Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 369 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

ra The Coast Corsair. i ing ugly rocks, an iron-bound coast and a storm but he was calmly gazing upon vacancy and of terrific fury raging on sea and land. | lost in deep thought, when he is presented to the In the midst of it struggled the schooner-of- | reader. war, her topmasts housed, her guns lashed, her; The staggering of the schooner through the crew at their posts, and under close-reefed storm seems to hold no terror for him, as his mainsail and jib she was pitching, swaying, face did not change its expression in all the staggering along. | wild swaying and plunging of the craft. At the wheel stood two stout seamen, whose | Suddenly he feels the schooner’s motion less strength aided the skill of the young girl, who | violent, then she seems to be running on almost was acting pilot of the craft in that wild night even keel, and soon after comes the splash of the ' of storm, the one frail being to guide it to safe- | anchor as it is let fall, and all is still. thang _am powerless here, you alone knowing these ‘That wonderful girl has escaped every dan- ger and run in toan anchorage. ‘*T half hoped that we would strike and go down, for better such a death than at the yard- ty or to death. She was beautiful, a beauty that was almost weird-like, and tinged with recklessness of ex- pression, more becoming a man’s face than a young girl’s. arm,” said the young sailor. Near her stood the man she addressed, Lieu- | ‘*l am getting heartily tired of all this, and I tenant Mayo Maynard, the schooner’s com- | would have given up long ago but for the mander, and behind him were several young | noble manner that girl and her allies have officers. | fought to save me, It was a moment of horror, for suddenly, in the schooner’s direst need, the young girl had es. ty back from the wheel, and uttering the words that open this story, stood awaiting their | effect upon the officer. ‘Great God! wha’ can you mean?” cried the young lieutenant in answer to her words, _ “T mean, sir,” and the words came sharp and ‘Well, the end is at band now, and the struggle has all’ been for naught, unless to prove that there is true love and friendship in the world— Ah! some one comes, and [ll know where the schooner is at anchor.” As the officer spoke a footfall was heard on the steps of the companionway and one entered wearing the uniform of a senior lieutenant in distinct, ‘‘ that this vessel is in the most dreaded | the navy of the United States. lace on this coast, in the very center of the} It was the same officer whom the Girl Pilot evil’s Caldron, and straight to destruction, had forced to make a pledge upon the deck, half with all on board, I let her drive, if you do not an hour before. save her and the lives of those in your hands!” His face was a trifle stern, yet winning and ‘But Heaven knows I can do nothing, forI | full nc enpeaieet and his form was upright and graceful. waters.” } ‘* Well, Brandon, the schooner is safe at an- **'You have a prisoner in the cabin?” chor under the lee of one of the outer islands, **T have.” and after the most desperate run I ever saw,” he said as he sat down near the wounded sailor. is innocent of, and you came here to capture ‘* Yes, | knew by the howling of the storm, him, and have done so. roaring of the waves and the behavior of the “To take him to Boston means his death at | schooner that she was in desperate —_ and, “* He is og iam with a crime which he says he the yard-arm, to let him go free gives him a| but for you and your gallant crew losing chance to prove his innocence. your lives, | would have wished her to go down “Release him! pledge me your word you will | and thus end mine.” allow him to go free, to leave this vessel with ‘* Your life is safe, Brandon, at least for the me, and I will save your schooner.” present.” “But I cannot do this!” ‘*T had no fear thatit would be otherwise, “Then I touch not the wheel again, and you | with that strange girl at the wheel.” will see that I goto my death as fearlessly as ‘*[ mean that you are to go free, Brandon.” ou do, sir,” and the girl looked like a statue, ‘*Tcannot understand what you mean, May- er lips wearing a grim, reckless smile, as she | nard. stood where the light from the cabin companion- *T will pal ape at once, by telling you that I way fell full upon her. am aE ge set you free.” Mayo Maynard glanced fixedly into her face, ‘*T yet grope in darkness as to your mean- and he read there reckless resolve. Then he looked at his beautiful vessel, the three- score brave men at the mercy of his word and then upon the raging sea about them. Had he a right to risk all for one life? in _” m To be explicit, in the midst of our greatest danger, that wonderful little Siren of the Sea, for I can call her nothing else, sprung away from the wheel with the threat that the schoon- No! and so he cried: er and all on board, her sweet self included ‘T give you the pledge youask—Noel Brandon | should godown to Davy Jones, unless [ pled shall go free! | myself to set you free.” ‘Save the vessel, and quick! for the love of | ‘‘Good God! did she do this?” cried the young God, for do you not see weare dashing to de- | sailor in utter amazement. struction?” ‘*She did, and you should be happy in pos- A ery broke from the girl’s lips, she sprung to sessing the love of such a woman, Noel Bran- the wheel, and as ringing as a trumpet cameher | don.” rnb yee, a iad pe ‘Her love? Why, Lieutenant Maynard, she S: ‘‘ Hard! hard down your helm!” does not love me, although I would give much The two men at the wheel obeyed, while Lieu- did she do so, under different circumstances tenant Maynard also sprung to their aid. . from those Iam at present placed in, with the gal- The schooner peat to crouch and stagger, lows staring me in the face. as though she had been struck a mortal blow; | ‘The fact’ is, she is the daughter of a coast but she obeyed her helm, wore round, and went | skipper, whom no one knows 4 at about, and bounding away from the threatened danger as | who settled in the cottage where he now dwells, though filled with human fright. while my proud parents always looked down Away, over the seething waters, rushing like upon the Vernons, and when she saved my life, a mad sity half drowned, staggering, the good | —— ago, feared I might become interested in vessel went, until suddenly a dark wall loomed | er, as did. up ahead. ‘‘T returned the compliment by saving her As she drew nearer it was seen to be an isl- from death on one occasion, and so canceled m and, and it broke the wild force of the storm , debt to her, and thus the matter ended until and the waves from seaward, and proved to be | came home this time. . a safe haven of refuge. | ‘“As you know, Maynard, I was dismissed Into a cove, sheltered thoroughly, darted the | from the service on account of my fatal duel Be eeedy | 4: and soon the anchor was let fall and | with the senior lieutenant of my ship, and al- the vessel rode at anchor in perfect safety. though the affair was forced upon me by his The Girl Pilot had kept her word too and had tty persecutions, there was no palliation al- saved the vessel, on the pledge of her command- | lowed me, and I suffered. er to set his prisoner free. ‘*T came home in vn, Pit wondering whether my proud parents would receive me or not, and CHAPTER II. Madcap Madge, the Maid of the Kennebec, was the first one to greet me, as I sprung off the packet schooner at the village pier, for she ran up ahead of us in her life-skiff, and went up into the town to do some shopping. ‘* Nettled by my return in disgrace, I went to the inn, the Flag Ship, as old Buntline calls his There were indications on his shoulders that | place, and began to drink deeply, until the ?.i3 designation of rank had been taken off, but wagon came to drive me over home to Brandon he wore the look of a sailor, for his face was Hall. . carkly bronzed, and his appearance indicated , ‘ Well, I started, with Silly Sam as my driver, ‘het he was not a landsman. and we were attacked on the ara I was His face was handsome, though it bore the wounded in my left leg, and Silly Sam was ‘tamp of one who had been sowing a generous | stunned by a bullet glancing on his temple; but «¢p of wild oats in his years; still it was a face | it would have been worse had not adcap to admire, open, fearless, manly and yet now | Madge suddenly come to the rescue, killed one ‘tamped with a look of sorrow and suffering, of our three assailants, I shooting a second one, both mental and physical. while the third escaped. He was resting upon a divan, half-reclining, ‘They had come in a sloop-yacht to rob me, asI have said, one‘leg placed so as to kee and Madcap Madge took the little craft as a it out straight, and evidently he was wounded | prize. | ji in this limb, as it was bandaged. | ‘‘T went back to the village, putting up at the A pair of crutches, made from oars, rested:' Flag Ship Inn, when suddenly [ received word near him, a few books were on a table at hand, ' —how, it matters not—that Captain Marsden, THE WOUNDED SAILOR. IN the cabin of the schooner-of-war Scorpion ust saved from destruction by the Girl Pilot of he Kennebec, for my story opens on the rocky coast of Maine, half-reclined a young man in the undress uniform of an officer in the navy. who had persecuted me aboard ship, and then had me dismissed, had been found murdered in his bed at his hotel, and had been 'robbed of a large sum. ‘There were evidences of a struggle; my cloak, belt and a weapon were found in the room, and feeling hatred for my former captain, I was accused of the murder, and you were sent here to arrest me, that I might be taken back and in the heat of bitterness against me, tried and hanged. ‘‘T have been saved by Madcap Madge, and now you tell me she has once more rescued me?” ** Yes; and to-day she left the cruiser, when we went into the cove, for you to see your sister, and, as you know, was absent until just before the storm broke.” ** Yes, I remember, and that you dreaded that she would not return to pilot you to sea, as she had promised.” ‘* Well, it seems that she went to her home up the coast, and ordered her father’s slcop, the Blue Bell, to come to this island and await our coming, and she has informed me that she will take you on the sloop with her, and leave one of the crew to pilot us out to sea to-morrow.” ‘She is a strange girl; but does she go in the sloop to-night?” oes, and the craft lies not far away, so, when you are ready, I will have the men lower you into the sloop’s boat.” ‘“*T am ready now; but I hate to take my liberty in this WARS though I hope, by being free, to prove that I am not guilty. “For your sake, Brandon, I am glad that you get free, though of course it is my duty to cap- ture you again if you cross my path, so I advise you to find some hiding-place where you will be secure. ‘** As it is, I can do nothing more than release you, as I promised Madcap Madge I would do, so you are at liberty now, and I do hope some day you will prove your innocence, for I have always liked you, since we were middies tc- gether, and it pained me to see your sister suffer when she came on board to say good-by to you ee Farswell, Brandon, and Heaven have mercy upon you.” ‘*Good-by, Maynard, and accept my thanks for your kind treatment of me.” Thus the two officers parted, for soon after Noel Brandon, the wounded officer, was trans- ferred tothe Blue Bell, the little sloop belongin to the father of Madcap Madge Vernon, the Gir Pilot of the Kennebec. CHAPTER ITI. THE SIREN’S STORY. A COTTAGE home on the rugged coast of Maine, and standing in the entrance to a vale that Jooked out far and wide upon the sea, the river and hill-lands, A neatly-built, well-furnished place, with flower-beds in front, a Yo dr egge garden in the rear, a small barn in which were two rough- looking, hardy ponies, and overshadowing all, cliffs and heavy pine forests, with far below a small haven, a basin, in which were several boats visible. An old negro driving up a cow from the low- lands, an old negress seated, pipe in mouth, upon the steps of the little porch of the cottage, en- gaged in knitting, and a man standing upon a cliff overhanging thesmall harbor and watching the approach of a skiff containing three persons. This was the home of Madge, the Kennebec Pilot, and here she had dwelt from her earliest girlhood, coming, with her father and the two old negroes from the South, it was said, and settling there on the Maine coast to pass their days. Sicipper Vernon, the father of Madge, had had built a trim sloop and had turned coaster, run- ning cargoes to Portland, Boston and other ports, and this was all that was known of him, though, as he appeared to possess ample means strange rumors floated around that his vesse was more of a smuggler than a trader. It was Skipper Vernon that stood upon the cliff, watching the approaching skiff. | He was a tall man, upright as an Indian, his face was darkly bronzed, his features clean cut and he had the look of one who had been reared in a life of refinement. He was attired in an undress naval uniform, with no insignia of rank, however, and his face was stern, and at times sorrowful. ‘It is certainly Madge, and I recognize Mel- mer, my mate, and that queer fellow Silly Sam; but where is the Blue Bell? ‘* Something has happened without doubt, but I am glad to see my child return. ‘* | will meet her at the shore.” So saying Skipper Vernon walked down to the sandy shore of the little harbor, and as he reached there Madge Vernon, the Girl Pilot, sprung from the skiff and affectionately greeted im. ‘‘Well, Madge, I am delighted to see you back; but what has happened that you return in a skiff, and neither the Blue Bell, or your little sloop, or the Madcap, are here in the har- bor?” ‘Tt is a long story, father,and when we reach JOO (ECON MIKE gs) - : ; ‘4 . (ele) | ] . <<