The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1890-11-07
CAPTAIN BRAND
THE PIRATE SCHOONER.
SEA
PARrli.
CHAPTER XII.
DEVOTION.

ouuVhS mOIutuS Ill htuXbtOu EWCOOT.
The decp-toned bells from Cathedral and
church were waited of from the town; tho
.roops ut Park Camp marching with easy
Tread to their chapel; r,atrons md mnidens,
with bare heads, fans and mantillas, going
llong demurely; postly judges, factors, md
planters trudging beside the palanquins of
heir Saxon spouses; negroes in white; Gree
Dies in brown, cigarritos put out for time;
while the rolling sound Of organs and chants.
20 prayers and sermons, from kirk and pull
pits, told how the people were worshipping
God according TO their beliefs.
On the CAIN harbor. too, and in Port
Royal, lay the men- of war. the church PEN
aants taking the place of tae ensigns at
he peaks, the bells tolling, and the sail-
ors-quiet, clean, and orderly-were at
ending Divine service.
On board the Monongahela tho great
'par-deck was comparatively dcscrted-all
save that officer with his spy CHASING oil
quarter. master, and the scntries on gang
way and forecastle. The ropes. however,
were femished down in concentric coils,
he guns without speck Of du st on their
shining coats. the caps;nn polished like IN
Did brass CANDLE stick. and everything allow
md aloft in faultless condition.
As Harry Darcantel came rather languid-
y over the cangway, and went down to
The main deck, where the five hundred
sailors in snowy-white mastering clothes
we're assembled, Commodore Cleveland
oeckoned to him with his finger as he stood
alking at the cabin door to his first lieuten-
ant.
Hardy, do not feel we'll this morning;
make my excuses to the chaplain, and go on
with the service. Come III, Harry. Order
y allow no one, not even the servants. to
enter the cabin-cxcept Doctor Darcantel,
N case he should come on board"
The curtains of the after-cabin were
closely drawn, even 10 shut out the first
whisper of the young sea-breeze which was
iuttering in from Port Royal, and there
stood that noble officer. with his strong arm
brown around the gallant youth--the pic.
lure Of abject woe-talking in his kind,
feeling accents, trying to console him,
painting the sky bright in the distance. aud
begging him. by all the love aud affection
be bore him through SO many years, TO be
man. and trust to his good conscience and
his right arm to cleave his way through the
clouds and gloom which surrounded him.
There, Henry, you are calmer now. Sit
down hero in my state-room. and while
you think Of that fond girl give thought
10 that poor. bereaveG mother, Madam
Resale, who loves you for the resemblance
she thinks you bear to her little boy who
was murdered by pirates, Just seventeen
years ago. off this very island"
what do you say, Cleveland?' said
soice behind him, with such deep, con-
:entnted energy that the commodore fair
" started. what did you say about o lost
,hild and Madam Rosalie?"
Paul Darcantel stood there in the soften
ed crimson light with his sinewy, bony
hands appraised, his gaunt breast heaving
with unshorn heard and tangled, grizzly
locks, the iron jaw half open, ana his dark,
terrible ewes cleaning with unearthily fire.
Speak, Harry Cleveland! For the wife
you have lost. speak,"
MY dear, dearest friend; do be calm!
Why have you been so long away from me?
wanted you here, but you did not come
Our poor boy has had his first lesson in
the worlds grief. and have felt obliged to
:ell him all-yes, everything! That the
grave he has so often wept over under the
magnolias. does dot contain his ,nother;an
that"
"MIerciful Heaven!" said Paul Darcantel,
sinking down on his knees, with his hands
clasped together, while the first tears for
more than twenty years streamed from his
,gonized eyes. There isa Providence in
it all. That boy is not my son! l saved
him from the pirate grasp, and that wo-
man must be his mother"
Blower and lower the lofty head bent, till
il touched the deck, the bony hand clasped
light together-and those eyes! All, those
parched eyes; No longer dry!
Paul, Paul. what is this 1 hear? For
the love Of Heaven and those angels who
are waiting for us, speak again."
My father-my more than father, am
aot :llegitimate, then! No such shame NAV
cause your boy to blush for his mother?"
While strong and loving arms raised the
exhausted man from the deck, and while he
becomes once more the same determined
Paul Darcantel, and with hand erasped in
hand is rapidly recounting unknown years
Of his existence, let us leave the cabin.