FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282  
283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305   306   307   >>   >|  
d his neck, threw forward his right ear, and, uttering a loud and emphatic "Waugh!" pointed with his finger over the bows of the vessel. All listened for upwards of a minute in mute suspense; and then a faint and scarcely distinguishable sound was heard in the direction in which he pointed. Scarcely had it floated on the air, when a shrill, loud, and prolonged cry, of peculiar tendency, burst hurriedly and eagerly from the lips of the captive; and, spreading over the broad expanse of water, seemed to be re-echoed back from every point of the surrounding shore. Great was the confusion that followed this startling yell on the decks of the schooner. "Cut the hell-fiend down!"--"Chuck him overboard!"--"We are betrayed!"--"Every man to his gun!"--"Put the craft about!" were among the numerous exclamations that now rose simultaneously from at least twenty lips, and almost drowned the loud shriek that burst again from the wretched Clara de Haldimar. "Stop, Mullins!--Stop, men!" shouted Captain de Haldimar, firmly, as the excited boatswain, with two or three of his companions,--now advanced with the intention of laying violent hands on the Indian. "I will answer for his fidelity with my life. If he be false, it will be time enough to punish him afterwards; but let us calmly await the issue like men. Hear me," he proceeded, as he remarked their incredulous, uncertain, and still threatening air;--"this Indian saved me from the tomahawks of his tribe not a week ago; and, even now, he has become our captive in the act of taking a note from me to the garrison, to warn them of their danger. But for that slumbering fool," he added, bitterly, pointing to Fuller, who slept when he should have watched, "your fort would not now have been what it is,--a mass of smoking ruins. He has an ocean of blood upon his soul, that all the waters of the Huron can never wash out!" Struck by the vehement manner of the officer, and the disclosure he had just made, the sailors sunk once more into inaction and silence. The boatswain alone spoke. "I thought, your honour, as how Jack Fuller, who sartainly is a better hand at a snooze than a watch, had got into a bit of a mess; but, shiver my topsails, if I think it's quite fair to blame him, neither, for clapping a stopper on the Indian's cable, seeing as how he was expecting a shot between wind and water. Still, as the chap turns out to be an honest chap, and has saved your honour's life above al
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282  
283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305   306   307   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Indian

 

honour

 
captive
 

boatswain

 

Fuller

 

Haldimar

 

pointed

 

garrison

 

danger

 
bitterly

slumbering
 

pointing

 

watched

 
stopper
 
clapping
 

threatening

 

honest

 
tomahawks
 

uncertain

 
remarked

incredulous

 
expecting
 
taking
 

sailors

 

manner

 

officer

 
proceeded
 

disclosure

 

inaction

 
sartainly

thought
 

silence

 

snooze

 

vehement

 

smoking

 

shiver

 

topsails

 

Struck

 

waters

 
spreading

expanse
 
eagerly
 

hurriedly

 

prolonged

 

shrill

 
peculiar
 

tendency

 

echoed

 

startling

 

schooner