In Which Is A Pretty Kettle of Fish

Many mysterious circumstances surrounded this sensational piece of
piracy, according to the journalistic view-point. On board the Belle
Helène were two ladies, the beautiful young heiress, Miss Helena
Emory, well known in northern social circles, and her aunt, Mrs.
Lucinda Daniver, widow of the late Commodore Daniver, United States
Navy. Mr. Davidson himself was unable to assign any reason for this
bold act of this abduction, although he feared the worst for the
comfort or even the safety of the two ladies, whose fate at this
writing remained unknown. The greatest mystery surrounded the identity
of the leader of this bold deed, whose name Mr. Davidson could not
imagine. He was reported to suspect that these same river pirates,
earlier in the day, attacked and perhaps made away with a friend of
his whose name is not yet given. A cigarette case was found in the
abandoned boat, which Mr. Davidson thought looked somewhat familiar to
him, although he could not say as to its ownership. He could and did
aver positively, however, that a photograph in a leather case on the
abandoned boat was a portrait of none other than Miss Helena Emory,
one of the captives made away with by the river ruffians. Mr. Davidson
could assign no explanation of these circumstances.

Later despatches received at Baton Rouge, so the New Orleans journal
said, might or might not clear up the mystery of the stolen yacht's
disappearance, although the senders seemed much excited. One story
from a down-river point, brought in by an excited negro, told of a
dozen bottles found floating in the bayou. The negro, however, had
broken them all open, and declared they had contained nothing but bits
of paper, which he had thrown away. He also told a wild story that the
plantation store at Hamlin's Landing, on Bayou Henry, had been looted
in broad daylight, by a young man and a boy, apparently members of the
pirate crew. The younger of the two ruffians was masked, and on being
asked for pay for gasoline, refused it at the point of his weapons,
declaring that pirates never paid.