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THE. IRON' PIRATE
A Ttain fatf qfSt?in . ;l .
Happening " on tAe S a' '
By MAX PE1IBERTOS
-oco-
CHAPTER IX. ,, ;:.
, There were two great ships abreast of
each 'other, and they were steaming with
ro great a pressure of steam that the
dark green water 'was cleaved into two
huge waves of foam before their bows:
ftnd the spray' fell in tons upon their
;decksf , k ,.. . .
The more distant of the, two ships was
long in shape and dark In color ; she had
two funnels painted white, but marked
with the anchor which clearly set her
. down to be one of the famous Black An
chor fleet. Her decks were dark with the
figures of passengers and crew all crowd
ing to the port side, wherefrom the other
ehip was approaching her.
It was this other ship which drew our
gaze. Almost of the same length as the
passenger steamer, which she now ap
proached obliquely, she rode the long swell
with perfect grace, and many of her deck
houses and part of her prow shone with
the brightness of pure gold. Full the sun
fell upon her in a sheen of shimmering
splendor, throwing great reflected lights
which dazzled the eye. Every ornament
on her seemed to be made of the precious
metal, now glowing to exceeding brilliance
in the full power of the sunlight.
She was a very big ship, and she had
all the shape of a ship of war, while the
turrets fore and aft of her capacious fun
nel showed the muzzles of two big guns.
I could see by my glass a whole wealth
of armament in the foretop of her short
mast forward. There was a great deck
erection, with a gallery and a bridge for
navigation ; but no men showed upon the
platform, and, for the matter of that, no
soul trod her decks, so far as our observ
ation went. Yet her speed was such as I
do not believe any ship achieved before.
Now rising majestically on the long roll
of the swell, now falling into the concave
of the sea, she rushed onward towards the
steamer she was evidently pursuing as
though driven by all the furies of the
deep.
As we watched her the gun In her fore
most turret belched out flame and smoke,
end we observed the rise and fall of a
shell, which cut the water a cable's length
ahead of the straining steamer. At that
moment she ran up a flag upon her signal
mast, and, as I read It with my glass, I
saw that it was the flag of the Chilian
republic.
It was a matter of satisfaction to me
that Mary Btill slept, and I looked for
the appearance of Paolo with some ques
tion. But he remained below through It
all. The skipper was the first to speak.
s "That ship yonder," said he, jerking
his thumb to starboard, "is it any business
of ours?"
j "None that I know of," I replied : "but
!lt's a mighty fine sight, skipper, don't you
.' -think, a Chilian warship running after a
"liner in broad daylight? What's your
opinion?"
"It's a fine sight enough, but I would
Vgive half I'm worth to be a hundred miles
, .-away from it ; do you want nie to' get
Ihis boat into port again?" ' ' ,
"Of course."
v Then I'm going to put up the helm
and sheer off. I'm not a man that loves
fighting myself, and, with a ship and crew
to look after, I've no business In any af
fair of this sort."
;, "Hold on a bit, skipper," said RoderJ
lek, "as we are, If you please ; why, man,
it's a sight I wouldn't miss for a for-
tune."
I had my glass to my eye in a moment
and the light was so full upon the vessel,
which must have then been a mile and a
half away from us. There was now some
one moving upon the bridge, and could
recognize the shape of a man.
Throughout the strange scene, this ves
sel of mystery never gave one sign that
men worked at her furnaces below. No
evidence of that terrible power which was
then driving her through the seas at
such fearful speed.
But of the activity of her human crew
we had speedily further sign; for, there
was some belching of flame from her
turret, and this time the shell, crashed full
upon the forepart of the great liner, and
we heard the shout of terror which rose
from those on the decks. Then men ap
peared at the signal-mast of the pursuer,
and rapidly made signals in the common
code.
Then there was activity on the deck of
the nameless ship, and men were swinging
oft a launch, which dropped presently Into
l!ic sea and with a crew of some half doz
en men. Again I got glass full upon the
mn who walked the bridge ; and I knew
.Mm. - He was the man I had met at Pans,
I he one styled Captain Black by my friend
Hall.
The last link In the long chain was
welded then. The whole truth of that
weird document, so fantastical, so seem
ingly wild, so fearful, was made manifest ;
the dead man s words were vindicated.
There on the great Atlantic waste, I had
lived to see one of those terrible pictures
' which he had conceived In the midst of
his lone dreaming.
"Mark." said Roderick, "it's time to go;
we'll be the next when that ship's at the
bottom. Remember we have Mary on
board."
Indeed, she stood by us as we spoke,
Tery pale and quiet, looking where the
two ships lay motionless, the boat from
the one now ai. the very side of the black
steamer, whose name, pie Ocean King, we
could plainly read.
Don't you think you're better below,
Mary?" asked Roderick.
"Not until you go ; and why should I
make any difference? I overheard what
you said. Am I to stand between you and
those men's lives?"
"I am for 'standing1 by to the end," said
I ; "if we can save one soul."., .,-
"Gentlemen," said the snipper, "its
your yacht, and these are' your men;'if
you care to keep them afloat, keep them.
If its your fancy to do the other thing,
why, do it. It's a matter. of indifference
to me."
"Men," I said, "there's ugly work over
there, work I can make nothing off; but
it's clear that an English ship is running
from a foreigner, and may want help.
Shall we leave her, or shtll we stand by?"
They gave a great shout at this, and
the skipper touched the bell, which stop
ped our engines. Glasses were turned
upon us from the decks of the yellow ship,
and from the Ocean King, whose men
were still busy with the signal flags, and
this time, as we made out, in a direct re
quest to ns that we should stand by. I
watched the captain of the steamer par
leying with the men in the launch below
him.
While a tall man with fair hair my
glass gave me the impression that he was
the fellow known as "Roaring John"
stood in the bows of the launch, and ap
peared to be gesticulating wildly to the
skipper of the Ocean King, the nameless
ship set np of a sudden a great shrieking
with her deck whistle, which she blew
three times with terrihe power; and at
the third sound of it the lannch, which
had been holding to the side of the steam
er, let go, runlng rapidly back to the arm
ed vessel, where It was taken aboard
again.
The whole thing was done In so short
a space of time that our men scarce had
opportunity to express surprise when the
launch was hanging at the davits again.
The great activity that we had observed
on the decks of the war vessel ceased as
mysteriously as it had begun. She bound
ed past us at a speed the like to which
I had never seen upon the deep.
So remarkable a face-about seemed to
dumbfound our men. But the key to the
riddle was given, not by one of them,
but by Paolo, whom I now found at my
elbow.
"Ha !" he cried, "she's American !"
I saw what troubled him. There was
a great white steamer coming up at a
high speed, and I knew the form of her
at once, and of two others that followed
her. She was one of the American navy.
The secret of the flight was no longer In
explicable ; the yellow ship had fled from
the trap into which she was so nearly
falling.
'You have sharp eyes, Paolo," said I;
"I Imagine it's lucky for the pair of us."
The nameless ship, of a sudden, ceased
her flight, and came almost to a stand
some half a mile away n our port bow.
As she swung round to head the seas, I
saw at once that another cruiser, long
and white, and seemingly well armed, had
come, up upon that side, and now barred
her passage.
The nameless ship hau now hundreds of
men about her decks, and these were at
the machine guns and elsewhere active in
preparation. The great hull swung round
slowly and passed at a moderate speed
past the bow of the other. When she
was nearly clear, her two great guns
were fired almost simultaneously, and, as
the shells swept along the deck of the
cruiser, they carried men and masts and
deck houses with fhem, in one awful con
fusion of wreckage and of death. The
cruiser was utterly unprepared for the
treachery, and lay reeling on the sea as
her opponent treated her to the hail of
her machine guns.
The battle could have ended but in one
way, had not the other American war
ships now come so close to us that they
opened fire with their great guns. The
huge shells hissed over our heads, and all
about us. The captain of the nameless
ship fired twice from his turrets, and then
headed off at prodigious speed. In five
minutes he was out of gunshot ; in ten,
the American vessels were taking men
from their crippled cruiser, whose antago
nists had almost disappeared on the hori
zon 1
Upon our own decks the noise and hub
bub were almost deafening. We put out
a boat with ease upon the still sea and
hailed the passenger steamer after twenty
minutes' stout rowing. She was yet a pit
iful spectacle. When we got up on her
main deck, Captain Ross, her commander,
greeted us with great thanks. He took
us to his chart room, for be would have
all particulars about usw
"Twenty years," he said, with tears f
anger In his eyes, "I have crossed the
Atlantic, but this is the first time that I
ever heard the like! It's piracy on the
high seas ; and thev shall swing, if there's
only one rope In Europe, What does it
mean? Are we at war? You saw the
Chilian flag. Is there no treaty of Taris?"
The first of the American ships came
up with us, and the commander of her
put out a boat, and having gone aboard
the maimed cruiser, he came afterwards to
the Black Anchor ship, and joined us in
the chart room.
"It's an International question, I
her. I will why. we'll run him down In
i muuaaaa pounds or more ot aamsga
her, I will why, we'll run him down In
four-nnd-twenty hours."
I I . heard If arrimt Ktmin thorn thai
th secopd .cruiser b( the American fleet
hould start it wipe In pursuit, while Che
Ironclads hoold accompany oa' W N
York, ho iriaking a little, convoy 'for safe
ty's .sake. .'; ., . ' " ..
With th.s arrangement we left the snip
and regained the Celsls. Paolo stood at
the top of the ladder as I came on deck,
and listened, I thought, to our protesta
tions that the danger was over with
something of a sneer' on his face. In
deed, I thought that I heard him mutter,
but I did not know then how much the
laugh was to be against us, and that we
should leave the convoy long before w
reached rew York.
' CHAPTER X. '
For full five days we steamed with the
other vessels, under no stress to keep the
sea, with them, since Ihey made no more
thatf twelve knots, W the sake of the
cruiser which had been so fearfully maim
ed in the short action with the nameless
ship. ' On the early morning of the fifth
day I found myself unable to sleep and
went above at daybreak, to see the white
hulls of the American war vessels a mile
away and the Black Anchor boat a few
cable-lengths ahead of them. Paolo was
on the bridge. I heard Dan the other
side of the skylight, and he was holding
forth with much fine phrase to Roderick's
dog, Belle. I called him toMne, and had
It out with him there and then.
"What's in the wind now, Dan," I ask
ed, "that you're preaching to the dog?
Is there any more nonsense amongst the
men forward?"
"There's a good deal of talk maybe
more than there should Be."
"And what do they talk about? Tel!
me straight, Dan."
"Well, I've got nothing, for my part,
to hide away, and I don't know as they
should have ; but you know this ship Is a
dead man's!"
"Who told you that stuff?"
"Plain Xf J... f -1. I. 1 4. ..14
in tU fo'c'aVtir TT mr father
to you gentlemen than if I was nat'ral
born to it ; and this I do say what's
this trip mean? what's in yer papers?
and why ain't It the pleasure vige we
struck flag for? 'Where's it going to
endr says the second mate to the men;
A 4-1. A. J , '
'what is yer wages fo. takin yer lives 1 tory; Almost every man looks at
where they shouldn't be took?' And what! wateQ when tue flr8t b, t u soun
follows? why, white-livered jaw ngs, andrr. . . ....
i-hi- mnn .fa.ii Ja rt!. m.n i hT the big whistlo at 7 o'clock In
this mnn ferH tA W. ent man
afeared to go there, and the Old One
amongst 'em, so that half of 'em says,
'We was took false,' and the other half,
'Why not 'bout ship and home again?'
No, and you ain't done with It, not by a
long day, and you won't have done with
it untu you arop ancnor in lanaee-iana,
If ever you do drop anchor there, which I
take leave to give no word upon."
"It's a curious state of things. Yon
mean to say, I suppose, that there's ter
ror amongst them--plain terror, and noth
ing else?"
"Ay, sure !"
"Then it remains for us to face them."
I went to bed at 10 o'clock, and for an
hour or two I slept with deep forgetful
ness. At what hour Dan awoke me 1 1 a little community by themselves,
cannot tell. He shook me twice in the ,. , . . ...
effort, he said, and when I would have I England have Up
turned up the electric light, he seized my 000,000 Invested In mortgages in- for
hand roughly, muttering in a great whls- e'gn. countries. These Investments an-
per, "Hold steady." I knew then that
mischief was afloat, and asked him what
to do.
"Crawl above," he said, "and lie low
a-deck ;" and he went up the companion
ladder when I got my flannels and rubber
shod shoes upon me. But at the topmost
step he stood awhile, and then he fell flat
on his hands, and backed again down the
stairway, so that he came almost on top
of me; but I saw what prompted his ac
tion, for, as ,he moved, there was a shadow
thrown from the deck light down to where
we lay; and then a man stepped upon the
stair and descended slowly, his feet naked,
but in his hand an iron bar; for he had
no other weapon. At the sight of him,
we had backed to the foot of the stair
way ; and, as the man crept down, we lay
still. Swiftly and silently he entered the
place;' and, going to my cabin door, he
slipped a wedge under it, serving the oth
er doors around the big cabin in the same
way. me success seemed to please him ;
he chuckled softly, and came again to
tne laauer, wnere wicn a, quica motion,
Dan brought his pistol butt full upon the
fellow's forehead, and he went down Kke
a-dead thing at the foot of the swinging
table.
There we left him, after we had bound
his hands with my scarf; and with a hur
ried knock got Roderick from his berth.
He, in turn, aroused his sister, and in five
minutes we all stood in the big saloon and
discussed our plan.
flan'o nrltia'riaitArl ol. fl,t TIia
watc rwa. Paob's, who Za T persuaded
four stokers and six of the forward hands
to his opinion. These men, the dupes of
the second officer, had determined on this
much that the voyage to New York
should be stopped abruptly. We, being
locked in our cabins, were to hnve no
voice in the affair; or, if waked, then we
should be knocked on the head, and so
quieted to reason.
It was a desperate endeavor, wrought
of fear; but at that moment the true
hands of the fo'castle were battened down,
and Dan, who had seen the thing coming,
escaped only by his foresight. That night
, he had felt danger, and had wrapped him
self up in a tarpaulin, and lain concealed
on deck.
As It was, Paolo stood at the door of
the skinner's room : there were three men
guarding the fo'castle, and five at the
foot of the hurricane deck. One man we ghum, "I am afraid some of my ene
had settled with; but we were three, and niles might call me a silver-tongued or
eight men stood between us and the true , ator and so get people to pnvlug more
bands.
I
(To be continued.)
I - Crrf T.. Mile.. '
East St. Louli now has the bluest
team whistle lu tle world. It Is A
remarkable Hrlpls machine with threq
Volcea-a three-chime wbtler, wis
; fof aiullullutlon peiuV
is extraordinary. Tula whistle, blows
a ten-mile Must at hjiif-steiim, and:
; wltn favorable wind lias a disturbing
power of twenty miles. It coats a dol
iur every time It is blown.
But this great whistle In not all
noise. It is an idea lu economy, a
whistle trust, a noise .combine. AI-
ost a" tuo !' "u1". yelps, toots
and wuluen, .,of. ; smaller, ..meuUinlcal
throats lu East St. Louis are now
dumb. The giant whistle tru.-tc whis
tles for them. : The Independent v. his
ties have to whistle oft time to ' be
heard.
Within the range of this whistle
are said to be 100,000 people who tell
time by It
This remarkable whistle has been
installed by the East St. Louis and
Suburban Electric Railway Company,
at the Belt power house. Stuti and
Twentieth streets, where the eoirpauy's
machine shops and car barns are lo
cated. The greatest modern slron com
prises three whistles. The largest Is
almost six feet In height and nearly
as big around as a man. On ea.h side
of the main one Is a smaller wmstle.
The three units combine to make one
noise, with which even Babanne miles
away, across the Mississippi river,' In
the west end of St Louis, Is weil ac
quainted. This big triple whistler was also set
' up t the railway company's electrical
generating station "as a feature." It
Is connected with an electric clock,
which Is regulated by the government
"rd time UV
ton on the dropping of a ball at ex
actly noon each day.
The electric clock which connects
with the whistle is guaranteed not to
vary five seconds In time a year, and
the clock's record to data Is satisfac-
his
sounded
' u ul " '
mornln- AImost every housewife In
East St. Louis glances at her mantel
timepiece when the siren wooes noon
the second blast of the day. The third
blast Is an hour later, and the last
at e In the evening. St. Louis Post-
Dispatch
i 1
OTHER PEOPLE'S WAYS.
About 20,000 people live In the crater
of an extinct volcano In Japan. They
dwell contentedly In this pit-like town,
surrounded by a vertical wall eighty
feet high, rarely making a journey Into
the outer world, and practically forming
nually drain the foreign countries of
about $27,500,000 In gold.
In Russia an unmarried woman re
mains under the absolute sway of her
parents until her death, regardless of
her age.
England Is to-day the virtual ruler
of 3.300,000 square miles of African
territory.
A hundred years ago the population
of London was Just one-flfth of what
, 11 ls now- The '500-000 ,a
Greater London live In 928,000 houses,
Only two American vessels have en
tered the harbor of Bordeaux In ten
years, and those were private yachts
which sought refuge during the Spanish-American
war.
Germany ls now experimenting with
a new automatic repeating rifle capa
ble of firing five shots in ten seconds.
If the tests are successful Its adoption
by the army Is considered probable.
After a struggle lasting several years,
the respectable portion of the English
community In Burmah has succeeded
In securing the passage of a law for
bidding the employment of women as
barmaids. The Lancet hopes that this
example will be followed In England.
Motor-boats of all sorts are becoming
more and more numerous on the Vene-
tenlng to displace the
' old-time gondola. The gondoliers are
much disturbed. In a dispute between
two of them and two electric launch
men the latter were stabbed, one fa
tally. Some Polish editors have a hard
time. In a parting word to his readers
the retiring proprietor of the Polish
paper Gornosalazak says that during
the five years of the paper's existence
' the responsible editors have spent four
' and a half years In prison, while $3,750
, has been paid In fines.
DaiiKerona,
"Why don't you make
more
speeches?" asked the friend.
"Because," answered Senator Sor-
atten Ion to my rhetoric than to my
opinions." Washington Star.
I f U t O
This is one reso$ why Ayer'e
Cherry Pectoral -is o valut-
l ble in consumption. It stops
the wear and tear of useless
couching. But it does more
it controls the inflammation,
quiets the fever, soothes, and
heals. Sold for 60 years.
" Arr't Cherry f etnrl tiM hn r(tnlr
life preiervar tn in It lirotilrt iuo through
t cTre attHck if iiieiininnl, mid I tl
that I owe mj life tn In womtnrftil curative
iiniiertc."- William 11. Tuurrr, ww,
M6 by . O. iyer Co., Lwoll, I line
Alec aunuitoturere 01
SABSAPACILU.
PII.LS.
turn viaoR.
tiers
Hasten recovery
by keeping the
bowels resular wit!
h Ayer's Pills.
Rrlilfje l.nre.
"What Is that poem about the bridge
at midnight?" asked Mrs. Flashington.
"I don't know," answered Mrs.
Dasher; "but the poet knew what he
was writing nbout. Bridge will keep
you Up till midnight and after If you
happen to be loser." Washington
Star.
Rather Inetnoaf Inax.
Gussle Gunn By George, Miss Ta
basco gave nie the coldest turndown I
ever got In my life, wenliy.
Reggy Sapp What did she say, old
chap?
Gussle Gunn Why, I asked If I
might call on her and she snld the
Janitor didn't allow children In that
npartmcnt house.
Mothers will find Mrs. Winnow! toothing
Byrup the best remedy to uh for their children
during the tea thing period.
Ai Amine of Eec.pe.
Rival committees were appealing for
funds.
"Let's see," said the capitalist, mus
ingly. "If I give $3,000 to each com
mittee one donation would nullify the
other, and, so far as I can see, leave
both relatively where they started."
Musing a little more, he decided that
$10,000 would Just buy the sort of auto
mobile be had In mind. Philadelphia
Ledger.
"Gone."
The red hammock slowly swayed In
the gentle night breeze. Two hearts
with but a single thought.
"Dearest," she said, dreamily, "we
are, here to-day and gone to-morrow."
, "Not here, my love," whispered the
ardent suitor.
"And why not?"
"Because I am 'gone' now without
waiting for to-morrow."
And then only the chirping of the
crickets disturbed the blissful still
ness: "
Ft. Vitus DsiM-e end all Nervous JIsms
ocrmaiientlv cured by Dr. Kline's Ureal
rvB Romorer. Send for FKKK 12 trial bnttl and
treatise. Dr. It. K.Kltne, UL.m Arch UU, Phlla.,!'.
ne'e Find It "O. K."
The Phlladelphlan was staying at a
hotel In a Georgia town. He rang for
an attendant, whom he asked If bath
tubs were provided. ' "
; "Yessuh," answered the negro, "we'se
got some nice tubs," and he presently
returned ' bearing on his shoulders a
coffin with silver-plated handles and lid
all complete. !- ; '
"What do you mean by bringing me
that?" demanded the traveler.
"Dat's de bathtub, suh."
. "The bathtub?"
"Yessuh. You see, suh, de lanlode
he used to be In de undertakln busi
ness, an' he had a lot o' coffins on han' ;
an' when he sol' out an' took dls hotel
he brought all de coffins de new man
i didn't want. His son Is in de tinsmlf
I business, suh, so he done had de cof
I fins lined wlf tin, an' dey make nice
i ba!htubs. Jes' you try an' you'll iind
dls one all right."r-Succes Magazine.
UTTERLY WORN OUt
Vitality Sapped by Years of Suffering
With K dney Trouble.
Capt. J. W. Hogun, former postmas
ter of Indianola, now living at Austin,
lexas, writes: "I
was afflicted for years
with pains across the
loins and in the hips
and shoulders. Iliad
V.n,l..nl. 1
iicmnigin. my lrgni
eye.from pain, was ol
little use to me for
years. The constant
flow f)f tiririA Irunt
my system depleted, causing nervous
chills and night sweats. After trying
seven different climates and using all
kinds of medicine I had the good for
tune to hear of Doan's Kidney Pills.
This remedy has cured me. I am as
well today as I was twenty years ago,
and my eyesight is perfect.".
Sold by all denlers. 50 cents a box.
Foster-Mllburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y.
I A
A