On finishing this singular and remorseless missive, with its strange, painful, but as he feared too true disclosure of the secret of that fatal influence which had proved the ruin and final destruction of his father, Claud Elwood was too much troubled and overcome to utter a word of comment; and, with his pained and shuddering wife, he stood mute and thoughtful, until aroused by the stir on board, in preparations for weighing anchor, and the cheering announcement of the captain that a favoring breeze was springing up, and that within twenty minutes they would be, under the fairest of auspices, on their rejoicing way to their own beloved New England.

But the cheering thought was not to be enjoyed without the drawback of being compelled to witness one more and a concluding horror.

As Elwood and his beautiful companion were on the point of retiring from deck, their attention was suddenly arrested by a light, crashing sound, high up the tall side of the frigate. They looked, and caught sight of broken pieces of board or panelling flying out, as if beat or kicked from what appeared to have been a closed port-hole. Presently the body of a man, whom they at once recognized, was protruded through the ample aperture he had evidently thus effected, till he brought himself to a balance on the outer edge. Then came the sharp cry from some one of the frigate’s officers:

“Look out, there, for the pirate prisoner!”

There was at once a lively stir on board, but too late. The next moment the heavily-manacled object of the alarm descended, like a swiftly-falling weight, to the water; and, with a dull plunge, the recoiling waves rolled back, forever closing over the traitor, the robber, the murderer, and the pirate, Gaut Gurley!

COLUMBIAN LIBRARY.

NEW SERIES OF
CHOICE AMERICAN LITERATURE.

No. 1. A TRAGEDY OF THE MOUNTAINS. A. F. Hill. 390 pages.
” 2. AMOURS OF AARON BURR. Burdette. 438 pages.
” 3. TWO WHITE SLAVES. Peacocke. 366 pages.
” 4. DEATH-DEALING GOLD. Arthur. 352 pages.
” 5. A PEEP AT NEW YORK SOCIETY. By One of the Victims.
” 6. A FREEMAN IN BONDAGE. Northup. 336 pages.
” 7. MY MOTHER-IN-LAW. By Her Son-in-Law.
” 8. AN AMERICAN DON JUAN. By E. P. B.
” 9. IN THE ADIRONDACKS. Hammond. 340 pages.
” 10. THE DEMON TRAPPER OF UMBAGOG. Thompson. 360 pages.