Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 369 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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a The Coast Corsair. —_—- ‘Give it to her again, and keep it up, for she must obey orders!” said Ray Raymond, and he wheeled on his heel and walked ait. understood; but the ways of the fair sex in gen- | eral are past finding out, as I have found out; but see, that sloop still gains, and we have been in chase of her over an hour now, and she has dropped us half a mile.” ‘* And I’m beginning to feel that shewill glide on ahead until she will fade into mist.” | ‘‘T shall try, then, what effect iron will haye | on a specter. ‘‘Clear the bow guns for action, Mr. Ray- mond, and tell the gunner to throw two shots | over the sloop.” ** Yes, sir.’ ‘* And then, if she does not heave to, tell him to fire at her.” | Madcap Madge took us?” “Ay, ay, sir!” and Ray Raymond walked for- | ‘‘ Yes, sir; for there it lies, not two leagues ward to obey his orders, though he really did | away,” and oe (am pointed to a dark line not like to see the sloop fired on, as he was im- | about dead ahead. ressed with her specter-like a rance more **She has gradually swung around in half a eon he cared to admit even to himself. semi-circle, and we have not noticed it, the sails But he gave the order, and the two bow guns , being trimmed as they needed it, and she now were cleared for action, certainly is approaching the land, Raymond,” ** She is, sir.” **And, if we do not cripple her, we'll run into those dangerous waters beyond Crescent Island?” ** Without a doubt.” | go their other shots—but they, too, are misses. ‘* Ts the sloop invulnerable, Ray?’ ‘Tt seems so, Lieutenant Maynard, for those _ are crack gunners; but do yousee how the sloop _ is leading us?” ‘“* How mean you?” ‘* As straight for the island where we lay at anchor last night, as she can.” “The Crescent Island, under the lee of which CHAPTER XVI. UNDER FIRE, THE old boatswain had been true to his word, and had uttered no word to his shipmates re-| ‘‘ We can follow her into the lee of Crescent garding the strange sloop. Island, for Madcap Madge taught me how to do But the men had seen that something was go- | that, on both sides of the island, and gave me a ing on, and the man relieved at the wheel had | chart which she said might be useful in saving gone forward and told how the captain, as they | the schooner some time, when caught in a storm called their commander, had watched the sloop | off the coast.” for a long time, and then called Lieutenant ‘*T hope it may be, sir.” Raymond, next Midshipman Lauderdale, and! ‘I'll godown and study it; but I hope, if he last Boatswain Vance. runs under the island’s lee, he’ll take the further He said they all seemed to be excited about | side, for that is the dangerous channel, and I do something, yet talked in low tones, and this | not know it from practice, only precept, and caused the men to look more attentively at the | this side Pll risk running, so as to surprise and chase. head him off.” The boatswain was asked what had been said, ‘“*T am afraid that we can never surprise that but replied: | craft, Lieutenant Maynard.” ‘** Don’t be superstitious, Raymond.” ‘But you see our shots have no effect upon her, sir, and a score have been fired.” *“ The gunner’s aim is not true, though they do seem to come pretty close to her.” ‘**Some of them should have hit her, sir.” ‘Some of them must, so keep up the firing until you hit her and bring her to, or sink her. [ shall go into the cabin and look over those ee ir saying, Mayo Maynard entered the cabin. Seating himself at the table he took from a drawer a piece of paper, upon which was skill- fully drawn a chart. ‘The girl is an artist, for this is excellent work she has done here,” he said. There was an island, crescent-shaped, put down, and two approaches to it from the sea, one around each end. In these channels were figures representing the depth of water, and dots indicating shoals, with rocks and line reefs plainly marked out. One of the channels ge Nes to be more diffi- cult than the other, and putting his finger upon it, the young officer said: “The cap’n wanted my judgment as to the stranger being a smuggler we had seen in Bos- a harbor.” he crew seemed to think that the boatswain knew more than he would admit, and so a spy- glass was fished out from the kit of one of the | men, and each one in turn began to look at the chase, and shake their heads as they did so, Now, the Blue Bell was known to every man on board, for Skipper Vernon’s craft had been long suspected, as the reader is aware, of smuggling, but nothing could be proven against er. She had sailed in company at sea with the Scorpion, on a number of occasions, been seen in the harbor lying at anchor near, and was thor- oughly known. ut, though each man ashe looked through the spyglass recalled the Blue Bell to mind, he said nothing. Each one wished to wait until the spyglass had one the rounds and then the verdict would be eclared. But suddenly Lieutenant Maynard came for- ward, and the well-disciplined crew sprung to their posts at the order: ** This is the one I hope the sloop will take, for ‘‘ Clear the bow guns for action!” then I can run in this side and surprise him at The gun crews jumped to their places, the re- | his anchorage behind the island, for he will not mainder of the men falling back along the bul- | expect us to be able to follow. warks, and the gunners took their stands. |... eS, this channel I can run, and I will do so. ‘Open on that sloop, gunner, and you follow | 8° I - i suit, sir, but fire your shots over her,” ordered t was kind of that strange girl to teach it to me, as she did on the way out. the officer. | The guns were quickly loaded, sighted, andthe | _ “ Here she has marked out the rocks beyond starboard gun was fired, the port gun following | the island, and written: quickly. ‘**Under no circumstances ever attempt without The flashes illumined the sea, the loud reports, | a good coast pilot.’ for they were eighteens, thundered across the | ‘]°]] take her advice. for the rocks there. to- waters, the recoil shook the schooner, and | ward the Twin Islands and on toward the shrieking like flying demons of the air, theround | Devil’s Caldron, fairly make me shudder to look shots went on their way. at them. Over the sloop they passed, andentered thesea | “Well, Raymond still keeps up his firing, so far ahead of it. we! the sloop still holds on. But not the slightest change was visible upon | ‘How foolish men are, and educated ple the sloop. especially, to believe in the supernatural; but As before, she held on her way, and no at- tention was paid to the iron-mouthed hail to a Fi eat _ or a long time did Ray Raymond wait, hop- ing the sloop would take in eaten’ of her sail ad show that she heeded the summons, but on she held as before, Then he was forced to give the order: ‘* Ready there at the guns!” ‘+e A , ay, sir!” ‘‘ Aim at the sloop this time, first starboard, then port guns, and let her have it.” “« Ay, ay, Sir,” came the answer from the gun- Rett, and again were the guns loaded, armed and Once more the iron messengers flew through the air, one burying itself in the seg near the sloop, and the other flying wild, Still no response from the sloop, to show she intended to come to. * Fire again!” A third time each gun belched forth flame, smoke and iron, and one shot flew ahead of the sloop, barely escaping hitting her, and the other pinned into the water under her stern, so it is, and if we don’t bring that sloop to a sor, pt, every officer and man on this schooner will swear she is a phantom sloop, the ghost of the Blue Bell, and her resemblance to the wreck- ed craft stag ers me, I confess. * Well, Pll look over the chart once more and then go on deck. ‘“What a beautiful and noble wife that girl would make a man, especially a sailor, and I am half in love with her, though I confess the ten- der eyes of Joyce Brandon won me, too. ‘‘ But I fear she looks upon me as an enemy of her brother, though I hope not sincerely, and she treated me eee ‘*Poor girl, I feel for her, as she loved her brother most devotedly. ‘** Well, she will be glad to know that he es- caped the yard-arm, as I am that he did. ‘Some day I may meet the lovely Joyce again, and then I will try to win her. ‘‘Now to catch that fleet little sloop—if I can,” and with another look at the channel vee the island, Mayo Maynard went on eck, ‘ ‘* Well, Ray, how goes it?” he asked, ing ou are improving, men,” said Ray Ray- to accustom ‘iis ayes. ti the darkness ip te mond, and again he waited. TAR ’ | ins: out of the brilliantly-lighted cabin. But the sloop sailed on as majestically, as qui- ‘She goes yonder, sir.” etly as before. ‘Then she has not obeyed orders?” ee <_<. es a CC i LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL | ‘Well, Raymond, your men seem to have no | _ effect upon the sloop with their fire—oh! there | was heard, no sails came down on the run, and 'h 11 ** Tt does not look so, for she holds on all the time, steadily gaining on us.” ‘** Have you not hit her?” ‘We have seemed to, but no crash of timbers the shots seemed to go right through her, as though she was mist.” ‘*] see, you still lean to the belief that she is a cloud, a phantom; but wait until we run her be- ind the island, and then see if she don’t show | her colors, when we turn a broadside upon her at short range.” ** You intend to follow her behind the island?” es Yes. ” “It is a risk, sir.” ‘‘IT know the risk, and I know the channel: but how does she head?” ‘* For the further end of the island.” ‘* Good! for I know the channel at this end.” ‘** She is not a mile from it now.” ‘* All right, as soon as she disappears around it, [ll head straight in for this end, and we'll run in on her at her anchorage, and just about the time she gets her anchor down, for she'll never expect us to follow her, and once we round the point we will be within a few cable- lengths from her, and if she escapes Pll buy your cigars for the year.” ‘It isa safe thing for me on smoking, lieu- tenant, for you'll not capture that craft.” ‘* Why, Raymond, you are as bad as the ig- norant sailor; but it does seem hard to hit her, so Pll go forward and try a shot or two myself,” and the gallant young con:mander went for- ward and took the gunner’s place at the star- board gun. CHAPTER XVII. A STARTLING SIGHT. Mayo MAYNARD was noted as one of the best officers in the navy, and he had riseu to the quarter-deck from a cabin boy’s berth. He came of a good family, was the heir to wealth, and yet, in a spirit of adventure, had run off in his twelfth year to sea, and had gone before the mast, been promoted to cabin boy, then got on an English vessel of war to serve as a powder monkey, and in his fifteenth year was a full-fledged sailor. So he had gone up to coxswain, and after- ward won a middy’s berth in the oer for gal- lantry in action, when he was wounded. Five years after leaving home, he returned a midshipman, and upon the breaking out of the war with England, had been promoted until he held the rank of lieutenant, commanding the Scorpion. He was known as a thorough sailor, and hav- ing been one of a crew, he appreciated them as an officer should. ; When therefore he walked forward and aimed the , the men expected to see the sleop hard hit, if hit she could be, and all anxiously await- ed the result of the shot. But the shot was not heard to strike the sloop, and where it went no one discovered. ‘T'll try the other gun,” said Mayo Maynard uietly, and he carefully aimed it and touched the priming with the put-fire. But the shot went crashing among the stunted pines upon the island, having passed entirely over the sloop, ‘* There’s luck in odd numbers—I'll try again,” he Peas with a light Jaugh, and a third shot was fired. “*Tt seems to me I heard that hit a sail, or the water; but it certainly did no damage, for the sloop holds on. ‘Keep up your firing, gunners, until the sloop is out of sight,” and so saying, Mayo Maynard returned to the quarter-deck. “You had no luck, sir?” ‘No, Raymond.” ‘You think, though, that she can be hit?” ‘* Oh, yes, if the gun is aimed right.” ‘You aimed it yourself?” ‘Yes, and think I hit her twice, but I'll not be sure of it, as she held on. ‘*Unless a vital spot is touched, you cannot see at night where your iron strikes; but if it hits the hull or: pars, the crash of timbers gener- ally reaches your ears: but I think my two shots passed thrcevgh the sails, and the third missed altogether.” ‘Well, sir, ina few more minutes the sloop will have escaped.” “ Rehind the island, yes; but the moment she disappears, I shall put the schooner dead before the wind and make for this end of the island.” ‘It might be safer to go in the boats.” ‘* No, I shall run the schooner in,” was the de- termined response, and soon after the sloop dis- a peared. . ‘Cease firing!” called out Mayo Maynard, and then he gave orders to let fly the sheets and to the helmsman to put the schooner before the wind. This was quickly done and the men wondered how their commander dared venture so near the wild shore, when there was no pilot on board. But their wonder increased as the order came for all the men to go to quarters quietly, except those necessary to attend to the sailing of the vessel, and then Meyo Maynard took the wheel himself. Taking out the chart drawn by Madcap IOO Geom (E S