Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 346 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

—~2 <a ‘‘T care not; but we must not be seen here—so come.” “Where lady go?” “To the city, where I have work to do; but what brings you here, Chircopin, when I believed you dead?” ‘No; Chincopin heap sense, so don’t die, when he see big boat and: plenty pale-face take lugger. He take black-face squaw in canoe and “Ha! you saved old Selah, then?” eagerly cried the woman. ‘‘ Yes, but de black-face man dead.” ‘‘ Her husband, then, was killed?” ‘*Yes, pale-face kill him; but black-face squaw libe, and say she have Evil Spirit kill water warriors who shoot her chief,” “By the Cross, but old Selah, the negress, shall not be alone in her hate; but I am glad she escaped, and that you were not killed in the attack, Chincopin, for I need you.” ‘* Me here,” “But how did you get here?” “Go with black-face squaw to island, and leave her there. “Then big boat come and take me, and I tell water chief all about fight, and he come to help me find you.” “Do you mean that you were picked up by the lugger that ~vas away, by Argylle?” excitedly asked the woman, grasping the arm of the Indian. en. ** Where is the lugger now?” ‘* Hide in lagoon on big water.” ‘©On the lake-shore?” The Indian nodded. ‘‘Ha, ha, ha! this brings joy to my heart, for I shall be afloat once more, and then I can strike!” and the revengeful creature seemed fairly to revel in the thought. Then she said, suddenly: ‘‘Chincopin, you go to the lugger and tell Lieutenant Argylle that the Lady Captain is not dead, nor a prisoner, though her fa- ther, the Smuggler King, lies at the. bottom of the Gulf, and his fleet is captured! “Tell him to take the lugger to her old hiding-place and there await my coming, and that I will come as soon as I can. ‘**Do you understand?” **Chincopin hear.” ‘Now be off. and I will go on to the city; but should you have to see me, come to the Bodega Espanol and ask for Senora Rita.” “Me know—me come if want,” was the laconic response, and the Indian wheeled on his heel and walked rapidly away, leavin the woman standing alone in the dismal sol- itude with the wreck and death, which she had escaped, before her eyes. CHAPTER ITT. THE MONEY-LENDER, In one of the streets of New Orleans, that was by no means a fashionable quarter, a sign hung over the door of a massive, ramb- ling old structure of Spanish architecture, which read, in English: ‘*DON RUDOLPHO, ‘‘Monry LENDER AND BUYER. “Precious stones, old gold and silver, merchandise and odds and ends bought and sold.”’ : In Spanish and French, as well as in Eng- lish, the above information was given upon the sign, which represented a red flag, the letters being gilt. | Entering the broad doorway, one found himself within a spacious room literally piled with all kinds of merchandise, and with sev- eral doors leading from the salesroom to other parts of the house. A dark-faced young man, evidently a clerk, stood by a counter, looking over some ac- counts, and started, as one who was guilty of a crime might start, when a low voice fell on his ear, aleing } ‘“Is the Senor Rudolpho in?” The clerk beheld before him a woman of slender, graceful form, clad in deep black, and heavily vailed. So quietly had she entered the shop and glided up to him that he had not heard her ootfall, nor the rustle of her skirts. In answer to her question he stammered forth: art ‘The Donis absent, senora, just at pres- ent, but will be in this afternoon.” ‘1 do not care to wait, so perhaps you can serve as well, for I have work to do now, and Ocean Guerrillas. can call again to see him,” was the response in the same soft voice in which she had be- fore spoken. ‘‘ How can I serve you, lady?” ‘*T need gold, and—” | ‘“If you have the security, I can—” ‘‘T have the security, and as I wish a few thousands at once, give me the money and keep these until | call and see Don Rudol- pho, for I have business with him, too.” As she spoke she drew from the folds of her dress a buckskin bag, out of which she took several fine dittnonds and placed them before the clerk, who saw that they were of great value, and were but an atom of what the bag contained. ““T can give you two thousand, acy, but no more, as Don Rudolpho has left no larger sum with me,” said the man, his eyes spark- ling with avaricious delight at the sight of the glittering treasure before him. ‘““Give me what you can, and your receipt for the gems,”’ was the impatient response, and a few moments after, in possession of the gold, the woman glided from the shop as noiselessly as she had entered. For some time the money-lender stood gaz- ing at the jewels, as though fascinated by them; but at last his thoughts found utter- ance in words: ‘Who is she, I wonder, and how came she in possession of that vast fortune in gems, for they are but a few drops in the ucket to what that bag held, ‘Her form is graceful, and her voice as sweet as the notes of a flute, so I know that she must be beautiful. ‘*And she wishes to see the Don. “Why, I wonder, and does he know her? **Tf he does not, J shall, for that woman shall never escape me. “I have been a fool long enough, to work here, when [ could be upon the seas, as in time past, winning just such jewels as those she had, even though they come to me stain- ed with blood, “Well, I go off duty in three hours more, and then I will track her to her home and see just who she is— Ha! here comes the Don.” As he spoke a tall man, with a slender, wiry form entered the shop. is face was dark, his features regular, and he wore a long black beard that reached to-his waist, while his hair, as black as night, fell in wavy masses upon his shoulders. He was dressed in the hight of fashion, and his nationality seemed to be that of a Spaniard; but when he advanced and spoke to his clerk no accent was observable in his words. ~ “A vailed lady, you say, Perdido, left these gems for the simple sum of two thou- sand dollars?” he asked, as he took up the jewels, five in number. “Yes, Senor Don.” : “Why, any two of them are worth that.” **T know so, senor; but I gave her what I had, and my receipt.” “And she will return, you say?” **So said she, senor.” Don Rudolpho, the money-lender, took the gems and passed on into an adjoining room. | oo: Sa And a strange room it was in appearance, large, comfortable, with easy-chairs and di- vans scattered here and there, and the walls adorned ‘with rare paintings, and, costly curios that a king might have envied. Throwing himself into a chair before an ebony desk, richly inlaid, he seized a quill pen and began to write. For a long time he was thus engaged, and then, laying aside his writing materials, he buried his face in his hands and sunk into deep thought. | | Suddenly the door swung open and the same woman in black, and deeply vailed, was ushered in by the clerk, Perdido... ‘‘ Be seated, senora, and command me, if I can be of service,” said Don Rudolpho, rising and bowing with courtly grace, while Perdido, withdrawing and closing the door after him, stepped quickly to a dark corner, drew open a closet, and placed his ear to an aperture in the wall, which had evidently been pierced for the very purpose as an aid to eavesdropping, for which it was then used: In response to the words of Don Rudol- pho, the vailed visitor said; = ‘It is because you can aid me, : Senor Ru- dolpho, that I have come to you.” re o -—— ‘You have but to speak, lady, and I will obey,” and the money-lender strove in vain to penetrate the black vail that hid the face of the woman, ‘You advance money, I believe, to any amount on good security?” ‘* Yes, lady,” f ‘You cousider precious stones about the est?’ ‘* They are more easily handled, lady, and always bring their worth.” “You also secure crews ard vessels for sea work, I believe, without inquiry as to whether a white, blue or black flag is to fly above its decks?” In spite of the cool nerve of the man, he started at this abrupt question; but he an- swered quictly: “If you. desire a vessel and a crew, lady, I can secure them for you.” ** And arm the craft, too?” ‘* Yes, lady,” ‘““Do you know of a fleet vesse! now, of say a couple of hundred tons, that you can buy?” ~ Yes, lady.” “For what price?” “*T will have to ascertain that.” ‘““ And a crew you can get that will follow a leader, lead where he may?” ‘“* Yes, lady.” ‘“‘ No matter what the flag, senor?” ‘The blacker the colors, lady, the more the booty for the crew,” was the significant Bi 3 or a moment the woman was silent, and then she said: ‘Senor, have you heard that the Sea Ghoul had been captured and was now in the city prison?” Don Rudolpho again strove to pierce that impenetrable vail, but was foiled, and an- swered : ‘| know, lady, from hearsay, that a man known as Captain Palafox, once a pirate, and now reformed and turned pirate-hunter, captured the schooner Sea Ghoul some time since; but it was said that. the buccaneer chief was not on board, but on the contrary was here in the city.” | ‘Such was the case, Don Rudolpho; but this very day the captain of the Sea Ghoul was taken prisoner, in the disguise of a French merchant of wealth, and at the house of a wealthy planter, whose daughter he was seeking to wed.” ae Don Rudolpho was now on his feet, his face white, while he asked in a voice that quivered with emotion, which showed that what he heard, in some mysterious way, deeply affected him: | “Can this be true, lady?” ‘*It is true, sir.” ‘You know it?” | “As surely as I know that the youn planter en ps ta Irving Brandt, attacked the Sea Owl smuggler in his retreat, killed him and many of his men, and brought his little fleet as prizes to this city.” ‘That I know, lady, for the city has been wild over the Boy Planter’s brave deed, and the capture of the schooner Sea Ghoul; but I did not dream that the pirate captain had been taken.” — “Then know it now, for it is trne, and he now lies in the city carcel, and within the month will be hanged at the yard-arm of some Government cruiser.” : “‘ Lady, who are you?” asked the money- lender. | ven | “Tam Rita Restel, the Lady Captain of the Smugglers of the Rigoletts, who saw her father die on the deck of his own vessel, and whose husband, the Sea Ghoul, now lies in irons in the city prison. weapstle' ys “Tam a smuggler’s daughter and a pirate’s bride, Senor Rudolpho,” and the woman spoke with an earnest bitterness that betray- ed the emotion she felt. mer | ‘‘Good God! now I know you!” cried the man, while the woman said, quickly: _ “You know me? And how, for though I have twice before been here, it has been in disguise. “True, I came to you once, when that same Boy Planter, Irving Brandt, captured my lugger and the booty on board. “He freed me then, and I came to you to sec e other vessels for my father, and you aided me. dent esp ‘*T came to you again, disguised as an old woman, when I sought your aid to dog the Gomicbooks (E(0)