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Show I CAPTAIN SAZARAQ By CHARLES TENNEY JACKSON Copyright ly Tlio Hobbii-Merrill Company 1 inelllus? Lot's see? Why, .lean lnsl night" "SlItMii'O fool !" whispered Gorgio. He seized upon llio follow; lie bore him along with his bull-nocked strength against his back. "He Is utterly drunk," murmured Dominique. "Come, gentlemen let us to our morning coffee at Muspero's!" He tool; the mayor's arm, turning lilin hurriedly. A block distant the councilor coun-cilor looked buck, fiddling with his velvet cuff nervously. The Catalan vagabond was dragging his comrade along. lint none save the alderman saw that the hand of the one-time buccaneer bucca-neer was under .Tunis' arm, that his knife-point pressed there until the coat was torn. "A word more," hissed the crayfish seller, "and die!" Then he whispered: whis-pered: "Sazarac . . . and the English Eng-lish woman? Jean and the wager he won? Who, then, lias a better right to the woman? Home, now! get your paint pots and paint a poultice on your broken head !" But Gorgio bad to drag the unconscious un-conscious wastrel up the studio stairs, and there look him In ere be went to a whispered conference behind a cabbage cab-bage stack In the French market. CHAPTER VI The Mask Is Dropped. It was after the heat of that same day that two horsemen rode out from a courtyard of the Faubourg St. Marie upon the Tcboupitoulas road. Count de Almonnster breathed relief re-lief when the river willows hid them and the steeds broke Into a gallop. "My blacks-are waiting at the ferry," he murmured; "now. Captain Sazarac, did the plainsmen teach you to ride? Come, then !" And the guest led the way in a cloud of dust. A half-dozen slaves uprose as the two dashed over the levee, dismounted and flung rein to the grooms. Then the scow-boat swung off on the muddy Mississippi, propelled by the naked-backed oarsmen. oars-men. Sazarac stood watching the billowed bil-lowed shores. The city was invisible, but on the western bank arose the stately facades of plantation homes among great oaks. Beyond this, 1 il "AND DIE!" SYNOPSIS. Under the name of "Captain SaKirac," and illsKiilsril. Joan Lditltte. former freebooter of Haraturla. proscrltieil, returns to the city of New Orleans. He Is reeoKnlzed by two of his old companions. Alderman Pomlnlque and Heluehe. At tho gamins tables Sazarac has won much money from Colonel Carr, ltrlt-Ish ltrlt-Ish officer. John Jarvis. the city's first bohemlan of the arts and " letters, an ohltlme friend of Iji- V fltte. tells of a woman's face and smile. As his last waprer. Carr puts up a woman, presumably a slave. Custom compels Sazarac to accept the stake. lie wins. His old associates and Count Raoul de Almonaster accost him as Lafitte. A project of the youthful adventurers of New Orleans Or-leans is the rescue of Napoleon Bonaparte from St. Helena, and a ship, the Seraphine. has been made ready. From De Almonaster Almonas-ter Sazarac learns that the girl he "won'- at the card table Is white, of hlRh estate, and that the matter has been made a byword by-word In the city's resorts. Sazarac Saz-arac finds Mademoiselle Lestron, a fellow passenger on a river steamer a few days before, and with whom he had fallen in love, is the grlrl and In chivalry foregoes fore-goes his revenge against Carr. Jarvis admires Mademoiselle Lestron. Les-tron. He Is a witness of the meeting and picks up a camellia which the girl had thrown, unnoticed, un-noticed, to Sazarac. Jarvis Is dangerous; he talks too much in his cups. His old associates of the Barataria days urge Lafttte to 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. Jarvis is a witness of the kidnaping of Mademoiselle Lestron, but his story is not given credence. De Almonaster entertains Sazarac. now admittedly admitted-ly Jean Lafitte, at his country house. CHAPTER V Continued. "And were he to order these young scions of the city's blue blood to holystone his decks, he would have to land In every isle of the Indies to settle the challenges! No, no sir, Bonaparte Is safe from these gentry 1" The two gentlemen smiled. But as they were to part, down the banquette of the rue Chartres came two figures, one supporting the other. A short, dark, ragged man whose gold earrings glistened under filthy locks, struggling to save his basket of cooked crayfish as he steered his companion on. "Let be " growled Gorgio, the Catalan. "Come, Jarvis the Cafe des Refugies for you, man !" "A ship !" bawled Jarvis. And being much the larger of the two he almost propelled the crayfish seller into the two elegant gentlemen, who stepped aside in disgust to let them pass. "A ship! A rescue, old buccaneer!" He lurched to the banquette, and sat there blinking. Old Gorgio hauled In vain at his sleeve. "Come, be up with me !" But the town's first bohemian continued con-tinued to fumble at his clothes. "It was this way they went, Gorgio. I am even now on my way to the police po-lice to report of the affair. I shall appeal to the mayor Rouiffignac is not so dumb as to refuse rescue to a lady !" "What does he babble of?" inquired Langhorne haughtily. V The painter got to his feet. He was bleeding from a gash across his to the river forest ; anil then, at (load of night, ferried by oilier agents across to the warehouses of the city. And to I'lorro Lnlltle's cloaking smithy on the rue Bourbon came the winking merchants to watch the slaves work the forges while they slyly murmured to the proprietor: "I bear that a ship from Bllboa strangely foundered In Yucatan strait? . . . What, pray, Is the price of brocade and silver plate at .Monsieur Lalltte's Red house at Grand Terre?" "Hypocritical dogs!" muttered the master now. "I respect the roughest scoundrel of my own bund more than the smug merchants who enriched themselves on our tradlc, covertly protecting pro-tecting us while they profited; eager to denounce us when our last ship was driven from the Gulf!" The liquor decanter was on a highboy high-boy of heavy rosewood. The adventurer's adven-turer's melancholy eyes lighted as be examined It, the great four-post bed, the table and the mirrors. "Loot from the Isle o' Pines I I recall re-call Gumblo's sweating blacks poling it from the swamp to be sold to a city factor! It turns up at De Alinonas-ter's Alinonas-ter's and I am entertained with It!" His laughter had hardly ceased when he Joined his host at dinner. Never a more well-appointed guest had Count Raoul greeted than the lust sea-rover who sat across the board beyond the golden candelabrum. Monsieur Sazarac raised a hand. He held a glass before him. "As to the wine, young sir, I could swear there had been mischief In the Gulf again!" Raoul laughed ardently : "If ever, sir, one of my uncle's ships, which bring our wine from Bordeaux, had fallen your way. all the wars of Bonaparte Bona-parte had been nothing to the uproar he would have ralsvd 1" "Come ' smiled the guest. "I would forget It all!" "If we let you " he signaled the serving men to withdraw. "Now, I am delegated by your own worthy companions for this the Napoleon plot Is not that adventure enough?" "More." Sazarac smiled distantly. "I am done with adventuring. I dream of a plantation In the Indies. In Louisiana, even If again granted amnesty, my presence would be a sore spot. Let any thieving brawl come In the ports, and at once Lafitte's old men are charged with It. They are peaceful men now, scattered on the coast hunters, raisers of truck, and fishers. Let the dead past lie, my friend. I am an evil legacy . . and I am forty-two!" "And yet the lady of the packet boat!" mused Raoul. "Strange?" "To her, Sazarac, the gamester to you, Lafitte, the outlaw. And yet " the older man stopped, his gaze out the glass doors to the starlight. "And yet, Monsieur Sazarac what If you, of all men, brought Napoleon triumphantly out of exile to the New world? What proud lady of all Louisiana Lou-isiana would not be thrilled by the name Lafitte !" "Now, that is ridiculous," frowned the other man. "She an English Tor' an intrigue to aid Bonaparte win her approval?" lie laughed: "Ah, well, a lovely lady for whom I would have fought; and I had to turn aside in silence. I am Lafitte. That Is the irony of it at forty-two, discredited, a fugitive under a mask . . and she smiled upon the man who is the knave in either role. I did not chal- Jill, plljil V "T2f""!1 - lr, ' "ii brows. On ins sleeve lie laid a crusiiecl and dirty camellia. Then, down the street came Mayor Rouifiignac and Councilor Dominique to see what might be this public scandal. And to them Jarvis suddenly shouted his grievance. "I was fumbling along the rue St. Teter In the mud, sober as any honest man, save that tie moon kept diving past me. And there came n carriage that all but ran me down. The horses stumbled and a lady screamed. She thrust an arm from the curtains a " -white r.nn. I reached to touch. And a fellow within struck me ... I got up later I and my blossom. I swear she had more camellias in her hair ! Eh, there I have told it again ! Now ilaugli, fools!" "Where did you come upon this man, Monsieur Mudge?" said His Honor. "Here, as you see dirty and howling howl-ing !" returned the merchant. "Gorgio, take him home, and come to my clerk for a dollar," frowned (the mayor. "It's drunkard's talk." "Home?" blustered Jarvis. "A lady .seized, spirited away In a galloping chaise through New Orleans' streets and you say : 'Home !' Then romance is dead, sirs! I shall paint a fish-woman's fish-woman's shawl on my lady's head, ,and sorrow in her eyes. It was not 'so when Jean Lafitte was here!" "You have dreamed " muttered jDomlnlque, watching him covertly. "'Come with me, Jarvis." "My skinned nose and brow is that la dream?" "He has stumbled nightlong about .the streets," said Gorgio sullenly. Be-.( Be-.( tween the crayfish seller and the ro-jtund ro-jtund alderman there shot glances of alert understanding. The Catalan stretched his hand to the painter and I bent upon him a look of implacable (fury. "Let be!" grunted Jarvb "'':- "That You of the Spanish Almonas-ters, Almonas-ters, of Wealth and Connections Beyond Be-yond the Proudest in the City Have Chosen to Idle Unattached " glimpses of the grim, gray forest wall, the impenetrable cypress swamp, with Its watery aisles leading to Barataria, the legend-haunted, even at this early day. De Almonaster stepped ashore as the scow grounded, and led the way across the broad lawns to the high steps of the porticoed gallery of the white mansion. Black boys dashed for the bridles. At the great glass doors arose a grizzled major-domo. "At your pleasure, sir," said Raoul. "A drink shall be brought, and the bath." "I have thought it strange" Sazarac Saza-rac smiled absently "that you of the Spanish Almonasters, of wealth and connections beyond the proudest in the city have chosen to idle unattached." un-attached." "I have my dream " De Almonaster said gravely. "A boy's dream . . . but It does not pass. For six years now, the loveliest face that could stir youth has been with me. It was for that I cruised last year about the Caribbean ports aimlessly seeking, slowly trying to forget. Ah, well ! I am trying to be a practical, sober man financing the new sugar process proc-ess !" With a how he left the guest. The stranger looked from the great windows win-dows upon the gardens. Beyond the narrow fields ran a rutted road, and Jean Lafitte smiled. Up that same road had come the clumsy carts of the smugglers who met the gulf adv venturers in the swamp rendezvous and brought the loot of silks and wines and jewels taken from luckless merchantmen on the Spanish Main. By pole-boat from the coast, by carts lenge Colonel Carr," he- concluded pointedly. "I saw that." Raoul repressed his curious note. "We knew you went to confront him." He shrugged. "Come, my Captain Jean ! I, too, have greatly loved and lost. Now, this affair Is of the sea and men. Would you not listen? You heard last night your old wild fellows chuckling with it!" The guest stared hard at him. "Napoleon? "Na-poleon? The devil they would care for him ! Tooth and nail on the first merchantman loot, scurry, spend fist-fuls fist-fuls of gold In the ports of South America and then the yard-arm for them nil ! Monsieur, the world has shuffled off our gentlemen of fortune!" for-tune!" "It is the English woman holds you from us," said Raoul, and then saw the black line deepen on the other's brow. The host bit his lip ; and then upon the silence, there came rapid footsteps. A doorman was expostulating expostulat-ing at the broad gallery. There was a scuffle, an oath. "But I shall enter, fellow! Out of the door!" De Almonaster hod arisen by the silver-laden board, with a hasty glance at his guest's Impassive face under the golden candelabrum, when the burly grizzled Johanness charged from the hallway. He turned without greeting, staring at Sazarac. "You, Captain Jean! See, I have fought for you ! A customs guard, I think it was, went down by the cutlass. cut-lass. Nez Coupe, Bohon and I stopped them from the first crossing, but the dragoons are here!" i -"And that he is in reality Jean Lafitte, turned up from the dead." l J (TO BE CONTINUED.) |