Wolves of the Sea

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Wolves of the Sea

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wolves of the Sea, by Randall Parrish This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Wolves of the Sea Being a Tale of the Colonies From the Manuscript of One Geoffry Carlyle, Seaman, Narrating Certain Strange Adventures Which Befell Him Aboard the Pirate Craft "Namur"
Author: Randall Parrish
Release Date: November 22, 2003 [EBook #10210]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WOLVES OF THE SEA
Being a Tale of the Colonies From the Manuscript of One Geoffry Carlyle, Seaman, Narrating Certain Strange Adventures Which Befell Him Aboard the Pirate Craft "Namur"
BY RANDALL PARRISH
Author of "When Wilderness Was King," "The Last Voyage of the Donna Isabel" "Beyond the Frontier" "Contraband" etc.
Frontispiece By FRANK E. SCHOONOVER
1918

FOREWORD
Anson Carlyle, aged twenty-three, the ninth in descent from Captain Geoffry Carlyle, of Glasgow, Scotland, was among the heroic Canadian dead at Vimy Ridge. Unmarried, and the last of his line, what few treasures he possessed fell into alien hands. Among these was a manuscript, apparently written in the year 1687, and which, through nine generations, had been carefully preserved, yet never made public. The paper was yellowed and discolored by years, occasionally a page was missing, and the writing itself had become almost indecipherable. Much indeed had to be traced by use of a microscope. The writer was evidently a man of some education, and clear thought, but exceedingly diffuse, in accordance with the style of his time, and possessing small conception of literary form. In editing this manuscript for modern readers I have therefore been compelled to practically rewrite it entirely, retaining merely the essential facts, with an occasional descriptive passage, although I have conscientiously followed the original development of the tale. In this reconstruction much quaintness of language, as well as appeal to probability, may have been lost, and for this my only excuse is the necessity of thus making the story readable. I have no doubt as to its essential truth, nor do I question the purpose which dominated this rover of the sea in his effort to record the adventures of his younger life. As a picture of those days of blood and courage, as well as a story of love and devotion, I deem it worthy preservation, regretting only the impossibility of now presenting it in print exactly as written by Geoffry Carlyle.
_R.P._

CONTENTS
I Sent into Servitude
II The Prison Ship
III Dorothy Fairfax
IV The Shores of Virginia
V The Waters of the Chesapeake
VI Fairfax Speaks with Me
VII The Lieutenant Unmasked
VIII A Victory, and a Defeat
IX A Swim to the Namur X On the Deck of the Namur XI The Return of the Boat
XII A Friend in the Forecastle
XIII I Accept a Proposal
XIV I Warn Dorothy
XV The Cabin of the Namur XVI In Dorothy's Stateroom
XVII A Murder on Board
XVIII A New Conspiracy
XIX Laying the Trap
XX The Deck Is Ours
XXI In Full Possession
XXII The Crew Decides
XXIII The Prisoners Escape
XXIV In Clasp of the Sea
XXV The Open Boat
XXVI A Floating Coffin
XXVII On Board the Slaver
XXVIII A New Plan of Escape
XXIX A Struggle in the Dark
XXX Opening the Treasure Chest
XXXI The Boat Attack
XXXII The Last of the Namur XXXIII Before the Governor

WOLVES OF THE SEA

CHAPTER I
SENT INTO SERVITUDE
Knowing this to be a narrative of unusual adventure, and one which may never even be read until long after I have departed from this world, when it will be difficult to convince readers that such times as are herein depicted could ever have been reality, I shall endeavor to narrate each incident in the simplest manner possible. My only purpose is truth, and my only witness history. Yet, even now lately as this all happened it is more like the recollections of a dream, dimly remembered at awakening, and, perchance, might remain so, but for the scars upon my body, and the constant memory of a woman's face. These alone combine to bring back in vividness those days that were--days of youth and daring, of desperate, lawless war, of wide ocean peril, and the outstretched hands of love. So that here, where I am writing it all down, here amid quietness and peace, and forgetful of the past, I wander again along a deserted shore, and sail among those isles of a southern sea, the home for many a century of crime and unspeakable cruelty. I will recall the truth, and can do no more.
I can recall that far-away dawn now as the opening portals of a beautiful morning,