The Frozen Crew Of The Ice-Bound Ship; Or, Terrors Of The Arctic Region — page 84: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee > ——s —si> = “Yes, ahead, almost as big as the sun in the Madeiras.”’ ‘“‘ What, is the sun larger there than it is else- where ?”” “‘ Aye, twice as big, and three times as hot, but that ain’t neither here nor there. I’m overhauling despatches, and can’t arguify about natural history. “ Presently,’’ resumed Nick. “Ifound a body annexed to the head, and a boat filled with the enemy, about to effect a landing.” “Why did you not inform Paul Jones of this >” “Bless your innocent eyes, I hadn’t time, the warmints sailed up to me before I could say Jack Robinsen.” ‘«*‘ What did you do?” ‘Made myself scarce—scudded before the wind like a schooner in a gale.” ‘‘What, fly before such miscreants? You | did wrong.” “T don’t think so,” retorted Nick, ‘discretion is the better part of valour, andI had an objectin view. A man is no coward because he refuses to run blindly into danger when no necessity exists for such a pro- ceeding.” ‘¢What were your intentions, then ?”’ ““Whyt o pay the pirates off in their own Coin, and attack them, as they intended to attack us, in the rear.”’ ‘These were your tactics ?” “ The first place I steered for, was their boat,” said Nick. “I thought, in case of a retreat, it would serve our turn quite as well as that of the piratical swabs to whom it belonged, and the law of mine and thine isn’t included in the articles of war.” “ Did you gain the vessel ?” ‘¢ Yes,’’ replied the previous speaker ; “but found it guarded by one of the crew.” ‘“‘ He gave the alarm ?” “No, before he could open his wizzen, I’d rammed home my forty-two pounder, and provided him with a birth in the cockpit. “The poor devil,’ continued Nick, “ rose thrice with acry, andthen sunk. What a pity it is that necessity at time compels us to do that at which our nature shudders, I thought, as I beheld a fellow creature struggling with death which he had met with at my hands,” “He died as he had lived, badly,” exclaimed Emona; “and the moment of dissolution, come as it may, is equally terrible to the wicked.” “ We're steering into strange latitudes, and must not loose our reckoning,” resumed Nick. “I'd no sooner disposed of the boatman, than I took pos- session of the boat. The next moment, Black Bill and the crew returned, bearing you with them. “You can guess the rest,” continued the seaman. “‘T put on the cloak, assumed the voice and took the seat of the man I had sent to Davy Jones.” “The artifice succeeded, and ——”’ Before Emona could complete the sentence, the footsteps of Black Bill were heard approaching. She gave a suppressed scream, as Nick once more sought concealment beneath the seaman’s cloak, “'What’s inthe wind now?” exclaimed Black Bill, returning to the boat. ‘Has anything happened >” “Nothing, unless I have uttered a plaintive cry age loudly, from terror at my present unhappy posi- on.’ Black Bill followed the eyes of Emona’s as she spoke, and he fancied they were directed towards some object in the boat. Suspicion was at once aroused in his mind. Prudence came in time to prevent any rash action, and the pirate composed himself, as a fleeting thought passed through his mind. When a temper, naturally ingenious, stoops to ! i 74 THE FROZEN CREW AND ICE-BOUND SHIP. equivocate or dissemble, the anxious pain with which the unwonted task is laboured, often induces the hearer to doubt the authenticity of the tale. Black Bill cast a hasty glance at Emona, and ex- claimed — “The yarn you have spun may satisfy land- lubbers, but an old salt like me ain’t so easily taken aback,”’ Emona, agitated, hurriedly demanded— “ What do you mean P” “That your excuse won’t slue nie round to the Jarboard.” “You have su=picions?” “Yes, that the enemy is bearing down upon us, though we have sent him adrift without rudder or compass. “'To the boat,” continued Black Bill, drawing a pistol from his belt, and calling to his companious, who were some distance from the spot. Before they arrived to obey the order, the pirate had jumped into the vessel. He had no sooner done so, than he removed the cloak that covered Brandy-nosed Nick. Without uttering a word, both seamen surveyed and closed with each other. ‘Jump into the boat and cast her off,”’ shrieked ° Nick to Emona. “The odds are in our favour if you are quick about it.” She at once perceived it offered unexpected means of escape, and her friend seemed to nave the ad- vantage in the struggle. So overjoyed was the desponding woman with the apparent successful issue of the undertaking, that she paused not a moment to obey the injunction. She placed her hand on the rope that secured the vessel. It was seized with an iron grasp. On looking up she beheld De’il Rob and the pirates surrounding her. They had been attracted to the spot by the crias of their comrade, Though now a prisoner, Emona witnessed with alarm the fearful contest, which was continued between Nick and his antagonist. It would soon have terminated fatally to the former. The superior strength of Black Bill had enabled him to bear down the man opposed to him with his knee. He was fast strangling Nick, by twisting his hand- kerchief round his throat. Ewmona shrieked, and in vain attempted to tear herself away from the pirates who detained her. As the prostrate seaman was fast blackening into a corse, she screamed for pity. Her efforts for his rescue became frantic, and in- tensely painful. “T will give my life—nay more. my honour to save the life of that devoted man!” exclaimed Emona, in a paroxysm of despair. “J accept the offer,” said a voice, The next moment the person who had said these words, with the bound of a maddened tiger, sprang upon the triumphant pirate. He tore down Black Bill on his back, continuing to sever his wrist with his sword blade, until his hold on Nick was relaxed, and he wrestled in his own defence. “Seize him, my lads!” the champion exclaimed, pointing with his left hand to Black Bill. “ Tarraign him of treachery to our band. “ This victim is mine,’’ continued the speaker, as with the words he directed his sword to the body of Brandy-nosed Nick. Whatever his intentions were, they were frus- trated by Emona’s sudden recognition of his person, SORNIGDOOkKS com