Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1906-12-27
THE IRON PIRATE
A Plain Tale Of Strange
Happenings on the Sea
By MAX PEMBERTON
CHAPTER IV.-(Continued. J

The helm went over, and the yacht
doomed up black. as our own light dice
away; and passed us within a cables
length. What lift of the night there was
showed us her decks again but icy We're
not deserted, for as one or two aboarc
gave a great cry. | saw the white and
horribly distorted face of man who
clung to the main shrouds-and he alone
was the guardian of the wanderer.
That vision of the man l had left wei
and hopeful and strong not three days
since was terrible to ME. a brave mar
had gone to his death. but to what q
death, if that agonized face and distorted
usage betokened aught And | had prom
tsed 10 aid him, and was drifting there
with the schooner, raising no hand to give
him help.
Skipper" l cried, this time we'll risk
getting boat off; I'm going aboard thai
vessel now, if l drown before | return
Then | turned TO the men and said You
saw the yacht pass just now, and you
saw that man aboard her-he's my friend
and I'm going to fetch him.
AS the good fellows gave way and oul
boat rode easily before the wind, no
ticed for the first time that the clouds
were scattering; and we had not made
another cables length when great clouc
above US showed silver at its edges, and
opaquely white in its center, through
which the moon shone. Anon il dissolv-
ed, and the transforma tion on the surface
of the water was a transformation from
the dark of storm to the chrome light OF
a summer moon. The deserted yacht
twas beating up to us, and we stood right
In her track.
Get a grapnel forward, and look out
there,' cried the man in command.
AS if 70 help us, the wind fell away as
che schooner came up, and she began to
shake her sails. Suddenly there was the
sound as of fierce contest, of the bursting
of wood and the spread of flame; and in
chat instant the decks of the yacht We're
ripped up, and sheets of fire rose from
them to the rigging above.
Give way" roared Dan again, for tire
men sat motionless with terror. Are you
going to let him burn?'
The words awed them. They shot the
long boat forward; and | stood in her
stern to observe, if l could, what passed
on the burning decks. And l saw sight
the like to which pray that | may never
Gee again. Martin Hall stood at the main
strouds, motionleSs, volumes of fame
around him. his figure clear to be viewed
BY that awful beacon.
"Why doesn't he jump it?" l called
aloud. But Martin Hall never moved.
his gaunt figure was motionless-the
flames beat upon it, it did not STIR and
we drew near enough anon and knew the
worst.
"He's lashed there-and he's dead"
said Dan. Easy. for a parcel of stark
fools. Would you run alongside her"
There they lay, for any nearer ap-
proach would have been perilous, and even
In that place where we were, twenty feet
On the wndward side, the heat was nigh
nnbearable. SO near were we that | look
ed close as it might be into the dead face
of Martin Hall, and saw that the fends
who had la shed him there had done their
work too well. But | hoped in my heart
that he had been dead when the end of
the ship had begun to come, and that it
were no reproach to me that he had per-
lshed for to save his body from that
holocaust was work no man might do.
So did We watch the mounting fire, and
the last tack of the yacht La France
Saucily she raised her head TO a new
breeze, shook her great sail of fame in
the night, and scattered red light about
her. Then she dipped her burning jib
rs if in salute, and there was darkness.
AS we neared our own ship Roderick
took my hand giving it great grip. Then
we came aboard, where Mary waited for
hs with a white face, and the others stood
silent; but we said nothing to them, going
below. There l locked myself in my own
cabin, and though fatigue lay heavy on
me, | took Martin Halls papers from my
locker and lighted the lamp to read them
through.
But not without awe. for they were a
message from the dead.