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Li TF AEWA SG ne”
ITEP ASTOR RE Lie
2
_ THE WEEKLY NOVELETTE.
TPES BUDE Kae Oe PRM ne ert
brought froma some hiding-place that had, escaped the
custom-house officers, as well as the hidden thirty-two-
pounder. .
While the men disappeared for more weapons, the
man arranged these on hanging slings on cach side of
the entrance to the cabin, against the bulwarks, so as to
represent an outspread fan, the bright, shining bayonets
making the point of the half circle. A score of pistols
arranged in the form of a diamond here, and a dozen
boarding-axes in the style of a star opposite, ornament-
ed the sides of the cabin, and along the whole length of
the transum were placed in sockets a line of cutlasses.
Having arranged all this with a readiness and prompt
actiuity that showed he was acquainted with the bestow-
al of their arms, the mate turned to withdraw, having
embellished the cabin with a stern and wild elegance,
upon which the captain looked with an expression of
satisfaction.
“Stay, Mr. Prior,” said his captain. ‘“ Have you let
that bull-dog out of its kennel on the forecastle ?”
“ Yes, sir, the gun is mounted and ready in working
order.”
“Rig up the canvass covering on its standards at
once—we don’t want to create any curiosity by showing
that piece needlessly.” .
“Yes, sir,” said the mate, remaining uncovered until
he left the cabin.
Everything about the schooner secmed to be of the
most complete and perfect character, and in fifteen min-
utes after leaving the cabin, the mate had rigged a can-
vass covering over the gun, supported upon four stand-
ards firmly fixed, and so painted on the outside as com-
pletely to represent a cook’s galley, and occupying the
place on board that such a fixture almost universally
fills, and unless closely examined, no one would have
doubted for 1 moment that it was not a regular ca-
boose.
The schooner’s rig was of so simple, yet beautiful and
serviceable a chnracter, that it required ~but few hands
to manage it. Still, the deck of the Séa Lark showed
a crew of some sixteen all told. They were mostly
men of middle age, sober, steady, and tried seamen, ev-
idently, by their appearance, and jt was now plain
enough that so large a number were not employed to
trim the sailing gear of the craft alone.
The Sea Lark had left port with her hull garnished
in true French style, with three or four colors of paint,
faney ports, and a couple of stripes, blue and white.
But having cleared Lizard Point on the English coast,
and laid her course to the south, an order was issued
that covered her outside with a dozen men in slings,
and she soon appeared with a hull as black as night to
her water-line, to which she was coppered, a narrow
streak of deep red only relieving, or rather heightening
the roguish‘and suspicious look of her hull. Thus ar-
anged, she seemed to be fiaely dressed for her voyage,
let it be where it might, and she danced over the sca as
merrily as the bird whose name she bore.
‘To analyze the character and purpose of the schoon-
er, we must look to her officers. The captain we have
already spoken of. The first mate, Mr. Lord, as he
was called, was an old weather-beaten seaman of near
filty years. lis frame was as though cast of iron, and
in his wrinkled and bronzed face one might read a spirit
of stern sclf-possession and discipline, but nothing actu-
ally forbidding or villanous. Mr. Prior was, as we
have before said, second mate, a laborious berth, but he
was a good officer, and having the good sense to avoid
all familiarity with the men, he was respected and
promptly obeyed. Altogether, he was a quiet but res-
olute man, with a most respectful mien to his superiors.
In the faces and bearing of the crew, also, there was
much of the same spirit evinced, and one would have
looked in vain for any bloodthirsty or piratical demon-
strations. ‘These things duly weighed, and the secret
and peculiar movements of the schooner remembered,
her armament and full complement of men bespoke her
to be a slaver!
‘Twenty years since, the traffic in negroes, and the
slave trade on the African coast, were held by men to
be a legitimate commerce, or ut Jeast there was no sys-
tematic effort made to suppress it, though even at that
time it had been rendered illegal by parliamentary en-
actment. Still the meagre force kept upon the coast by
the English was altogether insufficient to prevent an
evil that engaged the daring spirits of all maritime na-
tions. It is a matter of history that many of the largest
and most influential firms of Liverpool were indirectly
concerned, even up to a much later period, in this slave
traffic. Itis not to be wondered at, therefore, that in
the year 1810 we see a well-found and ably-manned
slaver taking her departure from the port of Havre.
Unquestionably, had the custom-house authorities found
unmistakable evidence of the schooner’s character, they
would have been bound by the laws to seize her. But
we have seen how adroitly she had concealed her arma-
ment, and doubtless other implements peculiar to the
trade in which she was engaged were as securely
stowed away as the small arms had been. Such being
the character of the Sea Lark, she avoided as much as
possible the chance of falling in with other sails, and
therefore ran more to the westward than any honest
trader would have done, who was bound on the same
course.
Jerome Bouve was the eldest son of one of the proud-
est houses in all France. His father, having by some
mishap incurred the displeasure of his sovereign,.was
publicly disgraced by him, and soon after died of a
broken heart. Jerome, who took by right the title of
Count Bouve, was then just of age, and he secretly
swore the bitterest enmity to his king, and passed his
entire time in plotting and scheming to overthrow him.
His position and wealth securing him no slight influ-
ence, he exerted them both to the utmost, to create dis-
affection and trouble among the people. In these’ ef-
forts he was not a little’successfal ; indeed, the trouble
he occasioned was keenly felt at Paris and about the
court, though his own agency in the difficulties was not
for some time ascertained. At last, however, by means
of the secret police and other officers, Count Bouve was
detected, and, like his father, publicly disgraced ; be-
sides which, the family property was seized and confis-
cated, and the oldest son, Count Jerome Bouve, ban-
ished from France.
Count Bouve was now but twenty-five years old, and
he mainly regretted this stroke of ill fortune for the
sake of 2 younger brother, tle only remaining member
of his family. This brother, Louis Bouve, was yet
but nineteen years of age, and having scarcely complet-
ed his collegiate education, he felt, of course, most
acutely, the loss of all pecuniary resources, He hid a
perfect passion for the fine arts, and indeed possessed a
good deal of talent as a painter, and now, foreseeing
that he would be obliged to support himself by personal
industry, he resolved to apply himself to the study of
this art. The temporary pecuniary assistance that his
brother Jerome was able to render him was suflicient
only to give him a partial advance upon his road to
fame and fortune; but with a youthful and buoyant
heart, he was little affected by the loss of home and
station.
Count Bouve had always lived in munificent style,
‘and it was one of his bitterest reflections that. his
younger brother, whom he so fondly loved, should be
made to pay for hisimprudence. Le therefore resolved
by some daring speculation to win for himself ieans to
aid Louis, as well as to rebuild his own fortune. Thus
influenced, and being a perfect adept in maritime life—
having owned and sailed a yacht for several years—he
determined, with the small means he could raise, to
purchase a clipper craft, man and arm her, and make a
K couple or so of voyages to the coast of Africa, as a
slayer.
One voyage had already been made when our tale
opens, and its large profits had been paid over to his
brother Louis, in heavy Spanish doubloons. The
means were thus afforded to him, through the generos-
ity, or rather the strict justice of his brother, to pursue
his favorite study, and also to live like a gentleman.
Such is the history of the Sea Lark and her com-
mander, up to the period at which we have followed her
down the English Channel to sea.
‘the captain, with his glass at his eye.
CHAPTER II.
THE STRANGE SAIL.
The great contention of the sea and skies
Portends our fellowship. But hark—a sail.—Cassio.
Ir was fully a year subsequent to the scene described
in the first chapter, that a homeward bound East India-
man was coursing on her way over the broad ocean to-
wards the continent of Europe. She was a full-rigged
ship of fine proportions, and as she now bent gracefully
to the breeze, she seemed a perfect picture of nautical
beauty. She was held in hand with true seaman’s skill,
and a single glance at her rigging and hull told that a
true sailor commanded her. Her yards were swung to
just the right point, and her sails drew finely. The
ship bore some tokens of a long voyage about her, and
from the course in which she steered, and the depth of
water she drew, was plainly from India. St. George’s
cross floated from her peak, and a near view showed
that she was well armed. Some half dozen twelve-
pounders were ranged on either side of the ship, and
the watch on deck numbered some twenty men—all of
which showed that the cargo that was below decks must
be a valuable one to induce such precautions in matters
of strength. .
It was morning when the ship first descried a tiny
fleece of white, far off in the horizon to windward.
The lookout aloft declared it a. sail, but the mate, after
ascending the shrouds to obtain a more elevated view,
pronounced it merely a flyaway, or white cloud. The
captain, however, was not long in satisfying himself
that the lookout was right, and thet the object to wind-
ward was indeed a sail. The result was a long and
careful examination by the officers.
“Mr. Marline,” said the captain of the East India-
man, “yonder sail is ¢oming down upon us with the
speed of a race-horse. Do you mark how fast she has
lifted within ‘these few minutes ?”
“She does come up with a will, sir, but she’s got it
all her own way, and takes this wind over her taffrail.”
“True, Mr. Marline, she is running before it,” said
“ Take this glass
up aloft, sir, and see if you can make her out any bet-
ter. We must not be taken aback, but prepare for this
fellow if necessary. Stay, sir;-pass the word forward
to the boatswain, and pipe up the watch. We must
have all hands on deck.”
These orders were obeyed with nautical promptness,
and the mate, hailing the deck, soon described the
stranger as a brigantine or schooner, but as she was
bows on he could not exactly tell which. However, all
the while the stranger was nearing them fast, and a
closer view seemed to create no slight uneasiness on
board the ship. The crew, consisting of some forty
seamen all told, were placed at the guns, which were
cast loose, and balls and cartridges were handed ready
for action. The officers were at their respective sta-
tions, and it was as still as death on board the ship;
not through fear, but rather from a fecling of uncertain-
ty that prevailed with regard to the character of the
stranger,
“Too small a tonnage by far, Mr. Marline,”’ said the
captain, “to"be in these seas for any honest purpose.
She must be a pirate or a privateer, which is about the
same-thing, according to my reckoning.”
In the meantime the schooner still neared them, and
her rig was now apparent, but no signal that the ship
shad made was at all noticed.
“What a witch of a craft that is, sir,’”’ said the mate ;
“she’s a perfect little fairy, and sails like a bird. Are
you sure, sir, that she touches the water at all?” cor-
tinued he, half in earnest, as he wondered at her almost
supernatural speed and the swan-like grace of her
movements.
“To bé sure, sir,” replied his superior, “she comes
down hand over hand, and is getting too near for an
enemy. Give her a gun, and_ see if she will answer
that, as she does not seem to like our peaceable signals.’”
A moment after a gun was fired from the ship, and
the ball went skipping over the sea, a mile or more
astern of the schooner, She had now come within fair
guushot, and it was casy to sce her most minute ar-
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