Year: 1866




for Life" etc.


CHAPTER I.


THE wRECK-THE REsCUE-THE CON.


CEALED FOE.


From the top of tall cliff which extend.
ed out from the main land, on the Southern
coast of Florida, a stern-festured, sinister
looking man gazed forth on fearful scene
For three whole days there had been a
terrible storm raging all along the shores of
the Gulf, and the dying spirit of the temp.
est was now kuelling the requiem OF a
noble ship, which had struck on the outer
reefs, and with all the gallant hearts which
had beat on board of her, had gone down to
a grave beneath the wild whirl of waters


From q sheltered niche in the rock, at the
feet of the man on the cliff; still blazee and
fickered lantern For few moments
longer it shown on the Kissing froth of the
heaving sea, and then the man STOPPING
down extiuguished the light. But it had
done its work By its baleful glare, the
ship had been lured upon the rocks and had
gone to pieces.


Pale, hagard, yet with look of trium'
phant exutation in his eyes, did that man
look over the cliffs verge, watching the
waves as they carried the debris of the
wreck to the already fragment strewn beach.
Occasionally dead body, white and ghast'
ly, would be brought in Oh the crest of some
huge billow, only to be sent further out to
sea BY the reeeding wave, closely followed
By some grey old sea gall, and The eyes OF
the worse vulture on the cliff For with
evident satisfaction did that dark man note
the absence of all signs of life in the hap
less forms of those thus brought to view.


And now, as if hushed and stilled some.
what by the wild havoc it had enacted, the
wind tempered its ferocity, and soon the
sea heaved to and fro with less tempest.
ous swell, though it still flung itself in
huge masses of foam amid the rocks, as if
it would sock them from their primative
foundations into the main.


The morning is coming, and from long
slant rift in the east, there emerges like
some fair spirit upon the world of water, a
soft ray of light. 1t tips the still battering
waves with the magic of its beauty, and
though they still rage with furious surgings,
there is yet a sparkling grace in the boil
ing water thas was not there before.


From the face, too, of the tall cliff, this
slant ray of light was reflected back on to the
surf, which looked creamy and snow.like,
as it rolled in huge surges to the rocky
shore.


Then the watcher on the cliff shrunk
back, for what had he to do with the hight
of heaven? His deeds were dark as earth's
deepest caverns, and he sunk down into the
scant herbsge on the brink of the cliff, as II
fearful of being now seen.


He had watched the wreck-he had seen
all. He had seen the good ship laboring
in the ofhng.


By what fearful mass of intrigue, and
at what an awful cost of credit, honor and
virtue, he had brought that doomed vessel
to that spot! What complication of per
lis had he not concountered in carrying
out objects, that he imagined were to secure
his future happiness, but which will only
wreck it even as that ship is wrecked, leav'
ing no trace or shape behind to tell of the
fashion of the structure which will never
again be patent to human eyes.


Huge masses of the cliff had fallen il
the storms of centuries, and they lay in
picturesque confusion on the beach-tal
and bulky in some places, and in other:
broken up into many fragments, which
made a rough road at low tide on the shore


Seen by the man on the cliff'top, bu
hidden from any anxious eyes that nigh
look from seaward, was another persoI
orouching down behind huge mass o
rock. This other person now and then cas-
an eye upward, as though he wanted to se'
if his friend, master, or confederate-b'
he which he might-was above; and b.
the light of the lantern, that until the las
few minutes had glittered from the cliff
the man below was able to see the siniste
countenance of the man above, while tn
man above, by directing the lens Of tn
lantern, now aud then in the direction o
the beach, saw the mau below.


But now that the lantern was out, AM
now that the sweet and beautiful morn wa