Beadle's Dime Library No. 388: The Giant Buccaneer — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

s.= - _~ - a ee oe ee —— horde of savages, tattooed, disfigured by scar's, and in all the splendor of barbarian warriors. Armed with their rude weapons they cross the deck, howling like demons, and behold the com- panionway with the hole cut therein. Then one who appears a leader calls out in broken English: ** Who is there?” In a man’s voice the answer comes: ‘There are but three of us, myself, my wife and child, and my vessel was seized by muti- neers, and when wrecked they went into the sea.” The savage seemed to get an inkling of the situation, and interpreted it to his wild com- panions, who gave a grunt of approbation that all had not gone overboard. Seizing his ax, the man within again resumed his cutting, and soon had a space broken through. Handing the ax to the savage, he bade him knock off the fastenings, anda moment after the gang rushed into the cabin. ‘ There stood a man of fine physique, with a face that was attractive, and yet hardly sincere, Behind him was a woman, crouching upon the floor, and in her arms she clasped a boy of five years, as though to shield him from harm. The woman was young, strangely so for the mother of such a boy; her form was perfectly molded, and her face one of rare beauty, in spite of the white look of terror then resting upon it. “ Kill us altogether,” she pleaded, in anxious tones, looking up in the faces of the warriors as they gazed upon the little group. **No kill, keep for friend,” said the English- speaking savage, and again he talked in his own tongue to his comrades, who gave a grunt of assent. Then the three persons thus found were taken to the island in the canoes of the savages, and found themselves the inmates of a thatched hut where the man and woman well realized, anc with horror, what their lives would be among that wild people. Stripping the brig of what it held, the savages brought their booty ashore, and to curry favor with their master, the chief, both the man and the woman fitted up his hut as best they could, showed him and the others the uses of many things, and made themselves so useful that the felt that they would at least net be treated wit cruelty by their captors. But what could even kindness be in such cap- tivity, to those who had been nurtured amid comfort and refinement? Alas! it could be for them but a living death, and that they soon discovered, for to enhance the beauty of the woman in their eyes, her face, arms and neck were tattooed with strange de- vices in black, blue and red dyes, and the man and the httle boy were forced to have pricked into their flesh, over their hearts, emblems which would last through their lives, Thus, upon the shipwrecked trio fell wretched- ness, sorrow and despair. CHAPTER IV. OUT OF BONDAGE WORSE THAN DEATH. SEVERAL years have passed away since the brig was driven a wreck upon that island in the South Seas and the three who survived the storm became the slaves of the savages who dwelt there. ayn The sun was setting in the cloudless west, while from the east were rising dark clouds that threatened to break in fury upon the sea and land. Afar off from the shore, more than a league, lay a stately ship becalmed, for not a ripple was upon the waters, not a breath was in the air, She had Jain there for hours, like ** A painted ship Upon a painted ocean.” her hull, spars, rigging and sails hanging in fes- toons, revealed in t 6 waters beneath her. Along the shores, hiding in the brush and among the rocks, scores of savages had watched her, hoping that she, too, would drive helpless upon their island. In the crevice of the rocks crouched a man also watching her. He had been there for hours, and hiseyes were bent upon the distant vessel. He was not a native of the island, that was evident; nor a savage, though his face was darkly bronzed, and he wore simply the tunie of feathers about his waist which was the dress of the barbarians, his body, arms and legs being re, Upon his left breast was tattooed a sable bird on witht. and in its claws it clutched a snake of crimson. Otherwise the man was not disfigured by tat- ooing. ) His hair was long and matted, and his face wore an anxious, haggard look. Suddenly, as the sun went down, he muttered: **T will try it. for death cannot be worse than what J now suffer, “Tf T reach the ship I will tell them that I am the only captive for I cannot take her back with me. The Giant Buccaneer. 3 **'No, no, I cannot do that, all disfigured as | he told them of his mother in cruel captivity, she now is. ** T will let her remain here with her boy, until death relieves them of their misery, while I, with the jewels I have found among these say- ages, and which they have taken from wrecked vessels, yet value not, will begin life anew. ‘* But I wish that I had the gems she has, yet, if I went for them, I might be seen to come back here, and with the ship off yonder I would cer- tainly be watched. ‘“*T will go alone, and forget both my wife and child.” So saying he slipped cautiously down to the water’s edge, and, as it was now twilight, he was not seen by those still watching the ship. Entering the water, he swam noiselessly out from the shore, his eyes upon the ship’s light. His long stay among the islanders, who swam like ducks, had made him an expert as a swim- mer, and his swift strong strokes sent him rapid- ly on. Still the calm rested upon the waters, but the storm was rising, and ere he reached her, the good vessel might dart away. So he bent every nerve to his work, and drew nearer and nearer the vessel. Nearer and nearer too drew the storm. ‘*Oh, God! should I fail to reach her! for I have begun to love life now,” he groaned. But on he pressed, harder and harder, swifter and swifter, and soon was but a hundred yards away. But just then the first ripple of the breeze, the precursor of the coming storm, reached the ves- sel, and she began to move. ‘**Sbip ahoy! ship ahoy!” he shrieked. But on the good craft moved, her masts strip- ped to meet the storm. ** Ahoy! good ship, ahoy! don’t leave me for the love of God! ‘* Ahoy! ahoy!” Wildly his voice rung out over the waters, and the crew heard it, and an answer came: ‘* Ahoy! who hails, and from where?” ‘ Here in the sea; I am swimming out to ou.’ ‘““ Ay, ay, we'll luff up and take you on board, my man.” ** Cheer up, for rescue is near!” cried a manly voice, and in five minutes more the bold swim- mer, but cowardly deserter of his wife and child, was drawn on deck, while the good ship went flying along before the gale, with the pow- er to help those whom he had cruelly left to their fate, yet not one word coming from him to tell those who had rescued him that he had left a wife and child among cruel savages, while he had freed himself of a bondage worse than death. CHAPTER V. THE WOMAN WRECKER. tk: On, God, is it to be ever my doom to suffer thus?” The words broke in a wail from a woman’s lips, as she struggled through the wild surf to the shore, a shattered boat, which she had just sprung from, being also dashed upon the sands. It was in the afternoon, and the sunlight fell upon a woman whose face was marred by pecu- liar and strange devices tattooed over every particle of skin visible, neck and hands being also disfigured thereby. She was plainly dressed in a robe, the wet folds of which clung about her, displaying a form of graceful outline. Her face had once been beautiful, but the tat- tooing, with the stamp of long years of suffer- ing, had made her stern, and gave her a look of adamantine coldness, ‘* Safe—yes,” she muttered. ‘‘ I am safe, while those whom I| paid well to carry me across to New Orleans have gone to the bottom. ‘*Superstitious fools! because days of calm came, and then a storm, they plotted to throw me into the sea, calling me a witch, and had I not heard them and sprung into the boat astern and cut it loose, they would have carried out their hellish design. “ And here, after hours of danger, I am cast upon this dreary island. ‘“Oh, God! what have I not suffered the last fifteen years! “For him, ery fo raaclly Jeyed, to desert me and myc at night, long years ago, and swim on to that gallant vessel, nearly Broke my heart. ‘* saw him, though others did not; but I be- lieved that he would return and rescue me and our , 44 kta With the jewels he had with him, his coward heart made him desert the poor tat- tooed wife and his child, and yet some day I will find him, and then I will carry out the oath I made that night of my escape from the South Sea Island, where I knew so much of anguish. “When he left me, as he did, my heart was almost broken; and then, when these savages went to attack a neighboring island and carried my boy with them, and the canoe that he was A eee a aaa but the cowards would not come to rescue me, ** Yes, that was it, I know. ** Well, revenge kept me alive long years, and revenge made me swim many miles to board the trading-craft that at last bore me away from cruel bondage, ** Oh, that I could find my boy! ** Oh, that I could find that man! ** But my search bas been in vain, and in the old home where we lived, none knew me, and all looked in horror upon me, until I have beccmea wanderer upon God’s green earth and blue aap searching for the one I love, the one I ate. ‘** And here I am, again cast ashore, ‘**Oh, Heaven! have you no mercy upon me? ‘*Must I ever suffer the anguish that now racks my brain and fills my heart and soul!” And the poor woman dropped upon her knees in the sand, and raised her clasped hends toward the skies, now tinted with the rosy hues cast by the sinking sun. For a long time she remained thus, as though in prayer, and then she arose and began to slow- ly walk over the island. It was many acres in size, with the land form- ing a cliff upon three sides, and upon the fourth lowlands. Pine and scrub-oak trees grew here and there in thickets, vales intersected the interior, and a wall of foam, only here and there broken by an inlet, showed that a reef ran around the island. Upon one side was a small cove, and extend- ing up from it, a ravine with precipitous sides. lerein stood a small cabin, ance the home of wreckers, evidently, for in it were stores and booty, though no trace of a human being having been there for a long time. The stale food she eagerly devoured, and then once more continued her tour of inspection. Upon one point, bolcer than the other parts of soa island, was a niche cut into the side of the cliff. Up to this, by steps water-worn and cut in the precipitous sides, she went, and there found an old Jantern. It was so arranged with looking-glasses at dif- ferent angles, as to at once tell her thatit had been a beacon, without a doubt a false one. Off from the cliff was a ragged reef that must wreck any craft driving upon it, and the shere at her feet was low and shelving, to catch any debris cast upon it, ** Well, I shall not starve here, and if Tcannot bring a vessel to my rescue, I shall become merciless, and, with the false beacon, lure them on to their ruin, as many a good craft has ccme before them. ‘** Ah! I see bones yonder in plenty, and others in the ravine, “There has been a carnival of death on this island at some time, and if I have to remain here, then Heaven have mercy on those that have to deal with me, for I am beginning to hate my fellow-beings.” As the sun touched the horizon the desolate, wretched, life-marred woman wended her way back to the ravine. She found quarters in the hut, and plenty of food, such as it was, : . Worn out at last she sought rest, to awake with the rising sun, Thus days passed, and she could do nothing bat watch, wait and hope. . But no gallant ship came near the island to rescue her. Now and then afar off she caught the glimpse of a sail, and then it would slowly disappear from view. Darker and darker grew her brow, colder and harder grew her face, and at last she muttered, after long weeks of watching and waiting: ‘*I am desperate now, and must soon have ‘* As no vessel will come by day, I swear they shall by night.” ‘‘Heaven forgive me for what I do, but I am driven to despair.” Hastily she sought the beacon in the cliff, The glasses were brightened and rearranged, the lanterns cleaned and filled with oi! found in the hut, and when darkness came on the beacon sent its baleful glare out over the waters. But nights passed away and no vessel appear- ed to trust in the fatal light, and the woman was growing more desperate, for her food would last but a week longer. 7 Then a season of storms set in, and days and nights of tempest followed, lashing the sea into fury, causing the waves to break with roars like thunder upon the reef, and the island to rock almost under the heavy fall of the waters upon its sands, Eagerly the woman watched, attending her false beacon by night and sleeping by day, One night, over the black waters came a flash, and the deep boom of a gun followed. ‘* Tt is a vessel, and in distress,” fairly shrieked the Woman Wrecker. Then again came the flash and heavy boom, * She is driving right upon the reef. ‘* Ha! she is dismasted,” she cried, as another in was picked up by a trading-vessel, I almost | flash showed a wreck driving rapidly upon the “ But the boy did not desert me, I know, for | 4 , oe ~ 9 reef. ‘*Now I shall have inmicboc 1 men o)(oxe) Cc eom ie iS)