The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1869-10-21
CHAPTER III.
LESTER ESCAPES AND HEARS FROM
HOME

in sight from the elevated point where
| he was at work. He waited till night
and until a priest of the idolatrous
| temple came to chain him in his dun
geon, where they nightly confined him;
and then suddenly leaping upon the
priest, he bore him to the floor, chain
ed 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 padded out to sea in
which he had seen the ship.
He padded for hours with all his
strength, 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 a storm
was threatening
'Oh, God! Am | forsaken ?'' he
cried, in an awful anguish, seized with
a fear that the wind would take the
ship from him. 'Must perish here?"
At that moment when hope was dy-
ing, he beheld a sight that turned all
his wild woe into yet wilder ecstasy.
There, to the northward, was
ship standing directly towards him
with all sails set to catch the ris-
ing breeze, and not half a mile away.
Eyes, there she is ~ he shouted.
'She is coming this way. am saved
! saved y,
He raised his arms to heaven in a
mute thanksgiving and sobbed aloud
the glad tears streaming down his
worn aud haggard cheeks.
The ship came nearer and nearer.
HeerdoubIed 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 Gag
erness, and a group of sailors leaning
over the ships side drew him aboard.
In an install more the ship had re-
sumed her course, and was moving in
stately fashion before the breeze.
Safe at last :" murmured Lester,
leaning against the bulwarks, weak
and nerveless as an infant. "Oh, the
gIadness of this hour!"
Poor man! He did not dream at
that moment that his adverse fate was
even then relentlessly 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 recog-
nzing him, would without remor8e
consign him again to the mercies 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 cap
tain. Tearing off his priestly robe, and
wiping the stain from his face with its
coarse folds, ne exclaimed:
Captain Sales, don't you know
me?''
Ibt1NL1 14CoLGL 0ilCt Ll4t AdItuEi,
turning ashy pale, and grasping his
stationery seat as though he had receiv-
ed a shock.
Lester wiped his brows and sat down,
the Captain taking a seat opposite
him.
He had so much to ask that his emo
tions choked his utterance, and pre-
vented him from observing the look
of deadly hatred with which the Cap
tain regarded him. But he finally
piled his questions fast, and learned
that his wife yet 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 Nichols settled up the firm
affairs" said the captain reservedly,
"and there was nothing left for Mrs
Lester. She has been living off his
bounty these two or three years =
When your interest in this ship was
sold, | bought it. The Colonel owns
the other half!"
"But this is base fraud" exclaimed
Lester. 'The Colonel has been untrue
to the trust / rep0sed in him. | have
had suspicious of his integrity during
my long exile, but | have never dared
to entertain them. I'll make matters
straight on my return. / can prove
my claims and bring him to justice,
the dastardly william! My poor Mar
garet !" and he groaned.
Lester's threat concerning Nichols
seemed to stir up all the malice of the
Captains nature. He beheld his interII
est in the ship, fraudulently acquired,
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."
This cruel thrust struck home to.the
poor husbands heart, and uttering a
great cry, he fell forward with his face
upon the table, while the Captain re
garded him with look of mingled ha-
tired and eXultation.
Leaving his victim thus stunned,
Captain Sales went on deck, and see
ing that a storm was rising, and think