The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1867-08-03
HaiscelIanp.
MARRYING A CONVICT.
A THRILLING STORY.

/ :,
Fast Indiaman, and for the last ten years mao
oo,nnordcd ON the Belle, one of the finest crafts
tbat ever aoated. was an old sea dog, and had
Sr,s,t On long ON salt water that felt almost
hatred for land I.r,
On tho Doth of October, 1924, received orders
En- nm, myself in readiness to sail for Cayenne.
7 was TO transport seventy-ive soldiers ana .
convict. l had orders to treat this ndl'iaua'
we'll. and the letter / received from the direcVcry
enclosed another, with huge red seal. whicn
was not to open until between ~ and 20 degrees
west longitude; that Is, Just oeiore VIC "e'e
about to cross the line.
The letter was long packet so closed on every
side that it was impossible to catch the slightest
o,;,nnso Of it's contents l am not naturally
sunerst;tious hut there was something In the
look of the letter that did not altogether like,
+b,mgb 7 could give no reason why. However,
T oarr;ed Il into the cabin, and stuck it under
tbo class of little old shabby English clock,
,yh;cb was fastened above my head was busy
6x;ng the letter under the clock, when who
should come into my cabin but the convict and
his wife! This was the first time l had seen
either of them, and may say that more pre-
possessing couple never met. The woman was
scarcely fifteen, and as handsome as picture ;
while the husband was an intelligent, magnif.
Gently formed man, on whose features nature mad
never written "vllain."
His crime to be plain, was the misfortune Of
being one hundred years ahead of his age. He
and others had attempted something which the
government called treason, which it punished
with death 1t, therefore, occasioned me con.
siderable wonder that he should be placed under
INV charge But more of this afterwards.
He had. as l said, his wife hanging on his arm.
She was as merry as a bird; she looked like
turtle dove, cooling and nesting beneath his
great wing
Before a month had passed over our heads,
looked upon them as my own children. Every
morning / used to call them into my cabin. The
Young fellow would sit writing at my table,
that is to saw my chest which is my bed. lie
would often help me at my reckoning. and soon
learned to do better than L could. was amazed
at his ability. His young wife would sit up on
one of the round stools in my cabin, working at
her needle.
One dav, we were sitting in this way, when
said
'Do you know, my young ones, as it seems to
me, we make a very pretty family picture =
Mind, don't wish to ask questions, but maybe
you have not much money to spare, and you are,
both of YOU, as think, too handsome to dig In
the burning sun of Cayenne, like many poor
wretch before you. It's a bad country-a bad
country, take my word for it. l, who have
till I've the skin Of rhinoceros, might get along
there; but you-Tm afraid for you. So, if you
should chance to have bit of foolish friendship
for your poor old captain, I'll tell you what I'll
do. III get this old brig she's not much better
than an old tub, after all; SO I'll settle myself
down there, with you, if you like. You see l
have not living soul in the world to care for,
or that cares for me- l want relations, want
home, want family. / should like to make
my home with you, my pretty young ones =
What say ye"
They said nothing at all, but sat looking, first
at each other and then at me, as if they doubted
whether they understood what l said.
At last the little bird threw her arms around
my neck and cried like baby.
"But," said she, suddenly pausng. "you
haven't looked at the letter with the big red
seal"
"Hang it !" 1 exclaimed, sit had slipped my
mind entirely.
With cold, dreadful sensation, went to my
chest to see where we were. l found that we
had several days remaining before we should reach
the proper longitude for opening the letter.
Well, there we stood, all three of us looking
up at the letter as if it could have spoken to us
As it happened, the sun was shining full upon
the face Of the clock case and fell upon the great
staring red seal of the letter. l could not help
fancying it looked something like big monster,
an ogre's face, grinning from the middle of the
fire it looked horrid.
Gould not one fancy" said l, to make them
laugh, "its great big eyes were starting out OF
its head 7"
"Ah, my love-" said the wife, sit looks like
blood
"Pooh, POOH" said her husband, taking her
arm under his, sit looks like a letter of invita-.
ton to wedding Come, come, leave the letter
alone If it troubles you. Let's go to our room
and prepare for bed"
Aud off they went. They went up on deck,
and left me with that beast of letter. remem-
Der that kept looking at it as | smoked my
pipe: it seem to fix its great red eye on mine,
fascinating me like the eye of serpent. 1t was
red, wide raw staring like the nav of fierce
wolf.
We were now in the vicinity of Cape de Verde
Islands-the Belle was running before u fail
wind at the rate of ten knots an hour. 1t was a
splendid tropical night-thc stars large and shin
ing; the moon rising above the horizon, rs large
as sun of silver, the line of ocean parting it.
and Il long stream of bare, shimmering light fal.
ling upon the waves, which as they broke, spark.
led like Jewels. sat up on the deck, smoking
my pipe and looking at them.
All was still, except the football of the officer
of the watch, as he paced the deck, gazing as
was upon the vessel, stealing over the silent
waters.
love silence and order-I hate noise and con
fusion The lights should all have been extin
guished by this time but when l looked upor
the deck thought saw little red hue of ligh
beneath my feet. At another time and place
this would have made me angry, but KNOWN,
the light came from the cabin of my little de
pdrteS, l determined to see what they wer
about.
had only to look DOWN. could see into tn
cabin from the skylight.
The young girl was upon her knees--she wa
saying her prayers. a lamp swinging upon tn