Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 369 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

~ 6 Satan’s bellows, I'd have no fear with your pretty face on deck.” eae the captain warmly grasped the maiden’s hand. “Then I’m not to be put ashore for want of room, captain?” ‘*Not you, for we are not crowded; in fact, travei is awful light just now; but if we were full, ’'d give up my state-room to you every time. “This is my new schooner, Miss Madge, the largest Kennebec craft afloat, being three hun- dred tons, and has the finest cabin and state- rooms to be found, and you get the best, the bridal state-room, though you hain’t on your wedding-trip; but I hope to carry you and your husband some day. ‘*Come right below and the stewardess will look after your comfort, and the steward will get Aik some supper.” ‘** lve had supper, thank you, Captain West,” and Madge went below and'was ushered into the really sumptuous state-room to which the gallant old sailor assigned her. ** Isn’t she a beauty, Miss Madge?” ‘* She is indeed: but I did not know you had a new vessel, and was surprised to see her coming to pick us up. ‘* She is a good sailor too.” ‘Indeed yes, and can show her heels to any craft in these waters, unless it be your Blue Bell, Miss Madge, and she’s a witch to sail, for fast as was my old craft, she’d run me hull down in a few hours, as I’ve often had your father do; but, Miss Madge, I call her the Queen o’ the Kennebec, as you have been sometimes called,” *““A good name, captain, I am sure, and I wish her every success; but I must go on deck and see how she sails.” ‘**Certain! come right along and if there’s any passengers you want to know, [ll introduce ou. **No, thank you, I do not care to know any one.” ‘Then make yourself at home, and if you wish to take the wheel do so, for you are same as captain on my craft, as I hain’t forgot how one stormy night, when I couldn’t get into har- bor, you came out and run me in, and Lord _ bless you, my child, Davy Jones would have got- ten the schooner and all of us then if you hadn’t done as you did.” “That was little to do, captain,and you'd have been all right if your pilot hadn’t been too ill to take the wheel,” **’Yes, he was sick, and I didn’t dare trust my self in such a night to runin; but you did itand God bless you for it; but who is the seaman with you?” ‘The mate of the Blue Bell, and Silly Sam.” “Ts he with you too?” ‘Yes, for my father has taken him into his service, and I will tell you a secret.” “Yes, youcan trust me; but I do hope you hain’t going to marry that durned fool, for folks says he loves you as a rat does cheese.” Madge blushed and laughed, while she an- swered: ** No indeed, I do not intend to marry, cap- tain; but poor Sam is not the fool people call him, and he has a good heart.” “No doubt, and I like him, only not as your husband. ‘‘ Why if I jane gh you’d look at him I’d shine up to you myself, for I’ve got a snug home in the village, though it’s rented since my wife died, I’ve got two schooners, a daughter who is a-teachin’ school, and having been mar- ried onst myself, I knows something of how to treat a wife, so you has it pat, Miss Madge, that I’m willing any time you say the word.” “T thank you for the honor done me, captain ; but I have never thought of matrimony, and now I wish to pay you that passage money, and tell you that secret!” ‘* Ah, yes, you were going to tell me a secret and I told you mine, that I loved you; but you, don’t pay no passage money on this schooner and the two men can lend a hand, and so it will be nothing for them. ‘* But you didn’t tell me the secret.” ‘* No, how forgetful of me; but I will do so now, and it is that 1 am going to Boston in search of my little sloop, Madcap, which was cut out from har anchorage the other night, and taken there.” *“ Ah! and you are going after her?” **’Yes, and the two men, Sam and Melmer, are to aid me.” **] see; but call on me if I can serve you, Miss Ma dge. ” ** Tl not forget your kind offer, should I need other aid, Captain West; but is that not a sail yonder, just coming around the island?’ ‘* Tt is, and she goes along like a race-horse. **These are dangerous times, Miss Madge, and we must keep our eyes open, so I'll get my —_ and take a better look at the craft,” and the hon- est old captain walked away, while Silly Sam, The Coast Corsair. ture on the packet schooner, for at a glance, her keen eyes saw through the darkness what the somewhat eye-dimmed vision of Captain Ike had failed to discern, viz.: that the strange sail was a sloop, anda much smaller vessel than was the Queen of the Kennebec. ‘*Sam, do you know where my father went this afternoon?” she asked, dismissing the sail al- together. ‘* No, Miss Madge, I do not.” ‘“He left home, and gave out that he might not return in time to see me leave,and he did not get back. ‘* Now, father has been up country, on the business that usually takes him there several times a year, whatever that is, and I can see no reason for his leaving home as he did to-day,and with the evident intention of remaining away some time. , ** He did not go gunning, for bis guns were at home, and he: could not have gone off fishing just at that time. ‘*'We have ample stores at home, and so he need not have gone tothe village, and he did not, for he went down the coast, now I think of ‘* T didn’t see him in the town, Miss Madge.” “IT cannot exactly understand it, Sam; but here comes Captain West, and he is anxious about yonder sail.” The captain just then came up with his spy- glass and turned it upon the distant sail, while he said; “Now, Miss Madge, we’llknow just what that fellow is, and I see he is on a course to be near us when we get our offing and head for Boston.” ‘Yes, Captain West, he holds on the course that you will take, and it is a sloop.” ‘*Ah! have your pretty eyes discovered that already ?” “Yes, sir.” The captain turned his glass upon the stranger at once, while Sam and Madge quietly awaited for him to speak. The schooner was dashing along under an eight-knot breeze, and in half an hour more she would gain an offing where, with the wind from where it then was, she could point for port. The new vessel was stanch, comfortable, a fast sailer, and won the admiration of Madge as she watched her. ‘*Miss Madge?” ‘Captain West.” ‘** That is a sloop.” ‘** So I said, sir.” ‘‘A very trim-looking craft, and she bowls along at a merry pace for the wind she has.” ‘¢ She seems to sail well, though it is too dark to see much about her.” ‘*Miss Madge, yonder craft is the image of your father’s sloop.” ‘* The Blue Bell?’ ‘Yes, Miss Madge, it is the Blue Bell, so that we have nothing to fear.” ‘* Tt is not the Blue Bell, captain.” ‘* There you are wrong, Miss Madge.” "> NO, Sir.” ‘‘Take the glass and see for yourself, for I have sailed too often in company with the pretty Blue Bell not to know her.” ‘* Still I say it is not the Blue Bell.” ‘*Did you leave the Bell in the harbor, Miss Madge?” ‘*Captain West, the Blue Bell was wrecked last night, in the storm, and Sam and I had a stru le for life, for we were on board of her.” o! ‘** It is true, sir.” ‘** But look at yonder craft.” db Oy GET”. ** And it is not the Blce Bell?” ** No, sir.” ‘Then, by the beard of Neptune, it is her ghost,” cried the old sailor, earnestly. ae took the glass and gave a long look through it. ‘“ Well, Miss Madge?” ‘‘Tt is enough like the Blue Bell to be her ghost.” _ Sam then took the glass and gazed through t. ‘** Tt looks like her, Miss Madge.” ‘“ Why, it’s the counterpart of the Blue Bell, and I don’t like the idea of sailing in company with a spor craft, Miss Madge,” and the old sailor spoke in a whisper. ‘* Do you believe in such things, captain?” ‘*Certainly I do, miss, and what sailor don’t?” Madge made no reply, but told Sam to tell Melmer to come to her. The mate soon arrived and the maiden said: ‘*Melmer, take this glass and tell me if you know yonder sloop.” og took a hasty glance and then said, quickly: ‘* It’s the Blue Bell, miss; but no, that cannot be, for she went to pieces last night. ‘Ah! it’s the—”’ But Melmer suddenly stop- eee Oe eee prise me to see her sail by us with a dead man or a spirit at her helm.” Ve will soon see just what she is, Captain West, for she looks as though she intended to keep us company.” ‘* No, Miss Madge, Pll run back into port for I would not hold the wheel with yoncer spook craft keeping company with us, and this the first voyage of the Kennebec Queen, too,” ‘Why, captain, you take it too deeply to heart, for though there isa remarkable resem- blance between yonder sloop and my father’s Blue Bell, yet there are numbers of vessels that a9 resemble each other.” ‘*Miss Madge, I know the Blue Bell well and my glass isa strong one, and I got a good light upon yonder craft, and man don’t make two vessels so alike as she is and your sloop— why see, the very marks in her sails are the same,” and the old sailor turned his glass again upon the strange sail, which was now not more "a a quarter of a mile distant, sailing dead before the wind, while the Kennebec Gosen had the breeze upon her port. ‘¢'You are right, sir, and it is a coincidence.” ‘Yes, and I tell you I don’t like it, and I see my crew are getting nervous about it, and my helmsman will leave the wheel, if I don’t put back.” ‘‘ Permit me to take the wheel, captain.” “Tt’s death to the man at the wheel, Miss Madge, to cruise in company with a spook craft.” ‘‘Tl’'m not a man, however, so [ll take my chances.” This reasoning the old captain did not gain- say, and Madge stepped to the wheel, while Silly Sam caid: ‘* Miss Madge, you don’t believe in spooks and shadow ships, but I do.” ‘*T have never seen a spirit craft or a spook, Sam, and until I do, I cannot believe in such things,” was the quiet reply, as Madge took the wheel, to the great delight of the helmsman whose turn it had been. ‘*T ouess we better put back into the river, miss, for I don’t like the looks of yonder craft,’ said Melmer, in a low tone to Madge. ‘*Melmer, what is yonder craft?” she asked, quickly. ‘*T don’t know, miss.” ‘*T believe you know more than you will tell, for I saw you seemed surprised and anxious awhile ago.” ‘* Tt isn’t the Blue Bell, 1 know, miss.” - ; ag you believe it to be the ghost of the Blue e ‘Y **T do not know what to believe, miss.” Madge looked fixedly at the man, for she seemed to read intuitively that he knew some- thing about the strange craft which he would not reveal, and it annoyed her. Just then a man came hastily upon deck and glanced around him. Iie was a shrewd-faced man of middle age, and a passenger on board having gotten on the schooner at an up-river town where he was a merchant. ‘* What is it I hear, that a pirate is in chase of us?” he said, eagerly. ‘No pirate is in chase, sir, and only a small sloop is near us,” answered Melmer. ‘“What is the girl doing at the wheel?’ he continued. ‘The captain allows her there, sir,” Sam re- marked, ‘“*T shall not bring my merchandise again upon a craft that takes the chances of letting a girl have control.” “Why, you land-lubber, she knows more about a craft than I do myself—for that’s Mad- cap Madge, the Girl Pilot 0’ the Kennebec,” said Captain est, just then coming aft. “Madcap Madge! I have heard of her,” and the man turned away, but resumed: “T’d rather you'd take the wheel, captain.” ‘*T}]1 do nothing of the kind, sir; but ‘drather you’d go below and mind your own business.” ‘Tt is my business to know if it was a pirate, for, as you know, I have a valuable cargo on board, and—” here he whispered to the captain, ‘‘a great deal of money.” “ Well, yonder craft don’t want your goods or your money, for it’s a spirit sloop, the ghost o” the Blue Bell, lost last night in the storm.” The man started and turned pale, while he muttered: ‘The Blue Bell?” te Yes.” ey, he turned to Captain West and asked : ‘You say she was lost last night in the storm?” ‘*She was.” ‘* Who was her skipper?” . ‘Captain Nick Vernon, the father o’ this © leddy.” ‘* Ah! and was he lost?’ eagerly asked the man. ‘* No, and hain’t likely to be in these waters,” i lll, sss sss sss sess Oe ee ~ - ct ay at a call from Madge, came to her side, ‘* The what?’ The man glanced at Madge, muttered some- : ‘I don’t know, miss.” thing that was inaudible and hastily went below, at . CHAPTER VIII. ‘*’You were going to say it was some vessel.” , just as Madge said: . , 3 THE MYSTERIOUS SLOOP. ‘*T meant to say, miss, it’s the ghost of the ‘*Stand by to let her sails swing, for we will -|* Tey WueENn Madge called Silly Sam to her side, it | Blue Bell.” ' now head for Boston, and get the wind dead “4 was to havea with him regarding the dis- **So Captain West says.” aft.” | appearance of her father, just before her depar- ‘Right, I do, my man, and it would not sur- ‘* All ready, miss!” called out Captain West, foe ad a“ f Ba Spe er aR EOmMmichboo i. 2 i *