Beadle's Dime Library No. 316 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

. Was soon evident. moved off together on the unerring and fatal mission upon which the count dispatched them. In afew seconds after they had dis- appeared the negro brought up his hunter, He mounted him at a bound and followed at full speed by the two slaves he took the course just pursued by the bloodhounds. -_-------_— CHAPTER XIV. CHASED BY BLOODHOUNDS. WueEn the count, with the full determina- tion to hunt the fugitive buccaneer to death, started in pursuit, the bloodhounds taking the lead, Red Knife had full six minutes’ advantage, this time being consumed by Count D’Oyley in getting the dogs upon the scent and obtaining his horse. He, how- ever, did not feel solicitous as to the result, well knowing he could not escape the uner- ring dogs. inding himself fairly free from his prison, Elliot had taken the first path which opened before him. This was the carriage avenue, leading round the north wing of the villa, and after winding through the orna- mental grounds, passing by an arched gate- way into the river-road. The pirate was of a slight sinewy frame, though remarkably broad and heavy across the shoulders, be- tween which his head seemed to sink, or crouch. Sut his limbs were light and wiry, and he was well built for running. He felt that he fled, also, for his life, and fear gave him wings. He bounded like a hare along the avenue, seeming scarcely to touch the ground. ‘Theodore soon lost sight of him in aturnof the path, but came again in view of him as he reached the gate, over which he threw himself with the ease of a circus- rider. On reaching the arch, Theodore saw him by the bright moon which revealed every object, far down the road, The gate resented as slight an obstacle to him as it ad done to the buccaneer, and with an active speed that promised to match that of the fugitive, he pursued him down the road. Elliot looked round, ss he flew, and seeing Theodore leap the gate, he cast his jacket aside, kicked his shoes from his feet, and darted onward. On one side of him was a hedge, bordering the vast sugar-fields, which stretched a mile deep toward the forest, that itself was a vast swamp. On his right, between the road and the shining river, ran parallel the levee; an embankment of earth about as high as the tops of carriages, con- structed to protect the road and sugar-fields from the rise of the river. The embank- ment was “ars inclined like a glacis, and on the top broad enough for six men to walk abreast. Fearing some surprise from the hedge, and wishing to see his way clearer, Elliot soon left the road for the top of the levee, along which he flew like a hunted deer, full in sight of his pursuer. His countenance, as he ran, was ferocious, yet pale with fear. At intervals he would turn and take a half-look behind, when see- ing Theodore within a hundred rods of him, and appaceehy gaining upen him, he would gnash his teeth. “A knife! a knife! oh, that I had but a knife! He is but one, and I would let him come up! Curses light on him!” he mutter- ed, as the gleam of his own knife in. his ursuer’s hand flashed upon his side-glance. Feeling his wind giving, he watched an opportunity and caught up as he fled, a short stick, which he twisted into the waist- band of his pantaloons and turned round like a tourniquet bracing himself up with re- newed energy. The effect of this assistance He left Theodore far be- hind. “T shall eseape him! He alone is in pur- suit! The French count has given it up! But where shall I keep on to? Ah, sacre! he gains upon me! must double, turn, and conceal myself! There are forests and ‘swamps to the right; 1 will turn down that lane by the grove and stretch away toward the thicket. There I'm safe. Devils; how he gains upon me!” Theodore had adopted precisely the same plan pursued by the pirate, using the 6 ger, however, for a tourniquet. This, El- liot, at a second glance over his shoulder, saw. He reflected that a brace so fastened was not rapidly removed, and satisfied of this, he determined hew te act. Lafitte’s Lieutenant. —_——— - ‘Now then, I have him! I will risk it,” he said with a glance of savage joy. The next moment he threw himself for- ward headlong, upon the path. that he had stumbled, Theodore bounded forward, trying to disengage the knife as he ran. But he came upon the pirate ere he had done so, when with a ferocious cry Elliot sprung from the earth and grappled with him. Theodore released his unsuccessful grasp upon the knife to defend his throat, which the pirate tried to seize. For a moment the struggle was one of physical strength. Elliot fell and Theodore above him, at the heart of the young man. Believing | 21 with a sharp whine they started off with their noses together in the direction taken by the fugitive. They had hardly gone forward when the count, mounted on his hunter, and Paul, the negro keeper appeared in the road. “‘Is that he, I see far down the levee?” asked the count as he came up. ‘*Yes—I had a struggle with him here, | but he broke away and flied on seeing the _ dogs. ‘co ut | let live. the grasp of the former was upon the handle | and remain with the countess, who of the knife which with a great effort he | alarmed, until I come back and give drew forth and with it aimed a blow upward good account of the raseally picaroon. Theodore | You will not suffer them to tear him in pieces, I trust, count.” ‘*He must take his fate,” answered the unt firmly. ‘‘ He is too dangerous a man to Will you be so kind as to return, is you a With these words the count dashed for- caught his arm, and the contest was now for | ward, followed rapidly by the slave, Paul, the possession of the weapon! In the strug- | on foot. Who can describe the agony of gle both rose to their feet and Elliot threw | fear that took possession of the mind the knife far from him into the river. Dur- ing the conflict neither had spoken a word, | | ; of Elliot on discovering the bloodhounds in pursuit. He knew well the nature of these Only the low, growling imprecations of the | animals; for he had often seen them used in buccaneer céuld be heard above the tramp of ' Cuba for the their feet. As he cast away the knife his back was ursuit of animals among the | mountains of the island. He knew their un- erring scent, their thirst for blood, and the turned toward the road down which he had | fate of the victim that fell at length into their come, but Theodore’s face was in that di- power. His eyes had_ been all along in ex- | ward. By a turn in the river he caught rection. pectation of the count. But at this moment With all his energies he flew for- sight of the brig-of-war drifting slowly down they rested on two dark objects that at that | mid-stream a mile below. instant leaped into the road over the white gate of the avenue. ‘Oh, if I could only reach her,” he oaned. ‘‘ They are coming nearer,” he gr ‘*Eiot,” he said, in a tone that made the | cried, fearfully, glancing behind as he saw man start with strange fear: ‘‘your fate, | the black dogs sweepin round the point he wretch, is sealed. Your punishment is tobe | had just doubled, their feet steadily upon his more fearful than any I can inflict.” releasing his grasp upon him, he pointed up the road. The buccaneer looked in the direction he indicated, and saw coming along the middle of the road with noiseless celerity two dark objects. As he looked, they turned out of the road, and taking the levee, came on swiftly and steadily. ‘God have mercy! They are not blood- hounds, Master Theodore?” “They are, Elliot. The count has loosed them,” answered Theodore, casting a look of commiseration upon him. The buccaneer uttered a piercing cry, gave a wild, terrified glance of intense horror to- ward them as they came sweeping along the path with their heads dropped close to the earth, and then bounded away in fresh flight. The speed at which he went seemed to Theo- dore as almost supernatural. His body and head stretched outward so far, and low near the ground as he ran that he had more the appearance of a bear in flight than a man. ‘Poor wretch! God bave mercy on him, indeed,” said Theodore; ‘‘ well, it is better to perish thus than by my hand. What a hor- rible fate is before him. I would avert it—I would save him if I could. But one might as well turn the lightning, by a word, from the track as these’ Cuban bloodhounds. I[ have fears even for myself, if they have not taken the scent at the outset properly. Here they are upon me. I must await the issue calmly. How fearful their approach— so noiseless and direct.” It was a moment of great danger to the young man, and he well knew it. He was aware of the blind instinct of the dreadful animal, and that once put upon his scent, it never quits it. every winding, and even intermingling with others. He saw that his own safety depended | better still, upon the leading scent they had been put upon. And remembering that both himself and Elliot had started from the door at the same moment, he had cause for uneasiness, But the cautious proceeding of the count, in starting the dogs from the interior of the prison, prevented any evil consequences such as for a moment he apprehended. The two dogs came on to his very feet with un- rt A RT place dar, w ee And | track. There is a mounted horseman too! It is the count, I am lost. The water. If I take to that the dogs will tear me to pieces in it. I think I could swim to the brig.” Before him was a huge water-oak, the branches of which hung far out over the wa- ter and at one extremity were within a foot of the surface. A thought of safety struck him! The hounds were each moment com- ing nigher and nigher. They were within a hundred yards of him when he saw the oak. He reached it and threw himself from the bank into the river. The next instant he rose above the surface and saw the hounds at a stand not two rods distant, at the spot he had sprung from. He succeeded in reaching the extremity of the branch and drawing himself with ae efforts up into the limbs above his head. He saw the dogs were at a loss, and he now recollected that they paid no regard to sight, being wholly guided by the scent. He watched them with a feeling of security though he was in full sight and would easily have been dis- cotaced where he sat by a pointer dog, They ran round and round the spot, wholly at fault. The count now approached the tree and reined up. A moment after came the slave. ‘They are at fault, Paul,” he said quick- ly. ‘‘The fellow was here a few seconds since, for I saw himas I came round the bend of the road.” The negro came up and then surveyed the spot very carefully. ‘‘He hab joe in de riber, massa, Dat iar Fang snuflin’\so savage be _whar he stood last.” The count galloped hastily down the shore and earnestly surveyed the surface of the ‘‘He must be drowned,” he said. ‘If so, So that he is out of the way of doing mischief, is all | want!” Elliot, in the tree, ground his teeth with rage. ‘‘I may yet escape to do you mischief, Sir Count,” he muttered, within himself, his confidence returning in part, at the idea of security. ‘‘He may be drown and may be no,” an- swered Paul, stepping down close to the wa- It follows it through | river but discovered nothing. diminished speed, their heads hanging low | ter and looking along it with his face laid down to the earth, and apparently not see- | down near its surface. run over by them, when they both stop and, greatly to his relief, wholly disregarding him though he was within four feet of them, they began to turn and double, and redouble, and snuff the ground, repeatedly crossin ing him. He stepped aside to avoid being | ’ There was a slight motion in the reflecte , | branches of the tree that bent over it, himself he looked steadily into the tree, for he saw that one from the water could climb into it. He saw distinctly the figure of the buccaneer on the limb, At the raisin and recrossing the small space where he had | discovery he gave a shout, at which the had the struggle with the buccaneer, follow- | count, who was seated on his horse upon ing their scent through all threads until they disentangled it; and again of the houn its devious the bank, me en watching the actions , leaped to the ground and ebooks.co com -