University of Virginia Library

8. CHAPTER VIII.
The Captives.

The proa was distant from the oows of the brig not more than sixty
yards, when Hastings made known his plan to Marshall. The maiden
was still struggling to release herself from the grasp of the pirato leader,
while her father had been struck down.

In another moment more, the brig was laid along side of the proa,
and Hastings quitting the helm, seized his cutlass, and called out to
the crew, who were already armed, to follow him on board the pirate's
craft. He leaped upon her deck near the bows, where the chief stood
with the maiden grasped with one arm, while with the other, he was
waving a sword, and encouraging his men to defend their vessel. At
the same moment that Hastings leaped upon the deck, twenty of his
men followed him with pistols and cutlasses. Marshall at the same
time, boarded her upon the stern with a dozen men at his back. The
pirates made a temporary resistance, but were soon driven overboard,
or slain upon the deck. The French took heart at seeing their natural
foes coming thus to their aid, and forming under their captain, attacked
those who remained so bravely, that not one pirate was left upon the
proa. The water was black with their heads as they swam towards
the shore. But the sailors of the brig, busied themselves so diligently
in making targets of their heads, that not ten of them got safely out
of pistol shot.

The pirate chief had been from the first, the sole aim of Hastings'
efforts. To reach him, he had to cut his way through the pirates, and
when he came near him, the chief, with a savage laugh of derision, bade
him rescue the lady, if he could, and then sprung from the proa into
one of the boats, which at the same time, he shoved from it with his
foot. In an instant, he was ten feet distant. Hastings knew not what
to do. To reach him was impossible. To fire at him, would endanger
the life of the maiden. He, however, took a pistol in his hand, and
leveled it. She saw him hesitate, and alarmed as she was at her peril

in the possession of the fierce outlaw, she retained her self-possession
perfectly.

`Do not fear hitting me, Monsieur! Fire!' she cried fiercely.

Hastings cocked the pistol, and leveled it at the chief. He placed
her person before him, and then with his foot moved an oar which
had been left in the row-lock, and widened the distance between
the boat and the proa. Hastings seeing him continue to work the
oar with his naked foot, and rapidly recede, resolved no longer to
hesitate.

`Fire, Monsieur! Fire!' She cried earnestly. `Heaven will direct
you aim. If I am killed, death is better than captivity!'

Hastings brought his pistol to his eye, and covered the pirate's brain
with his aim, for he was a head above the maiden, whom he placed
rather as a shield to protect his heart. He drew the trigger, and a
bright red spot on the pirate's brow, told his quick glance how truly
he had sent the ball. The outlaw leaped into the air with a piercing
shriek, and fell backwards into the sea a dead man, bearing with him
in his revengeful grasp the maiden.

With a cry of horror, Hastings plunged into the water and disappeared
after them. Far down in the deep bosom of the wave, he
encountered the dead and the living. So firm was the iron grasp of
the fiend about her waist, that he was forced to sever the muscles of
the arm with his cutlass, ere he could release her. He then rose with
her to the surface, just as Marshall had cleared the proa from the last
buccaneer, and succeeded in placing her in the boat. But she was
insensible. Taking the oars he pulled rapidly along side of the brig,
and was aided by Marshall in getting her on board. He was bearing
her to the cabin to apply restoratives, when a voice of mingled alarm
and joy reached his ears from the deck of the proa.

`My child! My child! Thank God she is rescued. But does she
live?'

It was the Marquis, who had only been stunned, when he fell under
the pirate's blows, and aroused himself to see Hastings bearing his
daughter across the deck.

`She is not dead!' he answered. `Captain Marshall, help the old
gentleman on board, that he may come and see his child!' he added,
as he descended into the cabin.

The Marquis in a moment afterwards made his appearance, and

rushing towards his daughter who lay upon a sofa, knelt by her, and
embraced her with the wildest and most impassioned grief.

`Do not despair, sir,' said Hastings. `She will soon come to herself
by applying these remedies, and rubbing her hands and forehead.
If I dared, I would bleed her.'

`I can bleed,' answered Marshall, `and have a lancet.'

`To lose blood would revive her, Monsieur,' said the Marquis.

The beautiful arm was bared by the father, and Hastings bound it
to fill the azure vein. As he examined its exquisite symmetry, he felt
that it was sacrilege to mar its purity by a scar. But as his eyes fell
upon the pale face that lay in the repose of marble before him, he felt
that if life could be restored to the lovely features, glory to the eyes,
and the smiles to the lips, any sacrifice ought to be made even of the
arm itself.

The result of the application of the lancet was as was anticipated.
The glow of life tinted the check, and the eyes that seemed sealed in
death opened slowly, and gazed wonderingly around. They fell upon
her father, and beamed with love and gratitude. Suddenly she seemed
to recollect all. Her face suddenly resumed its paleness, and a shudder
passed over her frame.

`Mon Dieu! she is dying again!' cried the Marquis. She opened
her eyes and looked startled as she beheld strangers.

`Am I safe? Oh, my dear father! Am I free from that fearful
being's power?'

`Yes, yes, ma fille! You are in no danger, now! Be composed.
Although we are in the power of the enemies of our nation, we are in
the hands of friends. But for them, we should have been the prisoners
of the lawless buccaneers. This noble youth has rescued you. How,
I know not; but I saw him bringing you on board the brig!'

`Yes, yes! It is he!' she cried, meeting the eyes of Hastings.
`Monsieur, to you I owe my preservation! I remember all. Your
wet garments and my own recall all. You plunged in and saved me?'

`Yes, and the reflection that I have been instrumental in doing so,
will render me happy to the last hour of my life.'

`And my heart will throb with gratitude, brave Monsieur, towards
you, so long as it throbs with life,' she said, taking his hand; for she
had partly risen, and was sustained by her father's arm passed about
her.

Marshall had in the meanwhile returned to the deck, and Hastings
knowing that his presence was also needed there, left them to themselves,
after saying that they must regard themselves as guests rather
than prisoners. Upon reaching the deck, he found the proa standing
shoreward wrapped in flames. She had been set on fire by Marshall's
orders, after having called all his crew from her deck; and with her
helm lashed down she was driving upon the beach. In her course, she
drove over the swimming buccaneers, some of whom, in endeavoring to
get on board of her, were burned and fell back into the water to
perish. In ten minutes they saw her strike the beach and keel over,
still in flames.

`There are some of the devils who have reached the land trying to
extinguish the flames!' cried Marshall. `I'll pepper them with grape
for a few minutes! Charge that after gun with slugs!' he called to
his men.

The gun was loaded, and fired upon the burning proa. Several of
the pirates were seen to fall, while the rest fled to the woods which
approached within a hundred yards of the water. The proa soon
burned to the water's edge; but the French ship still blazed brightly
where she had been driven ashore, about a third of a mile farther East.
In a little while she burst asunder with a loud explosion, and her
fragments were soon extinguished in the waves.

Marshall and his lieutenant had as much as they could attend to,
the meanwhile, in attending to their own wounded, and disposing of
the French crew, which they had so strangely got into their hands.
These men were gathered forward, near the fore-rigging, eleven in all,
the rest of their number having been slain. They seemed to be yet
uncertain whether they were to fare any better from their present
masters, then they would have done with the buccaneers; for now that
they had time to reflect, they realized their situation as prisoners to
the very brig they had wrecked their ship to escape.

The French Captain and his mate, after the buccaneers had been
driven from the proa, in which they and their men had taken an active
participation, had gone into the brig with its crew, when Marshall called
them on board in order that he might set the pirate-craft on fire. Their
men had gone forward, where they stood together awaiting their fate,
while Captain Deland and his officer remained by the gang-way watching
Captain Marshall get his brig under weigh again. At length the

brig being fairly under her canvass again, and steering away from the
land, her decks cleared and everything put in the order it was before
the affair with the proa, Marshall approached the French Captain.

`You are a brave fellow, Monsieur,' he said in a hearty, cordial way,
peculiar to him when pleased; `you and your people fought like lions.
If you had fought so against me on your own deck, instead of running
your ship ashore, I should hardly have got possession of her. It was
an unkind cut that, Monsieur! you lost me the finest prize I could
have wished to take, if, as I doubt not, the ship was the Loraine from
Havre.'

`It was not the Loraine, Monsieur.'

`Not the Loraine!' exclaimed Hastings and Marshall in the same
breath.

`Non, Monsieur! My ship was the Louis XIV, from Bordeaux,
Captain Deland, at your service!'

`Can this be true!' exclaimed the Captain with looks of disappointment.

`Here are my papers, Monsieur Capitan,' answered the Frenchman,
showing him a parchment which he drew from his pocket.

`This is, indeed, a mistake, then,' said Marshall. `I took you for
the Loraine, — a richly laden ship, her cargo all of silks from Havre.

`The Loraine is a faster sailer, and larger ship than mine, and has
doubtless taken convoy.'

`Was your cargo valuable?'

`Not so much so as the Loraine's. It consisted mostly of wines. It
was the casks which caused the explosion.'

`Well, I am glad that I have not lost the Loraine and cargo after
all, as I feared. It is not so bad as it might have been, Hastings.
We shall get the Loraine yet. `How came you to run your ship
ashore? Did you take me for a pirate?'

`No, Monsieur! I saw your flag. We chose rather to destroy our
ship, than enrich our enemies with it; and to escape to the forests, than
to be carried prisoners to Vera Cruz. I had no means of effectual
resistance, and knew that I should be captured if I did not take this
course.'

`Well, you acted like a brave and sensible fellow. I forgive
you, so long as it was not the Loraine. But you fared worse than
you expected with your buccaneers? How like a huge serpent that

fellow glided out of the lagoon upon you. I never saw anything
like it.

`They were upon us before we were aware. All resistance was out
of the question on the part of the first boat. But for you, Monsieur,
we should all have been massacred by them. You have my gratitude,
and that of all my men; and especially, Messieurs, will you have the
gratitude of the Marquis La Fontleroy and his sweet daughter.'

`Is this the celebrated General Fontleroy?' asked Marshall with
surprise.

`Yes, Monsieur Capitan!'

`Then my vessel is honored by his presence. He is a brave soldier,
and a generous man. Were you bound to New Orleans?'

`Yes. The Marquis has had a large estate left him there by his
elder brother, the exiled Count Fontleroy, who died a few months ago;
and as he was not rich himself, as few soldiers are, he was going out
to take possession of it, and perhaps reside upon the estate altogether.
But, alas, the unfortunate events of this day have defeated his hopes,
and thrown over his fate and that of his daughter, a cloud of darkness
and despair!'