Beadle's Dime Library No. 307 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

‘* Sail ho!” suddenly cried Irving, glanc- ing out over the wind-lashed waters, and, in the gathering gloom catching sight of a sail. One glance at it, and the girl returned to the Skull Beacon for her glass. “It is the Phantom Pirate,” she called out, ‘‘Ha! and he coming this way?” ‘*T shall soon know, sir.” A few moments of silence, and then Lita called out: ‘‘Yes, he rounds the Spear Head Rock and jibes to starboard; he is coming here, and there goes his signal for the beacon.” A moment after the lantern was lighted, and the canvas wall rolled up, which sent the lurid glare out over the darkening wa- ters, Then up to the cliff went the girl and joined Irving Brandt, who was impatiently awaiting her coming. ‘*Lita, what is that vessel?” he asked, ‘‘The Phantom Pirate.” ‘‘That you told me before; but the Phan- tom Pirate is a craft that cruises in these wa- ters, leading honest vessels to destruction, ‘‘She has been seen off the Florida coast, and has a speed that has prevented her cap- ture. ‘I never saw the craft, but I have heard she carries full sail in a blow, and is a weird craft.” ‘* See! she is plainly visible now.” Suddenly in he Beam of approaching night, as the Girl Wrecker spoke, over the coming vessel a strange glare fell, and the hull and rigging were visible, but as though through a misty light. Irving Brandt thus had a good look at the strange craft. It was a trim-built schooner, painted black, with rigging and sails of the same sable hue. She hada spirit-like crew upon her decks, and glided through the waters with appar- catly sail enough set, in that blow, to run under a frigate. There was certainly something very un- canny about her, and this the midshipman v'as forced to admit. ‘Is she coming into this harbor, Lita?” ‘<Yea” ‘* She has been here before, then?” ‘‘ Yes, but I have never seen her there, or closer than yonder recf.” “ Lita.” ‘¢ Sir?” ' ‘*T shall attack yonder craft, if the devil is ler commander and imps his crew. ‘‘ You remain here, and signal to me with our small lantern when she enters the pass into the island.” She would have remonstrated with him, but he had already gone. Down the ladder to the valley and thence to the beach he ran. A boat was upon the shore, and spring- ing into it, he rowed rapidly out to the acht, # All hands ahoy!” he cried, in a way that told the crew something had happened, or was about to happen, out of the usual run. The men sprung at his call, and then came the order: ‘Put the schooner under close-reefed mainsail, foresail and jib!” This was quickly done. ( ‘* Now, , up with that anchor! The order was promptly obeyed, though the men wondered what their young com- mander intended to do, ‘‘Now to quarters, lads, and double-shot your guns, ‘Have your boarding-pikes, pistols and cutlasses ready, and stand ready for action at close quarters, for there is a pirate schooner coming into this basin and we have got to fight her to the bitter end.” | The crew gave a cheer, and the schooner stood away from her anchorage, ready for action, CHAPTER XLIX. FIGHTING A PHANTOM. ‘‘ fa! there is the signal!” cried Irving, as the yacht put about for the tenth time in her short tacks across the basin. The wind came in savage gusts over the high cliffs, causing the Sea Owl, even under > her reefed sails, to lay well over under its The Phantom Pirate. pressure, and the waters were uneasy and surging with the influence from without, though there were no rough waves. The night was dark, and the storm roared loudly, but the men felt that the schooner was safe within that walled basin. The crew stood at quarters, and the guns were double-shotted with grape, while the small-arms were ready and at hand. What they had to face the men did not ex- actly know, other than that the words of their young captain had said it was a pirate, and implied that it would be a fight to the bitter end, That it was the Phantom Pirate, Irving Brandt had taken good care to keep from even his brother officers. At his cry regarding the signal, he was walking up at the cliff, and had seen the lan- tern wave thrice in a circle by Lita. It told him that the Phantom Pirate was entering the pass, Instantly he ordered the helmsman to hug the wall of the basin close, so as to dart out from its shelter, and lay alongside of the Phantom the moment it shot through the pass into the basin. The gun amidships and the pivots were all pointed to port, and the crew was ordered to stand ready to let fall the anchors and lower sail, so that the two vessels would have to come to a stop. What crew the Pirate Phantom had, Ir- ving Brandt could only surmis«, and he did non, Caahe but that he would be outnum- But his surprise, and first volley, would ut them on equal footing, he was assured, if the craft was a reality, and if a phantom as was said, then no effort of his could sub- due it. Again the lantern on the cliff swung in a circle, and then came the words from the midshipman commander: ‘‘Ready, lads! Port a little, there at the wheel!” The next moment a strange light seemed to drive into the basin, and a schooner shot out of the pass into full view. ‘Fire! and lay her alongside!” shouted Irving Brandt, without giving his crew time to get demoralized. he yacht shook under the discharge, and the crashing of timber, and shrieks, groans, curses, and a cheer from the Sea Owls fol- lowed. ‘‘Qur Phantom Pirate is wood, flesh and blood, lads, ‘* Lay alongside, helmsman!” cried Irving Brandt, and, under cover of a fusilade of small-arms the yacht struck the Phantom Pirate, The shock threw many to the decks; but the grapnels were thrown, the anchors let fall, the sails came down with a run, and with wild cheers the Sea Owls boarded the weird craft, and drove her panic-stricken crew like frightened sheep before them. Many of the phentce ran below, some sprung overboard, but the greater number lay dead, dying and wounded upon their ves- sel's decks. They outnumbered the Sea Owl, that was evident, but they had peen so surprised that ee | had not fired a heavy gun, and but few had attempted to defend themselves with small-arms. The weird light, shining through colored lanterns, stationed at different places along the bulwarks, gave a view of all, and the Sea Owls saw that although appearing to run under full sail, it was an ingenious contriv- ance of false sails to deceive the eye while in reality only the mainsail and jib, close- reefed, were set. The captain of the Black Phantom, as the paate was also called, was killed at the first ischarge, and the crew were glad enough to save their lives by crying for quarter, which rang Brandt commanded his men to show them. ‘* Well, lads, this cruise will turn out well for us, if we did lose the giant Sea Monster,” said Irving Brandt, when the Black Phan- tom had been. secured, and the yacht’s sur- geon had taken the wounded in charge. A cheer answered his words, and Henry Herbert said: ‘Captain Brandt, I shall never. more be- lieve in superstition, for you have solved the a pai of the supernatural most thorough- y. EE TT LIL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LEE L — 27 CHAPTER L. THE GHOST CRAFT’S PRIZE. Ir was the day after the capture of the Phantom Pirate. The crew of the yacht were busy repairin the damages caused by the fire, to the Oe warks an rigging of the vessel, which for several years had defied the solving the mystery that enveloped her. They found the schooner a trim craft, with a fair armament, which was kept more as a show than for use, as the Phantom Pirate avoided engagements, and lured vessels to destruction in trying to follow its lead. The prisoners, twenty odd in number, were put in irons, and the dead were buried, while Henry Herbert, with a prize crew from the yacht, was put on board to take charge of her. Lita had been a most earnest looker-on at the battle in the basin, and was glad when Irving Brandt came ashore and told her that the weird craft had been captured. Anxious regarding the return of the Water Wolves, although really not expecting them so soon, the Girl Wrecker passed most of her time upon the cliff, and thither Irving eer went late in the afternoon to join er. ‘‘l was just going to call you, sir,” she said, approaching him as he reached the summit. ‘* Is there a sail in sight, Lita?” ‘* Yes, sir.” ‘*Do you know it?” ‘*It is the sloop.” ‘The Water Wolves?” ‘Yes, sir, my parents and Leo,” ‘* They are not your parents, Lita,” ‘‘Well, I have called them so; see, the sloop is coming rapidly on.” ‘‘ It is indeed, aud her skipper is carryin too much sail for this stiff blow and wild sea.” A league or more distant the sloop was visible, struggling through the waters unde only a single reefed sail, although the veel was blowing half a gale. The little craft was nearly buried by the waters, and seemed to have more than she could well carry. But the Water Wolf, who was at her helm, drove her on relentlessly, as though he was past anxious to reach his haven in the Death ‘‘Ha! there she goes!’’ suddenly cried Irving Brandt, as her boom swept into the water. But she righted, though only for an ir- stant, and then came a sharp report, and the mast snapped in twain, while the sail fell upon thie deck. ‘‘T must go to their aid, sir, for I noticed that they had no boat,” cried Lita. ‘* No, 1 will send a boat for them,” ‘“If you did they would spring into the sea, rather than be taken. ‘*T will run out in. my life-skiff and take Hye off, and you will then be able to see them.” ‘I fear for you to go.” ‘‘ After I went out by night, in a storm, to. your rescue?” | ‘True, you know how to take care of yourself; but they have dropped the ancho to keep from drifting upon the reef.” oh ‘* Yes, sir; but do not let them see you, and I will soon return.”’ 7G With this she dashed away, and ten min-— utes after the life-skiff was out upon the waters, heading for the dismantled sloop. bearings of where the sloop lay, and an cb- ject upon the island, she headed like an arrow for it. . She had not gone more than half. the dis tance when another object appeared upon the scene, This was nothing else than the ghost craft, and visible in broad daylight. White as snow, hull, spars and sails, sho came on with a rush, and headed directly icr the dismasted sloop. Yet a long way off, Lita did not see tho ghost craft. Had she done so, her terror of that myste- rious vessel would doubtless have made her put about and return to the island, leaving the Water Wolves to their fate. _ Nearing the wreck she heard the cries cf the Water Wolves, and they urged her on, The girl palled a strong oar, and, taking the | ~ ’ com scomirEeboo <S