The Petroleum Centre daily record. [volume] (Petroleum Center, Pa.) 1868-1873, 1869-09-10
CHAPTER lV.


LESTER ESCAPES AND HEARS FROM HONE.
We left David Lester on his lonely island,
planning bis escape, with n ship in sight
from tho elevated point whero ho was al
work. He waited till night and until II
priest of the idolarous temple camo to
chaiu him in his dungeon, where they
nightly confined him; and then suddenly
leaped upon the priest, he bore him to the
floor, chained and gagged him, disguised
himself in his priestly robes, stained his
face brown with dirt, went to the shore
where the canoes were lying, entered one
of them, and pad1led out to sea in tho
direction in which ho had seen the ship.
lie padded for hours with all his sreng.
tn, and had gone SO far that the light Of
island could not be seen, and yet no ship
had been found; and now the wind was
rising and storm was threatening
"Oh, God! Am | forsaken?" he criel,
in an awful anguish, seized with o lear
that the wind would take tho ship FROM
him. "Must | perish here?"
At that moment when hope was dying,
he beheld u sight that turned all his wild
woe into yet wilder ecstasy.
There, to the northward, was the ship,
standing directly towards him. with aIl
half n mile away.
"Yes, there she is" he shouted. ''She
ia coming this way. l am saved-savod!"
He raised his aims to heasen in u mute
THANKSGIVING and sobed aloud, the glad
tears streaming down his worn and haggard
cheeks.
The ship came nearer and nearer.
He redonblcd his wild shouts, his heart
ani soul in his voice.
An answering cry came suddenly from
the ships deck and she drew steadily near
er- swerved from Ecr course slightly, and
q rope was thrown from her deck, falling
into his canoe.
ne seized the rope IN des perate ca rcrncss.
and a gIoupe Of sailors leaning over tia
ships side drew him aboard.
In an instant more the ship had resumed
her course, and was moving in stately fash
ion before the breeze.
"Safe at last!' murmered Lester. lean
ing against the bullwarks, weak and nerve.
less as an infant. "Ob, the gladness Of
of this hour"
Poor man! He did not dream at that
moment that his adverse fate was even then
relentlcssly closing around him; that he
was on one Of his own ships-the Cyclone;
that that ship was commanded bya bitter
zoe In league with Colonel Nichols, who, on
recognizing him, would without remorse
consgn him again to the merces of the
Pacific in his Indian canoe.
On inquiry, Lester learned that the
vessel was the Cyclone, and in the light of
The cabin lamp recognized her Captain
Tearing Off his priestly robe, and wipDg
the stane from his iace with its coarse folds,
he exclaimed:
''Captain Sales, don't you know me?'
'David Lester!" cried the Captain, turn-
ing ashy pale, and grasping his stationary
seat as though he had received shock.
Lester wiped his brows and sat down,
the Captain taking seat opposite him.
He Tad so much to ask, that his emotions
choked his uterance, and prevented him
from observing the look OF deadly hatred
with which the Captain regarded him
i'ut he finally piled his questions fast, and
learned that his wife yet lived, that his
daughter Amy had grown into lovely
girl, and that both wife and daughter had
long mourned him as dead. He also learn
cd of his wife's poverty.
''Colonel Nichols settled up the firm
affairs" said the Captain, reservedly, sand
there was nothing left for Mrs. Lester. she
has been living on his bounty these two or
hreo years! When YOUR interest in this
snip was sold, bought it. The Colonel
owns the other half"
''But this is a base fraud" exclaimed
Lester. "The Colonel has been untrue 10
the trust l reposed in him! l have had
suspicious of this integrity during my long
exile, but have never entertained them'
III make matters straight on my return
| can prove my claims and bring him 70
justice-the dastardly villain! My pool
Margaret" and he groaned.
Testers threat concerning Nichols seemed
to stir mp the malice Of the Captains ma
ture. He beheld his interest in the snip
frandulently acquired, threatened, and 1T
hated still more the lawful owner who's
right in the Cyclone he had usurped.
'If Ifreport speaks truly he said, 'Mrs