The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-05-24

inc, babyish, soft pated piety Not n bit
of il. You have insnlted me. First al
the table--for actions speak as well as
words. Your leaving as you did, and thus
interrupting me in the midst of nara
tive, was gross insult, and you meant II
rs such"
"You arc mistaken, sir
"You lie, sir" exclaimed Savage, now
fairly enraged at the young mans perfect
GOODNESS. You did mean 1t as an insult.
Now. sir, YOU must answer for it. Will
you take the sword or pistol?"
"Neithcr, sir. Let me be in peace
| that is all | ask"
"You won't fight, eh? ?"
"No, sir"
Now will You ?"
As Savage thus spoke, he struck the
| young man, with the flat Of hs hand, upon
| the cheek.
CHOW will You fight ?"
Walter Legrand turned as pale rs death,
| but not nerve or muscle move. In q
moment more the blood returned to ms
| face, and he looked the brutal man calmly
in the eyes. -.
Captain Savage" he at length said, IN
| a low, tomb-liko tonc, 81 cannot Ilsh'
Won, nor have any wish TO do II. III yo"
| feel happier after what You have done, you
are welcome to the emotion. on may
think my course strange one, out nave
no explanation To make
Coward - Kissed the brute.
Again the dcathly pallor spread over the
Young mans face, and could see that the
nails Of his fingers were fairly eating into
the palms of his hands. He was silent but
moment, and when he spoke again 1t was
| in the same calm, strange tone:
| Captain Savage, leave me, sir. nave
| harmed YOU not, and now am III the pos
session of my senses. Leave me, or may
be made Il madman.'
Savage was on the point Of saying more,
when | intcrtered.
"Captain," said l, let this subject drop
now. You are wholly in the fault, and !
will see the young man abnSed no more"
"Do YOU interfere ?" exclaimed Savage,
turning madly towards me.
- do, | returned, "and mean what
say. command mere, and you will he
wise if you obey
i" And suppose donot choose to obey y
" think il will be an uncomfortable cA-
pertinent for you to try was the reply.
Now owe Dame Nature some thanks
for having given me Il frame more power
ful in its physical mould than she ordina-
rilv bestows upon her mortal children, and
long command of turbulent spirits, i'll the
shape OF refractory Seamcn, had gwen me
not only decision of character, but hat
written the fact pretty plainly on my couh-
tcnancc. Savage looked al me moment,
and then he said, with rather chop-falien
expression Of couutcnance:
"Oh, very well. You are captain, and
suppose ii would be open mutluy to resist
you"; and with that he walked away.
Now, to tell the truth, ! hoped the fell
low would have shown some resistance, for
| had made UP my mind to knock him
down and pat him in irons but | was dis
appointed: though, upon more calm re-
lection, of course Twas glad affairs turned
out as they did.
The event cast sort of cloud over the
spirits Of the passengers for several days,
and though Savage RETAINED from most Of
his profanity. yet | could see that not only
he, but others, looked upon Walter Lee
grand aS a coward. The young man him
self seemed to notice it, for he was tact
turn aud Sedate, and | often noticed that
Iii, eyes dropped before the gaze OF others,
and that his lips trcmblcd. =,
Early one morning land was reported
upon the larboard bow. ! knew II to be
the Bourbon island. The wind was very
light, the Ship not making more than three
knots with her royals and studdlnS sailS.
About the middle Of the forenoon we saw
4 long uuiac boat, or rather vessel, come
n,,t from one of the coves OF the island. |
levelled nv glass upon the craft, and found
i IA he full of men. There were seventy
five at least.
,noroaching the spot where | stood.
II think there is not much danger in
setting her down for a pirate" | replied.
al have heard there were nest OF pirates
on the Bourbon island, aud think we are
likely 10 find it true"
q Pirates :" uttered Savage, turning
naIe. "They will be likely to DC ugly Gus
toners, won't they :"
"Of course they will. They certainly
outnumher MS three to one, and are, III all
probability, all Of them stout, reckless fell
lows"
"But you don't think they will follow
the rule Of putting all their prisoners 10
death, do you +"
Nou can Judge Of that as well as
can" was my reply.
And then turned to the men. | could
see that Savage was much frightened, and,
in fact, nearly all were startled by the APP
pearance of the suspicious boat. The ap-
pcarauce OF pirate is not pleasant theme
for any one, and especially these land pi-
rates, for they generally make il q practice
10 pat their prisoners TO death, so that
their haunts may not be exposed.
We had no carriage gun, but there were
cutlasscs and pistols enough on board for
tie crew, and lost no time in armirg my
men. All told we mustered torty-one
men. The ships crew, including myself,
made twcnty-nine, and there were twelve
Of the passengers, though | knew not whe-
Their 10 count on Walter Legrand or not.
However, he could fire a pistol, and that
was something. BY the time ! had made
| these arrangements, the quiac was within
two cables length Of us, and We could see
| that there We're nearly eighty men on board
Of hcr-not so great odds as we at first
| supposed, but still two TO one against us.
We could see, too. that they were, all OF
them, powerful looking fellows, and Of all
shades and compleXions-Some of them
white, some red, and some black.
! arranged the men close TO the bui"ark
with what muSketS we could muster, and
then turned to see if Legrand was on deck.
He stood by the cabin companion-way with
sword in his hand and two superhly
mounted pistols stuck in his belt. The
sword had NOT seen before. and OF course