FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>   >|  
ant. "Reach over into the long boat and bring Partial on board. He is my friend. And bring also our flag. Run it aloft above our prize." "Aye, aye, Sir," came the reply of Jean Lafitte. And a few moments later our long boat was riding astern more easily. Jean Lafitte on his return busied himself with our burgee. And at that moment, Partial, overjoyed at also having a hand in these affairs, barked joyously at his discovery of the neglected end of the cook's cue projecting through the hinges of the door. On this he laid hold cheerfully, worrying it until poor John shrieked anew in terror; and until I freed him; and ordered tea. I next went over to the hatches of the engine-room, and having opened them, bent over to speak to Williams, the engineer. "It's all right, Williams," said I. "I am going to take her over now and run her perhaps to the Gulf. We hadn't time to tell you at first. There has been a legal difficulty. Peterson is on deck, of course." "All right, Mr. Harry," said Williams, who recognized me as he leaned out from his levers to look up through the open hatch. "At first I didn't know what in hell was up. It sounded like a mutiny----" "It was a mutiny, Williams," said I, "and I am the head mutineer. But you're sure of your pay, so let her go." He did let her go, smoothly and brilliantly, so that before long she was at her top speed, around fifteen knots an hour. I was familiar with every detail of the _Belle Helene_, and now I looked in both the generating plant and the storage batteries, so that four thousand candle-power of electric light blazed over her from bow to fantail. The steady purr of the _Belle Helene's_ double sixties--engines I had had made under my own care--came to me with a soothing rhythm where I stood near by the wheel. Her search-light made a vast illumination far ahead. Brilliant enough must have seemed the passing spectacle of our stanch little ship to any observer, as we now swept on down the tawny flood of the great river. Who would deny me the feeling of exultation which came to me? Was I not captor and captain of my own ship? I turned to meet L'Olonnois, my blue-eyed pirate. He stood at my side as one glorified. The full swing of romance had him, the full illusion of this,--imagination's most ardent desire--now gripped him fully. He was no boy, but a human being possessed of all his dreams. His second self, once oppressed, now free, stood before me wholly satisfied. I n
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Williams

 

mutiny

 

Helene

 
Lafitte
 
Partial
 

search

 
rhythm
 

soothing

 

passing

 

spectacle


stanch
 

illumination

 

Brilliant

 

engines

 

generating

 
storage
 

batteries

 

looked

 

familiar

 
detail

friend

 
thousand
 

candle

 

steady

 

double

 

sixties

 

fantail

 
electric
 

blazed

 

observer


gripped

 

desire

 

ardent

 

romance

 

illusion

 

imagination

 

oppressed

 

wholly

 

satisfied

 

possessed


dreams

 

glorified

 

feeling

 

exultation

 

Olonnois

 

pirate

 
captor
 

captain

 

turned

 

fifteen