through the glass, that the guns were all manned, ‘‘Those fellows know we have no right to fly it, and it may get us into a scrape about sailing under false colors.” Blair laughed at him. ‘** Your men. of-war scruples are of no account with a privateer, Eaton. They don’t expect us to fight accerding to rules; and if they did, they would find themselves most confoundedly mistaken,” “For all that, Ceptain Blair, I think it may as well be hauled down. 1 don't like to sail un- der it, and it is a bad flag for a Yankee to fight under.” ‘Take ber down, then,” replied Blair, indif- ferently. ‘‘ I have no particular love for it, I assure you.” So the flag came down while the schooner was yet in full sight of the water-batteries of Kingston, and the stars and stripes went up to the peak of the Saucy Jene’s mainsail, with a de flant wave, as if the little vessel were taunt- ing the whole power of England to do ber any harm; though, at the time it went up, no one on board the Saucy Jane knew for certain but what a squadron of men-of-war lay in the har- bor, bidden by the projections of the coast. No sooner had the flag risen to the peak, than a gun was fired from the water battery below the Government House; and the shot came skim- ming along the water toward the little echoon- er, shaving ber stern so closely that the captain exclaimed: “By Heavens, Eat-n, John Bull is improving in bis guinery. When I was here last, they could not have done that to save their souls.” “It is a bint to us to keep cff,” observed Eaton, ‘and it is alsoa revelation to me, cap- tain, that there are no men-of-war in the har- tor, that they can trust tocome out after us. If they had, we sbould have seen them long ago.” “ W bat’s that, then?’ asked Biair, as the bow | of a long, low craft, something between a boat aud a min vessel, poked itself out from be- hicd the end of the pier, and came stealing to sea after the little schooner, ‘‘ She looks as if she wanted to scrape a close acquaintance with us. this morning.” Exton looked at the strange craft, and bis face assumed a serious expression. “That is a gal'ey, and a dangerous craft she is too, in a calm, to a vessel that cannot pull sweeps, captain, If we were a little closer in- shore, | sbould feel decidedly unessy about ber. As it is, | think we can manage ber, if we get out of shot of the batteries kefore we bring her to action.” Even 9s he spoke, a second shot care whizzing from the water-battery and passed between the masts of the schooner, with a dangerous sound that warned them that they bad not™long to meke up their minds about going; but must go at once if they rae tosave tbe scbooner from an early grave in Kingston Bay. The wind was light, a1d came in unsteady puffs, but the little schooner, at her best in just such weather, wore round on her bee! and stood off the land, before the battery iairly got the range on her, Sbe was enabled to do this the more easily, that the Englishmen, in their eagerness to crip- ple the audacious Yankee, had beyun their fire at long range, where a smooth bore gun is no- eetloual gy uncertain, and it did not cost the Saucy Jane more than a quarter of a mile's sailing to get out of the range entirely. Me soon as this was accomplis! ed, Blair said war-like emergencies, with a confidence born of the latter's education as a navy officer: * Well, what shall we do next, Eaton? Itis true that I em skipper of this craft, but you are an old man-of-war’s-man, and you know what to do, better than I. What js y ur advice?’ Eaton psused a long while before he madean answer. He was looking at the galley, tha was bey coming many hi e schooner with ing regular sweeps of br é oars, and ma about four knots an bour, ha wee ing <€om IOO (E cS 9 Eaton,’ to whom be looked for advice in a!l - ; - . ~_* . .S ™ ; ¥