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Show Captain Sazarac eyes, although the swamp men had heralded her-alded l.nfltto's coining. "Welcome, Cnptiiln!" shouted olil ltudgO, till' (lock WIllcllllllUI. "I CHMIC with these lmls. It must liuvc heen In the very nlr Unit you had rctuniiMl, for of u sudden 1 lunl the notion of plunder! l.onl; yon two more lusty acumen from the Coiinron me hero!" "The unite hihl twenly lushes to our bucks btvnuse we could not explain Burke's get-away," said one. "We slid down the chains, sir, nnd lire done with the king's shilling !" "l.nlitte!" cried nnolher, "I suited In n tuirk tluit took ii round sliot from you once olT Trlnldml ! Come, my hand to It that 1 serve you now !" The laughter nnd the drinking arose once more. Clearly the exile perceived that the swamp outlaws hnd no other thought than that tic liad come to revive re-vive again the marauding against the West India merchantmen. He led aside the eldest of the deserting desert-ing seamen. "Come, of the Cenaron? What Is her mission In the gulf?" "I wish I could answer, sir! She sailed regularly, hut she Is stuffed with arms. Vera Cruz was to he her entry port, yet why carry arms to the king o' Spain's men? We were warned to say nothing of tier cargo. When the Yankee customs discovered them, I hear the British consul was embarrassed. embar-rassed. Colonel Carr had hand In It, tlio fo'cas'le said." "Carr?" spoke up a youthful deserter eagerly. "Why, thnt Is the blustering olllcer who wrangled with the skipper when they bundled the woman nbonrd !" "The woman!" demanded Latitte. "What of this quick !" "nut the other night. The wntcli wns hustled below when they brought her. Then It was up-sall and away ltarntiirla rcfugecM to the ubductlon. Half a dozen expeditions lire II II Inn out to search the swamps. Captain, you cannot linger here!'" "The Gcnnron " said l.afltte curtly. curt-ly. "If she does not fetch u sailing wind before nIio makes the outer passes, sixty of the Barhtarlans will swarm her chains for boarding before daylight. Will that be ans.ver enough to the clly, that Lafltte Is here again? the old fox In his hiding place?" "A mad scheme!" muttered Itaoul. "Hut all, well! For u woman! I trust, sir, you see It Is an act of piracy Kge.lnst the vessel of a friendly friend-ly powei ;u American waters?" The exllfi Jvjiglied grimly. "The dice are against i.alille, the honest man !" "Sir, does she know your Identity?" pursued He Aliiioiiaster gravely. "Can you ask? Latitte for whom her countrymen have a gallows built In every port that Hies the king's Hag? Come, sir! This Is man's business! Every hour counts every moment. She will know, soon enough, when a proscribed outlaw frees her . . . and turns away to face his ring of enemies." And suddenly old Bohon (lashed to his feet and held a linger to the air. lie touched the skin with his lips und held It again. "D n !" he shouted. "The nt Is changing. It Is swinging northerly! A breeze In the river, and she ivlll make the passes before a man t us could lift hand ngnlnst her!" It was true. Five minutes In lei the lugger lurched slowly around In (he tide. The big salt began to lift md stream in the starlight. Johannrss came aft cursing the stir of the water. "I tell you it cannot be done. If we had a thousand armed fellows hi the narrows what could they do with cockleshell dugouts to board a ship drawing sail ?" They listened to the lapping water on the lugger's side. And now, fnn the oak-grown Islet, there came a stumble of feet, a clatter cf arms, r.rd then a splashing In the starlit shlfl-lows. shlfl-lows. "Aye. bullies!" roared John Crack-ley. Crack-ley. "I said If ever we met this Ifl-litte Ifl-litte there would he proper work fur you !" The deserters and the younyrr swamp Islanders were swarming out, drunken and with ribald cheers, under their smoky torches. "A-Barataria !" one of the pardoned outlaws cried. It was the old hoarding sea-yell of the Black I'etral's crew, and It struck with a curious cold prophecy to the heart of Lafltte. Fate was bearing him, do what he might, back to the lawless years of the youth he had put by. "The devil's hand Is In this," grumbled grum-bled Johnnness. "This wind It will be a good ship's wind In the passes. The Genaron will be In blue water tomorrow to-morrow noon !" "It Is fatnl to our plan of hoarding her in the river," mused Lafltte. "And the plan must change with the wind. If we had a weather boat oft the old Isle" "A boat !" growled Nez Coupe. "But in all these coves, where once we counted forty sail and two hundred guns, there Is nothing worth a nutshell on blue water. Bah I We took the President's pardon !" "A ship !" snarled Blnck Mike. "Seize a ship! Damnation! how does a man find a ship? Why, name o' G d he takes her !" And suddenly De Almonaster whirled on the silent leader with glowing eyes. "A ship? Why, there In the city-moored city-moored at the Place d'Armes !" "The Napoleon ship !" shouted Johannes?. Jo-hannes?. "Why, curse my eyes, thnt In a ship, but death to the perfumed gentry gen-try that own her !" "The Seraphine?" cried Bohon, "Why that beauty would sit ahead o' the English bark and laugh in any weather !" Lafltte was staring half-amusedly at De Almonaster. "Monsieur, the Seraphine Sera-phine lies in the very heart of the city, under the guns of every fort and wars-man wars-man there!" "Well, then threescore of your swamp fellows gathered secretly by the Algiers shore, and crossing the river nt midnight could board and have her under way ere the port awoke. Once off the passes, she could overhaul tb bark. She Is gunned for the best of them, but there would be no need. The Genaron could not fight she would give back the lady ... of course the admiralties at Washington and London would howl, but" the young man shrugged Indifferently "the affair af-fair would be over." "Over? Monsieur, are you mad?" "Ah, I had forgotten that I possess a certain interest in the Seraphine ! Of course, I really know nothing ebottt such madness! I am amazed denounce de-nounce It much as I denounce this Saz-a-rae who a dinner guest of mine is discovered to be Lafltte, the pirate pi-rate !" "You peril your life and your future, Monsieur." (TO BE CONTINUED.) t By Charles Termcy Jackson Copyist bv The Rohb-Merrlll Company "WELCOME, CAPTAIN!" SYNOPSIS!. t'llder tile nnint' of "Captain Sazarac." aiut dlsmilscd, Jean UitHte, former I'lvchoot it of S;ir;ll!irill. ei'ONi'i-lbtMi. ivlurilM to thr city of New Orleans, lie Is tvcoKnii'-cil by two of his oht cooii'tinlons. Alderman LVtnilnliiue it ii k I llolucho. At ttic fcumlnir t:;l'!-8 S.i:::iruc bus won much nuiacy from Oo1onl Oiut. Hrll-ixh Hrll-ixh olllcer. John Jurvla. th city's I'.rsl hohomiun of tlu' urts Hint It-livid, an oWltime frlciul of 1-a-tUic. tells of a woniutVn fiice nn-1 ni'!t As bis last wurit, Carr put- up a woman, presumably u :lae. Custom compels Sazarne lo accept tho stake. He wins. Mis old associates - ami Count Kaoul de Almonaster nceost him as l.atHte. A project of the yonlhfu! adventurers of New Orleans Or-leans Is the rescue of Napoleon lionaparte from St. Helena, and a ship, the Serapliliie. tins been iiuule reiuly. From Oo Almonaster Almonas-ter Sazarae learns that the Ktrl he "won'' nt ttie card table Is w bite, of hlsh estate, and that the matter has been miule a byword by-word in the city's resorts. Saz-nrac Saz-nrac finds Mademoiselle Lestron, a fellow passenger on a river suamer a few days before, and wilh whom he had fallen In love, j is the Kirl and In chivalry fore-nr--cs his revenpre against Carr. Jarvts admires Mademoiselle I.es-tron. I.es-tron. lie is a witness of the mcetin.s; and picks up a camellia which the grirl had thrown, unnoticed, un-noticed, to Sazarac. Jarvls Is dangerous; he talks too much tn his cups. His old associates of the Parataria days urjre Latitte 10 take command of the Seraphine. Sera-phine. ostensibly to rescue Napoleon Napo-leon but really to fly the black flag- and cruise the seas. He hesitates. Jarvls Is a witness of r the kidnaping of Mademoiselle I.istron. but his story is not inven credence. De Almonaster entertains Sazarac, now admittedly admitted-ly Jean Lafltte, at his country house. Latitte. accused of the abduction of Mademoiselle Les-tron. Les-tron. is warned of the approach of a military party seeking- to j arrest him. He escapes to the swamps of Barataria. 1 CHAPTER VII Continued. 9 The old dogs laughed the harder. Rough shaggy fellows in shirts of laded green nnd blue, barefooted for the iiK st, filthy muskrat traps dangling i:t their belts where once they had v.orn cutlass nnd pistol before the President's pardon. Nothing of sedition," answered Bohon. Bo-hon. "Few of us dare go to the city eien now. There is always a peg on which to hang one of Lafitte's men. Let u sheep be stolen up In the north parishes, and at once the Baratarians ;;:e charged with it!" "Come." said the chief. "The older of you with Bohon on his lugger. The others to their camps. Not a man of Mm shall lift hand against the law for me. If you can serve me further you i Fhel! he summoned. Come Rigo ! Black : Mike Nez Coupe. We shall talk to the deserters first." They made way for him to the beach. Old R:go was laughing softly: -Old days are come! Jean and at once, a fair enterprise ! A woman and a ship! And down at the old isle "here Yankees burned our fort, I have pumpkins growing beautiful yellow pumpkins! Eh, bien! Perhaps we shall ee another color o' gold among my pumpkins, wi Jean among us once Ili'Te Kix men to a side, the lugger crept down the mirrored bayou to where It opened to a shallow lake red in the vjjrni sunset. Back on the Temple, the whispering swampers scattered to their pirogues. Fast and wide the word would go through watery forest aisles and into the grass jungles of v T'arataria. Never a customs boat could Iff.ve the city but that keen eyes noted, 11 paddling couriers spread the warning warn-ing far to the most secluded cheuiere f the deep swamp. "Look you," growled the steersman, Ifcihon. to Joe Rigo, "the old fellows giif.iering like buzzards, furbishing up rusty dirks and smelling venture on the very wind that brought Jean to us. Name o' G d ! I am young again !" Bohon glanced at the first stars. Eastward a dim smudge showed on the gvay bayou margin. "John Kelly will be there and Mariano, the Manllaman. And others. Captain. There will be drinking, for three casks of wine went f'l'in the Algiers dock along with the arms. And the English lads, Captain you Till not have them delivered to the i ' nsul?" 'Did you ever know," laughed Je,in, "of me kicking baick any man to the p:cFs gangs white, yellow, brown or h a k--who ever reached the swamp?" !o you remember when our men vent recruiting to the Acadian dances and shook their gold before the coun-" coun-" try youth a speech, a song, a revel that would carry every restless spirit of the parishes back to our fort to ft-n-p you, Jean?" There was a shout In the starlight. T-.i the lugger's side swept a half-Cozpn half-Cozpn canoes. Old whiskered fellows i oidd noa be denied thcye clambered O! er the gunwales, and stood roaring t! eir welcome to the one-time dictator ' f the I'.aratnria coast. A torch po-inc'd among the palmettos as Bo-' Bo-' on'i men slid the anchor to the mud. Then they crowded aboard to shout, to i' Vhi- his hand, amazed that ho lived, e: uen to hear of the lost lender. '' I'.chon led the Wny ashore. The ene-Mire privateers trooped behind the Ides to another pal m l lin tched camp i:, which were stored Ihe stolen vlr.e c;is's. the boxes of auimnn'tinn p.iifl scattered muskets. The En-rlish deserters, red-eyed. '. eeling from drink. K'oked upon the party with suspicious "Why, That Is the Blustering Officer Who Wrangled With the Skipper When They Bundled the Woman Aboard." without waiting to settle this quarrel about the muskets which a drunken supercargo put off and Into the customs' cus-toms' hands by a mistake." -Sailed!" The chief laid hands upon his shoulder. "Lads, Is It true?" "Some dirty affair, sir. Burke and Crackley and myself saw it. Slave, free woman of color, to be sold in the Indies, or whatever she was we cannot can-not say. They took her to the master's cabin. There was no law to It, I warrant, war-rant, but when we lads saw that the Genaron was to put out hastily we took our leave o' her 1" Lafitte swept about upon Bohon. "Mademoiselle Lestron on the Genaron. Gena-ron. and the bark adrift to the passes! What can she make, sir, with this windT' "Steerage, nothing more. She will not have passed English Turn " "Forty men by daylight at the river side! She shall be boarded in midstream, mid-stream, Bohon. Johanness back to the Temple and summon every lad I" There was a gasp of Incredulity. The leader -had turned hack to the smuggler's landing. The older prir vateersmen followed. The deserters stumbled among their wine casks. Then the leader of them, John Crack-ley, Crack-ley, a long, thin-faced villain of the crimp-gangs, roared to the others. "I told you, bullies, if ever we found this Lafitte there would be rough work to do ! The Genaron burn her to the water's edge, say I and a knife to the mate for the cat he laid on our backs!" The messengers paddled off In the starlight while about Jean gathered his old friends. And presently, across the shallows, came another smll boat, swept by four black oarsmen to the smuggler's stern. A cloaked figure stepped out and grasped Lafitte's hand. "Monsieur de Almonaster!" "The mask is useless, sir ! I came to warn you. The dragoons seized my house-servants, and bullied them into confession. Sazarac! The city shouts with it! Jenn Lafitte has stolen the English colonel's ward !" "Sir, you know better. I, indeed, know where she is. Mademoiselle Lestron lias been put to sea. I take it, to hush her mouth. She would have spoken something dangerous to Carr's purposes. What these are. in all, we cannot say. But the lady of the river packet is a prisoner on the Genaron." The count stared at him hewildered-l.v. hewildered-l.v. "None In the city knows! Carr roars his indignation he leads the cry that Jean Lafltte put his old |