Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 369 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

-_—-— The Coast Corsair. SS eee ‘You must not deal in enigmas with | Still, what she had seen herself she could me.” not doubt, and if the strange sloop, the ‘‘Nor do J, for I repeat, you searched this | double of the Blue Bell, had been in the cabin diligently and found nothing, and why you have come back here now I cannot | ly had been the same band that had boarded tell,”’ ‘‘Old man, your mind is wandering.” but do you think, Jasper Clyde, that I did not know you the night you came here, masked though you were, demanded money, and then left me for dead while you searched this place for gold?” ‘It is a lie! | never was “‘ You were.” ‘*T did not know where you were.” ‘How did you find me out now?” ‘‘T traced you here, after hearing in the village that one answering your description lived here.” ‘“You traced me then, but were foiled, and now you have come back again, to be again foiled.” ‘*Old man, I must have gold.” a ‘‘Would you try again to take my life, if I refused?” ‘* Nol” ‘Bah! you would; and you would have killed me then, had it not been that one found me who saved my life, and God for- ever bless her.” ‘“A woman?” ‘A child woman.” ‘‘ Who is she?” ‘“Qne whom your very look would pol- lute.” ‘‘Her name?” ‘‘Men call her Madcap Madge.” ‘‘Ha! the Siren of the Sea and Queen of the Kennebec, as she is also called.”’ ‘‘ You know of her, so you are not such a stranger in these parts after all.” ‘‘T have heard of her as a desperate, dar- ing girl.” ‘She is an angel.” ‘‘You seem in love with her.” “1 am, as with a daughter who had been ever dutiful and kind.” ‘“Woll, let the girl rest and tell me where IT can get gold.” ‘‘T have none for you.” ‘You know where I can get it.” ‘¢ Earn it.” “‘T cannot work, for you brought me up to be a pirate.” The old Hermit Sailor winced at this and muttered: ‘* Alas, too true.” ‘‘As you made me a pirate, support me.” ‘‘T have no gold to give to you.” ‘‘Come, I need a vessel, and I cannot get one on credit. ‘(Give me enough to purchase a suitable craft, fit her out and man her, and I will never cross your path again.” ‘T will give you no gold for I have none for you.” ‘What has the famous pirate of forty years ago, known as Clyde the Corsair, done with his vast treasures?” sneered the young- er man. é ‘Oh, Heaven have mercy upon me! ‘Bah! don’t pray, for prayers from a pirate’s lips ascend to Heaven as curses. ‘‘Boy, I have tried all these latter years to repent of the past.” ‘A thousand years of penitence, fasting and prayer could never wash out your crimes, old man, ‘But come, give me gold, or I swear to you I will force you to do ¢o.” ‘You cannot.” ‘‘T will show you,” and without another word he threw his cloak about him, pulled his tarpaulin over his eyes, and strode out into the stormy night, leaving the old man utterly amazed at his strange conduct. here before,”’ CHAPTER XXXVI. THE MIDNIGHT MARAUDER. Since the discovery that Madge had made, that her father was certainly in league with a secret band, and to which Gaspard and his two unfortunate mutineer companions be- longed, she felt a certain restraint she could not throw off when the Skipper Vernon was near her. What the secret league was she could not surmise, and yet that the stories about her dearly loved father had been other than false- hoods, she never had for a moment doubted. the Queen of the Kennebec, taken Job Jen- _nings off with his merchandise and hanged ‘It igs strange that it is not wholly crazed; | him. Was this not worse than smuggling? Was it not piracy? Such were the ques- tions she asked herself: Fretting about it and miserable after the departure of Joyce Brandon, Madge seemed ° feel that the world was going wrong with ier. Then too she had another worry, and that was the devoted attentions of Silly Sam. She treated him as though he was her brother, and he wished her to consider he was her lover. He asked her to be his wife, and she re- plied that she would not marry him because she could not love him as a wife should. Then he told her she should never marry any other man, Thus matters were when the news came that the schooner Moonbeam had not arrived in port. Joyce had promised to write Madge as soon as she arrived in Boston, and no letter had come, and, remembering the terrible storm that the schooner had encountered the night she sailed, with little confidence in the skill of the Mate Talbot, and not knowing the captain, the girl dreaded the worst, especial- ly as the vessel had had far more than time to reach port. But days went by and no word came of the missing vessel, and Madge was giving her up as lost, foundered in the storm of that night, when into view hove the Queen of the Kennebec. She had a signal flying, and Madge sprung into her skiff and went out to meet her. Captain West was at the helm, and he luf- fed up as she came near and asked her to board. ‘*Miss Madge, I’ve met a pirate.” ee No!” cé Yes.” ** When, captain?” ‘“Some days ago.” ** Where?’ ‘Off the Isle of Shoals on the Hampshire coast.” ‘* Indeed!” “Yes, it’s true as Scripture,and I was rob- bed of my cargo, and all my passengers had to shell out.”’ ‘Why, captain!” ‘* Fact.” ‘But could you not beat him off?” ‘* Miss Madge, I couldn’t beat him sailin’, let alone beat him off. ‘‘He just walked after mein a way the Queen couldn't understand, and robbed me of my cargo, sol put back to Boston, and this time | dien’t see him.” ‘This is strange, Captain West.” ‘“‘'There’s something that is stranger.” “Well?” ‘Who do you think the pirates were?” ‘“‘T am sure | do not know.” ‘*Didn’t you pilot the Brandon schooner out to sea?” ‘* The Moonbeam?” ec Yes. LP ‘That are the craft.” “And Joyce and her parents?” cried Madge, turning deadly pale. ‘* He has ’em, I guess.” ic Who?” “The pirate.” **Oh, God!” ‘Well, it is kinder hard; but I always knew he were a devil.”’ ‘* Who is he?” ‘One you knows too, I guess.” ‘His name?” ‘“‘He were a Kennebec boy, and it hurts me to see a boy out o’ these waters go to the | bad.” ‘* But will you tell me who he is?” ‘“* Darke Darrell !” Madge uttered a cry that made the old cap- tain nearly jump overboard. ‘*Are you ailin’, miss?” ‘*Captain West, now I know why the cap- tain of that schooner went below when he saw me coming out, and told a lie about being hurt. i island basin, where the band were, it certain. | nO ‘* It was Darke Darrell, and I recall his face and form now. though I saw him indis- tinctly that day. ‘‘Ah! but the day of his retribution will come, for he shall not escape.” ‘* But what can you do, Miss Madge?” ‘What any man can do when I am doing right!” she said fiercely, and then added: ‘‘ Where is your other schooner, Captain West?” ‘*In Boston.” ‘* Well, when you return lay to here for me, and I will go with you to Boston, and if I cannot find a vessel there such as I want, I will buy your schooner.” ‘*Lord! the gal has clean gone mad,” said the old sailor. ‘‘] am not mad; I mean what I say, that I will buy your schooner, and pay you well for it, and in cash, for, with a different rig and some changes, she can be made to go so that no vessel in these seas can lead her, for I saw that when I sailed her for you. *‘ But now I must go, for I wish to talk with my father. ‘*Be sure to firea gun to warn me as you come down, and I may have other passengers for you,” and springing into her boat Madge pulled shoreward at a pace that astonished all on the schooner, and caused the old cap- tain to say: “That girl has got more muscle in her pretty round arms than I ever knowed a man to have; oh! but she’s a queer one.” Running into the harbor, Madge sent the skiff half its length out upon the shore, and then hastened up the hill to the cottage. Her father had just come in from the forest, his gun on his shoulder, and astring of game hung by his side. He was surprised at her flushed, excited face, but he also lost his usually calm mien when he heard the story she had to tell. “Now, father, what have you to say to this?” she asked, eagerly. ‘* My child, I have to say that this Darrell shall be run to death, for | shall devote my- self to the task of taking that lovely girl from his cruel power, and avenging her iP} he has in any way harmed her ” ‘‘My good father, it is noble of you to say this; but I had already determined to go to Boston and purchase a vessel, and I asked Captain West to stop for me on his outward trip, and he will do so. ‘“ There is a secret that I did not tell you, and that is, when Nov! Brandon was wound- ed, he sent to me by the constable a package to keep for him. ‘*It was a package of bank-notes, and they are in value twelve thousand dollars, and his sum I intended to purchase a vessel with, spending it in a good cause, while I have some money laid by, and jewels if I need more.”’ ‘“My dear child, keep the package of money intact, and your jewels, too, for I have sufficient to buy a vessel; but my first plan is to find out the haunt of this pirate, and that I feel 1 am competent to do, and I will start this night in your sloop. “You, Sam and Melmer, can take the packet, as before, to Boston, and look up a vessel there, and I will give you an order for money needed on bankers there. ‘“‘T suppose the Scorpion is already on the search for this pirate, Darrell; but if so, present a letter 1 will give you to parties there, and you can obtain an armament for your vessel. “If you cannot get any cther vessel to suit, then buy the Kennebec Queen at what- ever price old West holds her. ‘‘ Having made your purchase, let Melmer ship you a crew, say of forty men, and set sail for home, and I hope to have in the mean while discovered the haunt of the Corsair,” and then woe be untohim!” That night Skipper Vernon started upon his search, unmindful of the rain that came on, and he went alone in the little sloop. Melmer had gone u stores, and would hardly return in the rain, and Silly Sam, brooding over bis unrequited love, had gone to bed to nurse his gloomy feelings. Until utterly worn out with planning, Madge had kept awake, and then she had dropped to sleep on the sofa, the nt soothing her as it pattered upon the roof, hs have a lotting and o(oKo) G S) com to the village after — ‘ con a