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:(6_V RAFAEL SABATINI Lmljf
(Continued from Tfiterday.)
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE LAST FIGHT OF THE
ARABELLA.
It wag the afternoon of that same
day, and the two buccaneer ships
rocked gently w^jh idly flapping sails
under the lee ^ the long spit of land
forming the g*at natural harbor of
Port Royal, and less than a mile
from the straits leading into It, which
the fort commanded. It was two
hours and more since they had
brought up thereabouts, having crept
thither unobserved by the city and
by M. Rivard’s ships, and all the
time the sir had been aqutver with
the roar of guns from sea and land,
announcing that battle was joined be
tween the French and the defenders
of Port Royal. That long, inactive
watting was straining the nerves of
both Lord Willoughby and Van dor
Kuylen. Blood faced them, smiling
confidently. "It's this way, now;
there's nothing at all to he gained
hr precipitancy, and a deal to he
gained by delaying, as I shall show
you, I hope. Sure, It’ll be time
enough to go forward when the fort
has shot Its bolt. . . ." He broke off
to listen. “Aye, I was right. The
fire's slackening. Ho. there, Jeremy!"
Came the padding of feet along the
decks, the creaking of blocks and
the hoisting of sail. The helm was
put over hard, and in a moment they
were moving, the Elizabeth following,
ever In obedience to the signals from
the Arabella, whilst Ogle the gunner,
whom he had summoned, was receiv
ing Blood's final Instructions before
plunging down to his station on the
main deck.
Within a quarter of an hour they
had rounded the head and stood In
to the harbor mouth, within saker
shot of Rlvarol’s three ships, to which
they now' abruptly disclosed them
selves. '
Where the fort had stood they
now beheld a smoking rubbish heap,
and the lily standard trailing from
his mastheads was sweeping forward
to snatch the rich prize whose de
fenses he had shattered.
Blood scanned the French ships,
and chuckled. The Vietorieuse and
the Medusa appeared to have taken
no more than a few scars; hut the
third ship, the Baleine, listing heav
ing to larboard so as to keep the
great gash In her starboard well
above water, was nut of account.
The sight of that gireat red ship
w-ith her gilt beakhead and open
ports swinging broadside on must have
given check to Rivard's soaring exul
tation. Yet before lie could move to
give an order, before he could well
resolve what order to give, a vol
cano of fire end metal burst upon
him from the buccaneers, and his
-„
New York
--Day by Day
_j
By O. O. MclNTYRE.
New Tortc, Oct. 7.—They trapped
one of Broadway’* biggest ependara,
wanted on a criminal charge. In a
tiny walk-up apartment In Harlem the
other day. He had been hiding away
for a month while the ehrewdest de
tectives sought him.
It la axiomatic among criminals
that ths best place In the world to
hide ts In New Tork. And it is. Tet
nearly all criminals are captured be
cause they overlook the first lesson
In detective work: "Cherche* la
feme!”
This man had many Broadway
loves. He spent J250.000 a year In
the cabarets and cafes but when
cards turned against him out of all
those upon whom he had squandered
fortunes only one showed any degree
of loyalty.
' Detectives working on the "Look
for the woman!" theory found out
the address of every woman to whom
he had paid attention. A sleuth was
detailed for each one of them and
Instructed never to let them out of
sight.
One night one left her apartment
heavily veiled. She took a taxi to a
subway station, boarded an uptown
express, doubled back downtown and
took an elevated train. It was all
done with a rush but she never got
out of his sight.
And he followed her to a tiny
apartment where her fugitive sweet
heart was hiding. He who had tasted
of the sweets of Broadway was alone
—trembling from the Indulgence In
liquor. All his fair-weather friends had
shunned him. His bankroll consisted
of 25 cents.
This la the Inevitable toll Broadway
exact* from those who stem the
whirlpool. And the laughing waters
mock the lips of those who sink.
Men have been able to play Broad
way a night or so at Intervals and
survive but those who make Broad
way a habit are Invariably losers.
New Tork has several lost streets.
Fhlnbone Alley Is on*. It Is tucked
away down town and seems uncon
scious of the world about It. It Is
ahabby and run down at heel. Ths
cries crossing of cloths lines from
housa to house suggests ships aloft
and there Is enough canvas strung
on them to send a barkentlne spank
ing along. Many washwomen live In
Shinbone alley. Thera la the pungent
odor of suds and the smell of cabbage
cooking.
Then, too, there la Cherry Lane
where city dwellers have fled for a
little of quiet. Away hack It bloom
ed with cherry blossoms. It Is the
home of F.dna St. Vincent Millay, the
poet. Where there was once an old
malt house there la now the Cherry
Lane playhouse with a smart little
porte-cochere. Many sculptors live
there, quite a few painters and a
novelist or so. A few years ago a
single cherry He* stood In Cherry
l^n* but. It waa cut down. It was
old guarled and a bit pass*.
The other day I vislled a man held
in the psychopathic ward of Bellevue
He had been untrussed by booze and
for three days was In the stralt
Jacket. He had been a friend of other
days—a clear eyed, manly fellow
with much ambition.
“What mad# you taka to hard
drinking?" I asked.
"Because I waa a damn fool," he
replied.
I don’t know how It will Impress
others but It. struck me as being a ser
mon straight, from the shoulder.
Truth without frills.
The venerable orderlies about hos
pitals are odd characters. Kach boa
pita I has them. They, like the Cherry
r.sno tree, are old, guarled and a bit
passe and New Tork In its usual
fashion passes them by. They are
very comforting to the sic?*
(Coprrlsht. 1124.1
decks were swept by the murderous
scythe of the broadside. The Ara
bella held to her course, giving place
to the Elizabeth, which, following
closely, executed the same maneuver.
And then whilst still the Frenchmen
were confused, panic-stricken by an
attack that tcok them so utterly by
surprise, the Arabella had gone about
and was returning in her tracks, pre
senting now her larboard guns, and
loosing her second broadside in the
wake of the first. Came yet another
broadside from the Elizabeth and
then the Arabella's trumpeter sent
a call across the water, which Hap
thorpe perfectly understood.
“And now, Jeremy!” cried Blood.
“Stand by, there! Prepare to board!
Hayton ... the grapnels." Briskly
he explained himself to his two
guests. “Board is our only chance
here. We are too heavily outgunned."
Of this the fullest demonstration
followed quickly. The Frenchmen
having recovered their wits at last,
both ships swung broadside on. and
concentrating upon the Arabella as
the nearer and heavier and therefore
more immediately dangerous of their
two opponents, volleyed upon her
jointly at almost the same moment.
The Arabella rocked and staggered
under that terrific hammering. For
a moment she seemed to hesitate,
then she plunged forward with a gap
ing hole forward that was only just
above the water line. Meanwhile, the
Frenchmen going about, gave the like
reception to the Elizabeth. The Ara
bella, indifferently served by the
wind, pressed forward to come to
grips. But before she could accom
plish her object, the Victorleuse had
loaded her starboard guns again, and
pounded her advancing enemy with
a second broadside at close quarters
Amid the thunder of cannon, the
rending of timbers, and the screams
of maimed men, the half-wrecked
Arabella plunged and reeled Into the
cloud of smoke that, concealed her
prey, and then from Hayton went
up the cry that she was going down
by the head. The blue and gold
flank of the Victorleuse loomed
through the smoke. But even as
Blood caught that enheartening
glimpse he perceived, too, how slug
gish now was their advance. They
must sink before they reached her.
But they had not yet completely
failed. Hayton himself and a score
of sturdy rogues whom his whistle
had summoned, were crouching for
shelter amid the wreckage of the
forecastle with grapnels ready. With
in seven or eight yards of the Vic
torleuse, when they way seemed
spent, and their forward deck al
ready awash under the eyes of the
jeering, cheering Frenchmen, those
men leaped up and forward, and
hurled their grapnels across the
chasm. Of the four they flung, two
reaehed the Frenchman's decks, anil
fastened there. Fnhesttatingly all
threw themselves upon the chain of
one of those grapnels, neglecting the
other, and heaved upon It with all
their might to warp the ships to
gether. Blood sent out his voire in
a clarion call:
“Musketeers to the prow!”
Fifty of them dashed forward in
stantlv, and from the ruins of the
forecastle they blazed over the heads
of Hayton’s men. mowing down the
French soldiers who, unable to dis
lodge the irons, firmly held where
they had deeply bitten into the tim
bers of the Victorleuse. were them
selves preparing to firtf upon the
grapnel crew.
Starboard to starboard the twro
ships swung sgainst each other with
a jarring thyd. The advance guard
of the boarders, a hundred strong,
were ordered to the poop, grapnel
men were posted, and prompt to obey
Flood's command at the very moment
of impact. As a result, the founder
ing Arabella was literally kept afloat
hy the half dozen grapnels that in
an Instant moored her firmly to the
Victorleuse.
Bed now by Blood himself. t..e\
launched themselves upon the French
like hounds upon the stag they hare
brought to bay. For fully ba!f an
hour that battle raged aboard toe
Frenchman. The French resisted
stubbornly, and they had the advan
tage of numbers to encourage them.
But for all their stubborn valor, thev
ended bv helng pressed hack and back
across the decks that were danger
ously canted to starboard by the
pull of the water-logged Arabella.
The buccaneers fought with the des
perato fury of men who know that
retreat is Impossible, for there was
no ship to which they could retreat,
and here they must prevail and make
the Victorleuse their own, or i>erlsh
And their own they made her in
the end. and at cost of nearly half
their numbers. Driven to the quar
ter-deck the surviving defenders,
urged on by the Infuriated Rivarol.
maintained awhile their desperate n
slstanee. But in the end Rivard
went down with a bullet in his head,
and the French remnant, numbering
scarcely a score of whole men, called
for quarter.
Even <hen the labors of Blood s
men were not at an end. The Bliztt
heth and the Medusa were tight
I locked, and Hagthorpe’s followers
were being driven back aboard their
own ship for the second time. Prompt
measures were demanded. While
Pitt and his seamen bore their part
with the sails, and Ogle went below
with a gun crew, Blood ordered the
grapnels to he loosed at once. Lord
Willoughby and the admiral wfft al
ready aboard the Victorieuse. As
they swung off to the rescue of Hap
thorpe, Blood, from the quarter-deck
of the conquered vessel, looked his
last upon the ship that had served
him so well. A moment she rocked
after her release, then slowly and
gradually settled down, the water gur
gling and eddying about her topmasts,
all that remained visible to mark the
spot where she had met her death.
As he stood there, above the ghastly
shambles in the waist of the Victo
rieuse, some one spoke behind him.
"Captain Blood, never before have
I seen the impossible made possible
by resource and valor, or victory so
gallantly snatched from defeat.”
He turned and presented to Lord
Willoughby a formidable front. His
headpiece was gone, his breastplate
dinted, his right sleeve a rag hang
ing from his shoulder about a naked
arm. He was splashed from head to
foot with blood and there was blood
from a scalp wound that he had tak
en matting his hair and mixing with
the grim and powder on his face to
render him unrecognizable.
But from that horrible mask two
vivid eyes looked out preternaturally
bright, and from those eyes two tears
had plowed each a furrow through
the filth of hts cheeks.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HIS EXCELLENCY THE C.OY
ERNOR.
It was not until the evening of
the following day that. Van der Kuy
ien's truant fleet, of nine ships came
to anchor in the harbor of Pori Royal,
and its offirevs, Dutch and English,
were made acquainted with their ad
miral's true opinion of their worth.
Six ships of that fleet were instant
ly refitted for sea. There were other
West Indian settlements demanding
the visit of inspection of the new
governor general, and Lord Wlllough
bv was In haste to sail for the An
tillles.
"And meanwhile,” he complained
to his admiral, “I am detained here
by the ahsence of this fool of a
deputy governor.”
"Aha! But Id is not necessary you
remain for dat. And meandime de
Vrench will haf delr eye on Barda
dos, vieh is nod veil defended. You
half here chust the man you vant.
He vlll require no lnsdrucshons, dls
one. ITk vlll know how to make Port
Royal safe, bedder nor you or me.”
"You mean Rlood? Egad! I had
thought of it; and, rip me, why not?”
Blond was sent for. He was a
trifle dazzled by the honor proposed
to him. when Lord Willoughby made
It known. It was so far beyond any
thing that he had dreamed, and he
was assailed by doubts of bis capac
ity to undertake so onerous a charge.
"Damme!" snapped Willoughby,
'should I offer it unless J were satis
ded of your capacity? If that's your
only objection—’’
"It Is not, my lord. I had counted
upon going home, so I had. I am hun
gry for the green lanes of England.”
He sighed. "There will be apple blos
soms In the orchards of Somerset."
"Apple blossoms!" His lordship’s
voice shot up like a rocket and
cracked on the word. "What the
devil—? Apple blossoms!” He looked
at Van der Kuylen. The admiral
raised his brows and pursed his heavy
lips. His eyes twinkled humorously
in his great face.
"So!" he said. "Fery boedical!"
My lord wheeled fiercely upon Cap
tain Blood.
"If you want your past forgotten
and your future assured, this is your
chance. Your duty lies here, at least
as long as the war lasts. When the
war’s over, you may get back to
Somerset and cider or your native
Ireland and ite potheen, but until
then you'll make the best of Jamaica
and rum.”
Van der Kuylen exploded Into
laughter. But Blood remained so!
•ran to the point of glumness. His
thoughts were on Mias Bishop, who
was somewhere hern In this very
house In which they stood, but whom
he had not seen sine# .his arrival.
Had she but shown him some com
passion. . . .
And then the rasping voice of WII
Ioughly cut in again, upbraiding him
for his hesitation, pointing out to
him his Incredible stupidity in trifling
with such a golden opportunity as
this. He stiffened and bowed.
"My lord, you are In the right.
It shall be as you wish; and very
gratefully, let me assure your lord
ship. I shall know how to earn liTs
majesty's approbation You gnay de
pend upon my loyal service.
Thus It was settled Blood * com
mission was made out end sealed In
the presence of Mallard, the com
mandant.
"We sail tomorrow morning,” his
lordship announced. Blood was star
tled.
"And Colonel Bishop’’" he asked.
"He becomes your affair. You are
now the governor. You will deal
with him as you think proper on his
return. Hang him from his own
yardarm. He deserves it."
"Isn't the task a trifle Invidious?"
wondered Blood.
“Very well. I ll leave a letter for
him. I hope he'll like it."
Captain Blood took up his duties
at once. With the sanction of L,ord
Willoughby he marshaled his bucca
neers and surrendered to them one
fifth of the captured treasure, leav
ing to their rholce thereafter either
to depart or to enroll themselves In
the service of King William.
A score of them elected to remain,
and amongst these were Jeremy Pitt.
Ogle and Dyke, whose ouilawrry, like
Blood's, had come to an end with the
downfall of King James. They were
—saving old Wolverstone. who had
been left behind at Cartagena—the
only survivors of that hand of rebels
convict who had left Barbados over
three years sgo in the Clnco Llagas.
On the following morning, whilst
Van der Kuylen's fleet was making
finally ready for sea. Blood sat In
the spacious whitewashed room that
was the governor's office, when Major
Mallard brought him word that Blsli
op s homing squadron was in sight.
"I am glad he comes before Dord
Willoughby’s departure. The orders,
major, are that you place him under
arrest the moment he steps ashore
Peter Blood sat back in his chair
and stared at the celling, frowning
Came a tap ft the door, and an elder
ly negro slave presented himself.
Woyld his excellency receive Miss
BisHop? He sat quite still, drum
ming In a manner wholly unusual
to them. Then quietly he assented.
He rose when she entered, and if he
was not as pale as she was. It was
because his tan dissembled It. j-’or
a moment there was silence between
them. a» thev stood looking each at
the other. Th»n she moved forward,
and hegnn at laat to speak, haltingly.
In an unsteady voice, amazing In one
usually no calm and deliberate.
“ . , . I * • • Major Mallard hai
Juat told me . .
"Major Mallard exceeded hts d it '
said Blood, and because of the off. I
he made to steady his voice It sound
ed harsh and unduly loud. You alar nr
yourself without reason, Mias Bishop
Whatever may li» between me ant
your uncle, you may be sure thal
I shall not follow the example he ha»
set me. I shall not abuse my posb
tion to prosecute a private vengeance
On the contrary, I shall abuse It 14
protect hint. I,ord Willoughby's rec.
emmcndation to me is that I ahail
treat him wl’hout mercy. My 0*1
Intention Is to send him to his plantae
tion in Barbados,"
She came slowly forward now. "1
... I am glad that you will do tha’.
Olad above all. for your own sake. ’
She held out her hand to him.
He ionsidered It. critically. Then
he bowed over It. "I'll not presume
to take It In the hand of a thl'f and
a pirate,” said he bitterly,
(To Br Contlnnod Tomorrow.)
A naval captain who substituted for
a missing aviator and took his first
parachute Jump at Rea Dirt, N. J., the
other day, made the leap without a
quiver, but he was afraid to tell hie
wife afterwards. Well, they don t
teach domestic diplomacy at Anna
polis,—Providence Journal.
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