Show A sz jat A A ar A CHAPTER XV 20 A ara tarla I 1 he howled la the seraphine Seraph lne suddenly heeled with a puff of wind that come came as she cleared the shoals it shook the wounded buccaneer from his bis falling grasp on the rigging but even in midair gorgio the catalan repeated his call of the old days daya then hla his body heaved out and plunged to the opalescent waters streaking like a comet to the depths D nl growled dominique UN ii this a dead ship where are the bullies that I 1 raise not a man monsieur de Almona sterl captain saz araca arse I 1 I 1 lay a course now have this ship hip worked lay lier her as she Is old retorted mazarac Saz arac starboard a bit the mist Is closing on the spaniard and he cannot stir in the air chaj that moves tills this beauty 1 A long trick at z ve tir wheel DomInI dominiquez quel 1 still the rotund politician would not understand our lads he fumed filmed it if I 1 take the deck I 1 want something to work with Mons monsieur leur mazarac I 1 de almonaster Al monaster was holding his arm through whose sleeve the blood would spout despite his efforts louise les stron stared in a wild disbelief from the shadowy disorder forward on the schooner to the master when mazarac spoke pole it appeared to be to her there are none left you vou have bave seen the last men of a vanished race you have seen men die in honesty for you mademoiselle for a woman at which they would have laughed for the peace of the world which they would have scorned it Is a strange thing you see 4 I 1 and old dominique alone on this bloody deck blone alone more thab tha any human heart can know the two gentlemen took her to the cabin while the crippled schooner fled on a blinded path anywhere to be out fin f in the guns of the lie ling 0 spain they took her to the emperors suite and Mons monsieur leur de Al monaster found bread and meat tor for her and monsieur mazarac held wine to her lips there also the gentlemen discovered a thing which they did not report to mademoiselle they closed the door softly to the cabin and tried to make a jest of all the terrors that came with the taking of the seraphine in the tapestry hung stateroom with his boots on and his bloodstained blood stained head deep in the emperor of the bottle lay upon Bona partes bed once more he might be sleeping sleep lne or he be might be dead the gentlemen could not take time to discover with so many other grim questions mounting to the eyes of each across the emperors board be that as it may the emperor having reached the privacy of his chamber flatly refused to leave it again even though his lady ot of the camellia was now just outside the paneled door a CHAPTER XVI the loot of a buccaneer the shortened sail gall was snapping in a clear morning breeze which worried belll at his trick with the wheel which was all that a rotund jilder tl derman an his knees too much sagged with tat fat living might attempt A fair morning and a following sea with not a sail in sight pursuit even from the heavy tooted footed spanish troopship might have gone badly with the two hundred ton schooner shorthanded short handed as she scampered on the two gentlemen who had been gravely washing down the decks came about the low housing to where the lay the deck was wet the r I 1 he will not be B moved Messi eural eurell dying buccaneer was wet mademoiselle lespron looked up the shaggy head with its huge gold earrings pil lowed on her lap and her face was wet also a sparkle lent by the sea and the fountains of her womans comans compassion she turned from her ministrations with a wan smile he will not be moved moed 1 messieurs old robber muttered Saz mazarac arac stubborn to the end eh it Is my place here in the weather I 1 am no quarter deck gentry nor mew ling prentice to be laid below in the doctors room for all a thrust or two Jo Joh banness anneas you are going soon answered the chief gravely that net lip Is what I 1 wanted of you send way away the english woman and houge lie he bowled this when she bad by charles tenney jackson copyright t by the th bobbt company arisen he looked about at her from under hla his gray bushy brows brow and a smiled allied 1 I want to lie wl wil you a moment and look at the flying tops you will need to shorten sail and I 1 rage that I 1 cannot spring to the tops again name 0 G d I 1 a seaman on his bis back and loose blocks clatte clattering I 1 Is I 1 the english woman gone she Is well away with monsieur de AI monaster 11 good I 1 now you are lafette and not this womans comans mazarac Saz arac it Is this jenn jean in my shrimp ers camp back at la caminada there Is a packet in my sea chest it tells of plunder that crump and de and I 1 burled buried on cozumel twenty years ago some gold some silver and a handful of jewels the two others have been dead long iong since and I 1 wish the stuff for you 1 I can never return to louisiana hohanness Joh anness said the leader gently eh well that Is sol the old mans voice was breaking lower he turned his face to watch the white spume arise along the weather rail the highest glitter or of it striking his face well let me be my captain I 1 I 1 wish to lie alone staring at the dizzy tops naught but them against the bill blue and the sea weathering up at me now let be jean the master put its his handback on his breast and walked na aft the weary group by the steersman looked questioningly up let no one go near him it Is his wish I 1 shall hall roll him from the chains that too Is his wish I 1 alone and again the girt girl looked wonderingly at him what are you to them all monsieur that rough men turn to you in this fashion as I 1 have seen them dle die the priest the brother and the comrade A name he said and smiled and then would say no more louise had bound up de Almon asters sorely wounded arm now they all lay in the shelter of the after housing save the lad clark who had taken the wheel old dominique monsieur mazarac and count do de almonaster AI Al monaster with the english woman the creak and haul of the gear in the freshening wind was all the sound and dominique croaked his misgivings A sore wild for us all hearties he artles if it keeps on and another other mystery there may be for the coffee houses and that Is the end of the Seraph seraphine lne and the yelling bullies who stole her from the place darmes darmell dArm esl I 1 I 1 trust the mayor will put flowers on my desk in the council chamber they tried to smile tor for the sake of mademoiselle now and then with a curious little frowning fear she had glanced down the raised skylight to the cabin of the emperor it was indeed as if she was watching there for an apparition pari tion at times she would have asked of the ragged man she saw there in the chair of honor with the scalp wound that had given him something the appearance of one who mho wore a red coronet and jauntily but always the two gentlemen had courteously evaded her the two gentlemen had conferred apart now and then reservedly perhaps but with common honesty you would mould make the mississippi passes with this ship monsieur inquired I 1 de Almouns Almo ter it appears quite impossible that we should I 1 what Is in your mind monsieur retorted mazarac dryly your life again granting this shorthanded vessel can be brought to the mississippi there is 13 an answer we must make tor for this affair there Is the answer I 1 made to mademoiselle lespron Le stron true true the younger man shrugged there Is in addition my honor that the seraphine Seraph lne yet sail on the mission for the emperor there are gentlemen in new orleans with money in this venture if a crew could be shipped by any means monsieur mazarac laughed aloud at the end it amused him this punctilious regard each had for honor his own and the other ruan mans a and each for the others life and future that was what mademoiselle aselie lespron had put upon them this meticulous notion to stand aside rather than overreach come he said good la Is therea quarrel in us monsieur ift IA the end she will know you are jean lafitte lafatte went on de AI Al monaster evenly but it Is not I 1 who should tell her Is not that fair 1 I will bow to her from the gallows the governor will erect in the place darmes dAr mea and announce myself it if needs be said monsieur Mons leur mazarac Saz arac jean I 1 the younger man sprang up hotly this la Is no jesting she loves yo you u 11 I 1 A ghost mazarac Saz Sax arac arec smiled the other ali ah indeed this la Is worthy of the man who lies below in the suite of napoleon babbling a glory which Is compounded of fever and cognac what Is there to love in Saz Sa arac once the mask Is torn from him that Is the point of it retorted the other oilier soberly one can love a 9 mask a woman can call go on forever loving the illusion she deems a man mail to be I 1 the irons she will see upon monsieur lahatte in new orleans will not be an illusion the master smiled again detachedly this roi romantic fancy of hers for Sarar acl nc go below wk aik monsieur jarvis who has suffered buffered tor for her bled for her saved her alf alfe and refuses to be we but the verlest mystery and illusion to herl berl he refuses to be adyth anything more my friend jarvis la Is very wise monsieur mazarac can go no further than the gallows in the place darmes and there smile down at her regretting lie he Is not himself ah wella the young man started up bitterly 1 I can make nothing of 0 it I 1 I 1 love her monsieur lafitte and she loves loies the magic of mazarac ael I 1 he arose and paced the wet deck wincing as the sword thrust through his left arm cut cat him under the dressing her hands had made for it she saw him from hr har cushioned perch by the steersman dominique had taken the trick again and sent the lad clark to the lookout A fine hot youth raoul do da Al monaster had come to be under the press of the eventful fortnight since the seraphine Seraph lne fled from the rivers mouth the languid aristocrat of the sugar plantations had clurg against the steel of mon bleur mazarac and tempered to a man she would have called him and tried to win him from hla his woods moods but she feared the flame of him she could hardly fall to guess why id Us 1 1 d on one can love a mask a woman can go on forever loving the tha illusion she deems a man to be sword had leaped from its sheath on campeche campiche Cam peche reef and surely the seraphine had seen enough of mens passions and their blood and monsieur mazarac Saz arac too had bad hn hlf moods again ile he found affairs to keep him busied as indeed well a sailor might on this man crippled schooner but once happening to glance down the cabin skylight with her incessant curiosity she saw him there he stood istook la in deep thought it appeared then lie went to the door of the emperors stateroom and rapped upon it with tits his sliver silver sword hilt she thought lie he laughed slightly as a man who had thought upon a seri serious matter until it became amusing the door opened she could not tell by whom but monsieur mazarac bowed with an accentuated nourish flourish there was w as a sardonic smoothness to this bow and mazarac entered the emperors chamber the door closed and for an hour nothing happened in the cabin it irritated mademoiselle les tron A mystery with grim laughter in it about all the blood and death and fire of the weeks there had seemed grimacing mirth even the dying wounded fellows overwhelmed by the boarding span lards on the port bow last night that too was a jest for if the kings men had bad made one more assault the seraphine would have been beail theirs again alie swords of monsieur de almonas ter and monsieur Mons leur mazarac were the only ones onea against them when they broke back to their boats the last dead of the Seraph seraphine lup ue lay in a close clome row before the fo easle casle b hood 00 d B beluche eu I 1 be the admiral nez coupe coulie the riven faced bohon bobon the shugg smuggler er joe rigo of isle grande freniere Fren lere and two others other a fallen rank to which presently she saw monsieur mazarac carry the last the hohanness Joh anness then the master stood bareheaded in the sun and looked thorn them over ile he seemed satisfied he took a deck broom and wept kweit around them carefully as if these were a treasure heaped on the schooners ners spray lashed bow and then he came aft mademoiselle mol selle lespron saw that he be carried a number of shabby things A drenched velvet cap a br broken ken pistol i faded sash a cutlass and it a gold earring from the bols bolsteins bo suns tins head with these he went don the main companions pa ay to the emperors emp eroes cabin knocked on the door and then entered e the rhe door closed she glanced at alderman D drowsing at the wheel the napping flapping canvas advas as the schooner wore off a bit nought brought his eyes open wons monsieur leur Domini dominiquez quel 1 what Is gong ing on 7 she cried ell eh on I 1 trust my head bend Is still on m and remains so what what Is tills this play tor for me she roke broke in passionately TO BE CONTINUED |