Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 346 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

*s —~!S —————— Ocean Guerrillas. mm EE SE ° = 25 He had placed his neck in a noose, and it looked as if his end was near, Just then the Sea Ghoul began to fire from her bow guns, and she fired well, for Pala- fox himself aimed the pieces. ; The balls flew through the rigging, doing damage here and there, Another fire cut down several of the crew. ‘‘Great Heaven! this will never do! ‘‘T must save myself— Ha! I have it!” With this the money-lender rushed into his state-room. In a few moments he came out with man- acles upon his wrists and ankles, and chains connecting them, In his hands he held two pistols. . Creeping back to the companionway, he looked out again. All was excitement on deck, for the fire from the Sea Ghoul was doing damage to the Sea Fox and her crew. The Sea Fox was also now returning the fire, but one of the stern guns had been dis- mounted, and she was firing weakly. ‘*T will kill them. “Then the crew will surrender, and the schooner be taken, and, found in irons, my aery can soon be told, and I will escape.” e fairly hissed the words, and his mind was made upto some deadly work, as his face plainly showed. There he stood, with a pistol in either hand, watching and waiting. *‘T will fire when the next shots from the Sea Ghoul strike the schooner,” he muttered. A moment after came the roar of the Sea Fox’s guns, followed instantly by the crash of the Sea Ghoul’s bow chains, and the crash of the iron and shrieks of the wound- In the noise and confusion that followed no one heard the two little pistol-cracks; but they beheld first the old chief Mendez, and then the younger one fall dead. A yell burst from the crew, who believed that they had fallex from the fire of the Sea Ghoul, and without leaders, they quickly let the schooner run up into the wind and lay to, in token of surrender. Half an hour after Captain Palafox board- ed his captured vessel, his face beaming with triumph, and gazed upon the havoc his fire had made. Entering the cabin he found Don Ru- dolpho, the money-lender, in irons, and was told how he had been seized by Mendez and brought off for ransom. Instantly he was released, while the crew were put in irons, and, having escaped by his clever trick and double murder, Ru- dolpho, the money-lender, returned to the city as a hero, to find that Barton Keys had escaped, and that the Smuggler Queen had mysteriously disappeared also. _ ut his escape made him jubilant, and he muttered savagely, as he sat alone in his sanctum once more: ‘‘ She shall not escape me—ZI vow it /” CHAPTER XLI. WHAT THE WITCH OF THE ISLE DISCOVERED. A¥rTER having so long left my reader in suspense regarding the happenings upon Witches’ Island, I must now return to the scene that was to be enacted before the eyes of the strange creature who called herself the Mother Witch. | We left Perdido, the mutineer, and our hero, Irving Brandt, the Planter Midshipman, facing each other at ten paces, and the giant ard about to place in their hands the wea- ons that were to terminate the life of one or oth of them. , The old Witch sat in her chair of human bones, smiling grimly at the duelists. To her a life was of little consequence, and she rather reveled in the scene that would bring forth bloodshed; in fact, she seemed almost as eager for the result as were the whining hounds, who were impatient at the delay of their expected repast. rhe English, the giant guard, seemed indiffer- ent, He showed no interest in the affair even, though he did slightly press the hand of Irving, as he handed him his weapon, and say softly: ; ‘‘ Fire quickly, boy, and kill him.” ‘“‘ As for the mutineer, he was very pale. He had not recovered from his defeat, and the tax upon him, and he had doubt as to how the duel would end. word,” tones of the guard. cried: man’s lips the together, though perhaps the pistol of the midshipman was fired a trifle of time the quickest. dido just clippin Brand b He feared Irving might be as true asa shot as he was skillful as a swordsman. Had he dared, he would have taken some | away, and among a barbarous advantage; but the stern order of the old | Witch to the giant guard, to kill the one. ‘*T did it to save his life. ‘Then I was a prisoner in an island far ople. “Our ship was wrecked there, and my husband, my child and myself were made who fired before the word, checked that in- | captives. tention, and he knew that he must take his | chances. ‘‘ Senors, are you ready?” The Witch uttered the words in a harsh | voice, and the bloodhounds, in anticipation | of what was coming, set up a dismal how] in | chorus. ‘‘T am always ready, 7? was the midship- man's cool rejoinder, while Perdido said, sternly: ° ‘Yes, ready!” “See! they tattooed me as you see me now, and I became their Queen. ‘*My husband cruelly deserted me and my child, and left us among those wretches. ‘*To save my boy from being disfigured I thus tattooed him, and told them they were sacred marks, and they spared him, “‘One day, when he was but ten years old, a vessel landed, and they fired upon the na- tives, and my boy was wounded and cap- tured by them, and sailed away, leaving me ‘You are to fire only at the word fire, | all alone. and [ shall count three before I utter it,” | again said the Witch, and again the hounds howled impatiently. ‘* Be ready, English.” ‘* Yes, Mother Witch.” ‘‘ Shoot down the one who fires before the ‘Yes, Mother Witch,” came in the deep Then in a still louder voice the Witch “One! two! three !—fire !” With the last utterance from the wo- weapons flashed almost Both bullets sped on their way, that of Per- the shoulder of Irving t, while his bullet, aimed for the heart ‘Years after, I made my escape in a ves- sel that touched for water, and that fated craft was wrecked on this island, and here I have been ever since, growing rich on the booty that comes ashore on nights of storm. NX ow that boy, my child, has been cast here, and I well-nigh had seen him die before my eyes, ‘‘But he moves; tell me, English, is he much hurt?” ‘No; he has merely swooned,” ‘‘Thank God! see! he wears the cross I Se about his neck when he was a little in- ant. ‘‘Ah, yes; he is my child, my child/” and the old woman, grown old beyond her time, bowed her head and wept, the first tears she had shed for many a long year. ‘‘ Mother Witch, he revives; will you tell him?” ‘Yes, English; I will tell him all.” ‘*But first take yonder boy, who so nearly became the murderer of my son, back to his prison den, and gai him well. ‘My child shall live, and yoped boy must die,” said the woman, her hatred suddenly turning against poor Irving. CHAPTER XLII. THE DOOM. IRVING BRANDT, as the reader has seen, was not one to despair; but he certainly felt his spirits rush down to zero when he was led back by the huge Englishman to his den or cave, Four of the most savage of the blood- hounds, instead of two, were called aiong by English to serve as keepers, and they looked full of rage at the turn in the tide of affairs, ew had been setting toward a meal for them. As he walked by the side of the giant, the Deer hand of the latter resting upon his shoulder, Irving said: of his foe, sent the mutineer to the earth without a moan. ‘‘Is he dead?” calmly asked the Witch, rising from her seat and stepping toward the fallen man. ‘*] will see, Mother Witch; but I think that he is,” remarked the giant guard, bend- ing over the form and driving back the howl- ing hounds. ‘‘And you, senor?” and the Witch turned to Irving, who said, coolly: ‘No, Lam not hurt, though I did feel a slight twinge here on my shoulder—yes, he has drawn blood!” he continued, calmly, as he saw the stain on his sleeve. ‘‘English will dress the wound for you, for he is as good as a surgeon, ‘‘You are very cool under fire, and will make a valuable slave to me.” “Thank you,” said inving, coldly, and he turned away just as, in the deep tones of the giant guard, came the hurried words: ‘‘Here, Mother Witch, is not this your emblem?” He had meteped off the jacket and the shirt of the fallon man, and was pointing to a strange emblem pricked into the white skin, anc just over the heart, Over it hung a gold crucifix, and in this Witch to find her son.” ‘* Yes, it is remarkable.” **Do you believe it?” ‘‘ That it is her son?” was the bullet of the midshipman’s pistol im- ‘* Yes,” bedded, and the shock had caused the cross “ Certainly, I think there can be no doubt to indent and slightly cut the skin. of it.” ‘* Yes, it looks as though he was the long- ‘hough the man was not hurt, the bullet lost lamb, and, judging. by the old lady, I or having been checked in its deadly flight by the crucifix, the shock had knocked him | guess he’s her boy, e mother, like son, breathless, and he had fainted ay, you know.” Beneath the crucifix was the emblem that nie Cy: had caught the eye of the guard, ‘‘ Now I'd like to see the father turn up. “Well, that is a great to do, for the old © ed in with black India ink, the yee being SS LL LLLLBLBLBLLLLLLLLLL LLL LL ements It was a perfect drawing of a raven prick- left white, the beak red, and the claws brown, the latter clutching a crimson arrow, It certainly was an artistic piece of work, and the crucifix was of solid gold set with precious stones, As the eyes of the woman fell upon the strange emblem, there burst from her lips a cry that seemed to come from her inmost soul, and which sent the bloodhounds howl- ing in terror up the ravine. ‘God above! that is the emblem! * That man is my son!” English started to his feet as the old Witch threw herself down upon the prostrate form, gazed an instant at the face, and then pressed her lips to those of the mutineer, while she murmured, softly: ‘* Yes, he is my poor oe “Do you mean it, Mother Witch?” asked the giant. ‘* Man, do I not know that which I see? ‘Behold the emblem! that I pricked into his soft flesh long years ago, when he was a_ mere babe in my arms. ee a te couldn't pose as the old man, could you?” The giant frowned, for he saw that the midshipman was making fun of him. ‘Now what do you think the old lady will do with me?” ** Kill you.” ** Whew!” ‘“You may as well prepare to die,” ‘* How will she kill me?’ ‘Set the dogs on you, I guess, to enjoy a chase over the island.” ‘*T’ll be stubborn and won’t run to please er, “Then you wili have to stand and be torn to pieces.’ “ And you will see this done?” ‘ How can | help you?” ‘‘Help me away from the island, and go with me.” ‘No, I have a mission to perform here.” “And then?” ‘*Then I shall leave,” was the stern re- sponse of the giant, as he ushered the mid- shipman into his den and called the Lounds to take their places and guard im. (E| 900) cS com con . * “ oad ; * ~~ ° et PN , — . 1 4 P< = s * 4 4 * % * : 7 d , “~ * ” ee es pavtcihitinsliMen’ Pll, Pi eal Aa ii Ripley els: So. ten atari etlataa me eine . - .- “ty ° p= ‘- « od et a ~_ ale ‘ ‘s 4 raphe = Ma ee - i gt