Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-11-08
THE SEA HAWK
BY EAEI. SABATlNI
published by\ Arrangement With First National Pictures
Inc. Copyrighted by Houghto Mifflin Company
CHAPTER TX continued


Spaniard into confusion. There was frantic
stir aboard her, trumpet blasts and shoutings
and Wild scurryings of men hither and thither
to the Eosts to which they were ordered by
their too reckless captain In that CON
fusion her maneuyer to go about went all
awry and precious moments were lost during
which she stood Laundering, with idly flap
ping sails
In his desperate haste, the captain headed
her straight to leeward, thinking that by
running thus before the wind he stood tie
best chance of avoiding the trap. But there
not wind enough in that sheltered spot
| to make the attempt successful. Inc galleyS
sped straight at an angle to the direction
in which the Spaniard was moving, their vel
low dripping oars flashing furiouosly, as the
bo'suns piled their whips to urge every ounce
of sinew in the slaves.
Of all this Sakr-el-Bahr gathered an i'm
preston as, followed by Bskaine and the ne
groes, he swiftly made his way down the aerle
! that had served him we'll He sprang from
red oak to cor1tree and from cork-tree to
red oak; he eaped from rock to rock, or low
cred himself from ledge to ledge gripping
handful of heath or a projecting stone but all
with the speed and nimbleness of an ape.
He dropped at last to the beach, then sped
across it. at a rNn, and went bounding alOnS
! a black reef until he stood alongside Of the
galliot which had been left behind by the
other corsar vessels. She awaited him in
deep water the length of her from the
rock and as he came alongside these oars were
brought to the horizontal, and held there firm
w. He leaped down upon them. his Compan-
ions following him, and using them gang
way reached the bulwarks He threw leg
over the side and aIighted decked space
between two oars and the two rows of six
slaves that were manning each of them.
| Biskane followed him and the negroes came
| cit triH of hn hI11y yorlc
when Sakrel-Bahr gave the word. Up the
middle gangway bosun and two of his
mates cracking their long whips Of bullock
hide. Down went the oars, there was heave,
and they shot out in the wake OF the other
two to join the fight.
SaAlr-etBahr, scimitar in hand, stood on the
prov, little in advance of the mob of eager,
babbling corsairs who surrounded him, quiz
ering in their mpatience to be let loose upon
the Christian foe. Above, along the yard-arm
and up the ratlines swarmcd his boWmen.
From the masthead floated out his standard
of crimson charged with green crescent.
The naked Christian slaves groaned,
strained and sweated under the Mosem lash
that drove them to the destruction of their
Christian brethren.
Ahead the battle was already joined. The
Spaniard had fired one single hasty shot
which had gone wide, and now one of the
corsairs graphing irons had seized her
arrows was pouring down upon her decks
from the Moslem cross-trees; up her sides
crowded the eager Moors, evermost eager
when it was a question Of tackling the Span
ish dogs who had driven them from their
Andalusian Caliphate. Under her quarter
sped the other galley to take her on the
starboard side, and she went her
archers and singers hurled death aboard
the galleOn.
1t was a short, sharp fight The Span
i0,J
ing been taken utterly by surprise, had
never been able to order themselves in
proper manner to receive the onslaught.
Still, what could be done they did. They
made a gallant stand against the pitless as
sailants. But the cOrsars charged home as
CALAMITY, utterly reckless of life, eager to
STAY in the name of Allah and His Prophet
and scarcely less eager to die if it should
please the All-pitiful that their destnies
should be here fulfilled. Up they went and
back fell the Castilians outnumbered by IT
least ten to one
When Sakr-el-Bahr's galIiot came along
side, that brief encounter was at an end,
and-One of his cOrsairs was aIoft hackiag
from the mainmast the standard of Spain
and the wooden crucifiX that was nailed
below it. moment later and to a thun-
dering roar of "Alhandollilah." the green
crescent floated out upon the breeze.
Sakh-el-Bahr thrust his way through the
press in the galeon's waist; his ,corsairs fell
advanced they roared his name deliriousIy
and waved their scimitars to acclaim him
this hawk of the sea, he was named, this
most valiant of all the servants of Islam.
True, he had taken actual part in the
engagement 1t had been too brief and he
had arrived too late for that. But his had
been the daring to conceive an ambush at
so remote western point, and his the brain
that had gaided them to this swift sweet
victory in the name of Allah the One
eli ,1-i+h
streWn with wounded and dying men, whom
already the Moslems heaving overheard
dead and wounded alike when they were
Christians, for to what end should they be
troubled with MANNED slaves?
About the mainmast were huddled the
surviving Spaniards, weaponIess and broken
in courage.
Sakr-el-Bahr stood forward, his light blue
eyes considering them grimly. They must
number close upon a hundred, adventures
! IN the main who had set out from Cadiz
in high hope of finding fortune in the In
dies. Their voyage had been a very brief
one; their fate they knew-to toll at the
oars of the Moslem galleys. or, at best to
! be taken to Algiers or Tunis and sold there
| into the slavery of some wealthy Moor
! Sakr-el-Bahr's glance scanned them ap-
pralsingly, and rested finally on the captain
who stood slightly in advance, his face livid
with rage and grief. He was richly dressed
in the Castillian black, and his velvet Thin
4 ble-shaped hat was heavily plumed and
decked by a gold cross.
Sakr-el-Bahr salaamed' tremendously to
him.
Fortuna de guerra, senior captain" said
he in fluent Spanish. What is your name?"
Il am Don Paulo de Guzman," the man
/ answered, drawing himself erect and speak
/ ing with conscious pride in himself and