Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-10-26
CHAPTER III.
LESTER ESCAPES AND HEARS FROM HOME.

until night and until a priest of the
idolatrous temple came to chain him
in MS dungeon, where they nightly
confined him and then suddenly leap
ing upon the priest, he bore him to
the floor, chained and gagged him, dis
guised 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 pad
died out 30 sea in the direction in
which he had seen the ship.
He padded for hours with all his
strength, and had gone so far that the
lights of the island could not be seen
and yet no ship had been found and
now the wind was rising and storm
was threatening.
"Oh, Godl Am | forsaken ?" he
cried, in an awful anguish, seized with
a fear that the wind would take the
ship from him. "Must Iperish here ?"
AT that moment when hope was dy-
ing, he beheid a sight that turned all
his wild woe into yet wilder ecstacy.
There, to the northward, was the
ship, standing directly towards him,
with all sails set to catch the rising
breeze, and not half mile away.
ayes, there she isr' he shouted
"She is coming this way. | am saved
saved p
He raised his arms to heaven in
mute thanksgiving and sobbed aloud,
the glad tears streaming down his
worn and haggard cheeks.
The ship came nearer and nearer.
He redoubled his wild shouts, his
heart and soul in his voice.
An answering cry came suddenly
from the ships deck, and she drew
steadily nearer-swerved from her
course slightly, and rope was thrown
from her deck, falling into his canoe.
He seized the rope in desperate ca
gerness, and group of sailors leaning
over the ships side drew him aboard
In an instant more the ship had re-
sumed her course, and was moving in
stately fashion before the breeze.
"Safe at last p murmured Lester
leaning against the bulwarks, weak
and neryeiess as an infant. "Oh, the
gladness of this hourr'
Poor man. He did not dream at
that moment that bis adverse fate was
even then rclentlcssly closing around
him; that he was on one of his own
ships-the Cyclone; that that ship
was commanded by bitter foe in
league with Colonel Nichols, who, on
recognizing him, would without re-
morse consign him again to the mer-
cies of the Pacific in his Indian ca
noe.
On inquiry Lester learned that the
vessel was the Cyclone, and in the light
OF the cabin lamp recognized her cap
tain. Tearing off his priestly robes,
and wiping the stain from his face with
its coarse folds, he exclaimed:
Captain Scales, don't you know
me ?"
David Lesterr' cried the captain,
turning ashy pale, and grasping his
stationary seat as though he had re-
ceived a shock.
Lester wiped his brows and sat
down, the captain taking a seat oppo-
site him.
He had so much to ask, that his
emotions choked his utterance, and
prevented him from observing the
| look of deadly hatred with which the
captain regarded him. But he finally
piled his questions fast, and learned
that his wife still lived, that his daugh-
ter Amy had grown into lovely girl,
and that both wife and daughter had
long mourned him as dead. He also
learned OF his wife's poverty.
Colonel Nichels settled up the firm
affairs" said the captain reservedly,
"and there was nothing left for Mrs.
Lester She has been living on his
bounty these two or three years !
When your interest in this ship was
sold, l bought it. The Colonel owns
the other half!''
"But this is base fraud y exclaim-
ed Lester. "The Colonel has been
untrue to the trust | reposed in him.
| have had suspicious Of his integrity
during my long exile, but | have new
er dared to entertain them. I'll make
matters straight on my return. l can
prove my claims and bring him to JUS
tice, the dastardly villain! My poor
) Margaret p and he groaned.
Testers threat concerning Mich
OILS seemed to stir up all the malice of
the captains nature. He boheld his
interest in the ship, fraudulently ac-
quired, threatened, and he hated still
more the lawful owner whose right in
the Cyclone he had usurped.
; "If report speaks truly" he said,
"Mrs. Lester need not be called poor.
: Colonel Nichols has long been paying
her attentions, and when left port,
five months ago, the story was that
they were engaged. The Colonel
told me himself that he loved her and
meant to marry her. No doubt by
! this time they are married"
TtLis cruel thrust struck home to
the poor husbands heart, and uttering
a great cry, he fell forward with his
face npon the table, while the Captain
regarded him with look of mingled
hatred and exultation.
Leaving his victim thus stunned,
Captain Sales went on deck, and see
ing that q storm was rising, and think
ing the time favorable for getting rid
of Lester, he informed the crew that
!. the strange man in the cabin was an
: insane creature, whom it would be
2 unsafe to keep on board and easily
. convinced them that it was their duty
as they valued their own lives, to set
him adrift again. He then went be-
: low, called Lester on deck, and at
: once sent him adrift in a well-provis.
: ioned boat, Notwithstanding thewretch-
a ed mans piteous appeals for mercy.
e The Cyclone then sailed on, and Les
: ter's boat was soon lost sight of in
r the darkness. A short time afterward
e the storm broke furiously, and Cap
tain Sales rubhed his hands as he
thought of the poor waif whom be had
o so recently exposed to its power.