Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 346 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

bare 3 “t = _. ee 4 j - Aer so, eo i. 4 Ocean Guerrilicas. steps of my pirate husband, that I might know if he was determined to cast me off, and make her his wife. ‘* You aided me then, Don Rudolpho; but in Heaven’s name, why do you now tell me that you know me?” The man had at first flinched under his own words; but he had become cool again now, and said, simply: ‘Lady, I knew your voice, for once heard it could never be forgotten.” She gazed straight into his face, as though striving to read the truth of his words, and then said, slowly: ‘‘T must be careful then to disguise my voice as well as my face; but, knowing me now as the daughter of one now dead, and whose booty you have sold for years, and the wife of a man who now lies doomed in a cell, and whose agent you are, I shall expect your aid.” ‘With all my heart you shall have it, Lady Rita.” ‘‘Ha!l how knew you my name?” ‘‘ Your father and your husband have both spoken it to me,” he answered, but she did not detect the annoyance he seemed to feel at having again said something which he had wished unsaid. ‘* Now tell me all that I can do, lady,” he continued. ‘‘Do you remember the young man you sent with me at the time I first visited you?” “Yes, lady, once a young planter of wealth, but who went to the bad, and drifted in my way.” ‘‘The same, and his name is Argylle?” a eee ‘‘Well, senor, he served me well, and my father made him his lieutenant, and the lug: ger Sea Owl which he commands, is the only craft of the smuggler fleet which was not taken. ‘‘T ordered him to a lagoon on the lake- shore, and then went there and sent him to Mobile for repairs to his vessel, and I wish to go there, so you must find me a craft to o in, ene When Argylle’s vessel is refitted, I will return here with him, and you must have the armed schooner and crew, of which I spoke, ready for me, and that cannot be any too soon, for remember, I tell you that my father is dead, and my husband in irons awaits death.” ‘‘T understand you, lady, and will not de- lay; but there is a vessel that sails to-night for Mobile, and you can go in her,” ‘“*T will.” ‘“‘T may as well be frank with you, and tell you that she carries a rich cargo, and as, her crew deserted here, J send my own men on board.” ‘‘Ah! I think I understand.” “Yes, so that you will not be alarmed at anyng that may occur?” ac O - “ Then, lady, the vessel is the Vulture and lies at anchor off the foot of this street, and I will send word on board at once to have all in readiness for you, as it was not intend- ed that she should take a passenger.” As he spoke the money-lender touched a gold bell, and in response Perdido, the clerk, appeared. ‘* Perdido.” | « Senor Don?” ‘‘Go on board the ship Vulture, that — engaged the crew for, and tell Captain Do- mineck that a lady passenger will go with him, and to have every preparation for her comfort made at once.”” “Yes, senor,” and Perdido left the room, and calling a fellow-clerk to take charge of the store, walked rapidly down toward the river, his face writhing with joy, as he mut- tered to himself:! ‘“The same one whom I saw once to love, and then to hate, and now thrown in my power, and with her a vast fortune. ‘Yes, Don geen Tage Perdido leaves our employ this night, and also sails on oard the Woleute: and it will not be his fault that he does not get a fortune before many days.” CHAPTER IV. THE MUTINY IN A STORM. OveER the storm-swept waters of the Gulf of Mexico a large vessel was bounding, her way lighted across the wind-lashed waves by ! ' ; | kidnap that beautiful heiress, Maud Brandt, | peal of thunder which seemed to shake the sea with its startling reverberations. | It was a fearful night to be out upon the | | i ‘ a TM hand, ink from which burst peal after sea, and the noble vessel, under close-reefed | sails, seemed to be flying on the wings of the wind to seek some haven of refuge. Bending low one instant, to spring forward upon the top of a mighty wave the next, and | then to bury herself to her decks a moment after, yet still kept on her way, held to her course by the two men lasled to the wheel, which they grasped with the clutch of iron hands. In the cabin of the vessel a strange scene was being enacted, for a woman, apparent- ly a young gi, and one strangely beautiful in face and form, stood at bay before five | men, one of whom was the leader of the oth- ers, as his words and appearance plainly in- : dicated. He was dressed in a sailor suit, and his tarpaulin, worn back on his head, displayed | his handsome yet evil face, That he faced the woman with wicked in- | tent there could be no doubt, for in his right | hand he grasped a pone Dieaee knife, while his companions, rough-looking seamen, also looked viciously upon the one who seemed so thoroughly in their power. One glance into the face of the woman showed that the reader again meets Rita, the smuggier’s daughter, while the leader of those who confronted her was none other | than Perdido, the clerk of the money-lender. | ‘“We await your answer, Rita Restel, for upon it hangs your fate,” said Perdido, sternly. ‘As I understand it, you have deserted | your master, and betrayed me into a trap?” | said the woman. ‘Yes, | was a fool to work for a salary | when I could win a fortune, and you for the ame crossed my path—do you remember the rst?” ‘Yes, I met you at Pensacola when I was at school there, and the love you professed for me turned to hate when I refused your ‘‘ You were a.gambler then, and believed me to be rich; you are worse now, and seek to rob me of what I possess, but I will de- fend that which I have with my life!’ She spoke in a cold, cutting tone, and her eyes seemed to pierce him through. In surprise, he said: ‘Your haughty words do not frighten me, Lady Rita, nor will they protect you, for I have bribed this crew, or the most of them, and they will share well in helping me et the riches ypu carry with you and the ooty in this ship’s hold. ‘‘Tf it is as large a sum as I believe, I shall retire to some distant spot to enjoy my riches. ‘«Tf it is less than I hope for, why, I shall hoist the sable colors and endeavor to win more. ‘Now, will you go with me as my bride and share your riches with me, or will you resist and force me to kill you?—for your life shall not stand between me and that which I will sell my soul to Satan to pos- sess!” The woman felt her helplessness, for she had already observed that the crew were un- der his influence while the apne being dead she had no one to seek aid of, Unfortunately she had come from her state- room, when called out by Perdido, unarmed, only having a small dirk-knife she always wore in her bosom, Had it been otherwise—had she been armed with a pistol she would then and there have taken the mutineer’s life. Thoroughly at his mercy, she yet stood at bay, until suddenly she gave a gab) cry and sprung toward the group of mutineers, the little knife in her grasp. Taken aback by her act, they sprung from before her, and she darted up the companion- way, hoping that some succor would come to her upon the deck. In spite of the swaying and bounding of the vessel she along the deck likea hunted deer, and bounding upon the bul- warks, grasped the main shrouds. At her back came her pursuers, but seeing her act, Perdido called out: | ‘‘Hold, men! for yonder girl carries for- tunes in precious stones upon her person, and the livid gers of lightning that rent the clouds, /came the other mutineers, one on the rr a NE she will throw herself into the sea and they will be lost to us forever.” At the words of their leader the mutineers paused, and just then three of the crew, in- spired by the daring of the girl, and her help- lessness, rushed between her and her pursuers, while one of them cried: ‘‘ Avast, there, messmates, you shall not harm the girl!” As he spoke he sprung forward to grapple witn Perdido, when full in his face came a flash that was not the lightning’s vivid bright- ness, and the crack of a pistol followed. Down to the deck sunk the brave tar, and Perdido bounded on, shouting to his follow- ers: ‘*Beat those dogs down, men, and then follow me!” Instantly was heard another shot or two, a clashing of steel, and the men bounded on after their leader, while one of their comrades, roy defenders of the woman Jay upon the eck. Still on bounded the stately ship, and seem- ingly unmoved by the strange scene transpir- ing upon her decks, the helmsmen stood at their post of duty. And up the shrouds of the mainmast climbed the girl, her pursuers closely follow- ing. P to the cross-trees, out upon the huge yard with its reefed sail, she fled with a nerve that was wonderful in that fearful night of storm, with the vessel bounding, and the yard swaying beneath her feet. Out to the end of the yard she went, and there came to a halt, and standing there at that dizzy hight, clinging toastay, she turned and faced her pursuers. ; Perdido was nearest to her, clinging to the yard, his knife in his teeth, and behind him ard near him, another in the cross-trees, and the third in the shrouds, As they moved toward her, the daring girl shouted in tones that rose above the howling winds: ‘*Back, you coward mutineers! or I will spring into the sea, and bear to its depths the jewels you would kill me for, ‘‘Back! or I take the fatal leap!” CHAPTER YV. THE MIDSHIPMAN PLANTER. Tue home of. Colonel Rupert Brandt was one of the handsomest in the Crescent City, and with its luxuries within and its grandeur without, one would have believed it hard in- deed for wretchedness to enter there. A planter, dwelling upon the shores of Mississippi Sound, a cruel chain of circum- stances had driven the colonel to seek a home in the city, for one who had been the loved guest and trusted tutor of young liv- ing, and the lover of Maud Brandt, had mys- teriously disappeared one night, and soon after a desperate pirate, known as the Sea Ghoul, was said to be none other than Brad- ford Carr, the one who had been so revered in that plantation home. Driven by the pirate’s persecutions to seek a home in the city, with the capture of the buccaneer schooner, the man so cruel] maligned had been found in irons on boasll, while his captor, the real pirate, was dis- covered to be a renegade planter and a dis- carded lover of Maud Brandt, who had kid- napped and impersonated the tutor to bring dishonor upon him, and thus gain revenge upon the beauty and heiress who had re- fused his love. With this discovery joy had come again to rest upon the hearts of the inmates of the Brandt Homestead, and another cause of congratulation to them was the breaking up by the boy . Csampicangre Irving Brandt, of the outlaw band known as the Smugglers of the Rigoletts, | everal days after the scene between the Boy Planter and Rita, the Smuggler Queen, in the cabin of the youth’s yacht, Lady Maud, the Sea Ghoul himself had been cap- tured in disguise as a guest of Colonel Brandt, and been taken to the city prison to await his execution. One day, as Irving Brandt was pacing to and fro upon the broad piazza of the villa, his eyes often falling upon the lovely scene before him, and his yacht lying at anchor in the river, his thoughts were busy upon the exciting events of the past few months, and he was trying to solve the mystery of that Gomicbooks (E PJ =