Evening star., 1924-11-09
CAPTAIN BLOOD
By RAFAEL SABATINI
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
u RAFAEL SABATINI

! easy! he demanded between plain
| tivencss and fury. u am no fool,
my friends. l have eyes, me. And l
| see. ! see an abandoned fort at the
! entrance of the lake, and nobody
| there to fire gun at US when we
came in. Then l suspect the trap.
Who would not that had eyes and
| brain? Bah. We come on. What do
we find? city, abandoned like the
fort: city out of which the people
| have taken all things of value. Again
! warn Capt Blood. 1t Is trap, I
say. We are to come on: always to
come on, without opposition, until
We find that it is too late to go to
sea again. that we cannot go back at
all. But no one will listen to me.
You all know 50 much more. Name
of God, Capt. Blood he will go on,
and we go on. We go to Gibraltar
True that at last. after long time, we
catch the deputy governor: true, we
make him pay big ransom for Gibral-
| tar; true between that ransom and
the loot We return here with some
1000 pieces Of eight. But what Is 1t,
in reality. will you tell me? Or shall
tell you? 1t is a piece of cheese
piece of cheese in a mousetrap, and
we are the little mice. Goddam! And
the cats-oh, the cats they wait for
| us! The cats are those four Spanish
ships of war that have come mean
time. And they wait for US out
side the bottle-reck Of this lagoon.
Mort de Dieu. That is what comes
of the damned obstinacy oI Your fine
CAPT. Blood
Wolvcrstone laughed. 'Ctnussic rx-
I plnd-d in fury.
All. Sangdieu Tu ris. animal?
You laugh. Tell me this: How do we
L.
/ terms Of monsieur the admiral OF
Spain"
From the buccaneers at the foot of
the steps came an angry rumble Of
approval. The single eye of the gi-
gantic Wolverstene rolled terribly,
and he clenched his great lists as II to
strike the Frenchman, who WAS ex-
posing them to mutiny. But Cahusac
was not daunted. The mood OF the
men enheartened him.
You think, perhapa this your Capt.
Blood is the good God. That he can
make miracles, eh? He Is ridiculous.
you know, this Capt. Blood; with his
grand air and his :"
He checked. Out Of the church at
that moment grand air and all,
sauntered Peter Blood. With him
came tough, long-legged French
seawolf named Yberville, who,
though still young, had already won
fame as privateer commander be-
fore the loss of his own ship had
driven him to take service under
Blood. The captain advanced toward
that disputing group, leaning lightly
upon his long ebony cane, his face
shaded by road-plumed hat. There
was in his appearance nothing of the
buccaneer. He had much more the
air of a lounger in the Mall or the
Alameda-the latter rather, since his
elegant suit Of violet taffetas with
gold-embroidered buttonholes was
in the Spanish fashion. But the long,
stout, serviceable rapier. thrust up
behind by the left hand resting light
ly on the pummel, corrected the i'm
preston. That and those steely eyes
of his announced the adventurer.
You find me ridiculous, eh, Cahu-
before the Breton, whose anger
seemed already to have gone out of
him. What, then, must 1 find you?"
He spoke quietly. almost wearily
You will be telling them that we
have delayed. and that it is the delay
that has brought about our danger
But whose is the fault of that delay?
We have been month in doing what
should have been done, and what but
for your blundering would have been
done, inside of week."
"Ah ca! Nom de Dieu! Was it my
fault that :"
Was it any one else's fault that
you ran your ship La Foudre aground
on the shoai in the middle Of the lake?
You would not be piloted. You knew
your way. You took no soundings
even. The result was that we lost
three precious days in getting canoes
to bring off your men and your
gear. Those three days gave the
folk at Gibraltar not only time