Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 574 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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\ fugitive, there will be an easy way to test the revelational truth of Mrs, Howland’s dream to perfection, All we shall have to do will be to examine the fingers of his left band—mean time hoping he was not permitted to bleed to death.” CHAPTER XXX, THE STORM. On the second day after the change of course there fell a calm, which lasted more than twen- ty-four hours, during which the superb yacht, at most times the very spirit of grace and speed, lay upon the glassy surface of the sea, slowly undulating along the mirror-like, scarcely per- ceptible swells, with no more progression than a dead or er pa albatross. “Tt can’t last for any great length of time in this latitude,” Tidewell reassured his passen- gers, as they moved restlessly about the decks, complaining of the heat which was intense, ‘‘Tt will break up in a storm, which I only hope will prove as brief as this calm will be.” His prediction proved correct. At sunset of the third day out upon the new course, lead and slate colored clouds began un- expectedly to bank up the western horizon. They rapidly deepened in hue, lightning play- ed fickerivgly in their bosom, and presently the attention of every one on deck was attracted by the singular phenomenon of a white, com- pact, ball-like cloud suddenly shooting high up in the sky from the edge of the cloud-bank, ‘‘ A white squall, eh, Tidewell?” asked Colonel Sherwood. ‘“Asa starter, yes,” replied the master; ad- ding under his breath: ‘“‘ Pray Heaven it may not be the forerunner of a tornado!” The yacht was in readiness a few minutes later when, with a few preliminary puffs, hot as from the jaws of a furnace, the squall swooped down upon her with the shriek of a million eagles, The erstwhile glassy sea was torn into foam, and the Ganymede, though with nothing but her spritsail as a steadier, went whirling sige in the clutch of the blast like a chip, though still holding to the water like a trump. Short chopping waves succeeded, and then, as the squall tore on, she seemed to feel ber power, feathering the white-caps beautifully, the un- daunted spirit of the terrific change. ** Mon Dieu !” exclaimed Florine, who bad no love for the sea at its best, and who chanced to be standing alone at Captain Tidewell’s elbow; ‘* but shall we uot be drowned, mon capitaine?” He turned to ber witha laugh. Thoughtful sobersides as he was, he more than liked the girl’s beauty and sprightliness. ‘* Not by a long shot, Miss Florine,” be replied. ‘‘One or two of us ought to be saved, I fancy. What makes you think we may be drowned?” “Oh, it is so frightful! The land is much more agreeable, mon am#, Rut here, where everything may be upside down in a moment—” At this juncture a sudden lurch of the yacht would have carried her off her feet but for the skipper catching her in his arms, He seemed well-content to keep her there, too, when at last —not with any violent or undue haste, however —she resumed her isolated grasp upon one of the stays, with an, “‘ Ah, Monsieur Capitaine, you are so strong, you are so brave!” accom- panied by a soft look of her pretty gray eyes, | feeling happy and confused, ‘‘ Don’t mention it, my dear,” be replied, ‘* [—I-—you ree I rather like supporting you than otherwise,” Here his duties called him forward, and Miss Bigbee, who had sort of lashed herself in the lee of the deck-house but a short distance away, called peremptorily to Florine to come to her. ‘Here, sit down beside me!” snapped the spintster; and as the girl demurely obeyed, she continued: ‘‘ Have you no maiden modesty, no native queenliness, I want to know?” **Oh, ma’m! what for?” “‘T saw that—that man take you in his arms!” severely. ‘' Don’t dare to deny it, Florine!” _ ‘But, ma’m, otherwise I might have pitched headlong.” “Ha! As if you didn’t relinquish your grasp of the rope purposely !” sé Oh 1” ‘‘ Don’t talk to me!” “But it is you that talk, ma’m, Besides, Monsieur le Capitaine is but one of les monstres, “Florine,” dignifiedly, ‘men may be all monsters, but monsters are not equally disagree- able. And I am glad to be able to say that, from the many courtesies—I may say oe courtesies I have permitted Captain Tidewell to offer me, he is very creditable to the monster species.” ‘‘ Oh, ma’m!” and in -pite of ber reul terror of _ the storm, the young woman could hardly kee preliminary roar, gathered bob the sea, the Ganymede was the ' . ‘ . # if from laughing outright; “but then you are still attractive.” ; The squall blew itself out in twenty minutes, But Tidewell’s secret apprehensions were to he realized to the full, After a brief interv comparative quiet, it was a regular tornado succeeded it. © | It came rushing down from the west with a and as the dead darkness of at > tS a Aid a f bs i qie p Pi adics bers hbk 2 a Sai eh A EY Old Falcon’s Double. sport of such a tempest as she had never encoun- tered before. That was a night of terror for the women on board the Ganymede, and they passed it below in the saloon, without venturing to go to bed, lest they should be hurled out of their bunks by the violent pitcbings of the yacht, which were nothing less than terrific, The gentlemen kept them company after a bit, and even made the pretense of starting a game of cards, but it was easy to perceive that their efforts at encouragement were more or less forced. The tempest seemed to increase, rather than diminish, as the anxious hours wore away, and thougb the yacht seemed to be holding her own bravely, at Jast it was only by lying at full length along the divans that the inmates of the saloon could keep from being dashed about, to the imminent danger of life or limb. Affairs were in this discouraging condition toward morning when Tidewell came down to say that all was well. Tidewell was a self-contained, handsome man of middle-age, bronzed, black-haired, black- bearded, manly, every inch a sailor, and very much of a gentleman. As he opened the door of the saloon, Miss Bigbee managed to pitch off the sofa upon which she had been lying in such a way as to land squarely—or angularly, for that matter— in his arms. ** Save me!” she screeched, half-garroting bim with her bony arms, and wildly kissing him. ** You won’t let me drown, Captain Tidewell, will you? Oh, say that you won’t!” * Well, not if [ can help it, you know,” he replied, somewhat summarily releasing him- self. ‘* There you are, ma’m; and you must try to brace up,” and he restored her to her lounge with more briskness than ceremony. The next instant, by an odd coincidence, he had Florine in his arms, and perhaps a little unnecessarily so perhaps, inasmuch as she had merely rolled off the opposite divan upon the soft carpet of the saloon floor, **'You shameless French hussy!” spitefully screamed Aunt Jerusha; “ let go that poor gen- tleman’s neck! Do you want to choke him to death?” ‘Mon Dieu, ma’m!” spiritedly replied the maid; ‘“‘l am not touching the gentleman’s neck,” which was the truth, the embrace, if any, being wholly on the part of the skipper hineseif’ ** T can leave the choking task to others.” With a gracious smile as she in turn was restored to her divan, and with very much gentleness. Eleanor burst into a scream of amused laugh- ter; she was joined in it by every one else, sav- ing only Miss Bigbee; and for the first time, as Captain Tidewell beat a confused retreat, some- thing like cheerfulness was resumed since the tirst assault of the tornado, CHAPTER XXXI, DEBRIS. A LITTLE later on word was sent down to the saloon that the storm was slowly bnt surely abating. This comforting, assurance soon became pat- ent to the dullest apprehension; but it was rather a woe-begone group that sat down to the eight o’clock breakfast which the steward managed to serve after a fashion, ‘* Yachting in tornadoes is a thing I never particularly admired,” observed Colonel Sher- wood, Sp a little brandy in his coffee, ** And I’m an old yachtman at that.” ‘** You mustn’t mind such trifles, papa,” cried Eleanor, who alone of the women had managed to spruce and brace herself up not a little, though Florine was not far behind her young mistress in this regard, ‘‘A storm at sea is a magnificent spectacle—viewed from the bluff at Long Branch, for instance.” ** T should say so!” And then both Howland and Spencer burst into a laugh as Aunt Jerusha passed her cup to the steward for a third refilling with a tenk of mingled sternness and humility that would have excited the risibles of an ow], n ‘**T really don’t see what you are laughing at!” she snapped out, while adjusting her false front, which was awry, and recovering her spectacles from a dangling poise over her left ear, ‘* However, monkeys laugh at anything. And the battle ain’t to the strong alone—no nor to the artfully cunning or contriving, neither!” with a spiteful glance of significance at Florine, who sat directly opposite her. ‘*'No, ma’m,” replied the maid, demurel (Florine had been on much of an equality with the others while on board), and without permit- ting the privilege to turn her shrewd little head in the least; ‘‘ it must be to our fearless champi- ons against those monsters, the men.” * You can all safely come on deck in an hour,” interposed Tidewell, rising after having eaten but little. ‘‘ The sea is fast going down. When eg did go up they found him, in com- pany with his second in command, earnestly examining some object with his telesco The sea was still very wild, thougk fast sub- siding, with the brilliant semi-tropical sunshine already begi on} ; tc di sipa s th 3 clouc ve ‘ ‘ ‘fille OF. J 7 ‘ es Se ae -~ a eile 7. ‘ie 4 ay + Wis i bs pre! leh aM as Zig, cies 19 “What is it, captain?’ asked Eleanor, who was in lead of the newly-appearing group, ** Something like a boat, ma’m, though a mere speck as yet,” replied Tidewell, with the glass still leveled, though slightly shifting its bearings as he spoke, ‘‘ But just to the south of it yonder is something yet more puzzling.” ‘“* W hat is that?” ‘‘Something very like an island, and yet there is none down on the chart.” ‘** 'W hat is our position?” inquired Sherwood. ‘““Haven’t taken the sun yet, sir; but we ought to be due west of Bermuda a matter of a hundred miles.” ‘‘Then there are diminutive reefs and coral atolls bereabouts. They are down in the very latest charts of the Government surveys. IL looked over one of them while at Newport, thongh there hus been no official issue of copies as yet.” “That is certainly an island,” said the mate, who was also looking through a telescope, ‘It is immovable, and I can distinguish it other- wise as land.” This proved to be the truth, and at about the time it turned out so, Tidewell announced that the other object was a craft, bottom up, A little later on, when both objects were to be distinctly seen with the unassisted eye, the master of the Ganymede turned to Colonel Sher- wood with a peculiar expression. ‘It is the Fearnaught!” he said. ‘‘ What! are you sure?” : ‘¢1’d swear to those hull-lines and the spring of that centerboard, sticking upin the air like the fin on a blue shark’s back, Bulwarks stove, too. See?’ This also proved a fact, on closer investiga- tion, and Captain Tidewell prepared to visit the island, in order to discover if there were any signs there of the crew of the ill-fated yacht having effected a landing. The three gentlemen, at their eager request, accompanied them. The island was a coral atoll, about a mile long, and half as broad. That is, it was an oval-shaped bowl, with a narrow green rim, sparsely grown witb herbage and a few low-sized cocoa-nut trees, inclosing a central lagune of clear fresh water, the atoll itself being raggedly belted with jagged reefs a mile or more away, which protected it against the sea, which otherwise, so low-lying was its rim, the waves must bave entirely swept over in times of storm. Entrance through the reef was easily found, and a landing on the atoll effected. On the sandy beach of the inner lagune, whose crystal waters were found to fairly teem with brilliantly hued fish of many descriptions, there were numerous footmarks, which seemed | comparatively fresh-made, and as the storm had been unaccompanied by rain, while the sand was naturally rather damp and solid, they had remained. “A boat-load of the poor devils doubtless succeeded in saving themselves,” said Tidewell, after a brief examination of the indications ‘and they probably landed here for a supply of fresh water. Ab, yes; see—thbere is where they pulled up their boat on the outer beach.” ‘Tf this wreck happened in our storm,” cried Howland, eagerly, ‘‘ we ought to be close upon the castaways’ track,” Something seemed to whisper to him that it would be Burley’s luck to be among the saved, if but a bandful in all.” ‘‘Or in the squall that preceded it,” replied the yacht-master, ‘‘ which, however, ought to place us not more than fifty miles in their wake. But let us carry back to Mrs, Howland the news of our discovery; and here is a capital chance for filling our water-casks, as the water to be obtained at Bermuda is not always of the best.” CHAPTER XXXII. c ‘““SCOUNDREL'S LUCK.” ELEANOR shared ber husband’s impressiom that it would be just Burley’s good iortune to be —s the survivors from the Fearnaught’s wreck, “fam not sorry to feel it, either,” she said. “If it should turn out that the sea has robbed us of our chance to land bim in the State Prison at Sing Sing (and at the bardest of labor, too, Charley,” in a lower voice, ‘‘ which you were enable would be correspondingly depressed.” Howland’s eyes gloomily blazed, but he only pressed her hand, without answering. “For my part,” cried Colonel Sherwood, ‘‘ I take the loss of the Fearnaughbt herself most to ; heart, notwithstanding that some of her crew were my old bands— rest or keep them, as the case may be! She wasa noble sloop, and when first launched she was without a rival.” After water bad been taken on board, an at- | tempt was made to right the Fearnaught, but it — Set — im ketene save Pak & 10 lelay than cou ven : So ihe aitortandbs down, while the Ganymede once | ; 4 ai - to forego,) I fraakly confess that I aS involv- by. be ome yacht was left upside — j ine tis ar ’ Ex 4 Ff 7