PIRATES OF DEADMAN'S ISLAND - by Barney Slater
The Time Travellers fall into the hands of the Barbary Coast
pirates at the time when Captain Stephen. Decatur is set to clean
the marauders out.
Time Travellers Tony and Doug, materializing on the deck
of a pirate ship just as it is capturing a Spanish ship, are mistaken for
prisoners. Later, at a camp on an island, the brutal pirate Captain Beals,
learning there is no one who can ransom them, orders his mote Nom ton to shoot
them. But he has also taken captive a boy, Armando, who identifies himself as
the nephew of the Kin of Spain, a captive for whom anything the pirates ask
will be paid. Appealed to for help by the Time Travellers, Armando asks to
have them for servants, but they use their reprieve to make the earliesr
possible attempt to escape with the child, vanishing into the jungle, beyond
which they think is a city. Instead they find open water and are almost
instantly recaptured. In revenge for thier attempted escape,Beals orders his
giant strongman Mali to kill the pair. Karate helps them stave off his attack
and the three men fight to a draw. Before Beals can decide what to do next
with his prisoners, one of his ships comes to the island to report that three
American Naval vessels are headed this way. Tony and Doug, aware by now that
the period is 1805, figure out that this may be Stephen Decatur, who at this
time in history cleaned out the pirates of the Barbary Coast. This they
figure, may be one of the pirates' supply islands. At the Time Tunnel, Swain
knows exactly where the pair is and, realizing the island is due to be heavily
bombarded, works frantically to oust the men. Meanwhile, Tony and Doug, in
another attempt to escape with Armando, are caught, this time staked out on
the shore so that the rising tide will drown them. Armando finally escapes
and cuts them free, but not before Beal recaptures Doug and Armando, leaving
Tony, who’s been injured, for dead. Recovering, Tony realizes that the others
are on the pirate vessel soon to be demolished by Decatur, so he swims out to
an American ship to worn the Captain. Decatur though is committed to battle
and can do nothing; so, those in the Time Tunnel have to risk moving Doug and
Armando from the heavily bombarded pirate ship even though Tony is not with
them. In the meantime, Tony is frantic as he sees the pirate ship go down, but
as he helps care for the injured, he encounters Doug and the boy in the ship’s
hospital.
|