Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 393 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

— as bs - - . of a F we ~~ “t ? . - ieee Ws dered him to beat to quarters, at the same time nas his eyes upon his enemy. “He means to fight us, and we'll make him regret his rashness,” he said to his officers. ** Who can he be?” he asked, as the vessel drew 25 had at once determined to try conclusions with the ghost, or whatever it was, and though he met one strangely near his match, he had, in the end, proven the victor. When he was rested, and again gazed into near. the face of the man who lay prone upon the ‘*T cannot understand his being in that bay, ground the moonlight shining full upon him, and flying that flag. | he saw that he was alive, and so he hastened ‘*Tf he was an American I would not wonder | to bear him away to the schooner. at it but he has pulled down bis flag.” Placing him in his boat he soon rowed out to ‘‘There goes another, sir, in its place,” cried | the little vessel in the chasm, and getting on | an officer, | board entered the cabin. Captain Caspar seized his glass, for the new He quickly placed the wounded man upona flag had a disagreeable look to him. | sofa, and began to look to his wounds and dress ‘Itis a red field, and a black gallows upon | them. | it—he knows me,” he said, hastily. | But it seemed that the brain of the man was The two vessels were now about half a mile wandering, as he came to his senses, and he apart ina straight line, but the Gold Queen, to | spoke of scenes of the past, rather than dwell | get out of the bay, had to pass between the upon the present. | Two Sentinels, as the entrance islands were As tenderly as a woman could have done, as called, skilfully as a surgeon, Congo dressed the wounds, for he had all on the yacht that was Convict Captain. . cruiser, and, playing the part he was just then, he did not care to have such a thing occur. So he learned from a fisherman where the cruiser was, and concluded to put back toward ¢ Cloudland Castle. ‘“‘Tf I can keep near the count, he can vouch for me as an old friend to any American uaval officer, and that will make me all right. ‘“* Now, that young Harvey has a good eye for 9 a face, as he recognized in me a perfect likeness to Captain Caspar, that is myself, and had it not been for the count’s guarantee, dead as he believed me to be, there would have been serious trouble. **T do not wish to fight just now, but wait until I can get a chance to marry that lovely girl, if she consents, and she does not seem to be other than most generous toward me, ‘‘ If she refuses, why then I shall simply kid- nap her, rob her father, as he deserves to be, of his gold as well as his daughter, and then set sail for other scenes. - - - ** With Queen for my wife, and her father’s money, I can afford to give up the life of a pirate, and she shall never know that I was other than I have represented myself.” So said the pirate to himself, and back toward Cloudland Castle he had his vessel headed. He saw the elegant home, as he drew nearer, sailing along the coast, and his powerful glass showed him the count and Queen seated on the settee near Overlook Arbor. But he was shut out by islands, from a com- plete view of the bay, and consequently he did not observe the Gold Queen on her way out to meet him. ‘‘T must soon get up to Isle Haut Bay, for there will be some news of Duluth, I suppose, ere long. . ‘**T feel that I placed a good spy on his track in that fellow Cordova, and if Duluth finds the yacht with the treasure, my man will soon make short work of him,” ~ Deluded man! He little dreamed how thor- oughly the tables had been turned upon his spy, through the confession of Elgin. ‘* If the treasure is found, then all is mine, and at hey this vessel over to Cordova to cruise in, and— ‘* Sail ho!” The cry startled Captain Caspar from his ‘musin A wicked man, he was also a bold one, His early life warped from good, he had quickly gone down-bill, until be became the worst of the bad. He was treacherous, cruel, soured, and vet he loved fame, such as it was, and delighted in making men trouble. He had good traits, but he smothered them. He acted ill from impulse, and when medita- ting over a wrong he had done, he did all in his power to make it worse. He had, as the reader knows, when a young man, given up the woman of his love to his brother. It was a noble act, for he saw that his brother loved her to idolatry, and so he acted for his happiness, ut brooding on it afterward he came to regret his act, and it made him hateful toward his fel- low-men. Going to sea, he had aided in a mutiny, and it did not take him long to command where he had ‘been subservient. He had revisited hishome years after, but all ‘were gone from there that he had known, and so he buried the wiped the faces of those he had loved off from the tablet of his heart, and gave himself up to crime. His meeting with his brother had been a eee one, and it had saved him from the gal- ows, He was amazed to know that he had never Soe baateca Conrad, Han om ae or § all, 7 laden unrequi ove under the wig <¢ _ £46 had learned, too, that his lady-love had “married Count Leon Delorme. : Count Leon Delorme he had met before, and hence he determined to use a secret he held against him to force him to obey his com- mands, He took his escape at his brother’s hands as a matter of course, and did not have a thought of him afterward, until he was recalled to him by Captain Duluth saying that he owed his escape from prison to Father Adolpho. Why his brother had aided Dulnth he could not guess, and he did not worry himself in try- - Ing to find out. So it was that Captain Caspar had turned back, after hearing of the presence of an Ameri- can vessel-of-war in his vicinity. He was Se haga of Queen when the cry from the maintop aroused him to action. ‘** Whereaway, my man— Ah! I see her, just coming out from beyond that Haunted Island. ** My glass, boy,” ’ A cabin-boy soon placed it in his hands, and the glass showed him that he had a foe fully his equal in strength, crew and guns. ‘“By Neptune! but .he flies the Cartagenian flag, and, with my Spanish ensign floating aloft, he will attack me asa foe.” . So saying he turned to his first officer and or- Toward this pass she was heading, and after being hidden a moment by Big Sentinel Island, | she came into full view, put her helm to the starboard, and came directly toward the pirate, | who had not swerved from her course, ‘* Now, Miss Delorme and her father will see what I do with my enemies,” said Captain Cas- par, in his usual vain manner; and he wasabout to order a shot thrown across the bow of the | Gold Queen, when that craft luffed suddenly | aud poured a broadside from her guns. It took the pirate by surprise, though he was | ready for action, for it showed that his enemy meant to fight in earnest. A piece of rigging was cut here, a sail torn | there, the deck was splintered by a shot, and a seaman had his head cut off—such was the re- sult on board of the schooner of Duluth’s fire. ** Luff, helmsman!—luff sharp, and give him our return compliments. ‘* At the guns, there! ** Fire!” The loud voice of the pirate run the waters, and his order was quickly obeyed, the schooner sending in a well-aimed shot upon the Gold Queen. The damage done was considerable; but Du- luth luffed steame and made his gunners pour in another fire, and this was more effective. The fight now had become general, for the two schooners were not very far apart and near- ing each other rapidly. Standing upon the cliff were Count Delorme and his daughter, watching the affair closely. Queen had suggested going to the mansion before the fight had begun, but the moment the cannon opened she become chained to the spot, as it were, and fascinated, looked on. She marked every move, noted the effect of every shot, and listened to the criticisms of her father most anxiously. ‘* By Heavens! but the craft of Duluth is get- ting the worst of it!” cried the count. It seems so, father; but how st e that we should stand here and see our friends thus engaged in deadly conflict!” P ‘ Sriends ?” ** Are they not such, sir?” _“* Ah, yes, so they are; but see! that broad- settles Duluth, and the pirates are boarding m. ‘* Pirates, sir?” ‘* Ab! yes, 1 mean the Spaniards; but see! there comes another vessel,” and Count Delorme inted down the coast to a sail that was com- ing rapidly toward the scene of conflict, every particle of canvas set that would draw. “Hark to that desperate fighting on the deck of the schooner! ‘* Tt is appalling,” cried Queen. ‘** Ay, it is music that I love to hear. ‘But see! I believe that Duluth is conquered, for down comes his flag. 7 Ay, listen to those cheers! they tell the story.” No, sir, the fight still pe be fiercely! see! they surge backward on the schooner’s deck!” ‘True! but it was a dyingeffort, and all ended now, my child, and Conrado is the victor.” ‘See, father! that is Henry Harvey’s vessel coming!” and Queen pointed to the strange sail. CBs Heaven, but you are right, child,” and behold! Conrado flies and leaves his prize! and as the count spoke the pirate vessel swung loose from her prize and crowded on canvas in rapid flight. Pre CHAPTER XXXVIII. BACK TO LIFE. WueEn Congo raised the shrouded form in his strong arms and bore him rapidly away from the scene of conflict, he did so because he had found that he was not dead, as he had supposed. The character of the African was a strange one. He was true as steel to a friend, or a mas- ter, and equally as true in carrying out his revenge, or a combat with a foe. : He had been surprised to find upon the isl- and a human being, one who looked indeed like a specter, for, what he had known of the place in the past, he was aware that all shunned it as | they did a spot that was accursed, With no atom of fear in his composition, he ee out over | ee needed for the purpose, and made the poor man most comfortable. ** Who is he?” This question Congo asked himself over and over again, and yet he could give no satisfactory answer to it. **I have seen him before; but where?” This question also remained unanswered. ‘“* This white hair, this snowy beard does not seem to belong to the face,” and Congo mused. as he gazed upon the stranger, in vain striving to recall from a past that was buried, where it was that he had met the one who lay so helpless before him. When the eyes of the wounded man rested upon the black face, it was not with a start, as | Congo had supposed it would be. There was no recognition however in the look, only a wild stare, or a far-away expression as though intellect had fled. ‘* Now just be ce master, for you are bad- ly hurt, and I will take good care of you,” said ongo in a strangely sof!, and musical voice. It seemed to impress the man, for his eyes closed, he smiled faintly, and sank to sleep. Thus the days passed, and the strange man’s wounds healed rapidly, only his brain yet wan- dered. Congo was untiring in his nursing, carin for him day and night, and doing all he coant to bring his former foe back to life and - health. ‘the wandering enguage still showed delirium or a mind that had lost its balance; but still Congo determined to do all he could to uid his — patient to regain his reason. ‘ ‘“* Tf he lives, and is sane once more, he can be my master, and the riches I have here will let us go where we will,” he said, as be sat in the cnne one night, untiring, while his patient slept. ‘If he dies,” he continued, “‘ or is mad, why I will not leave him to die, but see that he is cared for in some asylum. “ Then I will be free to search for one whom I would be so happy to serve, ‘* He was my young master once, and he treat- ed me so kindly, and woe was it to me the day I was taken from him. ‘‘He was poor, but he had the world before him, and he may have won a name by now, for he was so brave, so handsome and true a boy, he could not but prove to be a great man. ‘*T shall slip away from this island some nigh o to the old home, and learn all I can a _‘* As for my first master, he who saved my life in Africa, and took me to England with him, I know not what became of him. ** T searched for him far and wide, when I es vig caped from those wicked men who took me to prison, but I knew not where he went, and—” Congo stopped suddenly, for from the lips of _ the wounded man, lying upon the sofa, ro came in deep tones, werdsin astrauge tongue: — ‘* Inahlillaahoewah inahillihee raageeoon !” * Instantly Congo was upon his feet, gazing at 4 the man lying prone before him, and from the © negro’s lips came the words in the same strange —— tongue: ** Alham dceleelah rallah Kareem |!" + ‘* Ah! who speaks? I had uttered words in a tongue I had not heard for sa long years; not since I was with army in frica. ‘* Those were t days, and although I ran — off from my home as a boy, after my father — married again, a woman I hated, and who hated me, and I enlisted as a common soldier, I was _ working my way up rapidly. E ‘*‘Tt all comes back to me now, and howI was a long time a prisoner to the Arabs, and escaped from yy one es taking with me S.-Y oung can chief, Yusef, whom they meant torture to death. j oo, : ‘Poor Yusef! I wonder what became of him, _ and if he still lives?” oe The patient had lain with his eyes closed while he had spoken, , He had awaked quietly, and perbaps cAceetilag Sa ing of his soldier days, when a young cflicer te - <5 * Verily to God we belong, and #¢rily to Him we return, gk + Praise be to God! Our Lord is bountiful! Gomicbooks 7