Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 419 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

4 cited by this strange circumstance that he deter- mined to go instantly and examine the passenger liste nud sec if any such name was registered as the & man had given, but without any intention of work- ing harm to tho stranger; for as long as the voyage was ended, and he was on this side of the water, it didn’t matter materially how he had managed to get across. “‘T imagined that you were either a Frenchman or an Italian from tue way you spoke,”’ Blount ob- sab yep with a remark about the beauty of the night, he sauntered away. * How stra nge are these English-speaking people,” the man in the cloak mused, speaking Sovarertt to himself, and yet loud enough so the girl could heat 4 every word. ‘‘He doubts my statement; he thinks that I have fallen from ze sky, or else risen out of ze sea, and, in order to satisfy himself, he has gone to : . examine Ze passenger lists, so as to discover whether : I have spoken the truth or not, and how disappoint- ed he will be when he ascertains that I am right in my account and he is weak in ze head for amped | | such anidea. Ah! this world! what astrange work ~ it men mademoiselle? Think how we poor humans tea go through life ever on ze watch against each rms odder!”’ Ly alt “Oh, I think you are wrongin your surmise,”’ the | girl replied, puzzled by the man’s manner, and half Bit, | suspecting that he was not quite right in his mind. wae **No, no! Iam correct as sure as that light burus. / yonder on ze land!” fe Lesbia loolzed inthe direction indicated, and then _ the man suddenly threw arms around her, bys pressed one hand over her mouth, and, with the tie other, applied a sponge saturated with some Aas strange smclling liquid, to her nostrils. She was in i. the toils. brs CHAPTER V. ty THE PURSUIT, (oe Lesp1a MArpou was so taken by surprise, so thor- oughly helplessin the strong arms of her assailant, : who seemed to be possessed of demoniae streugth, that she could neither scream nor struggle before ¥ the strong liquid with which the sponge was satu- raied, stole away her senses. Her brain whirled; -_ there seemed to be a gigantic wheel revolving within her head, and then, all of a sudden, the ‘gate wheel burst with a brilliant shower of sparks, anJ Des she sunk into insensibility. s The moment he discovered, by the limpness of the WW girls form, that her senses were stupefied, the t carefully laid her upon the planks at his mS feet; the deck was deserted, and he had taken ad- oa vantage of the favorable opportunity. Ne There was no time to be lost, though, and this the 4 fellow knew right well; although the night was well on, some of the passengers or crew were likely to make their appearance at any moment. After relieving himeelf of the incumbrance of the ez girl he drew from beneath his cloak a stout rope, * with a carefully made loop in one end. This he - posees around the girl’s body, and then, fastening aa e other end to one of the stern posts of the | | steamer, he carefully lowered the insensible girl ae into a small boat, which floated on the tide under he ey the ship’s stern, attached to the rudder, 7 The bay was like asheet of glassand the tide, just at its hight, was at the slack-wa’er period so that the maneuver was not so difficult as it might have ‘sire been under other circumstances. _ ~‘When the insensible girl was safely deposited in _ ‘the boat, with the agility of a sailor, or an acrobat, f Abs the man descended the rope hand over hand; drew out his knife and witha single slash severed it; and ‘ee just at that moment the tide turned, and the flood % ai _which had filled up the inner bay, again sought the | Pars fea; the boat floated away from the steamer and headed toward Sandy Hook. ay The craft, though a small one, was a regularly- ‘a _ built keel-boat, well suited to stand rough weather, AS and fitted with a sail; and after adjusting the giri jn @ comfortable position forward, the adventurer Lis ed to get the sail up. ey “That cursed officer suspected that I was up to some game and had mace up his mind to spoil it, but Twas quicker about the work than he antici- ia , and now let him interfere with meif he can!’ a LA By’? he mutte ‘ - §haking the sail out, he turned around and defi- ~ antly shook his fist at the steamer as he took his hie > ~ 4 we at the stern and with his other hand grasped | the rudder. Bue we ery of alarm coming from the deck of the City Chester answered his defiance. Blount had examined the passenger lists, anc 5 not finding any name upon them at all like Leon Du | —s- Claire, had returned to the deck to force the stran- \ ger to an explanation; and when he arrived there, ube , fina that it was deserted, his attention was ai- ‘ . ve Le bale J * first to the rope and then to the boat drift- scaward, for the wind was light and the little t had not yet felt the influence of the sail. The boat was still near enough to enable the # oh Ps 4 eee /--—s- young man to distinguish the figures in it, and ae , } over he saw the girl, lying motionless in the for- Ber ard part, and the dark figure of the stranger at «the Leim, he immediately comprehended the greater “pe part of what had occurred. -. “Phe scoundrel came on board_by means of that boat!" ho cricd. ‘What a fool I was not to look | -—- ever the stern when my suspicions became aroused! K = 4 The girl seems to be nsensible! What vile plot is aN then in hot haste Blount hurried tothe cap- tain of the steamer and related what had occurred. The indignation of that gentleman was unbounded. i <->” What!” ho cried, ‘‘one of my aegis ab- : Bs i Ne ducted fromimy very ship? If that isn’t the coolest oS, _—- of raseality that I think I ever heard of since | breathed tho breath of life! Why, hang the fel- * = low’s assurance! These New York vessels will be ‘trying to stcal the steamer next from right under asi, ) my feet. Get a boat out immediately and give _ ehase; there’s very little wind to-night and the me sare good that you will be able to overtake 4 ) scoundrel! Take command! of the boat, Mr. \ 4 eet and don’t give up the chase until you have «. ‘secured tic rascal!” : young man whose feelings were deeply inter- ss ested on belalf of the girl, needed no second com- oy “7 and at once hurried away. * 2 me. 4 ‘ aks . Was excellent, and in a remarkably short time ‘ ? > - e discipline enforced on board the City of Ches- ' The Bat of the Battery. ee ee ee ! an eight-oared boat was in the water, and Blount was | cheering his men on in the chase. The sailors bent to the oars with hearty good-will, for there Vas something exciting about such a pur- | suit, and then the boldness of the deed roused their curiosity, so that they were eager to come to close uarters with the scamp, audacious enough to so dety the law. Thanks to the delay occasioned by the musterirg | of the crew, and putting the boat into the water, the unknown had managed to secure about a mile’s start, but as the breeze was light, hardly strong enough to ruffle the surface of the water, for the cight-oared boat to overtake the other craft, although the fugitive had the advantage of a sail, did not appear to be at all improbalhle. “Give way with a will, men!’ Blount cried. * We'll soon be up to him unless the wind rises.”’ The oldest man in the boat, the bo’swain, & brawny, weather-beaten old salt, who pulled stroke, and whom the rest looked upon as an oracle, shook his head in a dubious sort of way as he glanced up- ward at the sky. “A starn chase is a long chase, yer honor, and I'm mortally afeard that this hyer breeze is going to be something more than a cat’s-paw. It’s from the east’ard, and I have allers noticed in this hyer bay, that sich a wind a-springin’ up at this hyer time, ginerally ‘mounts to something.” ine Fellow 1s pulling siig..e to sea, Just as if he meant to run for blue water and he will surely never dare to do that in such a cockle-shell of a boat, for if the wind should come up to anything of 2. blow it would be apt to play the mischief with him, unless he’s an old and experienced sailor, and from what I saw of him I should set him down fora land-lubber.” “Ay, ay, yer honor, I shouldn't wonder,” said the old sali. ‘*He’s either an able-bodied seaman, or a reg’lar greenhorn, or he wouldn’t run afore the wind as he is doing, for I tell you what it is, yer honor, if we don’t have a big blow afore we are an hour older then my name ain’t Joe Brace,” Blount took a look at the sky. The old man was right; already the clouds had commenced to gather and to a sailor’s eye there was ample evidence that a storm was impending. ‘Tt ds going to blow,”’ the young man remarked. “Well, co much the better; we'll drive him right out of the bay and when he gets into rough water, he'll be obliged to go about, then if it doesnt come up too dark, so that he can slip by us, we may be able to overhaul him,”’ On they went, gaining rapidly on the other craft until hardly more than a quarter of a mile se arated the two. By this time, they had got past the twin lights on the Highlands and were about abreast of the light-house on the point of Sandy Hook. Before them Jay the ocean, the water already be- ‘inning to feel the influence of the rising wind and 1caving up and down in long swells, The clouds began to gather over the face of the moon, and partially to obscure its light. Blount’s boat had come so near that the young mon felt satisfied the unknown was within range of his revolver. . ‘* Now hit her up, lads!’ he said, drawing his re- volver, “if we can hold our own for ten minutes more I may be able to eitber shoot or frighten him into submission.” ‘Ten minutes, yer honor, is “bout all you've got,” the old salt remarked. ‘lor in that ’ere time he'll be around the-Hook and then with this hyer wind Lo‘ll fly from us like a bird.” The crew, excited by the chase, redoubled their cfforts, the boat traveled through the water at a rapid pace, Blount rcese in the stern, deliberat ly cocked his revelver, and leveled it at the fugitive. one about or TU put a ball through you!” he cricd. ‘71a! ha! hat” Se the waves came the demoniac laugh of the stranccr. "> ‘*}Por the lest time I demand that you surrender or your blood will ke upon your own head!" * Fire, weak, mortal fool! I defy alike fire, lead or steel!’ the other replied. Coming to the conclusion that it was useless to waste words upon a man who was either rash to desperation or clse so nearly a lunatic that he did not comprehend the risk he was running, Blount opened fire. But it was difficult to aim accurately in such a sca, and two shots went wide of the mark, Acain the fiend-like laugh of the unknown rung out shrilly on the air. “By Jove! I will hit him this time!’’ Blount cried, but even as he spoke, the other craft ran around the point, and getting the full benefit of the wind which suddenly strengthened just at that moment, flew over the surface of the weve like a sea-bird. “The jig is up!” cried the old sait in disgust. Then up rose the unknown in the etern of his boat, and extending his arnis in a peculiar fashion, laughed in demon-like glee. : e boat’s crew lay on their oars, and every head was turned to watch the man; many of them had sailed in southern seas, heard strange tales and seen strange sights. ; ‘Shiver my timbers! if it ain’t the vampire bat!” old Joe Brace exclaimed. CHAPTER V1. THE STORY OF THE VAMPIRE, “re Vampire Bat!’ exclaim.d Blount, echoing the words of the bo’swain. “ ay, ay, yer honor, sure as you're born!” an- swered the old sailor. **No wonder the storm is a-coming up! What do you s’pose that ‘ere critter keers for anything of that kind? Why, that’s jest nuts to him! The harder it blows the better he likes it. Didn’t*he say that he wasn’t afeard of anything mortal? Heaven help the poor gal, say I, for she 8 probably a gorner long afore now. No use chasin the thing, forif we got up to it the odds are big that it would vanish in a clap of thunder.” And then, just as if the elements were listening to the sailor’s words, a vivid flash of lightning came out of the clouds, followed by a low, rumbling peal of thunder. More than one of the men in the boat started, for it seemed reasonable to the most of them that there might be some truth in the bo’swain’s words. The wind increased, the clouds thickened, so that for a tew moments the light of the moon was ob- a a: y . . / f a Aa oe o** . secured, and when the rays again struggled forth, the boat of the fugitives had gained such headway that it was clearly impossible it could be overtaken, Reiuctantly, Blount gave orders to discontinue the a and, putting his boat about, headed for the ship. The wind grew still stronger and the waves rolled high, tossing their white caps up toward the sky, — was covered with dark and angry-looking clouds, Blount cast an anxious glance behind, the little craft had now disappeared in the distance, swal- lowed up by the darkness. “ Well, whatever the fellow is, he'll have a rough time of it this night in that egg-shell of a boat off this dangerous shore, or else I’m no prophet.”’ “Lord love yer honor,” cried old Joe, “‘ the weather ain’t anv more to sich a critter as that than to the Flying Dutchman w’ot used to beat about Cape Horn.”’ “T heered tell on a vampire bat once down in the Isle of Java,” observed another old seaman. “It was nigh onto twenty years ago, and this hyer thing used for to light onto.a sleeping man, w’ot was foolish enough fur to camp out in the woods, fan him with his wings so as fur to keep him from waking and snok his blood at the same time. I never see’d any of the ge tho’ I’ve heered plenty of yarns "bout them, but I ailers reckoned it war.a kind of a bird.” “Thar’s whar you are out o’ your reckoning, mess- mate!"’ the bo’swain exclaimed. “Tain’t a bird, or anything else w’ot’s right an’ nat’ral, but a sort of a devil w’ot comes in the shape of a big bat; it’s got the figger of aman, but the wings of a bird, a kin- der hitched onto a man’s arms, and the only thing it can live on is human blood. Leastways, that’s how the yarn was spun to me, aud I reckon that it’s nigh onto thi y years ago when I sailed in them Southern seas.’ ‘* Well, all I know "bout it is w’ot I heered, and 1 must say, bo’swain, I don't take much stock in'the devil ness, seeing as how I never yet run across any of the critters in the four quarters of this hyer globe that I’ve sailed in, man and boy, fur forty ears,” responded the other, stoutly. “Sho! ’tain’t much use fer to argufy ‘bout. the matter, but I'm willing to leave it to Blount,’ ob- served the bo'’swain, evideutly annoyed that his yarn should be doubted. “If the vampire bat ain’t.a devil, then I’m a land-lubber and don’t know the taste of salt water.” Blount was placed in a difficult position for he saw that the sailor believed in the vampire story as firmly as he didin his own existence, and he hated to wound the old man’s feelings by stating that mod- ern opinion had rejected the vampire story as being riage unworthy of belief, so he dodged the ques- on. “Well, Joe, it is one of those things that a man must form his own opinion about,” he remarked. “That there is a big bat down in thé lands of the ped soon which is accused of being a blood-sucker, and attacking sleeping men, is pretty generally be- lieved, although some learned men dispute its ex- istence, or at least deny that it attacks men, and that creature is callsod the vampire bat, and then, a good many years ago, almost everybody believed that there was a sort of a creature, not exactly hu- man, vet wearing the human shape, a buman in fact who ought to be in the grave, but who managed to lead a sort of afalse life, by robbing his victims of theirs. For instance, suppose there was a girl twenty years old, and whose ratural term of life would be forty, that is if the vampire did not ecutrit short; by killing her and drinking her blocd, the vampire added the twenty years of her life to his own, and so he really became like the Wandering Jew, a being who would never die, provided he vouia always procure victims,” “That’s it, yer honor! that’s the yarn, just asT heered it spun a good thirty years ago!” the bo’swain — exclaimed. ** Yes, yer honor, but I reckon that peers nowa- days* don’t take much stock in that byer yarn. do they?” said the other seaman, * Well, take the world at large, I suppose there isn’t many who believe that such a thing exists now, or ever did exist, although in the old time, aman would have been a laughing-stock for everybody if he had presuméd to doubt the truth of the story.” “You sec, Joe, you'll have to back water on yer vampire yarn!” exclaimed the other old salt, tri- umphantly. *“*Avast there, messmate,I ain’t that kind of a marling spike!’ Joe replied. ‘* Wot does it matter w’ot folks say? Don't all the land-lubbers grin at the idea of the sea-sarpint, and whar’s the able- ~ mn N igaag w’ot ain’t see the thing a dozen mes : This was a knock-down lick, and the rest nodded their heads in approval. ““And don’t they hoo, hoo! at mermaids? but we old sailors know that thar is sich t ings, if youll take the trouble to go where they are. And this very night hain’t weseenthe vampire bat? Wasn't it a man with the wings of a bird? Kin any of you cay that it wasn’t? And do you s’pose any man with two grains of sense in his head would dare to run down the Jersey coast in such a night as this, in a boat like that? Whzy,if he don’t go to Davy Jones’s locker afore two hours are over it is because thar ain’t anything human “bout him or his craft,” “That’s so, that’s so,’ murmured the rest, and the other perceiving that the majority sided with the bo’swain fave up the discussion. Of course Blount was above yielling to euch su- - perstition; he knew well enough that the abductor was a man, and the only explanation be could give in regard to his singular conduct was that he was a little cracked in the upper story, for surety no man ia his senses would thus rush to almost certain eath. By the time that the boat reached the steamer a regular gale was blowing. Blount made his report and the captain shook his ead. “Jtisasad affair, Mr. Blount, a mysterious one, too, for it is certain that no such hous as the one you describe can live off the Jersey coast on such a night as this, so it is almost impossible for the girl and her abductor to escape a watery es All nicht long the storm continued, and it did not cease until after daybreak. The steamer came up to her berth in the city, and — Cenc oem <S 4 ' | | we Oe 0 alin th mS