The Frozen Crew Of The Ice-Bound Ship; Or, Terrors Of The Arctic Region — page 68: what you’re looking at

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58 THE FROZEN CREW AND ICE-BOUND SHIP. skin, rushed upon the captive, and, with the assist- ance of the others, effectually secured him. Arms, legs and feet, were encircled in twenty folds of the thong. . ““FHrom what place did this imp spring >” asked the Spaniard, when the work was finished. ‘* Not a soul has passed since our arrival.” The pirates shook their heads significantly, while De’'il Rob, one of their number, pointed to the door. . ‘No, it has not been open to my certain know- ledge,’’ said Rotaido. ‘“ How the devil he came into these latitudes at all is beyond my comprehension; do any of you know him?” The pirates again, by their previous actions, re- plied in the negative. ‘‘He is some spy, depend upon it,”’ observed the Spaniard, “and I shall presently make him find his tongue. But for the present, lash him to yonder projection, while we make sure of our victim, Paul Jones. This mandate was at once complied with. The prisoner yielded in silence, and appeared utterly helpless. Rotaldo regarded him for a moment as if to as- certain that he was entirely deprived of means of resistance, then ordered the pirates to again sur- round the hut as before, while he advanced to it himself. He twice extended his hand to the door, and twice withdrew it. At length the Spaniard made the effort. His knock did not equal in violence the throb of his own bosom. His next effort was louder, but receiving no answer, he called upon Paul Jones by his name and requested him to answer and open to him. ‘¢ What miserable being is induced to seek shelter here >” said a voice from within.” “T come to you in an hour of adversity,’’ said Rotaldo, disguising his. person and intention; “the door of Paul Jones should not be closed to the cry of distress by an old messmate.”’ The speaker heard the inmate stir in his hut, and presently afterwards strike a light. One by one, bolts and bar were withdrawn, and the heart of Rotaldo throbbed higher asthe ob- stacles to the meeting with his enemy were re- moved. ; The door opened, and a figure stood before him. It was not that of Paul Jones, but Hans Hinck- man. The uncouth form and features of the dwarf were illuminated by the iron lamp which he held in his hand. **‘ Heavens! where did you come from?’ ex- claimed the thunderstricken Spaniard. “A pretty question, truly,” replied Hans Hinck- man. ‘Hast thou not heard it said that I have leagued myself with the evil powers > “‘ Hast thou not heard this?’’ he continued, “ and yet do you seek my cell at midnight.’’ ‘Then where is Paul Jones?’ asked the Span- iard, assuming afirm tone. “It is he, not you I have sought in this secluded ice-dell.’’ A sudden ery at this moment warned Rotaldo that the prisoner lately taken had gained his free- dom. Disengaging himself from his bonds, he had dashed up a precipice, from the summit of which he addressed those who were hastily ascending. “Fools! follow me not, nor seek further your victim, Paul Jones; he has escaped your machina- tions. “He was set free by me,” continued the fugitive, by me, Vanderdecken, the Flying Dutchman !’’ These words were listened to with lips asunder and eyes rivetted. After a short pause, a flash of lightning of such dazzling brilliancy shot down past the pirates, that they remained for some momeuts almost blinded. When these terror-stricken men had recovered their powers of vision, the phantom skipper had vanished into air. | CHAPTER XXII. HOW GONZALVI WAS LURED TO THE GROTTO AND WHAT TOOK PLACE WHEN HE ARRIVED THERE, The day following that on which the incidentrs re- lated in the last chapter took place, a wanderer broke the solitude of one of the remotest passes of the arctic circle. He was a seaman, in savage masquerade, and on his return from hunting, a sport to which those who visit the snowy lands are generally attached, not- withstanding its dangers and fatigues. This sailor’s jacket and trousers, though in ragged trim, were not exposed to the eye, being covered with a general coating of white bear-skin. A musket was swinging behind his shoulders, a sword, unconscious of a scabbard, drooped at his side, while a pair of pistols completed his accoutre- ments. Having said thus much, let the reader picture to himself in this individual, Brandy-nosed Nick. “ The game has fled this infernal country I think,” said he, trudging along the lonely track he was fol - lowing. ‘“‘I have been as far as the ice mount on the frozen sea, and the devil of a bird or beast can I see this morning, if I except three red woodraes that never let me get within shot of them, though I steered a good mile to windward. ‘IT shouln’t care so much for myself,” continued the speaker, “only I wanted some venison for Paul Jones. Poor fellow, I can’t make him out of late; he seems to get more dull and gloomy every day. Why, only last night he swore we were carried away by the Flying Dutchman ; whether we were or not I can’t say, because I never remember any- thing after my twenty-fourth glass.” With such sentiments as these, Nick passed a narrow cutting, leading into one of the snow-fields of the inhospitable region. This he was about to cross, when his attention was caught by a singular figure. It seemed at first some man or a beast, yet had the appearance of neither; but when the shaggy jaws and rugged head of the opponent were fully exposed to the gaze of the seaman, he at once re- cognised the huge white bear he had encountered a day or so previously. Lo the dismay of Nick, he found that his powder- flask by some accident had become empty. However, emboldened by an artificial courage derived from a copius draught of rum which, in his economy, he had stored for special occasions, the seaman determined to attack and pursue the enemy within his view. “Tf I can’t get venison,” said he, “I will at least provide Paul Jones with a frugal meal of dried bear’s meat, or bruin shall make a meal of me.” Armed only with his unsheathed cutlass, Nick resolutely set out on his adventurous exploit. A fatiguing journey over a yielding surface of snow and broken hummocks, brought him within a yard of the grizzly foe. This grizzly foe, to the surprise of his antagonist, undauntedly faced him, and seemed, by unmis- takeable signs, to invite him to the combat. FOO1KsS=