The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1890-10-10
CAPTAIN BRAND.
O r
THE PIRATE SCHOONER.
A TALEOFTHESEA
PART u.

PARTH.
CHAPTER XXyII.-ccNrrNuED
Continuing his narrative the Commodore
said:
4 remember distinctly spreading n chart
before him, and while he traced with the
end of his cigarrito course for the captain
to steer by, stood near watching him mar
rowly. But the fact was that he lad the
very sharpest spark of an eye set, or rnthcr
standing out, beside his nose that anybody
ever saw in human beings head; and in-
stead OF me watching him, he seemed to be
looking staight through mo aud dlvining
my thoughts and suspicion. However, the
spot he pointed out, and tho way he de-
scribed it, with cocoa nut tree on top of
q rock and the passage through the reef, SO
nearly correspondent with tho confused ac-
count Of the Yucatanese gave us before he
died. that the captain was entirely convinced
We wers on the scent, though myself, was
not more than half satisfied. The place in
dictated was near the Isle of Pines three hun
dred miles of; but to make the thing more
plausible, that one-eyed old scoundrel was
determined to run along the Doce Leguas
qnnys. SEQ what information he could pick
up there. and then follow down after us.
"That night, or early the next morning,
We were off again, and ran down the coast,
with good ofing to keep tho wind. untilt
we got to the ground and passed in by Cape
st. Francis. and doubled round into the
Blight of Pines. There wo fell in with q
whole fleet Of English and American cruis-
ers and schooner craft, who informed us
that they had searched every accessible
spot where man could walk dry shod up
on, from Guayabos to the Isles Of Mangles;
that they had destroyed several old and de-
serted piratical nests, and hung two or three
ostensible fishermen by way of wholesome
warning 10 their allies. the pirates; but that
was al nnd from what they had learned,
there aid not seem to have been m ostab-
lishetl retreat in that maze of quays and
reefs for four or five years.
So you see We had our cruise for MOTH
ing. and then the captain agreed with me
that we had both been most egregiously
deceived by the Spanish commander of the
guarda Costa Well. We hauled our wind.
once more, standing we'll ont TO sea, and
after tedious beat Of some days. we again
edged in towards tho coast, somewhere
near the Beca Grands of the Twelve
Leagues quays on the western most side.
1t was in tho morning when We made the
land and steering close in, We got good
slant off the shore and kept the glasses CO.
ing from the topmast crosstrees down, NIL
through the day. For my part, as Hardy
may perhaps remember. scarcely took
the glass from my eye for eight hours, and
from the mizzen-top felt quite sure that
there we're not many objects. from the size
of a blade of grass to mangrove bush, that
did Samine. from the coral reefs up
to the I, heights. let alone the cocoa nut
tree til We were in search Of"
| Tow ID afternoon, however, the weather
came up aZy, tho wind began to fall off,
and the barometer began to exhibit very
queer sm,sms inde 1; rising with n sort of
jerk at first. and sn dropping down the
tenth of an inch at clip. with tho atmos-
phere becoming close aud sultry, and the
men gasping about the decks MS if we were
about TO choke atthe next breath. 1t was
during the hurricane months, and tho in-
dications certainly should have led us rs
far rs our legs could carry us to open wa
ter, instead of being caught embayed per-
haps with half thousand reefs around us
on what might prove lee shore; but never
theless the captain decided to hold on till
sunset and then make IN ofing. The
breeze still held in the upper sails. and so
We slipped on smooth water till about five
o'clock, when hearda fellow sing out from
the mnin royal yard
"On deck there! can see tall Cocoon
nut tree on an island here on theport howl"
Before the words were we'll out of his
mouth, too had caught the object, and l
knew at the first glance that it was the spot
We were looking for. At the same time the
haze lighted up a bit, and We saw tie
ridge of rocks and everything as the haunt
of that pirate Brand had been described to
us. So, my friends, We were alive once
more on board the Scourge, and the captain
resolved to dash in upon the scoundrel's
nest before he could have trio to leave it.
The engine was rugged and water squirt
ell over the sails from the trucks down, to
make the canvass hold the wind and in IN
hour We were within two leagues of the ISL
and, and just rs the sun fell below the
horizon We caught sight of the mast heads
of large vessel sticking up over some bluff
rocks near the bold shore. Not five min
ntes later the hull of the craft came slowly
out from the gap, under all sail, and we
discovered her to be a long aud rather lum-
distinguishing brigantine, painted lead
color, and bearing no resemblance to the
schooner We had twice chased before
H'aAAuasoheou9iSS ho"cNcI, Will ueI COIuluB
ont into full view. rs she rounded in her
head yards and got a pull of the main sheet
with the breeze abeam and heading TO the
eastward, We beheld n great volume of white
smoke spout up over the rock near the
cocoa nut tree with vivid sheet of flame
at the base; md before the vast column
turned, like the crown Of q palm-trec, in
its descent, We were created by dull,
heavy roar. the conclusion of which fairly
made the Scourge tremble.
Then, as the white smoke partially
broke away, an avalanche of rocks and
timhers were scattered fur and hear, and
nothing visible but vail of dust and
masses of heavy smoke. Nearly Mt the
same moment of this explosion wreaths of
heavy, black smoke arose from another
spot nearer to the gap, lit up in tho fading.
hazp twilight with forked red fires, and
soon after great confagration burst forth,
swirling flakes of burning cinders all over
the island, and castinga lurid glare upon
the water around U.S..