Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 346 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

Ocean Guerrillas. o~<-—~-w~ ee <= + —————————— _ him but well Rita knew that his old love, | this is the first time I ever knew of a vessel’s Maud Brandt, was constantly in the thoughts | prow being steered directly for it,” was the of her husband, and that she was an unloved | answer. wife. “Do you fear to go there?” Yet still she clung to him through all, un- “All men do, lady, and I was surprised til the end came in the killing of her father, | when you bade me hold our course there.” capture of his fleet, the bringing of her hus-| ‘‘Are you a believer in witches, Lieuten- band’s schooner into port as a prize, and then | ant Granger?” his being discovered as a pretended French ‘I believe in those who have told me merchant and being thrown into prison, to | strange stories which I cannot doubt, of die for his crimes. | witches and spirits; and see, every man on All these thoughts crowded upon the Smug- | board this vessel has the same dread, for you ler Queen as she stood on the shore, watch- | observe how nervous they are, and how they ing the transforming of the pretty lugger into | talk together in low tones?” a plantation drogher. | Yes, but why have they any fear now?— And more, the thoughts crowded upon | for see, the sun is yet above the horizon,” her of what was before her, in seeking re- | and she pointed to the sun, fast nearing the venge upon ain Brandt, the young Planter | watery horizon. | Midshipman, and the rescue of her pirate ‘*True, but darkness is not very far away, husband, or visiting fearful vengeance upon | and the men fear to see strange sights on his executioners. yonder island.” Rita was of a nature as revengefulasan ‘‘I shall not land there, Granger.” Indian’s without the gratitude a red-skin | eh feel for one who, though injuring him, had yet done him a kindness. She hated Maud Brandt because her hus- band loved her, and she hated Irving Brandt, | ‘ age for our course lies because he was the foe of all outlaws and_ island, Senor Granger, thoug had slain her father before her eyes. _ tend to land there.” What Maud might feel as a pure woman, ‘Then why go there, lady?” against her former lover turned pirate, she ‘‘There is one on board this vessel who did not care, any more than she did what | must land there.” her father had been, and that he was seeking the life of Irving when he lost his own. He had fallen, and the midshipman was his slayer, and that called for a life for a life in revenge. That same slayer of her father had set her free, when he might have sent her to prison, he had saved her life that fearful night of wreck on the Witches’ Isle, yet she felt no softening in her heart toward him, and vowed in her heart, as she stood there on the shore, thet she would strike her revengeful blow at him before another sun had risen, ‘Ha! I have it! I know what my revenge shall be against him!” she suddenly cried, in _ not shake off, even had he so desired. a voice that awakened the echoes of the for-| In silence he stood, waiting for her to est, and springing into her boat she pulled | speak again, when, seeing the men coming TAY to where the lugger lay against the | aft in a body, he said quickly: other shore. “See, Lady Captain, the men are coming ‘How long before you can sail, Senor aft. Granger?” she asked, excitedly. ‘*Can they mean mischief?” ‘‘Within the hour, lady; but have you| ‘It seems so, and I will get arms,” she news of any kind?” asked the lieutenant, | said coolly, and she started for the cabin, struck by her manner. when suddenly - the companionway from ‘No, but get under way at the earliest | within sprung a form, and it was closed in moment, for I not only wish to reach the | her face, just as the men in a body con- city as soon as possible, but also to visit my | fronted the woman and the lieutenant on the retribution upon that accursed boy whom I | deck. have sworn to destroy.” ‘*Ha! what does this mean, men?” cried ‘Will you kill him?” asked the smug- | Granger, sternly, looking over the serious gler. faces of the dozen men before him, while he ‘Worse! yes, I will leave him to a fate | drew Rita back toward the helm. worse than death,’ was the hard answer of “Yes, what mischief is brewing here, that the woman, as she descended into the cabin, | you come aft like mutineers?” said the Smug- while Chester Granger muttered: gler Queen, putting on a bold front, thoug “Poor Irving! Oh! that I dared to save | she was wholly at the mercy of the crew, as him! she knew, for neither was the lieutenant or ‘But no, it cannot be, it cannot be!” herself armed. **Lady Captain, we came to ask you if CHAPTER XIII. you know what yonder island is?” said one A WEIRD SUPERSTITION. of the men, stepping forward as spokesman, Few seamen would ever realize, in look- “Yes, it is called the Witches’ Island by ing at the clumsy-appearing craft sailing | some, by others the Haunted Isle,” she an- along on the blue waters of the Gulf, that | swered, with assumed indifference. under the disguise of a plantation drogher, ‘‘Tt is said that the vessel that heads pur- she possessed the graceful curves of a yacht, | posely for yonder island, lady, unless she hidden beneath a false bow and stern, and | carries a biack flag at her peak as a pirate, could spread, in place of the ill-fitting patched | is doomed, and yet you, with no such flag, sails, far too small for her spars, a mass of | steer for it.” ort Bg that would be enough for a | «Yes, I have business there.” vessel of twice her tonnage. ‘‘ Ah, lady, what business can you have in It es anag was a complete metamor- | going where you doom us to death? hosis from the little Sea Owl, and the neat ‘* No, no, it cannot be, it shall not be, and ress of her crew had given place to a| we will take the helm and put away.” rough attire that was as unbecoming to them | ‘ Never! stand back, sir!” and Rita’s eyes as was the blackened and torn sail to the | flashed fire. craft, The man paused, but said firmly: Standing at the helm was Chester Gran-| ‘‘ Lady, beware, for it is further said that ger, a far-away look in his really fine eyes, | to save a vessel from doom, that has sailed as his gaze rested listlessly upon a distant | the course that this one does, two of her island. crew must be sacrificed.” Presently out of .ac cabin came Rita, the ‘“What mean you, Sir Mutineer?” and Smuggler Queen. both the woman and her lieutenant paled, Her dress was the same, her beautiful face | though they still held a bold front. unchanged, _ “I mean, Lady Captain, that it is said ‘*Ah! there is the island,” she said, as her | that two must be sacrificed, one from for- glance fell apon it, and addressing the smug- | ward, the other from the cabin. | gler lieutenant. ‘‘ Need I say that you are from the cabin, ‘Yes, lady, it is the Witches’ Islana, and ! and the leftenant bunks forward?” change our course, then,” and he gave the _giler Queen caught his hand and cried; onder to that I do not in- poor boy upon that witch-haunted island?” cried Granger, divining her revengeful pur- | pose. “Yes, for that poor boy, as you called him, was the one who took my father’s life.” Granger made no_ response, but thoughts were busy. To change the decision of the woman he knew would be impossible, and though he ne on to help Irving Brandt, he dared not O 1b. He feared the woman, and yet loved her, while he was also fascinated by her, and she held an influence over him which he could his | | | | another meanin “Ah! I am glad to hear that, lady; let me | to the last, the Smuggler Queen cried: } | } ' ' ing forward —EE ~_- —_ —— The words were too significant to mis- understand, and the Smuggler Queen said, in a voice that had lost none of its ring: ‘‘Men, I meant not to land on yonder isl- and, but only to go near and leave to swim to it the one who is now my prisoner below ' decks.” “That is cruel even to a foe, lady, and your not going there does not alter our doom, for the legend says the craft that lays her course for it, and this vessel has done so, and we must make the sacrifice, and you and the leftenant must be the victims to save the rest of us.” ) The words fell appallingly upon the ears of the two victims thus selected to save the others. They knew well the fearful superstition that ruled men who followed the water, and more especially men with the brand of out- law upon them; but, determined to place upon their act, and fearless ‘Down, mutineer dogs that you are, and helm a slight push to port, when the Smug- | beg mercy of your Smuggler Queen, for it is to possess my jewels that you seek to slay me, and not that you have dread of yonder island. “Go! and force me not to show the power that I possess to force you to obey!” Momentarily the men were awed by her look and words, and some of them shrunk ‘‘Ha! do you mean it, lady, to put that , back, as though fearing that she might pos- _ some supernatural power they knew not. of. But their leader did not flinch, and spring- rrasped the Smuggler Queen by the arm, while he cried to his comrades: ‘*Seize them, lads, for their lives shall be sacrificed to save our own!” CHAPTER XIV. THE OUTLAW NEGRESS. NEVER in his life had Irving Brandt felt that he was in greater peril, than when he was put in irons and confined below decks on the lugger, wholly at the mercy of the woman whose life he had again and again saved. He had not believed her capable of her act, in putting the manacles upon him, and throwing him into the hold, after what he had done for her. He had been in dangers by sea and land, had seen moments when hope was almost gone from him, and yet would hope hold out a spark that death would go from him. ut now, when a revengeful woman had made up her mind to sacrifice him, what. could he hope for? No ray came to him that mercy would visit her heart, and he calmly nerved himself to die, if so she willed, and to meet the worst with a fearless mien, even though he stood upon the very threshold of what had prom- ised to be a brave and noble manhood. In this dark prison-place he mused awa the hours, fed at meal-time by the ol negress who had been Rita’s nurse from in- fancy. She was an ugly-faced old woman, who: cultivated a witch-like look in its worst. good look at her features, by the light of the lantern she brought with her, he felt that she too was. phase, and as Irving had a eo ‘ heat hea ne day she surpri im by saying: “Pity Be kilt ole massa, chile,” : **He deserved a worse death for his crimes than to die as a brave soldier or sailor loves to die,”’ sternly responded the midshipman. “T’ink so, chile? Well, maybe he were bad man to many, but he good to me,” This Irving did not contradict, and the old negress seeming to be in a talkative mood, continued: ‘“*Is you ’feerd to die, massa?” ‘No, but I do not wish to die, with the future all before me,” ‘‘Dat so, chile, dat so; but Missy Rita gwine to kill you.” . ‘“‘T believe that she is heartless enough to 0 so.” ‘Guess you don’t reeommembers me, does yer, massa?” ? he ; k ood |] “‘Jist take a g ook at my complec- shun, an’ see,” and she held the Aree up as complacently as though there was mre g& in her face to admire. | ‘“‘I do not remember you, and yet your face is familiar.” com Ebooks.com lie hoa -