Captain Kyd; or, The Wizard of the Sea. Vol. II

by J. H. Ingraham

CHAPTER VIII.

"The wind blows fair! the vessel feels The pressure of the rising breeze, And swiftest of a thousand keels, She leaps to the careering seas."
Willis.

"Commanding, aiding, animating all, Where foe appear'd to press, or friend to fall, Cheers Lara's voice."
Lara.

Towards noon of the day on which the events related in the last chapter transpired, a signal was displayed on one of the towers of Castle Cor, and shortly afterward the yacht, which hitherto had appeared so lifeless, got under weigh. Like a snowy seabird seeking her nest, she spread her broad white sails and stood in towards the land, fired a gun, and hove to within cable's length of the beach. A well-manned boat, with a crimson awning stretched above the stern-sheets, and gay with the flags of England and of Bellamont, presently put off from her, and pulled to the foot of the path that led up to the castle. In a few minutes afterward a party was seen descending the cliff, consisting of Lady Bellamont, Grace Fitzgerald, Kate Bellamont and the earl, on the arm of whom the latter leaned pale and sad, followed by a large number of attendants, and others who had come to witness the embarcation. On arriving at the boat, which lay against the rock so that they could easily step into it, they were received by the commander of the yacht in person—a bluff, middle-aged seaman, his manners characterized by a sailor's frankness, united with the ease and courtesy of a well-bred gentleman.

"How is the wind, Kenard?" asked the earl of the officer, as he came to the place of embarking; "'tis somewhat light and contrary, methinks, for our voyage."

"It comes from the south by west, my lord, but we can lay our course till we clear the cape, when it will be full fair. I trust our cabin will be honoured with a larger share of loveliness than I had anticipated," he said, smiling with gallantry as he saw Kate Bellamont and the countess were of the party.

"So you did not give me the credit for being so very lovely until you had seen me, Master Kenard," said Grace, wilfully misapplying his words.

"When I look on your face, I assuredly can have no wish that my cabins should be graced with more beauty than I behold there, fair lady," answered the seaman, lifting his cap gallantly.

"A pretty speech to come from the sea," said Grace, laughing.

"Come, fair niece, the winds wait for no one," said the earl, stepping from the rock upon the cushioned seats of the gig, after having taken a tender leave of his countess and daughter.

"Adieu, then, sweet cousin!"

"Adieu, dear Grace!"

And, for a moment, the lovely girls lingered in a parting embrace, kissing again and again each other's cheeks, while their full eyes ran over. It seemed as if they never would separate!

"Nay, my sweet Grace, will you give all your adieus and affectionate partings to your cousin?" said the countess, interrupting their lingering parting.

With another warm embrace, another kiss, and a fresh shower of tears, Grace released herself from Kate's entwining arms and threw herself into those of Lady Bellamont. The earl then gently took her hand and led her into the boat.

The baggage, in the mean while, had been placed in it by the servants and seamen, and the earl and his niece having taken their seats beneath the silken canopy and once more interchanged adieus with those on the rock, the captain bade the men give way in the direction of the yacht, the yards of which, at the same moment, were manned to receive the noble party. The boat, urged on its way by eight oars, cut swiftly through the crested waves, and in a short time after leaving the land was alongside. The deck of the vessel was within a few feet of the water; and half a dozen steps, let down by a hinge into the boat, formed a safe and easy means of getting on board. As Grace, who had not ceased to wave her handkerchief to the party on shore, placed her foot upon the deck, her eyes rested, with surprise that nearly broke forth into an exclamation, on Mark Meredith, who stood close beside her, manning, with other young sailors, the rope that lifted the stairs. Forgetful of his duty, he looked with all his soul after her retiring form, as, leaning on her uncle's arm, she walked aft amid the loud cheers from the crew on the yards.

"Run away with it!" cried the officer of the gangway to the young seamen at the fall.

But Mark was deaf to the order, and was nearly thrown down by the rapid movement of his companions ere he could recover himself.

"So, so, my green un! you must have quicker ears than this if you would serve King Billy. And what are your eyes doing aft? Tom," he added, to a seaman who was fitting a tompion to the starboard gun amidships, as Mark, blushing and confused, retreated from this reproof among the crew, "is this lad in your mess?"

"Ay, sir," said the man, ceasing his occupation and respectfully lifting his cap.

"Then teach him that a seaman must look ahead and not astern," said the officer, dryly.

"Ay, ay, sir," was the equally dry response.

"Lay in, lay in, off the yards!" now shouted the lieutenant; "all hands make sail!"

The boatswain's whistle rung sharp and clear as it repeated the call to the deck; and in an instant the yards, save two or three men left on each to assist in loosening the canvass, were deserted, and the sailors descended with activity to the deck.

The yards were now swung round to the wind, and every light sail was spread to woo the gentle breeze that came off shore. Yielding to its influence, with a ripple about her prow as she began to cleave the water and a slight inclination towards the direction opposite from the wind, the graceful yacht slid smoothly over the sea, with a rapid yet scarcely perceptible motion.

Grace stood beneath the awning that covered the quarter-deck, and, as they glided down the bay, watched the shore, which seemed to move past like a revolving panorama. Castle Cor, with its lordly towers, rose to the eye lone and commanding for many a league; and she could fancy, long after the flag that fluttered on its topmost tower was no longer to be seen, that she could discern the white kerchief of her cousin waving to her from the cliff. As the vessel continued to gain an offing, the battlements of Castle More, far inland, became visible; and as her eyes wandered from the cliff to these towers, her thoughts ran rapidly over the scenes in which Lester, the preceding day, had been an actor; and she wondered as she thought. Had she known all—had Kate made her her confidant after her interview with the sorceress, she would have had food for wonder indeed!

Gradually the scenes with which she was familiar faded from her view. The towers of Castle Cor and the far-distant battlements of Castle More sunk beneath the horizon, and she found herself, on turning, after taking a long, last, lingering look at these dear objects, to the scenes about her, that the vessel was moving before a steady breeze past the outermost rocky headland of the bay, and boldly entering the open sea. The sun was shining redly in the west, his broad, flaming disk on a level with the ocean, the top of every leaping wave of which he touched with fire: a dark cloud hung just above it, with lurid edges; and the whole aspect of the heavens was to her eye angry and menacing, and betokened a tempest. The yacht cut her way swiftly through the water, as if, so it seemed to her imagination, flying from the approaching storm, with every sail flung broad to the breeze, which, after the course was changed to the east on doubling the headland, blew directly aft. She cast her eyes along the decks, and saw that the most perfect quiet and order reigned throughout, and that every seaman was employed in some occupation of his craft, or stationed at his post ready to obey the orders of his officer. Now and then an old sailor would cast his eyes to windward, look a moment at the sun, then lift them to the sails, and, with an approving glance, again pursue his momentarily interrupted task. This trained coolness of men accustomed to meet the dangers of the deep, but whose very feelings were subdued and regulated by the stern discipline of their profession, reassured her; and when she saw the captain of the yacht carelessly lounging over the quarter-rail, chatting with his first lieutenant, and her uncle lying at his length on one of the luxurious couches calmly reading a book, all her fears vanished, and she watched the descent of the sun, which resembled a vast round shield of dead gold, into the sea, with a pleasure unalloyed by apprehension. Slowly and majestically it descended till half its orb was beneath the sea, which now no longer reflected fire, but grew black as ink up to its blood-red face. All at once it appeared as if dark lines had been drawn across its disk, as though traced by a pencil.

"Look!" she involuntarily exclaimed, pointing towards it; "see those lines on the sun."

The earl threw aside his book and sprung to his feet, so sudden and energetic was her exclamation. The captain and his officer both started, and also looked in the direction indicated by her finger.

"What?" cried the former, after looking an instant, "lines on the sun? Ropes, lady! By the rood, 'tis a ship!" he exclaimed.

The upper portion of the luminary was yet above the horizon, and the practised eye of the seaman detected in the delicate tracery, that had struck and pleased the eye of Grace, the outlines of a distant vessel lying under bare poles. He looked a little longer, and distinctly saw her hull rise on the swell in bold, black relief against the sun.

"My glass!" he hastily demanded.

It was placed in his hand by an under officer, when, directing it towards the object, he looked steadily for an instant, and then, turning to his noble passenger, gave him the spyglass, saying,

"Tis a pirate, my lord! Doubtless the same I have been advised to look out for, as having been seen in these seas."

"What cause have you to suspect it?" asked the earl, surveying the stranger through the telescope.

"His wish to avoid observation; his lowering his sails; his peculiar rig—three straight sticks for masts—and the knowledge that they swarm in these waters," was the confident reply.

"They have disappeared!" exclaimed Grace, as the upper rim of the sun sunk beneath the watery waste, leaving all the sky cold and cheerless.

"He is still there, maiden," said the captain, "but has no longer a bright background to show his spars on. If he is trying to hide from us, he has made no calculation for the sun, and has been raw enough to run directly in its wake; but doubtless he dropped sail just where he was the instant he discovered us."

"From fear, captain?"

"No, my lord," was the reply, in a voice lowered so as not to reach the ears of Grace. "These fellows are night-birds. His object is to hide himself till dark, and then—no doubt taking us for a merchant coaster—pop down upon us, under cover of the darkness, when he is least expected. But we have him our own way now, thanks to the kindly sun and our fair young lady here."

"Can you cope with him, should he come down upon you under cover of the night?" asked the nobleman.

"I shall not run from him, my lord. I have eight bulldogs here that can growl and bite as well as e'er a mastiff in his majesty's service: and from the size of his sticks, and his light rig, he carries not so many. But, more or less, he lies to windward of us, and so has the advantage; and, if he can outsail us with a flowing sheet, will, if such be his pleasure, be down upon us ere the middle watch is called. Besides, there is a cap full of wind gathering in that quarter, which will help him along if his humour takes him this way."

"Is there a probability that we shall be pursued, Kenard?" asked the nobleman, with seriousness, glancing anxiously towards Grace, who was watching, with a childish pleasure, the black waves as they leaped up to the stern, broke in glaring white heads, and fell in crystal showers back into the sea again.

"There is, my lord," was the quiet answer.

"It is my desire, then, that you use your best efforts to escape."

"My lord!" exclaimed the hardy seaman, in a tone of disappointment, yet emphasizing the words as if he had not heard aright.

"Exert all your skill and seamanship to avoid a meeting with this bucanier, if such he be," repeated the earl, who perfectly comprehended him. "Those who are unfitted to encounter danger should not be thoughtlessly exposed to it," he added, looking towards his niece. "There is one here, whom you see, that cannot profit by your success, yet will suffer everything by your defeat. Were I alone, my brave captain, I would give you the weight of my blade in this matter. As it is, we must fly."

"We will but let him come within reach of my barkers, my lord, and wake him up with a couple of broadsides, and be off again before he knows what has hurt him."

"I must be obeyed, Kenard," said the earl, decidedly, turning away and joining his niece.

"That Dick Kenard should ever run away from a bucanier," said the seaman, grumblingly, to himself, as he took up his trumpet to give orders, "and without showing him his teeth, is a disgrace both to himself and his majesty's navy. Bluff King Billy himself, were he on board, would be the first to stand by me for a hard brush. This comes of leaving my snug little clipper, the Roebuck, and taking command of this gingerbread yacht, fit only for boarding-school girls to sail about in on a park-lake. Howel," he said, to his lieutenant, in no very good-humoured tones, "have all sail made on this penny whistle; stretch out every rag she's got; make every thread tell. Set stun'sails both sides alow and aloft. See to it!"

For a few moments the yacht was a scene of apparent confusion, but really of the most perfect order. Commands were given and repeated, and instantly obeyed. Additional sails rose on either side of those before standing, as if by magic. Men moved quickly in all directions, yet each obedient to his own officer, and each engaged in obeying a particular order, as if but one had been given, and he the only one to execute it. The masts were soon white with broad fields of canvass, stretching far out on either side of the vessel; and the increased ripple around the bow, and the gurgle heard about the rudder, indicated that she felt the new impulse, and was moving with increased velocity.

The captain, who had, in the mean while, walked the deck with a moody pace, looked up as the bustle made in increasing sail ceased.

"She is under all she will bear, sir!" said the lieutenant, approaching him.

"What way has she?"

"Five knots."

"'Tis her canvass presses her along then," said the captain, looking aloft with a gratified eye, "for there is scarce wind to float a feather."

"She moves wing and wing, like a duck," said the officer, in reply; "for I've sailed in her many a cruise before you took command of her, sir, and know what she'll do; but, with the wind a point or two forward the beam, a spar would work better and gain more headway than she will."

"Pray Heaven the wind soon chop round ahead, then," said the captain, with energy; "I would not lose the chance of a brush with this three-masted rigger for a post-captaincy. Keep good lookout astern, and watch everything like a change in the wind: report if you see anything moving between the sea and sky, he added, going to the companion-way.

"And what if I can change the wind for you by bringing her to, a few points, by degrees," archly suggested the lieutenant, in a low voice, as he was about to descend into the cabin.

"'Tis a temptation, i'faith, Howel," he said, laughingly; "but wouldst have me keep a false log? No, no. Not Dick Kenard, for a score of pirates."

The captain disappeared as he spoke, and the lieutenant, with his speaking-trumpet beneath his arm, and his right hand thrust into the breast of his jacket, mechanically paced the deck fore and aft the starboard guns in the waste, leaving the whole of the quarter-deck to the earl and his niece.

Twilight was stealing over the sea, and the headland of Cape Clear looked, through the hazy distance, like a cloud resting on the water. With her head reclining on her uncle's shoulder, Grace watched in silence the stars, as one by one they came out of their blue homes and took their places in the sky; and her fancy amused itself, as she saw them light up one after another, with the idea that the invisible angels, which are said to keep watch over the earth, were hanging out lamps to give light to it in the absence of the sun. The musical murmur of the parted water, as it rippled past the vessel's sides; the occasional dash of a wave against the stern; the gentle, rocking motion of the yacht, as it coursed along, threw over her spirit a pensive sadness. Twilight is sacred to thought! Its dreamy influence begets reflection. There is something in its deep silence that elevates and spiritualizes. To religion and its mysteries, the mind then insensibly turns, and always for its good. If men think at all, they will think at this magic hour. If they are religious ever, they will be devotionally so then. There is no man, however humble or however lost, who does not at times feel its sanctifying influence. It is the sabbath of the day, and its time to the thoughts of the heart of man is a holy time.

The mind of Grace experienced the sacred influences of the hour. For a while she gave herself up to her thoughts, that would take to themselves wings and fly whither they would. At length night came on in all her starry glory, and the meditations of the maiden grew less ideal; and returning from contemplating, as young and ardent minds delight to do, creation and its wonders, religion and its mysteries, the wearied wing of her imagination rested among those whom she had left at Castle Cor. She thought of Kate and of Lester—grieved at their quarrel, and sympathized with her unhappy cousin. She then thought of Mark; of his intrepidity on the cliff; of his pride, and of his low station. She caught herself wishing, she could hardly tell why or wherefore, that he had been noble; and began devising some way of drawing him from his degrading occupation of a fisherman, and elevating him to a worthier station—when all at once she remembered, what she had forgotten, that this was in part accomplished—that he was on board the same vessel with herself! She started at the recollection, and looked around confused. But the darkness concealed her changing colour from her uncle, who nevertheless spoke, as she so suddenly lifted her head from his shoulder.

"What, dreaming, my Gracy? It is growing late, and time for you to retire. We will take some refreshment below, and then I will resign you to your maid—for this little head should have a softer pillow than an old uncle's arm."

As the earl spoke, he took the hand of his niece, and descended with her to the cabin, where, after partaking of their evening meal, they parted, one to go to the deck and join the captain, the other to retire to the state cabin. This was furnished with costly hangings, couches of down, gilded sofas, thick carpets, tables inlaid with pearl, a toilet stand and laver of ebony and marble, and pier glasses extending from the ceiling to the floor; while nothing that could contribute to the comfort or administer to the luxury of the occupant was wanting.

When the earl returned to the deck it was nearly ten o'clock, and the moon was high in the east. He wrapped himself in his cloak, and walked for an hour thoughtfully, occasionally casting his eyes to windward, or stopping to examine the compass. The captain, in the mean while, leaned over the quarter, fixing his eyes steadily towards the direction from which his vessel had come; at one moment putting his night-glass to his eye; at another giving an order to the lieutenant of the watch, and now and then addressing a brief sentence of caution or reprimand to the helmsman.

Seven bells had struck, and it was near midnight, when, after taking a long and scrutinizing survey of the horizon, he crossed the deck towards the earl, and said, with impatient disappointment,

"We are safe enough, my lord. There will be no one to trouble us to-night."

"I am glad it is so, Kenard. You may have been mistaken in his character."

"No. But he probably has discovered what we are, and has thought better of it. Ha! did not the main-topgallant-sail flap then?" he asked, looking aloft.

"The wind is lulling, I believe," said the earl.

"It is, by Heaven!" exclaimed the seaman. "What headway do we make? Heave the log."

"She logs full four, but makes not above three and a half knots way," repeated the officer of the deck.

"We have a strong current setting to the south and east in our favour by the dip of this ripple, which will make it four again. Ten minutes ago we were running eight! There is a chance of exchanging compliments with our neighbour, my lord; yet I have done my best to keep out of his way."

"But, if we have no wind, he must be in the same situation."

"He will have it first, and bring it along with him. There was a wind-bag hanging over the sun that will soon be piping a merry note. There flaps the fore-topsail against the mast! The wind is leaving us. She does not now move two knots through the water," he added, glancing over the side. "We shall have it dead calm in ten minutes. Take in the lower stun'sails, Howel, and stand by to hand all the light canvass! we shall have it soon! Preparation is half the victory, my lord," he added, turning to the earl with a formal bow.

"What mean these preparations?" inquired the earl; "for I profess to be better landsman than seaman."

"And it requires no unskilled hand to sail the ship of state, my lord, of which, I hear, you are an able officer," said the captain, in a complimentary manner. "This southwest wind, which has held us so fair, is dying away to make room for a tight blow here away from the northwest, which I have been watching suspiciously. There heaves a cloud now towards the zenith; you can scarcely discern its outline for the haze, my lord; but you will find no stars in that direction, and the horizon looks thick and black."

"The wind has quite gone," said the earl, raising his palm to catch the air.

"It is now time to make ready to welcome its successor. Turn up all hands, Howel. Take in every stitch of light sail!"

In a few moments the yacht was stripped to her two topsails, spanker, and jib.

"Put a single reef in the topsails, Mr. Howel," ordered the captain, as he saw that the dark cloud rose rapidly in the northwest.

"It is done, sir!" reported the officer, a few moments afterward.

"Very well! Secure the guns with single lashings only, and have the decks clear for action!" was the next order.

"Action, captain?" exclaimed the earl, who had witnessed these preparations with interest.

"It is best to be prepared, if that dark cloud rolling towards us should chance to conceal a foe in its bosom. A dark cloud, as well as a dark eye, sometimes hides dangers, my lord."

"You may be doing right, Kenard, but Heaven defend us from other dangers than the elements threaten us with."

These several orders were executed; and the yacht lay rocking, with scarcely any progressive motion, on the sluggish surges, which all at once began to heave and swell, as if lifted by some vast and mysterious power beneath. She was nearly divested of her canvass, yet still beautiful in her nakedness, showing to advantage the graceful symmetry of her tapering spars, and the exquisite shape and proportions of her hull. Like a bird seated on the water, she yielded to every undulation of the heaving billows with a grace that seemed the instinct of life.

The stillness that now reigned was profound and awful.

"List, my lord," said the captain, after the lapse of a few moments, during which all eyes were turned to watch the storm-cloud walking the skies in its power, and flinging its broad shadow on the sea.

The earl bent his ear more acutely, and heard a deep moaning sound, like winds howling in caverns under-sea. Gradually it grew louder, and at the same time the dark cloud cast itself across the skies towards the zenith, its edges streaming in advance, like hair blown out by the wind. In a few seconds the moon was darkened, the stars became suddenly extinguished, and an impenetrable gloom fell like a pall over the deep. Not a breath yet moved the air. But deeper and more awful grew the moan of the storm as it swept down the sea. Louder and louder it came, and now was distinctly heard the roar of agitated waves, tossed by the shrieking winds; and between the sky and sea, which seemed to meet within reach of the hand, glared a line of white foam, seeming, to their imaginations, the glittering and gnashing teeth of the mad tempest. The earl hid his head within his cloak, and uttered a prayer for the safety of the souls on board; the captain stood upon a gun, with his eyes upon the coming storm, professionally cool and collected.

"Two steady men go to the aid of the helmsman," he said, in a calm, low voice. "She will bear nothing, Howel; we must make an Eolian harp of her. So! stand by the topsail halyards."

"All ready, sir," replied the lieutenant, in the same subdued tone.

"Let go all!"

The topsails came down by the run, and in a moment's time were furled by the active seamen.

"Let go the jib and spanker," he now shouted, in an energetic tone.

"All gone, sir!"

The yacht was now under bare poles, and left to the mercy of the hurricane. The roar of the coming tempest was now deafening, and the vessel began to pitch wildly, yet there was no sensible agitation of the air.

"Every man throw himself on his face to the deck!" cried the captain, suddenly, in a loud tone. "My lord, you will be safer below. Our decks will be swept clean as your hand."

"I will remain, Kenard."

"And I will remain with you, uncle," said Grace, suddenly appearing before them like a spirit, in her snowy night-robe, which seemed like a garment of pale light in the surrounding blackness and gloom; "I will share the danger by your side," she added, with decision.

There was no time to refuse her entreaty or conduct her to the cabin—the tempest burst upon them, as if a cloud, swelling with wind and rain, had broken over the vessel. Instantly all who were on their feet were prostrated. Howling and shrieking through the rigging, accompanied by a crashing and splintering that appalled every soul on board with the present sense of danger, it swept over them with terrific fury. Borne down by its weight, the vessel careened till she lay almost on her beam's end, while the mad surges leaped over her bulwarks and deluged the nearly perpendicular decks. The darkness became illumined by a wild, strange light from the foaming sea, and every object was distinctly seen by its supernatural glare. The captain got upon his feet, and, climbing to windward, lashed himself to the main rigging, and gave such orders as the crisis demanded. But his voice could not be heard, and his presence and example were alike useless at a moment like this. The vessel was driving in the van of the tempest with inconceivable velocity. The waves seemed to lift her hull, and hurl her onward like a feather. The brave seaman beheld many of his crew swept off, and saw them, without the power to help them, struggling amid the boiling sea; but their shrieks were lost in the louder shrieks of the wind, and the flying vessel soon left them far astern. Others were lashing themselves to the rigging; others clinging to the guns; and all were exerting themselves to preserve their lives. Casting his eyes aloft, he saw, with a pang of grief, that his main-topgallant-mast was gone, and that his fore-topmast was wounded and tottering fearfully at every pitch of the vessel. The first fury of the tempest was spent, and there being a momentary lull, it occurred to him that it might yet be saved.

"Ho, there, forward!" he shouted.

His words seemed to have an electrical effect upon the crew, as if the sound of a cheerful human voice, in that fearful moment, inspired them with hope. Half the danger was lessened to their minds, and twenty voices replied,

"Ay, ay."

At the instant, there came a second blast of the tempest, and a huge sea breaking over the vessel, swept the captain into the waste, and bore three more of the men into the sea, who the next moment were lost in the darkness astern. The first glance of the captain, on recovering his feet and sustaining himself by clasping round a gun, was to the fore-topmast.

"She yet stands it!" he exclaimed, "but another such a blast will pitch it end foremost through our decks. Ho, my lads, which of you will take a couple of fathoms from the topgallant-halyards and go aloft and fish that stick?"

Many an eye was turned upward, but not a foot moved.

"A light lad will do it best. The spar must be saved where it is; for, if it falls inboard, 'twill make a hole through our decks big enough to let the ocean in. Be quick, lads!"

"I will do it, sir," said a young sailor, springing into the weather rigging, with a coil of rigging on his arm.

"That's my lad. You shall wear an epaulet for this."

With the eyes of the whole crew upon him, the intrepid young seaman ascended the rigging, though with much difficulty, as the wind pressed him so closely against the stays that he could scarcely climb from one rattling to another. After great peril he gained the top. Here, breaking from its latticed guard a couple of oaken slats, he swung himself into the topmast rigging, and, ascending to where the stick was splintered, commenced with great coolness, while the storm howled terrifically about him, to wind the rope about both it and the pieces of wood he had torn from the top. At every pitch of the vessel the wounded spar would gape wide, and threaten to carry him with it into the sea. But to the eyes of those below, who could plainly see him by the white light shed from the phosphorescent waves, he appeared to be as cool as if engaged in an ordinary duty on an ordinary occasion. After taking numerous turns about the mast till his rope was exhausted, he skilfully fastened the ends, and then, by a stay, descended like an arrow to the deck.

"What lad is that?" asked the captain, who had silently watched his labour.

"The fisher's lad," replied one.

"Gallantly done, my lad," said the captain. "This night has made thy fortune for thee, young man."

"I believe there is a vessel in sight, sir."

"What is that you say? Come aft, for this wind will let nobody hear anything but its own howl."

"I discovered aloft what appeared to be a vessel to windward, scudding under bare poles," repeated Mark.

"Ha, say you? Then we are like to have company in the gale."

As he attempted to ascend to the weatherside to look for the stranger, a fresh gust of the tornado burst upon the vessel and threw her upon her beam's end, the sea breaking over her bulwarks from stem to stern with the force and volume of a cataract.

"My niece, my niece!" cried the Earl of Bellamont, suddenly; "save her—oh, God! she is lost!"

The first shock of the tempest had thrown the nobleman and Grace to the deck; but he had contrived to shelter her in his cloak, under the lee of the companion-way, during its continuance, and, save the apprehension attendant on the danger she was in, she had suffered comparatively little. Her attention had been drawn, in the mean while, to the bold enterprise of the young sailor. She would have shrieked as he volunteered, but her voice failed her. She had watched his ascent and the progress of his perilous duty with trembling and with prayer; and, when he descended to the deck, she released her hold upon her uncle, and clasped her hands together in gratitude for his preservation. It was at this moment the vessel was thrown upon her beam's end, when, caught up by a wave, she was borne far from the reach of the earl, whose cries now drew all eyes towards him.

"My niece! Grace! Where is she?" he cried, in tones of despair.

"Here, uncle!" she faintly answered from the sea.

Guided by her voice, they discerned her at some distance from the vessel, her body immersed in the water, clinging by one hand to a stay which lay level with it. Every heave of the sea lifted her nearly out of the water to let her descend again far beneath its surface. Yet she held firmly to the stay with that tenacity which is taught by the love of life.

The earl no sooner beheld her than he was about to jump overboard to her rescue, when Mark, with a rope fastened around his waist, run along the level bulwarks and arrested him before he could take the leap.

"Stay, my lord! Hold firmly by the end of this rope, and I will save her or perish in the attempt."

As he spoke he cast himself into the sea; and partly by swimming and partly by the aid of the stay, he had nearly reached her, when a wave lifted her high on its crest, and forced her to release her grasp.

"Save me, Mark!" she cried, and sunk in the hollow it left, and almost within reach of his arm.

He dove, and brought her to the surface scarce ere she had gone beneath it. She instantly clasped her arms firmly around him with the instinct of self-preservation; her cheek lying against his, and her rich tresses blinding him.

"She is safe; draw us inboard," he shouted, buffeting the waves with one arm, the other encircling her with a firm grasp.

The earl, assisted by the captain and sailors, the next moment drew his half-drowned niece from the sea, dripping like a naiad, while the captain did the same office for the brave youth.

"Two epaulets, by the rood!" he exclaimed. "'Twas a lucky day Dick Kenard shipped a lad of your mettle. Ho, there, men! We must now look to the craft. Save the ship first, and think of ourselves afterward, is my maxim, my lord. Bear a hand with an axe! Cut away the masts!"

"Cast the lee guns overboard, and she may right, captain," said Mark, shaking the salt spray from his locks.

"We can but try it, my boy. Overboard with the barkers!"

Forthwith the men set to work and pitched the starboard guns into the sea, and, after cutting loose the fore and main yards, and giving every man's weight to the weather side, the yacht righted with a tremendous roll to windward and a lurch that threw every man flat upon the deck.

"There she is on her legs again," cried the captain, exultingly. "The storm seems to have shown its roughest paw, and we'll ride it out yet. We are less a topgallant-sail and a brace of yards, my lord; but an hour's calm will make all shipshape again. But the poor fellows that are washed overboard! there's no getting them back. They are gone to their last muster," he added, with manly sympathy.

The fury of the tempest had been spent on the yacht; and though it now blew a stiff gale, it was no longer attended with any of those tremendous gusts which had characterized it at the first. The sea no longer boiled and tossed confusedly, but on every side rolled its waves in one direction to leeward; and though they broke in snowy heads, and lifted themselves in mountainous billows, the regularity of their motion indicated that the tornado had settled into a steady though violent hurricane. The clouds, although still dark and laden with wind, flew higher above the sea than before, and in the east they broke into masses, showing between white places in the sky.

"She will bear her spanker close reefed, and a hand's breadth of the jib, Mr. Howel. Pass the word forward to set the jib, sir!"

There was no reply.

"Where is Mr. Howel?" he demanded, with a foreboding of the fatal result.

"He was washed overboard by the last sea we shipped," replied one of the men.

"A noble seaman gone! a lovely woman widowed! It has been a fatal night! Marston, ho! Where is my second lieutenant?"

"Mr. Marston was struck by a spar, and knocked into the water as we went over on our beam," answered another.

"This has been a dear night indeed, my lord," said the captain, addressing Lord Bellamont, who was supporting Grace in his arms by the companion-way; "I have lost my two oldest officers, and how many of my best men I know not. Edwards! Thank God, I have one lieutenant left. You must be my second now, and act as my first! Muster all hands aft. Let us see who are missing, and then let us set to work and put the crippled craft under an inch or two of canvass, if only to ease the fore-topmast, which, with this pitching, in spite of its support, will soon take leave of the ship."

The men were mustered aft, and thirteen less than the yacht's complement answered to their names.

"Ah, poor fellows!" sighed the captain, "they have got a seaman's end! but they would have had the same fifty years hence; or else have been thrown into a hole on shore, which is worse than they now have got. A short life and a gallant one, is my maxim, my lord," he said, turning round and speaking to the earl. "Poor brave boys, Heaven give them a snug berth aloft! Well, lads, let us get a bit of sail on the craft, and cry afterward. My lad," he continued, addressing Meredith, "I see you are a sailor! You must take poor Marston's place, and wait till you get on shore for your commission. Go forward and set the jib at once. Here! a dozen of you close reef this spanker, and let us see how long it will take for the wind to cut it up into ribands. Lively, men, lively! Stand by there, at the helm, to bring her smartly up to the wind as soon as she begins to feel her canvass. Hoist away briskly!"

In a few minutes the yacht was lying to under a reefed jib and close-reefed spanker, with her helm lashed to the starboard bulwarks; the steersman, with the two men who had been detailed to assist him at the beginning of the storm, having been carried forward into the waste on the first billow that broke over the stern.

The force of the wind gradually lessened, and, in half an hour after the jib was set, an order was given to set the foresail, and shake the reefs out of the spanker.

"Put her away a point or two, and give her headway," said the captain to the lieutenant, as the above orders were executed. "So, steady! there she walks bravely! See, my lord, how like a duck she rides on the top of the waves. She's a tight boat for so gayly painted a craft, or we should, ere this, have been helping the mermaids string coral in their sea-caves below. Never judge a ship by the colour of her bends, is my maxim, my lord."

The yacht was now under steerage way, and rose regularly on the billows, which before had broken against her sides flinging the spray in showers upon her decks. The wind blew steadily, but no longer with violence; the storm-cloud, broken into a myriad of fragments, was scudding across the heavens towards the southeast; the waves momently diminished in size; and at intervals the moon shone down through an opening upon the sea, like the smile of hope beaming on the tempest-tossed mariners: all things indicated the termination of the hurricane, to the fury of which they had so nearly been sacrificed. The pumps were now tried, and it was ascertained that less than three inches of water had been made.

"A capital craft, my lord. The Roebuck would scarcely have ridden out a tornado like this, especially after having been laid on her ribs. I congratulate both your lordship and your niece on your escape from a grave in the sea, for which landsmen, I am told, have a strange antipathy. But bury me, my lord, in the deep sea; let the green waves, which have borne me living, wrap about me dead. Let me lie where the ripple of driving keels and the song of the sailor shall be my requiem."

"You are eloquent, Kenard; and perhaps you are right."

"It matters little where a man's bones are laid, my lord; and the sea is as safe a repository, and will yield them up as readily at the judgment day as the earth. Ay, more readily, it may be," said the captain.

"It may be so," replied the nobleman, smiling at the literal way in which the seaman viewed the subject. "If it is now safe to unclose the companion-way, I will convey my niece to the cabin for a change of wardrobe."

"We shall have no more washing decks to-night," replied the captain, giving the necessary orders to remove the companion-way and hatches, which had been firmly closed as the storm came on.

They were now opened, and the earl awoke Grace, who, after her submersion, had dropped into a gentle sleep in his arms, and assisted her to her stateroom, where, arousing her terrified and almost insensible maid from the floor, he left her with a kiss of paternal affection, mingled with gratitude for her preservation.

"Shall I come to the deck again after I have changed my dripping dress?" she asked, with playful entreaty, as he was leaving her.

"No, my child, you need rest after your bath. Your cheek is pale as marble," he replied, tapping upon it.

"I shall be sick here; I miss the pure air; there is a suffocating sensation of closeness; and I think I feel the motion of the vessel more below. I must go on deck again, uncle," she said, earnestly. "Besides, the moon is coming out, and it will be pleasant to watch the caps of the waves sparkling in her light."

"There is no resisting you, Grace; I will come down for you when you are ready. Let us be thankful, my child, for our preservation," he added, devoutly.

"I am, uncle, indeed," she said, with touching sincerity.

And, as the earl closed the door of her stateroom, she kneeled by her couch in her wet garments, and offered up a short, heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude for her safety; nor in it did she forget the youth who had been the instrument of it. How much nearer did the gallant service he had performed for her bring the handsome but humble young sailor to her heart! How much closer did the union of his name with her own in prayer bind him to her young and warm affections! And when she rose from her knees, her thoughts, it is to be feared, ran much more upon the instrument of her preservation than upon the Being who directed it.

When the earl returned to the deck, the moon was riding in a broad field of blue, unobscured by a single cloud, and on all sides the waves leaped towards it to fall back into the shining sea in showers of silver. The clouds were drifting far to leeward, and the darkness and terror that had hitherto reigned had given place to brightness and serenity. The yacht was gallantly riding over the crested waves, parting them with her prow and dashing to either side their glittering drops in snowy jets of spray. The fore-topgallant-sail was set, and drawing freely; and, notwithstanding the loss of her topsails and main-topgallant-mast with its yard, she held her course and was making good headway through the water. Two of her larboard guns had been shifted to the starboard, and other means had been taken to put her in suitable sailing trim. The men were engaged in clearing the decks; serving the rigging where it had been chafed; fishing the foremast, which Mark had before temporarily secured and thereby saved; and otherwise repairing the disasters of the storm. Some of them, the earl observed, were filling the beds around the guns with shot, disposing cutlasses and muskets in stands and beckets about the masts, and making altogether very plain preparations for fight.

"You see, my lord, we are hard at work," said the captain, approaching the earl as he saw him come to the deck. "In half an hour, save bending a new set of topsails, we shall be as sound as we were before this squall. See that those guns are as dry as a boatswain's whistle," he shouted to the men.

"What is the meaning of these hostile preparations, Kenard?"

"I have reason to believe the pirate is lurking in this quarter. He was seen from aloft during the blackest of the storm, scudding through it, like the flying Dutchman, under bare poles. If he should discover us as we are, we should have a hard matter to escape him."

"He is likely to be as crippled as ourselves."

"Not he, my lord; the masts of these craft are stout single sticks, and their sails are fashioned so as to come down by the run at an instant's warning. There is no way of sinking one of those fellows without knocking his bottom out. Lively, men, lively. Ha! that's my lad! make them fly!"

It was Meredith he addressed. In the absence of the usual number of superior officers, prompted by an active spirit and the impulsiveness of his nature, and inspirited by the scenes in which he was placed and to which he readily adapted himself, he had involuntarily echoed the encouraging cry of the commander. The seamen, with that instinct which teaches men the presence of a master spirit, without questioning his authority, moved with more alacrity, and obeyed his orders without hesitation. They had borne witness to his courage and fearlessness, his contempt of death and promptness of action in danger: these were virtues which, in their eyes, were above all others, and in his case they atoned for want of years, experience, and seamanship. The charm by which he governed them, as if by common consent, was simply the exercise of the same mysterious power which, since the world was made, has governed the mass of mankind. Decision, bravery, and high moral energy of character! in one word, courage; the attribute through which one man leads a nation—speaks, and it is so! the dragon of human adoration! an attribute pre-eminently possessed also by spirits as well as men, and through the influence of which Lucifer was enabled to lead whole armies out of Heaven into hell!

"Is not that the bold youth who saved my niece?" asked the earl. "I think I should know the voice."

"The same, my lord; and, saving your lordship's presence, he is worthy the hand of any niece, humble or high, whom he so promptly perilled his life to save; for none but a brave man and a gentleman at heart would do so noble an act; that's my maxim, my lord."

"Doubtless a true one, Kenard. I shall bear this youth in mind."

"Do so, my lord; and I will, with your leave, set you the example. Though I am glad of the opportunity, I regret the necessity. My lad!"

"Sir," said the youth, coming forward with his cap in his hand.

"As I am without a third lieutenant, I have promoted you to this rank, and his lordship will see that your appointment is confirmed in the right quarter. You were bred upon the sea, and though, perhaps, have never sailed in a ship, are, I perceive a natural sailor. Now you may go to your duty, sir."

"Thank you, sir!" said Mark, with manly emotion. He could say no more, but turned away to hide his tearful gratitude.

"Hear there, forward. Obey this youth, who fills the place of poor Marston."

"Ay, ay, sir," cried the men, simultaneously; and, as their new officer walked forward, many a cap was respectfully touched to him, and many a gray head uncovered before the stripling—such is the tribute true bravery everywhere receives! so universal is the homage it irresistibly challenges!

"Do you see, my lord! That lad will make his way, mark me. Observe how readily he assumes the duties of his station. He is already in the rigging! going aloft to see that the men are properly fishing the fore-topmast."

"Your protegé shall not want advancement through my forgetfulness, be assured, Kenard. But why are you so anxiously looking through your glass to the windward?"

"For the three-masted frigatoon."

"You are doubtless mistaken in her character!"

"I cannot be, my lord. No honest trader in these waters ever had such a rig. She is a pirate, and, if she is anywhere near us, will be sure to give us a taste of her quality ere long."

"And we are far less prepared to meet him than before."

"Four guns, and a dozen men and two good officers less, my lord; nevertheless, we must do what we can to fight him off. That he is in our neighbourhood somewhere, I am confident. These gentry are like sleuth hounds; once on your track, double and turn as you will, they never lose it till they run you down. I believe I see an object in the wake of the moon, under that cloud to the windward," he suddenly added, looking steadily through his spyglass. "It is gone. It may have been the cap of a wave! There, I think I see it again. By—"

"Sail, ho!" shouted Mark, from the fore rigging.

"Where away?" demanded the captain, without removing the glass from his eye.

"Just in the moon's wake, three points off the weather quarter."

"I see it. 'Tis the same, my lord. I was sure he would not take his eye off of us. Edwards, see all clear for action. Station all the men you can spare from working ship at the guns, and select twenty of the best for boarders. Be prompt. Keep away a point, helmsman. Aloft there! Get through with your duty and come down. I give you command of the lee battery, sir," he said to Mark. "Cheerily, men, all! Prepare for battle with merry hearts, that's my maxim, my lord," he added, turning round to the nobleman.

"How do you make her out now, Kenard?" asked the earl, who had heard the announcement of the stranger's vicinage with a pang of anxious solicitude for the safety of Grace; "I am unable to hold my glass steadily with this pitching of the ship."

"She is walking this way with a nimble foot," replied the captain, who, after giving his brief and rapid orders, once more turned to observe the motions of the strange sail. "She is a three-masted lugger—with her three huge topsails spread without a reef, ploughing her way towards us, and sending a cloud of spray to her masthead."

"Is she heavily armed?"

"I cannot see; but above her bulwarks is something like a mass of human heads."

"How far off is she?"

"Not more than two miles."

"In what time will she overtake us?"

"She must be going seven or eight knots; we do not make more than five," he said, glancing over the side. "Probably in two hours' time."

"In two hours! We can increase our sail; you have studding-sails, captain?"

"But not a stun'sail boom—every deck-spar is washed overboard. Crippled as I am, I cannot carry one stitch more sail, my lord. We must let him come an he will, and trust the issue to Providence. That's my maxim, my lord."

"Providence give us the victory!" said the earl, devoutly.

"Amen!" responded the captain, taking the glass from his eye, and reverently touching his cap.

The earl immediately went below, and met Grace coming from her stateroom wrapped in comfortable garments, and enveloped in a hood and cloak.

"My dear niece," he said, taking her hand and leading her to a sofa, "I have come to prepare you for a scene of trial and danger infinitely greater than that we have just passed through. Hitherto we have had to contend with the terrible display of the power of the Almighty, when he moves upon the deep in his anger—but it was tempered with mercy. We have now to meet the fiercer passions of men, to whom the word mercy is unknown."

"Speak, dear uncle!" she said, with a calmness that surprised him. "I fear not for myself—I have a trust, thanks to my sainted mother, that places me above all fear of death."

This was spoken with that serene confidence which innocence and purity alone can wear.

The earl pressed her hand in silence, touched by the sweet simplicity of her manner, and admiring the sublime hope which elevated her above the fear that gives bitterness to the cup of life.

"There is a strange vessel bearing down upon us, which the captain has reason to think is a pirate," he said, with more composure.

Grace turned pale, but betrayed no emotion beyond an upward glance of her eyes and a movement of her lips, as if in silent prayer.

"It is our intention to fight him, and only surrender with our lives. In case we should be overcome, and the pirates board us—and I should not survive to protect you any longer—" Here the earl stopped from emotion, pressed his niece to his heart, and then hastily added, "you are my brother's daughter! you have his spirit and decision! I will trust to you."

"Uncle, speak! explain, my lord!" gasped the young creature, terrified at his manner rather than his words, which her innocence could not comprehend.

He drew from his breast a dagger, and silently placed it in her hands.

"For what is this, my lord?" she gasped, half guessing its fearful meaning.

"You must sacrifice yourself before you suffer these ruffians to lay hands upon you," he said, with emotion that nearly rendered his words inaudible.

She clasped her hands over her forehead and stared in his face with a wild glare—her colourless lips parted with horror—and her whole frame shivering. Like a thunderbolt, the horrible reality of her situation had flashed upon her.

"Ha! what? ha! what? ha—wh—" and with a piercing and most heart-rending shriek she fell upon the cabin floor. He raised her, and spoke to her in tender accents of sympathy.

"Enough," she gasped—"enough, uncle—say no more."

"Dear niece, be calm!"

"Nay—do not think Grace Fitzgerald is not herself," she said, with forced calmness. "Uncle!"

"My dear child!" he answered, folding her to his heart.

"Give it me!"

"Oh God!" groaned the earl, overcome with the full realization of the evil that threatened her. "Must it be, my child?"

"It must. Give me the dagger," she added, with energy. "I will not now shrink from it—it may yet be, next to Heaven, my best friend."

"Take it, heroic girl—but our danger may not be so great—we may yet conquer! I feel, when I look on you, and reflect on your helpless state, the might of a host in my single arm. Ha! there is a gun. I must leave you for a while. Remain in your stateroom, and both you and your maid be careful to lie on the floor below the line of shot. God bless you, my child! Your presence alone should ensure the salvation of the ship."

He embraced her with almost parental affection, tenderly forced her to enter her stateroom, and closed the door. Then arming himself from his luggage with a brace of pistols, and buckling on his sword, he hurried to the deck as the report of a second gun came booming over the sea.

"She has fired, captain?" he said, as he joined the commander on the quarter-deck, who was looking to windward with his glass.

"A long shot to bring us to. It is plain he takes us for an unarmed vessel."

"This gives us an advantage, then," said the earl, turning his telescope in the direction of the stranger, who was plainly visible less than a mile distant, white with canvass, and fast gaining on the yacht, as she laboured slowly along under her diminished sail.

"A great one, if we can keep him in ignorance till he is close aboard," replied the captain. "By the rood! he comes down bravely. This it is, your lordship, to have sound spars, and plenty of canvass to hang on them," he added, looking moodily up, and surveying the bare poles of his own ship. "You are armed, I see, my lord. It is time I should be. Will your lordship be so good as to watch his motions. I will be on deck again in a moment."

He descended to his cabin as he spoke, and soon afterward returned armed with a cutlass, his head covered with a steel boarding cap, and with a couple of braces of pistols stuck in a leathern belt buckled round his waist. He caused his lieutenant and Mark to arm themselves in a similar manner. Every seaman, also, had a serviceable blade girded to his side, and one or more pistols in his belt; and harquebusses and cutlasses were placed on the companion and capstan, ready for indiscriminate use. Throughout the vessel, every preparation that the time and circumstances would admit of, or consummate skill on the part of its master could effect, was made; and every man stood at his post, silently and sullenly awaiting the approach of the pirate—for such it was now plain to every one was the character of the advancing stranger.

"There is a flash!" said the earl, who was intently watching the bucanier.

"No, it is a battle-lantern passed along the decks. He will not fire again seeing we do not heave to, but run us aboard, and carry us, if he can, cutlass in hand—this is the mode of fighting with these devils."

"They must not board us, Kenard!" said the earl, with calm determination in the tone of his voice.

"We will give him a touch of our quality before he comes to close quarters. An introduction before an intimate acquaintance, is my maxim, my lord."

"If you give him a broadside, I would suggest, sir, that the battery I command be added to the guns on the weather side," said Mark, who, while waiting the attack, had been pacing athwart ships near the cabin door, as if the presence of Grace in the cabin had something to do with the choice of his walk.

The captain stared at him a moment; but the respectful tones of the young man's voice, and the deference of his manner, left no room for reproof if he had designed to check the boldness of his new lieutenant.

"Born for a seaman, by the rood!" he exclaimed. "Shift the starboard guns to the weather side, Mr. Edwards. We shall only have a chance of one full broadside, and it is best to let him have all we can give him. If you want to be generous, give all you've got, is my maxim, my lord."

By the time the change in the battery was effected, the pirate was within three cables' length, or a third of a mile of the yacht, and, by the light of the moon, the decks could be discovered with the naked eye to be full of men, while her dimensions and rig were distinctly visible. She was one of that small class of three-masted luggers called frigatoons, common at the period, with very broad beam and round bows. She came along with the wind on her starboard quarter, noisily ploughing the waves before her with her blunt bows, under three huge lugger sails, covering each mast from deck to truck, a jib, and triangular mizzen sail not unlike a ship's spanker. The moon shone white on all, while its rays were reflected in quick flashes here and there, as if from steel, from amid the dark mass on her decks.

"A fine shot in that dense crowd, Edwards," said the captain. "Give every man a musket after the broadside is discharged, and let him pick a red cap for himself."

"Ay, ay, sir," responded the lieutenant, preparing to obey the order.

Silently and steadily, as if no man was in her, the dark hull continued to approach.

"She is full near for a shot, Kenard," said the nobleman; "I can see the very faces of the men."

"A man should know the colour of his enemy's eyes before he fights with him, is my maxim, my lord," he said, coolly levelling his glass. "Let me single out their captain. Ah, there he stands beside the helmsman, a grisly old dog, and the moonlight on his weather-beaten features makes them appear bronzed. There is a youth standing beside him with a glass at his eye, whom he is speaking to. Ha! the old bucanier is giving orders to prepare for boarding, I see, by the wave of his cutlass and the motion of his lips. Now is our time," he added, energetically.

As he spoke he threw down his glass, drew his cutlass, and sprung upon the companion-way.

"Stand by for a broadside," he shouted, in a voice that reached the pirate.

"All ready!" answered the two lieutenants, in the same breath.

"Helm a starboard!"

"Starboard 'tis!"

"Steady now!"

"Steady."

"Let them have it!" he shouted, in a clear voice that rung like a trumpet.

Terrible cries of men taken by surprise, of men wounded and in pain, followed close the deep-mouthed roar of the guns: the volumes of smoke, that shot half way towards the pirate, then rolled swiftly back upon the yacht, and were blown to leeward, leaving a full view of the enemy. His foremast was hanging over the side; a glaring gash along the hull showed where a shot had told between wind and water; and a breach in the forward bulwarks, near the catheads, and the groans of the wounded, indicated the passage of a raking shot through the mass on deck; instead, also, of presenting her starboard bow to the range of the broadside as at first, she had yawed wide of her course, and was shivering helplessly in the wind.

"Neatly done! We have thrown them into confusion. If we can only keep her at this distance, we can riddle her like the top of a pepper-box, and have the pleasure afterward of seeing her go down to Davy's locker, bodily, before our faces. See your enemy buried handsomely, after you have done for him, is my maxim, my lord. There it comes," he shouted, suddenly. "Fall to the deck, all!"

He had hardly spoken, when, amid a loud yell from the pirates, who had recovered from the surprise of their rough salutation where, apparently, they had calculated on slight resistance, a heavy broadside was discharged: the balls came singing through the air, knocking against the sides of the yacht, and splintering and crashing the upper works, tearing the decks, wounding the spars, and creating terrible ruin and confusion, while shrieks of the wounded rose appalling from every part of the ill-fated vessel. The captain glanced hastily at the poor fellows that lay bleeding on the decks, then looked up anxiously at his masts, and leaned over the bulwarks and run his eye along the side of his vessel to see what injury she had sustained in the hull—for, in his eye, the wounds of the ship were of infinitely more importance than the wounds of the men.

"No damage to her timbers; but two poor fellows dead as they ever will be," he said to the earl, who stood beside him. "Five—six—seven wounded. Handle that man carefully, you lubbers, or you will do his business for him before you can get him to the doctor. See that the wounded are taken at once, and with care, to the cockpit, Mr. Edwards. Lively, there, at the battery; charge to the muzzle! Now watch the weather-roll. Fire!"

Again the sides of the yacht belched forth fire and smoke, shaking the little vessel through every oaken joint.

"Fire away as you load," again shouted the captain. "Let each gun fight for itself. Take sight at his poles, and bring his huge mainsails down without giving him the trouble to let go his halyards. Give your foe a lift when you can, is my maxim, my lord. There, he returns it," he cried, as a flash illuminated the open decks of the pirate. "Down all!"

The hurricane of iron passed high above their heads, cutting the rigging and splintering long, slender pieces from the spars. The smoke from the guns, at the same time, rolled sullenly towards the yacht, hid the pirate from them, and enveloped the brig in an impenetrable cloud of sulphurous smoke.

"Stand by, boarders, to repel boarders!" shouted the captain, in a loud, quick tone. "He will be down upon us in his smoke before we know it. I thought there was more powder than iron in those guns, my lord, and suspected there was an object in it. Boarders, all!"

"Boarders!" answered the lieutenant.

"Keep good look-out through the smoke. There it lifts. By the rood! see, he is close upon us! Put a shot into his fore foot. Lame him, or he'll be thrusting his snub nose between our ribs."

As the captain spoke, Mark sprang towards the after gun, and levelled it against the bows of the pirate, who, having made sail under cover of his smoke towards the yacht, was now within twenty fathoms of her. He applied the flaming linstock and fired the piece. The shot, taking a slightly ascending course, struck beneath the bowsprit, tore it from its bed with its jib, and lodged in the mainmast ten feet from the deck, nearly severing it in two. Deprived of her jib, the lugger broached to, and once more presented her broadside to the yacht.

"Give it to him, my lads, before he brings his guns to bear!" shouted the captain. "Pour in your iron! That's my hearties! You knocked her a foot out of the water that shot, boys! Quit your guns now; there is no time to reload! Take to your cutlasses and pistols. We have the rest of it, lads, at close quarters. We'll show them what it is to board a king's ship. If your muskets are in the way in the fight, throw 'em aside and use your English fists! We'll whip them yet! If we believe we can do a thing, we can do it; that's my maxim, my lord. Your lordship will now have the pleasure of cutting a score or two of these murderer's throats, with the advantage of exercise to the muscles. Pleasure with business is my maxim. Stand ready all! When I give the word, each of you bring down one of those red devils that are crowding about her bows."

The men replied with loud cheers, and prepared resolutely to receive the attack.

The pirate, after the loss of his jib, being no longer able to hold a direct course, drifted towards the yacht, which, being at leeward and disabled both by the storm and action, was in no situation to choose her own position, and had, therefore, no other alternative than to lie passive as she was, and repel as she best could the expected attack.

The bucanier had now ceased firing, not being able to bring any of his side guns to bear, and converted all his crew into boarders, who crowded about the forepart of the lugger, ready to leap cutlass in hand on the deck of the yacht when they should have drifted near enough. The brig had also ceased her fire, her opponent having skilfully worked out of the range of her guns, by coming down, as well as his crippled condition would let him, upon her quarter.

The deck of the pirate was crowded with men, numbering eighty or ninety, apparently, in all, while the crew of the yacht, exclusive of the wounded, consisted of less than forty-five. But cool courage and confidence in the right, opposed to fierce and sanguinary passions in an evil cause, count to the righteous side in a battle for twice the number of opponents. The earl trembled for the issue. But the brave Kenard, with his knowledge of the spirit of his men, and his confidence in their English courage and in their contempt for pirates, whom he gave them the credit of despising as cordially as he himself did, gave not an anxious thought about the result, assured that, if each man did his duty, victory would side with the honest and brave. During the exchange of broadsides, he had kept his place on the quarter-deck, encouraging his men by his cheering voice: the earl was also beside him, scarcely less energetic in inspiring the crew with his own spirit. The first lieutenant was actively engaged, sword in hand, in directing the fire of the battery; while Mark, who was in a new element, flamed with the fierce fire of war, and seemed, amid the smoke and roar of battle, to have been suddenly endued with a new and sublime character. He was everywhere where his presence was most needed, encouraging and cheering on the men both by his voice and example; but, notwithstanding his animation and fire, was as cool and collected in the sagacious orders he gave as the oldest veteran.

But, with all his devotion to the fight, he forgot not that the cabin contained a lovely creature, helpless as she was beautiful, whose life depended on the issue of that night's conflict. Though his heart may have been proof against her charms, being shielded with the proof-plate of another's love, yet he felt an interest akin to love in her fate. She was the cousin of Kate! She had expressed an interest in him that he could never forget! He had saved her life! It was a second time endangered! These were all motives to sympathy; and, properly nurtured, the germes were there from which might spring a tenderer and deeper feeling. But he had no room in his breast for a second love. There was but one polar star to the eye of his affections; and steadily he steered the bark of his hopes towards it, although, like the north star of the mariner, the farther and nearer he sailed in its direction, it would higher and higher ascend the skies, mocking his aspiring ambition. Nevertheless, he resolved to steer steadily onward, even if he should perish at last amid the icebergs of her cold and wintry affections. But whatever a lover, in the warmth of his affections, may sincerely feel and solemnly vow—love unrequited, like the Persian flower, that withers when the sun is hidden by a passing cloud, without the warmth of its sun will speedily die. Time, in the present instance, will test the truth of this proposition.

The vessels were now within twenty feet of each other, the pirate rising heavily on each wave, and surging nearer and nearer at every heave of the sea. Silence was broken only at intervals by a groan from a wounded bucanier, and terrible expectation hung over the two vessels. The moon at length broke from a cloud and lighted up the scene. There were beauty and peace floating on her silvery beams; but the passions of men reigned, and their souls were closed to everything bright and lovely. Yet they hailed her light with a shout, for by it foe was able to see foe nearly with the distinctness of noonday.

"Now pour in your fire!" shouted the cool Kenard to his crew; "aim wherever you can see the glitter of an eye!"

The bows of the pirate vessel were within an oar's length of the yacht's larboard and weather quarter as this order was given, and a dozen half-naked, savage-looking men were just in the act of leaping into the main rigging. The simultaneous discharge of pistols, muskets, and blunderbusses was like the explosion of a volcano, and but one third of the bucaniers succeeded in springing alive into the chains: the remainder plunged, dead ere they struck the surface, into the sea. The fire was answered by a loud yell from the pirates, and a few straggling shots only from pistols; for these demons seemed to trust more to their dangerous cutlasses in their wild conflicts than to firearms. They now pressed forward over the bows in dark swarms. From every part of her that offered any prospect of reaching the yacht, they leaped without waiting for the vessels to come together, with cries and execrations most appalling, into the main chains, or sprang for the bulwarks, catching recklessly by their hands at whatever offered. Many fell short into the sea, or were hurled into it by those who met them; some leaped overboard, swam to the side, and drew themselves up by the rigging that hung over the water, but fell back with curses and cries of pain, leaving their hands, severed at the wrists and dripping with gore, clinging to the rope. Grappling-irons were thrown on deck, but were cast overboard by the crew before they could be entangled; and wherever a pirate struck the side of the yacht with his foot, he was opposed by one of its defenders.

Three times the Earl of Bellamont sheathed his sword in the breasts of as many of these ferocious beings and cast them backward dead into the sea, and as a fourth, who had thrown himself bodily upon the quarter-deck, made a tremendous stroke at him with his yataghan, he blew out his brains with a pistol. Everywhere, in their first daring attempt to board them, were they encountered with equal resolution and success, and of the twenty pirates that by some means or other succeeded in reaching the brig, not one retained a foothold on her decks—every individual of them being either slain outright, or hurled maimed into the water, where several swam about amid dark spots of blood, lifting their handless limbs, and in vain calling to their comrades to take them on board. The fate of these checked for a moment the ardour of the remainder, and they waited till the vessels should come together before making a second attempt.

The pirate, who had some time before dropped his lugsails, to prevent his shooting past the yacht, towards which the waves were slowly urging him, was now lifted and dashed with great violence against it, striking her on her quarter, carrying away her bulwarks, and opening her planks in several places.

"Throw yourselves into her now," shouted the pirate chief, leaping forward and waving his cutlass. "Flesh your blades in their carcasses! Give no quarter to beards—but spare bright eyes! Board! board! clamber over each other's backs—press on, press on! Follow your young leader. He will shame the best of ye!"

Like a crew of demons, yelling and shouting menaces of death, mingled with horrible execrations and oaths of vengeance for their slaughtered comrades, they obeyed the energetic and sanguinary orders of their chief. They were headed by the pirate's first lieutenant and a youth with long fair hair, which, in the light of the moon, shone like silver, who, with strange recklessness of life, cast himself from the bows as they approached the side of the yacht, and fell feet foremost into the midst of a grove of sharp steel, amid a shower of balls, that, while they told in the bodies of his followers, seemed to pass him as if he carried a charmed life. The old pirate captain himself headed another party near the stern of his vessel, which was slowly swinging round towards the yacht's bows, apparently for the purpose, when it should come in contact, of boarding on the forecastle. Here stood Edwards the lieutenant, with a force of fifteen men to oppose him; while midships, and near the companion-way, Mark was stationed at the head of a third of the yacht's crew, and, acting as a reserve, was prepared to throw in the weight of his numbers as should be required, either on the forecastle or the quarter-deck, at which latter point, at the head of an equal number, stood the captain, supported by the earl's good blade, ready to repel the attempt to board from the bows of the pirate.

More like devils incarnate than human beings, the pirates followed their young leader, and cast themselves from the bows, some running over the heads of their comrades and leaping on board; some, more active, flinging somersets through the air into the mêlée; and all rushing, crowding, and falling upon the deck in every possible attitude, seemingly indifferent, so that the yacht's decks received them, whether they landed head foremost or upright on their feet. Such a torrent of desperate men was irresistible. The defenders of the quarter-deck were borne down by the mere weight of the assailants' bodies, or their cutlasses were turned aside like feathers as they were levelled to meet this novel and terrible human storm. Immediately in advance of himself and the earl, the captain had placed half a dozen men with pikes, the bristly points of which served to protect, in some measure, their position by turning to one side the current of boarders.

The conflict now became most terrible and sanguinary. The crew, that had been borne down by the first shock, had recovered their feet, and nearly every man was instantly struggling with a bucanier. Kenard fought like a lion, thrice clearing a space around him in which he could sweep his cutlass. The earl, at length, seeing some of the pirates rushing to the companion-way and attempting to force it, placed his back against it, and met their fierce lunges with well-directed thrusts, turning aside their descending strokes aimed at his head, with the skill of a swordsman and the coolness of a soldier. He fought not only on the defensive, but his eye was quick to see where any of his own party within his reach were being worsted, and his blade was instant in its service of relieving them from their mortal peril. Every sweep of his blade was fatal, for he fought for one dear to his heart whose life and honour were at stake.

For some time the battle was waged with doubtful success. At one moment the pirates, who, after the first wild charge, had formed into a body, would be driven over the side, and at another they would press the defending party towards the stern. Their youthful leader, who was everywhere present, cheering them on with animating cries as often as they were beaten back towards their own vessel, was at length opposed to Kenard face to face.

"I would not slay a youth like thee if I could help it," he said, parrying his attack, and endeavouring to close with him, and wrest the cutlass from his grasp.

"Thou shalt have no space left for compunction if thou shouldst," said the other, avoiding his grasp, and making a lunge at his neck, which he grazed with his blade.

"Have at thee, then, if such be thy play! give as you get, is my maxim, my lord!" he added, looking round as usual when he gave utterance to a maxim, to catch the earl's attention.

But his lordship was too busily defending himself and the companion-way against a gigantic and active Frenchman to acknowledge the usual appeal. The turning of his head gave the youthful pirate an advantage, of which he availed himself. With great dexterity, he twisted with his cutlass the weapon out of his grasp, and sent it flying through the air into the sea. He was about to follow up his advantage by sheathing his blade in his breast, when it was struck up by an intervening one, and turning round, the young pirate found himself confronted with the Earl of Bellamont, who, having that instant freed himself from his assailants, was looking round to see where his sword would be of most service, when he discovered the peril of the captain. His presence had an electric effect on the youthful bucanier. He started back with an exclamation of surprise, and half repeated the name of the nobleman. But instantly he checked himself, and successfully parried the pass he made at him, retreating at the same time, and acting wholly on the defensive. The earl wondered at his exclamation and at the sound of his voice, which reminded him of a familiar one. This sudden change in the tactics of one who hitherto seemed to know only how to advance and attack, also surprised him; and, although he surveyed him closely, as the drifting clouds across the moon let it shine brightly at intervals, his features were so shaded by a drooping bonnet, and so black and begrimed by the blood and smoke of battle, that his scrutiny was defeated.

"Nevertheless," thought he to himself, "have I heard that voice and seen that form before!"

Inspired as much by curiosity to ascertain who it was that revived such indefinable associations, as by a desire to put an end to a dangerous foe, he pressed him hard. With all the youthful bucanier's coolness and skill, he had been wellnigh worsted, never returning back a blow for those the earl gave him so freely, when a loud shout from the forecastle caused every combatant on the quarter-deck to suspend his descending stroke, withhold his deadly thrust, or leave, half-sheathed, his sword in the body of his antagonist. As the earl paused to look for the cause of this fresh outcry, he saw that the lugger's stern had at length came in contact with the bows of the yacht, and that the pirates, headed by their old chief, were pouring across the bulwarks and leaping upon the deck, wild with fury and thirsting for blood. Hitherto chafing with inaction, and roused to a fearful pitch of excitement by the spectacle and uproar of the combat from which they were withheld, like tigers chained in an arena panting to mingle in the fierce conflict of their species, terrific and overpowering in proportion to the length and impatience of their restraint, was their first onset. The little band under Edwards, who had reserved their energies for this moment, drew back to the opposite side of the vessel to escape the tumultuous fall of their almost flying bodies on the deck, and poured in upon them a fatal fire of pistols and harquebusses.

"Now at them, my brave fellows, with your cutlasses," he cried; "throw away your pistols, and grapple while they are crowded together! Set upon the rascals, and give a good account of them!"

With a shout, they charged in a body, and a terrific and sanguinary contest ensued. Mark, with his division, hitherto had not been idle. He saw that the fate of the yacht would depend on the reception given to the last boarding-party, headed by the old pirate chief himself, and wished therefore to husband the strength of his men until this crisis. Nevertheless, while he was anxiously watching the lugger as its stern drifted round, he was present with two or three of his best men, to turn the tide of the combat on the quarter-deck, as it went now against the earl, now against the captain; and several times he received, in the hottest of the fight, the warm acknowledgments of both for the promptness in which he effected diversions in their favour. It now came to his turn to enter more closely into the combat.

No sooner did the boarders find themselves in a mass on the forecastle of the brig, than they separated into two bodies, one of which received the charge of, and entered into fierce fight with, the division under Edwards; while the other, consisting of twenty men, headed by the pirate in person, made a rush aft to carry the quarter-deck. Here a few of their comrades were fighting at a disadvantage under their youthful leader, who, taking the advantage of the earl's pause at the shout of the fresh boarders, had again mingled among his few remaining men, who were defending themselves on the opposite side of the deck against a much larger number of their antagonists.

Mark had anticipated the charge, and had formed his men in a firm phalanx to meet it. The first line consisted of five men, who just filled up the passage between the launch and the forward larboard gun, along which the pirates were advancing. Besides their cutlasses, they were armed with boarding-pikes, which protruded three feet in advance. A second and third line were armed with cutlasses and pistols. Their young leader himself sprung upon the gun as the rush was made, and in a cool, steady tone of voice, said,

"Stand firm, pikemen. Never mind their cutlasses; your comrades behind will take care of your heads. Now they come! Give them your pistols!" he exclaimed, as the bucaniers came upon them like a wedge, as if they would cleave bodily through their centre. They were checked by the advanced pikes, and thrown into confusion by the discharge of a dozen pistols, which they instantly returned with scarcely half as many, without material effect.

"Cut them down. Let not a handful of cowards put ye back. No quarter! Down with them! Strike off the poles of their pikes! Close with them," shouted the old pirate chief.

A second rush was made with better success. The old bucanier shivered with his cutlass, as if they had been pipe-stems, two of the pike-staffs, and the front line of men gave back.

"Drop your pikes and take your blades!" shouted Mark, at the same time discharging his pistols at the pirate chief and wounding him in the shoulder.

The combat was now waged with terrible ferocity.

"Fight hard, or we shall be routed!" cried Mark, with energy. "Stand steady, men! Keep your ground, or you will be cut to pieces. Stand! fly not, on your lives! One good blow—All is lost!" he suddenly cried, as he saw the men give back before the obstinate attack of the pirates.

Leaping from the gun into the midst, he dealt blows as if he had the strength of a Hercules, and essayed to stop, with his single arm and the intervention of his body, their onward and victorious course. But the impetus was already given, and they bore him forward with his men in a dense mass, so crowded together that no man could use his weapon. They were driven aft and upon the quarter deck, where the captain came to his aid and succeeded in rallying them for the defence of this important post. At the same instant the youthful pirate, seeing the success of his party, called his followers from their unequal contest, and leaped down with them among his crew, leaving half his men dead behind him.

On the forecastle Edwards fought for a while with success, and had nearly beaten the pirates back to their vessel, when the victorious shouts of the conquering party gave them renewed spirit, and filled the minds of the crew with sudden panic. The bucaniers, taking advantage of their hesitation, in their turn became the assailants; and the men, completely routed, fled towards the quarter-deck, cutting their way with the desperation of fear through the party that besieged it, and, with the loss of a third of their number, succeeded in reaching it.

The whole of that portion of the yacht forward of the quarter-deck was now in possession of the pirates, a portion of whom began to force open the hatches; while the majority, under the direction of the chief and his youthful lieutenant, prepared to carry this last post, which was elevated four feet above the main deck, by forming their men into two divisions, and attacking it on both sides of the companion-way at the same time.

The earl, Mark, and the captain, though all three were wounded more or less severely, the latter supporting his left arm in a sling, assembled their force, now diminished to twenty men, to meet the escalade. The pirates, with yells of vengeance for their slaughtered comrades, began to bring to the assault loose spars, sails, and whatever they could lay hands on, which they heaped against the wall the deck presented. The harness-casks were rolled up, made firm, and covered with rolls of canvass; and the hatches, which some of them had torn off for the purpose of descending to plunder the hold, were laid against it, to aid them in constructing a glacis.

"Bring along those carcasses! pile them up here!" shouted the old chief, ferociously. "We will yet make a fair run of it."

The bodies of the dead, both of pirates and the crew of the yacht, were eagerly dragged forward and thrown on the pile, and it was soon raised so that the quarter-deck could be gained erect and sword in hand without the danger to which they would be exposed in climbing a barrier so well guarded.

"Now, men, make a run for it and sweep the deck!" he shouted.

The pirates retreated a few steps in two parties, headed by the old chief and his young lieutenant, and, with a yell, rushed forward and up the human glacis to the quarter-deck. But they were met with a resolution that matched their own ferocity, and several of them fell back dead, adding their own bodies to the pile they had the moment before assisted in constructing. A few battled for a few seconds, giving and receiving wounds, but were finally pressed back to the main deck. In the assault, Mark and the young pirate leader had once crossed weapons; but, ere they could exchange passes, the latter was forced back by the retreat of his own party.

"Let them maintain the deck if they will," said the chief to his young lieutenant; "we have the command of the cabin and hold. Keep them busy while I force the companion-way, and see what kind of a prize she will prove. I little thought we had engaged with a king's ship, but we must now make the most of it. I have lost men enough for one night's work, and don't care to make a capture of the yacht if I can get anything of value out of her. So keep them employed on the quarter-deck till I take a cruise through the cabins."

As he spoke he gave orders for his men to force a spar from the doors of the companion-way which the earl had braced against it.

"Hold there, fiends!" cried the nobleman, as he saw these demonstrations of the pirate's intentions.

He sprung forward as he spoke, and with a blow of his cutlass clove the scull of a bucanier, who was wrenching the lock with a pike-head, so that it fell in two parts over either shoulder. He aimed a second blow at the pirate chief so suddenly that the point of the blade laid open his cheek, and an active movement to one side only saved his head from flying from his shoulders: at the same instant, a pistol-ball, fired by the chief, struck the earl near the knee, and he fell over into the arms of Mark.

The doors at once were forced open, and the old leader, accompanied by two or three of his men, descended to the cabin.

"To the rescue! To the rescue!" shouted Mark, on seeing them disappear, letting the earl down gently upon the deck.

"Protect or slay her, young man, and I will bless thee!" cried the earl, faintly.

He made no reply to the earl's words; and, heedless whether he was followed or not, leaped, cutlass in hand, through the top of the companion-way, and lighted on his feet at the bottom of the stairs.

The doors of the first cabin were open, and a glance showed him two of the pirates rifling the baggage of the earl, and the chief in the act of forcing the inner door leading to the stateroom occupied by Grace.

Poor maiden! how had she been occupied during the fearful conflict above and around her? How had she borne the terrific sounds of battle? From the first moment of the fight she had been kneeling in silent prayer—bearing on her heart's orisons the names of her uncle, and of one, though of lowly origin, not less dear to her. Of herself she scarcely thought: but at every report of cannon, every discharge of musketry, she shuddered for those who were exposed to the dreadful horrors of the fight. Her maid had become insensible through overpowering terror. Terror, too, was acutely felt by herself, but it was modified and subdued by the bright hopes of religion. She feared not death. "The sting of death is sin." She knew no sin! For her it could have no terrors. Nature, indeed, shrunk at contemplating its violent dissolution; but the glorious certainties of a new life beyond this reconciled her to put this away for that better one. She expected to die within the hour—perhaps by her own hand! The dagger her uncle had given her was hidden in her bosom, and, as she knelt, her grasp was firmly laid upon its hilt. Long, long and terrible had been the conflict to her ears—more terrible, perhaps, than if she had witnessed it. Its sanguinary horrors were indeed hidden from her sight; but her imagination, with its hundred eyes, aided by the horrid sounds that reached her, reflected the scene upon her dizzy brain in colours, if it could be possible, more dreadful than the reality. Who can imagine the effect upon her of the loud roar of the cannon vibrating through every oaken nerve of the vessel, and filling its hollow decks with a noise more awful than the thunder that explodes at her feet. Who can conceive the fearful shrinking of the heart at the rush of the balls—the sound of the crashing decks—the wild and unearthly shrieks of the wounded—the moans of the dying—the fierce yells of the combatants—and all the thousand and terrific sounds that assimilate war to the hellish pastime of accursed spirits. Who is there that, not participating in its mad excitement, calmly witnesses a battle, that will not turn away in disgust and horror, be ready to deny his humanity, and to believe men neither more nor less than demons incarnate?

When the cabin doors burst open, she hurriedly committed her soul to Heaven, and, rising from her knees, held the friendly dagger above her virgin bosom, and stood facing the closed doors of her cabin, feeling that the crisis of her fate was approaching its consummation.

The entrance of Mark into the forward cabin was not perceived by the pirates nor their chief. With a blow of his cutlass he nearly severed the head of one that was leaning over a chest, and, before the other could rise, the ball of his pistol had laid him across the body of his comrade. The next instant he was opposed to the terrible pirate leader himself.

"Ha, my young fledging!" cried he, his cutlass descending with tremendous force, and with a fatal accuracy of aim, that would have cleft him to the chine had it taken effect; but, with youthful activity, he avoided the stroke which he could not avert, and the point of the pirate's weapon buried itself so deep in the floor of the cabin that he was unable to extricate it. Mark instantly availed himself of this singular advantage, and, quicker than lightning, sheathed his blade in his heart.

"Oh! villain, you have done for me!" he cried, pressing his hand on his side, through which the crimson tide rushed in an irresistible torrent.

He staggered as he spoke, and a lurch of the vessel at the same moment sent him headlong, breaking his sword off close to the floor as he fell with it in his grasp, upon the bodies of his men.

"Courage! my lady!" said Mark, bounding to the door, and speaking in the triumphant tones of success. "Their leader is slain! we shall soon clear the vessel of his base herd! Courage!"

"Bless you for these words of hope! You are safe! and my uncle! how fares my dear uncle?"

Before he could reply the companion-stairway was filled with pirates.

"A female voice!" shouted one, as he entered the cabin.

"Love and ransom," cried another, with a sensual laugh.

"We will draw lots for her, Hans."

"The captain has saved us that trouble," growled a third. "Ho! who have we here?" he cried, seeing Mark, with his dripping cutlass in his hand, standing resolutely with his back against the door of the stateroom.

"Our captain is slain!" cried another, fiercely, now for the first time seeing the body of his chief lying in its gore.

The pirates for a moment forgot Mark, and gathered around their fallen leader. They raised him up, and his head fell back helpless upon his shoulder, and his eyes glared with the fixed stare of death.

"He is dead! His sword is broken. Let us avenge the old man!" they cried, with one voice. "Ha! here is the point of his weapon, that ne'er failed him before, sticking in the deck, and he hath been taken at vantage ere he could draw it out."

"He who hath done this for thee, old man, shall die by my hand!" said one of them, letting him fall again.

With one accord, their glances rested on Mark, and he was fiercely attacked by the one who had last spoken and another, while the remainder commenced breaking open chests in search of treasure. For a few seconds he defended himself with great skill and courage. But, being hard pressed, and twice severely wounded by his fierce opponents, he became faint with loss of blood; his head swam; his eyes became dim; he grew bewildered, and struck at random. His assailants saw their advantage, and one of them made a final lunge at his breast to transfix him. But, ere the blow could take effect, he sunk sideways to the floor, and falling behind the hangings, the blade buried itself within the door of the cabin.

"Curses light on the foul steel! Finish him, Renard."

"He is done for," said the other, sheathing his blade through the curtain.

"Now for the woman! His mistress, I dare say, he fought so like a lion. I will try and console her for his loss," he added, with a laugh.

The fall of its brave defender left the way undisputed to the inner cabin. With united efforts, they forced open the slightly-secured leaves of the door. Grace stood before them in an attitude of sublime self-sacrificing, her eyes raised heavenward full of hope and faith, while the uplifted dagger was in the act of descending into her bosom. The foremost pirate instantly comprehended her purpose. Quick as lightning, he leaped forward, and, with his cutlass, struck the weapon from her grasp as it was entering her bosom.

"By the Virgin! that was skilfully done, Renard!" said the other. "You have won her fairly."

"And he who would have her must win her from me," he continued, with dogged resolution, catching her as, with a shriek of hopeless despair and wretchedness unspeakable, she was falling to the deck.

"A sweet voice, but somewhat loud!" said the other, with a laugh. "Ho! what have we here? Another prize," he exclaimed, descrying the helpless maid. "Smaller game! but not the less welcome. Dead, for a guilder! No, she breathes! We are lucky, Renard. It will cost us some hard knocks to keep possession of our prizes."

"We have no captain now, and each man is for himself."

"Not quite. Our new fighting lieutenant will command us now; and suppose he should, as he is like to do, take a fancy to your bit of womankind?"

"He will first have to fancy me!" said the other, menacingly. "Nor shall he command me while men older than he are in the lugger."

"He will have a word to say on that score, and here he comes to speak for himself."

He had scarcely spoken ere the young pirate made his appearance in the cabin. The shriek of Grace had drawn him from the deck, where he had been defending the entrance to the companion-way against the whole force of the yacht, under the captain and the earl—the danger menacing his niece having suddenly restored the latter to almost supernatural strength, and a fierceness of spirit that rose superior to physical suffering. With his wound hastily bound up, he had once more joined in the fight, and was foremost in battling with those who opposed his passage to the cabin. Repeatedly his life was exposed, but saved by the voice of the young leader, forbidding his men to harm him; and even in the heat, and noise, and fury of battle, their wild spirits involuntarily yielded obedience to a voice that seemed formed to command and to be obeyed.

With flashing eyes he entered the stateroom, and his glance rested on the lifeless form of Grace, clasped in the arms of the pirate Renard.

"I am right! It is she!" he cried. "Release your prize, villain!"

"You say well, boy; she is my prize," he answered, with a menacing look.

"Ha!" shouted the youth.

Quicker than thought he sprang upon him, got within his sword arm, seized him by the throat, closed with him, and buried his sabre to its hilt in his chest.

"So have I washed out the pollution of thy touch on this fair creature," he said, attempting to disengage Grace from his hold as he fell backward.

But his arm so firmly encircled her, that he was forced to sever the tendons of it with his cutlass before he could release her from this horrible embrace of lust and death.

"Oh God!" he said, involuntarily, "that I should be an actor in such a scene as this. Yet my presence here has been her preservation. I will save her and protect her now, even with the life of the captain!"

"His life is already ended," said the bucanier, who, on witnessing the fate of his comrade, had quietly dropped the lifeless form of the maid where he had found her.

He pointed as he spoke to his body.

"Dead!" exclaimed the youth. "Then am I chief here. I will save, for her sake, all that are left alive. But she shall not know me! She shall ever be ignorant to whom she is indebted. Yet methinks I would like to send by her a message to the haughty daughter of the house of Bellamont." This was spoken with bitter irony. "But I must try to restore her."

He poured a vase of water over her forehead, and moistened her lips, and she revived.

"Where am I? What has transpired? Who—how—where—"

She glanced wildly around, and everything that had passed flashed upon her mind. She bounded from him with a deplorable cry, and covered her face with her hands. "Mercy, oh God! mercy!"

"Grace!" he said, in a gentle tone.

"Who speaks? who?"

"Grace!"

"Thou art no enemy! Bless thee for the sound of thy voice. Tell me what has happened? Where is my uncle? Oh, speak as if life hung on thy words."

"The Earl of Bellamont is living."

"Heaven, I thank thee! And this dead body?"

"I have protected thee from a fate worse than death, with the life of this man."

"Who—who art thou? I should know that voice," she exclaimed, with returning confidence and hope, gazing upon his now swarthy and disfigured features which defeated her scrutiny, deeply shaded, too, as they were by his bonnet, which he pulled farther over his brows.

"An outcast, unworthy a thought from innocence and purity like thee."

"Yet you are my friend. How came you here?"

"To save thee!"

"I am confused, puzzled, perplexed! your voice, your air! I know not what to think or say. A pirate boarded us, and you—you are not a pirate. Oh, my uncle! my dear uncle! Heaven be thanked, you are safe!" she cried, darting forward and flinging herself into his arms as he entered the cabin, literally covered with blood, while behind him crowded a dark mass of pirates, through whom he had cut his way.

"How fares it with thee, my child?" he cried, with anxiety, pressing her to his breast.

"Safe from all but terror!"

"God bless thee! we will die together; there is no hope. Come on, ye fiends, now," he cried, turning upon his foes with one arm entwined about her, and brandishing his cutlass in the calm defiance of despair.

They rushed upon him with a shout.

"Back!" cried the clear, commanding voice of their young leader, in a tone that arrested every advancing foot and suspended every cutlass mid-air. "Look! there lies your late captain in his blood! Your first lieutenant is slain. I am now your leader. Obey me. Stand back, all of ye!" The men sullenly dropped their weapons and retreated to the foot of the stairs. "Earl of Bellamont! you and your niece are, from this moment, safe. Your yacht shall be instantly cleared of every man but its own crew, and you shall be at liberty to sail on your course. Call upon your captain for a cessation of hostilities on deck, while I draw off my men."

The astonished earl immediately obeyed.

"Who are you, mysterious young man?" he asked, turning to him after communicating his request to the captain. "Your voice and air are familiar."

"It matters not, my lord. I have saved thy niece from violence, and would, had I the power, earlier have put an end to this scene of bloodshed. Bid your captain call his crew to the quarter-deck, while I pass to my own vessel with my men."

The order, with the object of it, was repeated to the captain.

"Ay, ay!" he replied from the deck. "Let them go, with a left-handed blessing. But what has changed the devils about so? Have they had fighting enough?"

"We have mistaken the character of your vessel," said the young leader, evasively.

"Ha! you are there, my lion's cub, and can speak like a Christian, too. A little fighting always makes a man feel more civilized, is my maxim, my lord," he said, looking down upon them through the skylight.

"To your own vessel, men!" said the youth, sternly. "Throw down that casket! Take not with you the value of a groat. Go as you came, with only your arms in your hands."

The men looked at each other, and surveyed their athletic young chief, who stood like a youthful Mars, with the look and bearing of resolute command. His eye rested for an instant on each man, as he saw their hesitation, with a searching and terrible glance, and, as each one encountered it, he turned his eyes away and silently obeyed. As the last man left the cabin, he said,

"Some of you return, and bear your captain's body to the decks of your own vessel. Lay him decently along the quarter-deck."

Four of the pirates came back, and raised it without a word, while he stood quietly by, leaning on his sabre.

"Michael," he said, to one who seemed to take the lead of the rest, "I make you, for the present, second in command. Have the wounded conveyed to the lugger, and the dead thrown into the sea. Be ready to cut clear of the yacht at a moment's warning; and, with what time you have, repair damages and get sail on. Work will keep the men from thinking of mischief. Go! and see that I am obeyed. I shall instantly follow you."

The bucanier departed with ready obedience to the will of the lofty spirit that had at once assumed such irresistible power over his mind. The earl and Grace listened with surprise to the stern authority with which he governed such fierce men, and witnessed with wonder the entire control he seemed to possess over their wills. The former gazed on him for a few seconds as he stood beneath the swinging lamp, his features thrown into the deepest shadow by the falling brim of his bonnet and his drooping plume, and then spoke:

"Mysterious and wonderful young man, whoever you are, we owe you much. This life of crime and horror is not your sphere. There is humanity about you. Tell me," he added, with irresistible curiosity, "who are you?"

"A bastard!"

It is impossible to convey the manner and emphasis with which this word was articulated. It expressed volumes to both uncle and niece. It told a dark history of shame, scorn, and disgrace; explained why, being so above them by nature, he herded with the basest. A painful tale of moral wrong and suffering it unfolded to their imaginations, save that they knew not his name or family. They read from his brief confession all that could have been told them. The earl sighed, shook his head, and was silent. Grace looked upon him with pity.

He contemplated for a moment the effect of this disclosure, and then, turning haughtily away, said,

"The service I have done you is cancelled by your discovery of the baseness of the instrument. There is debt on neither side. Adieu, my lord—adieu, Lady Grace Fitzgerald."

"How know you my name and rank?"

"And mine!" simultaneously exclaimed both.

"It matters not. Thou wilt learn full soon enough to scorn as well as pity me."

With these words he departed. The yacht was cleared of its piratical horde, and the two vessels separated, and soon were steering on opposite courses.

END OF BOOK I.

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