Show the two captains i by W CLARK RUSSELL 18 P F coll er copy abt by dodd mead co CHAPTER cont aued he ordered the cabin man to bung his breakfast on and a cloth was laid upon the t hile he vaa eating laura can e out of the cabin and stood opposite to him she was as pale as a dead body and lier beauty had that sort of dhoop and lusterless ness which you observe in the plum age of glorious b ads anen they hare vou breakfasted breal fasted said he I 1 cannot eat she answered oh cousin why did oi bill lima he stared at her in silence with a dark frown chewing his food like a bull she was afraid of his gaze and said with a change of ce and even of manner low that I 1 am under yow krotec tion ou will tell me what ou mean to do yes he answered I 1 will tell ou when the brig Is clear of those villains Til lains says he with a sideway arop of his head I 1 will steer you to our father s house we are now lying a straight course for kingston jamaica tiou shall be sent ashore ith a communication froin me to your father who will come on board M he refuses to help me I 1 shall know abow to manage single handed mean alle you will be safe but I 1 shan t ex hect ou to thank me the captains servant came from the cabin to attend to crystal s wants he said to him make a ceat job of the corpse and take care to double shot it we 11 b try tim through the cabin window you and me alone by this time the armed seamen of slowly on to the brigs quarter then astern a number of her people shak ing their clenched fists at crystal and howl ng oaths and curses at him in ecstasies of helpless wrath so amen to them said crystal and after casting another 1001 at the boat and sweeping the horizon with bis vision he bade the fellow who had read the newspaper on the cap stan to keep a 1001 out and heavily sank down the companion steps just as he entered the cabin pope servant came out of his late master s berth have you stitched him upa says cr tal hes ready for launching sir was the mans answer the fellow knowing crystal and fearing him had worked nimbly and there secreted in a hammock on the floor of the berth with a couple of shot secured in the clews at the toot of the corpse lay all that was mortal of the heroic irishman captain rich rd pope I 1 want no fuss says crystal no prayer Iso thing of that sort the stern window was opened that window through which a former own er of this brig of curious adventures had thrown himself into the sea to es cape the gibbet pick him up with me continued castal the lifted the body bore it to the window and pointing it feet foremost dispatched it to the ooze thus ingloriously terminated the ca reer of captain pope an irishman of a hundred crimes of many villainous wh te and large eyed with horror t the thetis and the men who had joined them from the body of the p rates had eaten their breakfast and were smoking their pipes about the little caboose when they had made an end and returned to their stations crystal began to sing out the long boat was to be got over and provision ed and watered she would accommodate all that were to go in her soon the boat was swayed out and lowered the brig lying hove to casks of bread a quantity of cheese and other matters along with plenty 0 water were put into her the mast was stepped the big lug made ready for hoisting the rudder shipped the cover was then lifted the arm d men stood round and crystal put ting his toot on the shouted below there up with ou all aanas but two of ou at a time when this was said grindal and three or four pirates all of whom were in liquor came and stood in the light under the hatch and the boat swain called up what are you going 40 do with usa the long boats s ready for you alongside answered crystal are we to be sent said the ugly ruffian it roared crystal you give me the least bit of trouble and here again he swore dreadfully sweep the tween decks with these guns butcher every mothers son of ye then spoke the true pirate it was TIO longer captain pope but the devil incarnate and his own men stared a little wildly at the figure of that sav age seamen with his scar and and bis face of fury and his cocked and leveled pistol come along said grindal and he and another came up the ladder into the boat with ye shouted crystal A couple of the armed seamen sprang to guard the gangway grin lal s companion dropped into the boat the boatswain turning and swinging off on his great hairy hand with which he had grasped the bulwark rail to say ain t you going to let us have our share of the booty it you ask me another question you are a dead man answered crystal and he approached him by a stride or two and again covered him and all who looked expected to see the weapon spout fire and the man drop drop he did but into the boat very much alive as might be gathered by curses in this way the pirates were got up out of those tween decks alwa s in twos and ona pair had to disappear before the next brace were allowed to come their scowls their deep baarse mutterings their murderous glances were 0 no use they needed but to look at crystal to read death pitiless and instant in his face cast off up sail and away with ye roared crystal it you re not astern of us in a minute alre into you and sink you alongside those of the men who had their senses hoisted the big lug grindal in the stern sheets grasped the tiller the water slopped greasily betwixt the two craft and the longboat which though deeply laden still showed fair height of side glided off blew qualities ot generous and ro mantle virtues now it so happened that when the frigate that had chased the gypsy returned to the two vessels she was con she fell in shortly afterward with his majesty s ten gun brig turk the vessels were brought to a stand and a lieutenant of the turk in re to signals went on board the frigate he was then told that a p rate ang named the gypsy was in those waters and that she had been on the 1001 out for the madre de dios having missed her it was presumed that she would proceed to the pirates happy hunting ground in the spanish main As the turl was bound for a west indian station she was re quested to keep a sharp 1001 out for the brig to ascertain from passing ships if anything resembling her had been lighted by them and to corn muni cate to other men the news of such a ship being in those seas four days later the turk apol e H M S corvette saxon to her she gave the news she had received from the frigate and from the instant of the saxon filing upon her maintop sail a bright lookout was beat aboard ot her for any floating fabric rigged with two masts and carrying square sails even to the height of sky sail poles this communication of men of war was to proe crystals doom how could it hae been otherwise 7 A ten gun brig had gone before the gypsy and was heralding her to the pres sure of shining heights she was scour ing the plain like another camilla bugling her alarms over the sea and crystal ambled in her bale without intellect enough to suppose that the news and character of his brig had passed ahead of his flying in the ensuing days they sighted sev eral sail one of which was a large full rigged ship that might bave proved the alnwick castle but she was hull down and showed only from the tacks of her courses and curios ity was no longer a passion in that brig then came the fourth morning and one bell which is half an hour after eight clock in the forenoon watch found laura and her cousin sitting at the cabin table at breakfast while the man who could read stumped the planks of the quarter in charge of the little fabric after breal fast crystal lighted hie pipe took pope s telescope from it brackets in the cabin and went on his ee was immediately taken by the marble brightness of the sails of a ship about to points on the lee bow crystal pointed his glass at the ship on the lee bow he was an old sailor and could not mistake by her hoist ot topsail by the of her yards by the fit of the clews to the yard arms he knew her at once in the lenses to be a british man ot war he was disconcerted he turned a shade pale the glass sank nith his hand he turned to the man who was keeping a lookout and said she 1001 s to me like a british frigate or corvette if that s so answered the man haan hadn t we better up hell im while fitce s allowed usa bif it I 1 shift my helm said crystal after pondering I 1 may provoke sus dicion she may be from the west indies or south american port how 11 she have got the news to en able her to guss at usa no said he in a tone cf decision hoist the en elih ensign well not stir from our course by a spoke we look and now are an honest english brig and she s got no excuse to stop us and overhaul us dye see that nowa stand by to dip as we pass that bici les crystal had made a fatal blunder but he did not 1 now it and now there was no time to put a change of opinion into practice even had his heart him the man dfwar was coming along handsomely with a frequent curtsey that lined her glossy black sides with the sifted snow ot the crushed brine over which in a grim line bristled her artillery torn eions out as crystal with a ghastly sinking sensation of soul at this moment see when the two vessels were within gunshot the corvette shook the wind out of her canvas her way was ar rested A stout conspicuous fig ire stood upon a quarter deck gun he grasped a speaking trumpet As the gypsy went floating past without the least shift of helm the commander of the corbette cor yette if indeed that figure corn banded her raised the trumpet to hla lips and while his proud ship s helm was again put down causing the spaces om milky softness abolt to tremble into a hundred hurrying fang ers of shadow the trumpet spoke in a note of thunder ho the gypsa ahoy back your main topsail that I 1 may send a boat aboard of ou plain he had the vessel a name pat nor was it possible as yet that hei could have read it upon her stern we have been reported crystal instantly thought and he knew he was a lost man they 11 be firing into us if we don t heave to said the fellow who had charge crystal stood irresolute with his hand upon the companion hood at this instant a shot was fired by the corvette what shall we do sira roared the men then finding that crystal had dis appeared they sprang to the main topsail brace and were in the act of rounding in upon it hand over hand when a second heavy shot followed by a third struck the main topsail crash a foot above the main masthead in scantly the whole fabric of yards and canvas and masts and stun sall booms fluctuate ng on high as though gazed at through the transparency of running water fell aft in a roar as though a gale of wind came sweeping from the bows the huge wreck missed th wheel but killed the fellow who was standing at it it smothered the quarter deck in a vast heap of canvas and spars A long space of bulwarks was crushed flat bad our fore topsail was roared through the trumpet this was promptly done by the wretched and terrified remnant of the crew of the pirate and in a few min utes a of armed seamen in charge of a 1 eu tenant arrived along side it was of course known that the gypsy was the pirate brig that was wanted no need to any questions her crew were at once ordered over the side and sent on board the saxon meanwhile a gang of naval seamen cleared the acarter deck so as to pro vide access to the cabin and the lieu tenant and two or three seamen ds scented the steps they found a beautiful young woman white and large eyed with horror standing at the table when the men entered she pointed dumbly to the cabin occupied by crystal and they saw a man ling on the deck dead with a pistol be side him and a bullet wound in his brow he had kept his word and the an nals of the crystals were not to be disgraced by the importation ot tha gibbet the girl told her story to the heu tenant who sent her on board the cor vette and within two hours of the saxon falling in with the gypsy both vessels the brig with nothing set aft but and mainsail were head ing north and east on a course for the english channel the end |