Beadle's Dime Library No. 307 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

—o starboard broadside was poured after the flying yacht. But she sped on apparently unharmed, and in the crippled condition of the schponer, the Sea Monster felt that he would have to give up the RS Se — a ee ee The Phantom Pirate. and the man shuddered, for, in spite of his be- ing a wrecker, and aiding in alarming super- stitious seamen by his Death’s Head Beacon, he was not wholly free from dread of the super- natural, so he said: a a - —_- ——-— ens oe = BI appear, driving along with fearful rapidity, and then out ee the waters appeared the Phantom Pirate, sailing along as though heedless of the storm and crossing the bows of the unfortunate vessel that was now rushing toward the Death te ee ~~ ——~ Soe al chase, so he reluctantly gave the order to put ” Well, only a phantom craft could run in | Rock. away for New Orleans, greatly to the joy of | here and escape, as that vessel has done. Knowing that her time for action had come, Bono and his men at the escape of the daring “Describe her, girl.” she mechanically raised the canvas cover, and little yacht, that had risked so much to rescue ‘** A smal) schooner that Jooked like the coast- | the false beacon flushed its weird eyes out over ! Captain Gray and bis boat’s crew. ers | have sometimes seen.” the tornado-swept sea. —— You did not mistake her for the Phantom It was no friendly light, guiding the ml sti CHAPTER XXTI. Pirate?” mariner to a safe haven, no friendly beacon THE WATER WOLVES MYSTIFIED. “Oh, no, father, for I saw the Phantom | showing him how to steer to avoid dangerous MorninG broke clear and bracing upon the | Pirate too.” reefs, but a vivid, fiendish, ghastly glare that Babamas after the fearful storm of the night, ‘* Near the little craft?’ sent horror to the heart, and seemed to draw and at an early hour Wambold, the Water **'Yes, heading as usual to cross her course.” | the helmsman with an unholy magnetism to | | Wolf, as the chief of the little party on Death ‘You are sure the little vessel did not follow | hold his vessel’s bow directly for its baleful | | Rock Isle was known, started to take a survey | in the wake of the Phantom?’ gleam, of the beach, expecting to find wreckage and ‘*No, father, the Phantom Pirate disappeared A few moments the lights on the brig dawned 7 | * dead forms washing into the basin, for the cur- | when near the small schooner, which came on | amid the wild waters, then loud cries were rent so set through the outer reefs, that a vessel | toward the rock.” heard, the vessel was endeavoring to go about, dashed to pieces a half a league away would be “And you last saw her almost upon the Pit- | her crew having sighted their danger, and, driven through the rocky pass to the sandy | fall Reef?’ unable to do so in that fearful blow, next came : beach of the basin. ‘Yes, father, and supposed she had struck | a terrific crash, wailing cries, and then only the | ! To his surprise no wreckage and nota dead | there; but now I remember I heard no cries, | sound of the howling winds, and roaring of \ body met his view. no crash, though the storm was roaring fear- | the mad waters. 4 ‘*Sbe must have been driven high upon the | fully; but I have often heard the cries of the At the proper moment the Girl Wrecker had | reefs, and not gone'to aphiee poor wretches in as terrible a storm,” lowered ber canvas covering, and then putting ““Tf so, her crew will be alive, and must be ‘* Yes, and should have heard her strike, and | out her lights, had ascended to the cliff, the looked to. the cries of the crew last night. wind causing her to sway wildly on her rope > | ‘“*T will call the boy,” he said to himself, after , Lhere is something strange in this, Leo.” ladder, i a walk around the sandy shore of the basin ** Yes, father, [ don’t like it,” was the reply, Reaching the summit sbe beheld there, lying 4] proved to him that there was not a piece of | and, after trying once more, unavailingly, to | flat upon the rocks, to prevent being blown off, i timber or a human being visible which the | find more trace of the little vessel, the three de- | Wambold, the wrecker, who said hoarsely: 5 storm of the night before had cast up. scended to the cabin. to breakfast, the woman “ Well, girl, was that a ghost craft too?” a" He was returning to the cabin to call the | having in the mean time prepared the repast, “No, father, she struck on the Pitfall Reef ay, | young wrecker, when he saw that handsome and went to pieces.” personage emerge from his quarters and come CHAPTER - XXII. * Good! and the morrow will bring us rich if toward him. LURED TO DEATH.’ ‘picking—but— Good God! see there!’ ‘‘Much wreckage on shore, father?” asked the SEVERAL weeks passed away, after the The man uttered the last words loudly, and wd young wrecker, storm, which so nearly wrecked the little coast- | in startled tones, while he pointed out over the ED ** None,” was the sullen reply. ing schooner upon the Death Rock, and which | wind-lashed waters to an object that hac just my ** You surprise me.” would have done so, but for the nerve and skill | then caught his gaze. 4 i = ete “gf was 3 rised; ts the bi oe of Be oa ing wom who stood a her nite: : \ Soh ave been driven high upon the reefs and the ight is again coming on, and, as on that av s* waves could not get at her to break her up.” eventful eve, the sun Las set behind piled-up CHAPTER <XIIL ae ‘“‘ Maybe; but no bodies?” masses of black clouds, and a storm is sweeping RIWERD ORaTe, ae | | 4‘ None.” up with the velocity with which those Southern | Struck by the excited manner of the wreck- Vn j “** This is strange.” ' tornadoes always come and go, er, Lita turned quickly; as she was moving va “‘Yos, and I was just going to call’ you, that | Out over the still quiet waters, for a light , away to go to her cabin, and ber eyes fell upon a! f we might take a boat and go out and see the | wind only is blowing, a brig is gliding along, ; the object which seemed to have almost un- = vessel, her masts and spars stripped to meet the com- | nerved the man whom she called father, NP) “With this high sea still running, father, it | ing blow, and upon her decks anxious hearts, Against the flerce winds she could not stard, vain ih would be risky, and we can see all from the | for all well know their danger, and her captain | and she at once followed the example of the A a. cliff.” feels that he should never have attempted to | wrecker and threw herself her full length upon i) ‘You are right, Leo, for the sea is rough | run those dangerous channels so late in the day, | the rocks. Sy from its roar. , but have waited to take a start at dawn and Then it was her eyes rested upon that on Ss **'We will go to the cliff and have a look,” under a brisk breeze to drive him quickly | which the gaze of Wambold was riveted, and Thal Then up the ladder they went, the young | through before the night should fall. she too seemed deeply moved by the sight she : wrecker leading, until they at last stood upon Standing upon the cliff side, by her Death | bebeld. the cliff just above the false beacon. **Ha! where is the craft, Leo?” cried the old wrecker. **'No wreck and no wreckage in sight, father, that is certain,” answered Lee, casting his eyes at the sea and upon the different reefs and ds. ** What can it mean, boy?” **She must have gone down, father.” ** Her masts would certainly show.” “True, and they are not visible.” “The girl must know something to aid us, for she reported when she came in last night that the craft had struck.” . “T will call her, father,” and Poe his fin- or to his lips he gave several long, piercing calls. A moment after there came a similar response from the little abiding-place in the interior rock, and before long the pretty face of Lita appeared over the edge of the cliff, as she came up the rope ladder. , ‘*Girl, where is that craft you saw strike last Beacon, was Lita, the Girl Wrecker. She had trimmed and burnished up her false lights, and was gazing out over the waters, her eyes resting sadly upon the brig. “Ah me! why will those foolhardy sailors venture around such dangers with night com- ing on?” she muttered, ‘Another gallant craft to be wrecked this night, and all on board to perish. ‘But I wonder if she will go down, or escape like that little vessel some weeks ago, for father says she escaped, and yet I cannot be- lieve it. ‘ **T don’t believe that he thinks so either, for I told him how I saw her last night upon the reef, and she could not escape unless she was a ghost craft, and I know it must have been, for we found no piece of wreckage and no body came ashore. “Tt puzzles father and mother, I know, and Leo, too, and if yonder brig should run in and not be wrecked, I believe they would fly from this island, believing it to be haunted, and J A mile off the Death Rock, bounding over the waves as lightly as a life-boat, and carrying sail enough to run under a vessel twice her size, was a small schooner. She was white as snow. masts, s gin , and about ber decks were visible several skeleton forms, while at the helm stood what rs and rig- sppeste’ to be a female form robed in deep ack. About the craft, from truck to deck, hung a mysterious light, a glare that lighted her up so that every outline and object were distinctly visible, and he they appeared as though seen through a mist. ' Straight for the Death Rock the weird craft was wading, and in hushed tones the wrecker asked: re **Girl, what is it?” ; ‘Tt looks like the ghost of the little vessel tha went down on the Pitfall Reef some weeks ago,” answered Lita. “It does certainly look like the ghost of a craft. ‘ pap, he ‘i ae a r a ar ed = ~ m4 - °F ean vr, o™ (= ’ e : . - ’ > amt * “we ee - ee a & ae ; * ae —: ’ —_ night?” called out Wambold. wish they would. “Can it be a second phantom vessel in these r ‘Scattered along the shore d-ubtless, father, | ‘‘ See, the brig stands for the Southern Pass; | waters?” | ee with her crew,” was the response, : but before she reaches it the sterm will strike | ‘‘ I know not, father,” was the response. nar e, “Show me a piece of her hull, or a dead | her, and she will be driven this way todeath!” | ‘‘ You certainly see what I see, girl?” and the ae; body.” Thus mused the beautiful young wrecker, as | wrecker rubbed bis eyes, as though believing fin ‘Nothing is certainly visible, father, to de- | —innocent of the very great crime she wascom- | the craft might vanish. i note a wreck,” answered Lita, after looking down along the basin shores, and then casting her eyes seaward. mitting, having been taught that if was no wrong, though her conscience rebelled at the work—she again looked to her lamps and took ‘““T do, father, if you see a vessel, schooner- rigged, some thirty tons burden, painted white, with a skeleton crew, a woman in black at the _.- ‘ pe - : » Ps ' ‘ z . nl, * al . ‘a 3 2 tea == 2 eo Se eee ees PS ee ee ee ee eS ‘Not a spar or piece of timber, so where is | her stand by the balyards to raise the canvas | helm, and cureying full mainsail, foresail and “i covering when the proper timecame. _ jib in a blow that I would not believe she could pt ae ‘““ Ask the waves and winds, father, for I Whether she had been seen in moving by | stand up under, with mainsail and jib close- ie. ‘know not,” was the response. some one on the deck of the brig she could not | reefed?”’ ; 0 ate **-You saw her strike?” tell, but almost instantly she saw a commotion ‘* Such is what I see, girl. Bo) hy k | “5 ee” on board, and then came the boom of a gun. ‘But go and light your beacon, to see how cS a) ** Where?” ‘‘They want a pilot; but many others have | that will affect the craft, while I call your f el , “There on the Pitfall Reef, it seemed.” sent forth that pleading ery before for help in | mother and Leo.” ') ea ** Missing it, she would have been driven into | these waters and received no aid, while those The maiden crept to the edge of the cliff and art “i the cove through the gap in the reef, and shiv- | who could have saved them have watched them | went down to the lamp, while Wambold hastily ean) me | ered to atoms against this rocky island?” pass this rock and laughed to see them die. started to summon his wife and son. | eas © oe Rs ‘“‘] wish I could help them; but if I did,those | As the three reached the cliff, and lay down 6 a ~ Had she done so, some timber would have been visible to us?” people would kill me,” and she motioned over toward the cabins in the interior of the rock upon its summit, they beheld the Death Bea- con’s glare flung out over the wild waters. u “So it seems, father.” island as she spoke. They also bebeld the weird craft still flying ina ia ** Well, solve the mystery, girl.” Again and again the brig fired, while the | over the rough waves, and it wasevidentthat = as **T cannot, father, unless—” and she paused. oung girl saw them eagerly watching the Death | she had changed her eourse since tbe wrecker ce “Unless what, Lita?’ Rock with their glasses. had been absent Ber of | | ‘* Unless she was a spook craft, such asI have | Then darkness shut the craft from her view, | Now. as the false beacon gkamed forth,the aan read about.” and soon after the tornado came rushing over | mysterious vessel put about, and headed direct- = oer” ‘*Bah! vou are always reading trash; but | the waters with relentless fury. ly for it. ieee |e you should kuow that there are no such things.” The gr beard the roar of the tempest, beheld | ~‘‘Ho, girl!’ called out the wreckeroverthe =, | » Cae “There are ghosts of people, after they are | the wall of foam it drove before it, saw the | edge of the cliff. : ‘ idan -dead, so why not of vessels?” queried the girl, | lights of the brig suddenly disappear, then re- “Yes, father,” came up the answer,” =a yf : - ‘ K “"\" © Mart, 2! Aue i Nhe >t wie De : ee : a . sia i> t 2 os es mo i aed hes Le 2 eel Oe ad He Lee be ks Ae ee bh, 5 ead: — m aa ' . Sas TS Ses, aha = 4 @ 2 “ " -, 3 : = . oe | = . :* oF. ; —wes o?? o£ cul is i ehboo a