Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 346 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

See OF ae ~ a Sid al * at Te > » te a . a ee ane a = ~ i” Ch Ss a ” - “ 5 - oe > Sie j-ae +4, -; } Owl. absent from the retreat at the time of tgs area ty v= = . he ad eet ——— “TF mth S . ed toward the woman, who answered: warmly grasped 8 Ocean Guerrillas. ‘*Trving Brandt!” © ‘‘¥es, | am Irving Brandt, and you are Chester Granger, who it seems has turned pirate,” was the cool response. ‘*Good God! I would not have had you see me on this deck for worlds, that you ‘dangerous waters, and it might be that the vessel was a pirate or a smuggler. if either, his sleeping companion would have nothing to fear, while he would have everything to dread, so he concluded neither ty attract the attention of those on the vessel, or to awaken the woman. ~ could tell what I have become!” and the ‘ Unseen by the lookout on the lugger, Irv- | smuggler spoke with bitterness and the deep- ing determined to remain so if he could, and | est feeling. taking in his oars, he quietly slipped down ‘*Do not ergatee Touran Mr, Granger, as in the bottom of the skiff. that young man will never live to say vhat The course of the vessel was bringing her | he has seen you on a smuggler deck. nearer and nearer, and as the sun rose out of ‘‘He is a prisoner, aa shall be put in the waters, its rays revealed distinctly the | irons,” said the Smuggler Queen, coldly. flag—a black field with a huge red owl in ‘““A prisoner?” asked Chester Granger, the center. while Irving Brandt simply smiled at the “Tt is the very lugger that escaped cap- | words of the woman. ture in the Sea Owl’s Nest, and Heaven ‘“Yes, a prisoner; for, though we were grant the lookout does’ not see us, or lam | fellow-passengers on a vessel that was wreck- lost,” he murmured, and he glanced anx- | ed on Witches’ Isle last night, and he saved iously toward the sleeping woman. my life more than once, still he is a prisoner, But as his gave fell upon her she moved | for he it was who attacked our retreat and restlessly, then muttered something unin- _ killed my father.” telligible, and then her eyes opened. ‘He killed the Sea Owl?” She started as she saw-him, and then, ‘Yes, before my eyes, and never will I passing her hand across her face once or | forget it; but put him in irons, for he is twice, seemed to take in the situation, and | doomed to die,” and the wicked look that said wearily: came into the tig of the Smuggler Queen “T have been asleep, while you have | fairly appalled the outlaw lieutenant, worked.” | But he ordered the midshipman seized and ‘Yes: and sleep will do you good, so get | ironed, and then calling the Smuggler Queen all that you can,” and Irving dared not | into the cabin, asked: glance toward the lugger. ‘‘Lady Captain, what of your husband?” ‘No, I will watch now while you sleep, ‘‘He lies in prison, condemned to die, and for some vessel may come in sight.” having ordered you to Mobile to repair the ‘‘T do not care tc sleep,” he said, vessel, I sailed for that port to see you,” ‘*Do you fear to trust me?” ‘* And how can I serve you, lady?” “How do you mean?” ‘*My husband shall not die,” ‘Do you think I would kill you in your ‘* Not ff he can be rescued, lady.” sleep?” ‘* He shall be.” “Oh, no; I had not given it a thought; | “For your sake I hope so,” was the low but let me urge that you lie down again.’ | $4 ‘‘No;” and she sat up and looked around e woman seemed to read a hidden mean- her, when her wel fell upon the vessel now. ing in the words of her officer, and said: not more than a mile away. | Instantly she sprung to her feet and cried: be your name, I have found you all that I ‘Ho! théve flies my own beautiful Sea could wish as an officer, and I need your aid, | though it is perpepe wrong to ask it,” ¢ ‘‘Ho! the Sea Owl, ahoy!” and her voice ‘‘ Why wrong, lady?” was sent ringing over the waters. ' ** Because I know that Fhe and my hus- Her form had now caught the eye of the band were once friends, and that you lay at lookout, and the lugger’s sharp prow was at his door what you have become.” once turned toward the skiff. | ‘True, all that I now am Barton Keys ‘Now I am saved!” cried the Smuggler , made me,” was the bitter reply. Queen, joyfully. ‘‘T know that my husband plotted with ‘And 7 am doomed |” responded the young , you, yes, forced you to aid bim, in a scheme midshipman, in a voice that showed he | to get rid of one rival for the hand of Maud knew his danger. Brandt by death, and have another rival hanged for the other’s murder. CHAPTER XI, “The death of one followed, and the other, TWO STRANGE PLEDGES, Bradford Carr, the tutor of the boy in irons Te little vessel that had been sighted by | on that craft, would have been strung up, the midshipman and the Smuggler Queen, | had he not escaped. and which gave hope to the woman and des-| ‘‘ Escaping, he took to the sea and became air to the youth, was one of the trimmest a pirate-hunter, and you, forced to fly for built crafts of her class. your life, had become a rover and was cap- She had the clean look of a yacht and car- | tured by the very man you had aided my ried an immense spread of canvas. _ husband to so cruelly wrong. Built by a Spanish Don for his own plea- | ‘‘To save yourself you confessed all, and sure, she had been cut out of Pensacola har- | Barton Keys became the outcast and outlaw, bor by the Queen Smuggler and given to her | ‘But, all that he is, I love him, and he is father as a carrier of ary ta i booty, while, | my husband, and shall never die. ‘*T know that he has sworn to avenge him- Brandt’s attack upon it, she had escaped | self on ro for betraying him, and yet, know- capture. | ing it, [ask you to help me save him from As the pretty vessel neared the skiff there | the yard-arm. were seen to be a number of mex upon her Pile y father is dead, his fleet, excepting decks, while aft, near the helmsman, was a | this vessel, captured, and my poor husband, young man, evidently the commander. | with his schooner a prize, lies in prison await- He was looking at the occupants of the | ing death at the yard-arm. skiff through a glass, and when near enough ‘But I do not give up, for with this craft hailed: in the lake to aid us, an armed schooner in ‘Ho, the surf-boat!” the river, and a fortune in jewels to sacrifice The midshipman did not reply, but glanc- | if need be, I will save Barton Keys. ‘‘But you must aid me, and in return you ‘* Ahoy the Sea Owl!” | shall have this lugger, ample reward besides, A cheer broke from the crew of the lugger | and can raise the smuggler’s flag as your own, as the woman’s voice reached their ears, and | and it will soon lead you to fortune.” the young officer shouted: ‘And you, lady?” asked the youn “Bravo, Lady Captain, you are welcome | in a tone that showed that inwardly on board the Sea Owl!” | deeply moved from some cause, Luffing up sharp the lugger iay to, while ‘‘I will go with my husband, who will her commander called out: seek a home elsewhere, I hope.” ‘Seize your oars, young man, and come ** But will he?” alongside!’ ‘1 believe it, I hope it.” But Irving Brandt did not move, and Rita ‘*T fear not, ges took the oars and obeyed. Rita bit her red lips viciously for an in- Over the side she went, and her hand was | stant, and then said: by the smuggler captain, ‘‘ Well, if he still floats the black flag, I who then turned to the midshipman. | shall not desert him.” Instantly he started back, turning deadly | | pale, as he cried: tain?” | man, e was ‘Mr. Granger, for now I know such to ‘‘And if you cannot save him, Lady Cap- i eee EEE ——E——————EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—————————————————————————————————— —_ - — = —_—_——— SF ‘ **But I must.” ‘*Suppose that you should not?” ‘By the Cross, then will I hoist the skull- and-cross-bones flag, and woe be unto all who have had a hand in the death of brave Bar- ton Keys, the Sea Ghoul.” Her voice rung like clanging metal, and her eyes shone with a brightness that seemed fairly to burn the smuggler officer as she turned them upon him, a. he spoke not for an instant, and then said : ‘* Lady Captain, you ask me to aid you to save Barto, the Buccaneer, as Barton Keys is called, from the yard-arm. ‘If I do so, | ask nothing in return, and shall go my way alone; but, should he die, though I make every effort to rescue him, | claim your hand as my bride, even though I get not one particle of. your love with it.” She turned upon him like a fury, and seemed about to hiss forth scathing words of scorn; but checking herself from some sud- den inward impulse, she said softly: ‘Do you pledge yourself by the Cross you . revere to do all in your power to rescue him?” ‘‘T do faithfully so pledge myself, lady.” ‘Then you can do no more, Chester Gran- ger, and should you fail, should Barton Keys die at the yard-arm, the day that he does I will become your wife, but upon one condition.” ‘*Name it, lady.” ‘That you devote your life, with mine, to avenge him,” was the low, trembling re- sponse. ‘*T accept the condition.” ‘‘Enough! now head the lugger for the old retreat, where we can find material to so disguise it, that she can lie at anchor in the lake as an honest craft,” and with a bow Chester Granger left the cabin, and the strange woman, for whom he held a fascina- tion he could not shake off. CHAPTER XII, THE THREAT. To the rendezvous, where so long the old free oH King, known as the Sea Owl, had defied capture and eluded the law-hawks constantly in search of him, the lugger went, and Rita herself stood at the helm and pilot- ed her into the inner lagoon. A torrent of bitter thoughts swept over her as she once more beheld the old scenes, for there years of her girlhcod had passed. Her father, once a planter on the river coast of the Mississippi, had gone to the bad, and, forced to fly, had turned smuggler, carrying with him his only child, Rita, an old negro and negress who clung to him in his downfall, and an Indian, Chincopin, whose life he had saved long years before. In his retreat he had hidden away, and his fleet little vessels, seen only at night, and manned by daring crews, had gained the name of the Sea Owl for him and made him famous as the ees King. Rita, reared in this atmosphere of crime, danger and recklessness, had grown into her » teens, and then been sent to school in Pen- sacola, where she kept the secret well of who she was. Returning to the old haunts, she had been covered with precious gems by her loving father, petted and admired, until she became known as the Smuggler Queen, and the acts of daring she had done, with her perfect knowledge of seamanship, had well earned for her the title. One night, in her little skiff, she had been . crossing an inlet,. when she came upon a drowning man, Quickly she had saved him, to find that it was Barton Keys, then flying for his life, having escaped from jail, where he was lying under sentence of death for the murder of a rival, and whose murder he had laid at the door of Bradford Carr, the tutor of Irving Brandt. Carrying him to her father’s vessel hidden away in the lagoon, Rita Restel had prevent- ed the Sea Owl from killing the man she had rescued, as he wished to do, and from that night, her love, never before awakened, sprung into being and budded into idolatrous worship. Wedding the outlaw girl, Barton Keys had turned pirate, end carried her to sea with ‘com (El oYofe) Ks: com> | £