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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1900)
THE SUNDAY OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, MARCH 4, 1900. 22 The (SI y vJI 9 Srooui of Previona Chapters. saw a kind of hugo round tower half cut his shoulder in the direction of the pitch . -r o. -. -v. xt(ir, tn rm- off In the middle, as If unfinished. It ap- crater. J SThteSnSon ?ounK SP VTts pcared to be bunt of black stones. Creep- "Fer-de-lance ! he said. "As the light-fnTnlLn-hoU ."n SS? S . era of a .limy green color climbed sparse nlng stokes, he strikes! Fer-de-lance paramour. Janet Mark. They ,uarrel-Slr t ly upon It and little green apples, with j guard Morgan's treasure!" Jnmes coes home, taking along hte grandson. I brilliant scarlet patches upon them, hung i And at the name of the most dreaded That nicht he la murdered by his dissolute son and Janet Mark. They take his body outside and lay it on an ice floe in the effort to fasten the crime upon other shoulders. But the boy Philip ha witnessed the crime. Ho telij his crandfather'n chief tenant, Umphray Spurway. and Spurway succeeds In having the real mur derer brought to Justice. He Is sentenced to be hanged, hie woman accomplice to be transported. Mysteriously Philip Stansfield escapes the gal towe, seeks out his wife, finds her In the com pany of Spurway and tries to murder her, but does not quite succeed. She Is taken away to Abercalrn for cure, leaving her son. young Phil ip, in charge of Spurway and in the company of little Anna Mark, from whom he learns that In some ways girls are worth quite as much as boys. For example, in the time of the cat tle droving, when Master Spurway bought his winter beast in the "mart." Anna beats Philip In helping to cut them out. Still they are excel lent friends, even though she beats him at her studies in the school to which they go to gether. John Stansfield, Philip's lawyer-uncle, brings In a new teacher, xJomlnle Rlngrose, a email man with wonderful yes. Shortly after his coming, the countryside Is chocked and thrilled with a number of bloody and mjsterl ous murders, evidently for the sake of robbery. Business calls Umphrey Spurway from home. In his absence a big packing case, purporting to be fuH of fine Spanish wool. Is delivered to "Will Bowman, Umphray'a clerk. He puts It In the weaving shed. That night Philip play leg about it. sees shining through the gauze of tho packing ccoe a pair of eyes. He calls "Will Bowman, who counts three, then stabs the pack ing case with a small sword. Blood flows; they open the case and And Dominie Rlngrose Inside, apparently dead. Shortly after, the house Is at tacked by robbers, whom Klngrose had meant to let in. They are beaten off, but afterwards Philip's mother refuses to let him sivcnd the holidays at New Mlins. Returning from a day's visit to New Mllns, Philip falls In with Saul Mark, Anna's gypsy father, who, under pre tense of showing him Sir Harry Morgan's treas ure, makes him a prisoner. Anna finds out bis plight, and leads Umphray Spurway on his track. By the help of his silent partner. Provost Gregory Partan. Saul Mark, supercargo of the ship Corramnntee, Imprisons both Anna and Spurway, robbing Spemay of much money and a portrait of Philip's mother. Philip the elder, who is ia league with Saul Mark, takes the portrait and sends young Philip away. Leaving Spurway Imprisoned, Philip StansfleM, the elder, goes out In Spurway's cloak to his wife's house, and by threats Induces her to go aboard the Corramantee. .Vna and PhlP'J make friends with Etwrra. le shows them where Sir Harry Morgan's treasure Is, guarded by Fer-de-lance and his host. (Copyright. 1SOS. under the name of "Little Anna Marie" by S. R. Crockett.) (Copyright, 1890. by S. It. Crockett.) CHAPTER XXXI. (Continued.) "Yes yes yes," he said, the treasure of Morgan. This was his isle long be fore these men came. They not know, but Eborra know. And he know the guard of tho treasure, too. Some day he show him to the white man when Eborra ready. Then" he laughed Iron ically "the white man will die. The treasuro- guard will kill him. But you shall see the treasure today, and yet be safe, because you are Eborra's friends and there is no hurt in you." It was a long speech for the African, and he did not often user so many words, but, for all that, I was by no means sure in my mind about following. There was a strangeness about these great lorests which daunted me. My very Ignorance shut me in and made me helpless. All about were unseen deadly things poisonous plants, deadly animals, and. In addition, dread things that have no name devilkins of the solitudes, demons of the place, ancient as the stones and cruel-hearted as death itself. But Anna roso with her quick gesture of acquiescense and swung her satchel across her shoulders. Then she set her hand jauntily on the hilt of the knife at her belt. "We are not afraid," she said; "we trust you, Eborra!" "No, you are not afraid!" he replied. Anna bent upon the crippled black a look which, had it been turned upon a white man, would have made me angry. For she knew well enough the power she had over the lad, and, like all women, was quite willing to exercise It. Yet instinctively I felt the danger with a savage like Eborra. Nevertheless, I could not draw back, nor even declare my distrust. . "It is good," said Yellow Jack, and, without another word, led the way down the hill, and parting the green wall of leaves plunged again into the densest of the jungle. This time it was by a darker, more ter rible way that Eborra led us. "We walked no more In the glorious tangle of the forest, that riot of life and vigor and beauty, but rather through the valley of the shadow of death, about which my mother was so fond of reeding to me In iho "Pilgrim" book. And this dusky guide of ours, with his shiny skin and iron hooked arm, made no bad Apollyon: only that, instead of withstanding us and hurl ing darts, he led us on deeper and deep er into the dank and rotting smother. Tho lianas dropped from the trees and crawled along the marshy ground. The "boughs wero feathered with long dank drifts of Old Man's Beard. "We began to spring from root to root and from log to log, swinging ourselves by hanging vines over pools of black water which slept under the deep canopy of the gloom, stirred only by the oily plunge of the dread coppcrneaa snaKes, which slid off tho logs at our approach and disappeared noiselessly in the swelter of the green rotting weed and floating vegetable sludge. Many a time I would have stopped and cried, "Turn back. I will go no further!" But Anna was stanch and I could do no tetter than follow. Yellow Jack never hesitated a moment, but sped onward as if he had been walking on a made road. After 0 minutes or half an hour of this work he brought us once more to firmer ground. Before us rose a darksome knoll In the midst of the swamp. It appeared to ascend on all sides in the shape of an inverted bowl. The lower slopes were covered with little plants which gave forth an acrid smell when trodden on, and we moved knee deep In a lively growth of poison oak. All the ground appeared to rustle underfoot with a dry noise, almost like the chirr of crickets, but much faint er a metallic sound, or the echo of a sound which somehow carried a thrill of horror In it. "Walk carefully In my footsteps." said Eborra, "and do not speak! We are near!" Anna stretched a hand back to me and I kept the line, cheered by her act. Round the mound a vast group of black pines towered to the skies. They had their heads all bent together, like chiefs at a consultation. They appeared to be listening to each other's whispered talk. On the crest of the bowl, so soon as our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, we ofm WINDS CP w jlx Figures by G.A.SfflPLEY temDtlncly down. All round about, tne swamp slept black and sluggish. Under foot the same unseen things stirred in the undergrowth. The huge redoubt in front was like a wizard tower In a dream, and I doubted not but that some hlddeous enchanter would presently issue forth, or the twisted face of a demon look at us with sudden grimace over the crumbling ramparts. Yet as we came nearer It seemed to me fhat no earthly hands had laid the courses and titled the Joints of that titanic ma sonry. For on the side by which we ap proached, the tower rose smooth and black, save where In little irregular cracks like those in half-dried mud poisonous creepers had obtained a hold for their ten drils. A rumbling sound came from with in which shook our midriffs like an earthquake. As wo went still nearer, Eborra kept up a curious hissing hum, which rose and fell like the wind whistling through th chink of an Ill-fitting shutter. I was also conscious of a curious sense of uneasiness, as if I were walking over the waves of a half-congealed sea. The ground crept un der my feet, heaving and contracting it self like a worm, and at the thought a feeling akin to nausea came over me. My knees shook underneath me till I thought I should fail, and. but for the greater horror of falling Into the midst of that hissing, they must Indeed have given way. Yet Anna Mark's fingers were steady In mine, though a little cold, and she fol lowed Yellow Jack with confidence and decision. Considering my own state of mind, I could not think of this courage in a girl without great marveling. The black tower now arose abruptly In front of us, and our guide turned a little to the right and began to edge round the base toward the opposite side. I laid my hand upon It. It was hot to the touch. Hera rude steps were revealed, cut in the rock, and up these Eborra "began to scramble, reaching his hand down to Anna and stick ing his hook Into the crevices In the heat ed rock. "Do not fear," he said; "in a moment we shall behold." Anna helped me up till I could set my chin over the verge of the black tower. The wall of it was broad enough for me to lie flat upon and look within. Nor was it so uncomfortably warm as lower down. Anna held me by the arm. r rious. not for herself, but lest I should venture too near. Sho need not have troubled, though the action comforted me. This Is what we saw. A huge black gulf or pot-hole, with straight sides, cracked and creeper-grown, sank for 30 or 40 feet sheer down. The floor of this curious nat ural tower or volcanic crater was arched like the bulgo which comes in the middle of a pot just before the water boils. Eborra pointed downward with his hook. "The place of Morgan's treasure," he said grimly; "it is wa ting there for the brave man who will come to take it." The black well of the tcwer was diversi fied by curious grooved rings set at In tervals. In these were holes, many of them large enough to thrust a man's arm into. We saw no steam or fire, but the whole smelt sulphurous, and a moist heat like that which rises from wet sands un der a burning sun wavered visibly about us. I knew not what he meant. I could neither see anything resembling treasure, not yet the dread guardian of whom he spoke. But Yellow Jack lay with his face over the edge, smiling gently and watch ing the bottom of the black pot-hole. "Look!" he cried suddenly, pointing with his hook. And then for the first time I observed that the bubble-like black flqor beneath us was not wholly stationary. It appeared to be solid. I would have walked upon It without fear, but yet the whole seemed to bo turning over slowly and almost Imper ceptibly. Indeed, the only way in which the motion of the mass could be noted was by watching the positions of the sticks and stumps of trees which stood out from the surface. The object at which Eborra desired us to look was a square-shaped box or cube of wood. For nothing could be discovered of its internal condition, because of the black coating of pitch which covered it, and hung down from its tilted edge like il!-melted wax. .Morgans treasurer anirmea our guide, confidently; "alto many more! Obi turns them in the hollow of his hand!" I was still more mystified than before, and did not even ask a question. The black cube was slowly lifted upward. turning invisibly all the time, so that an gle which had been averse from us at first next pointed to the zenith, and after ward Inclined toward us, before finally sinking out of sight beneath the surface. At last Yellow Jack deigned to ex plain. "Pitch!" he said. "What Is thrown In does not sink, but turns and turns for evernow above, now below. Morgan's men throw It in before Captain Stansfield took the island from them. He never found It. But Eborra's mother knew. Eborra knows. Now you know." "But," said I. "If the treasure be down there, why do you not get it out? Sooner or later some one will stumble upon this place and rob you of the treasure. You should hide it In a safer place." "There Is none," said our guide, confi dently. "You will believe when I show you the guardians of tho treasure. Do not move. Only look!" The half-caste leaned far over into the interior of the tower. He hummed the strange minor tune In a louder tone. Nothing that I could see happened. Then suddenly he whistled shrilly, and even as we looked we saw the circular ledges sud denly wake Into hideous life. From each of the black pigeon holes protruded a flat and ugly head. Then the ruddy colls of a snake seven or eight feet long and as thick as my arm appeared, till all the cir cular well of the strange tower appeared to be alive with horrid waving scales. Yellow Jack leaned still farther over. and whittled a quick. Jigging tune. At the first sound of it the great poison snakes opened their jawo so wide that the white fangs could be seen hanging down clear of the thin, retracted lip. As the time quickened, every serpent gathered itself into a coil, with its head In the center, and began to dance up and down In time to the music. There must have been several hundreds of them beneath us, down in the black gullet of the crater. The lad slopped and resumed the hum ming noise he had been making all the way up the hill. Whereupon the snakes as if soothed, began to creep back to their holes, without taking any further notice of us or of the snake charmer. We scrambled down In haste, and as we took hands over that unholy creeping I mound, EborSiArked. his hnoh back, over TT 3P snake in the world, of which every child on the lslnnd had terrible stories to ten, 1 resolved within me that It would take many Morgan's treasures to tempt me within reach of those gaping Jaws, lash ing tails and white, gleaming fangs. CHAPTER XXXII. The Jolly Boat. Yellow Jack had Indeed more than kept his promise. He had shown us the thin crust of kindly treatment on which we were depending. Why Captain Stansfield had not gone with his ship I could not then understand. I understood afterward that as the wretched white slaves were disposed of In His Majesty's plantations, and the transaction must be one of con siderable publicity, it was not prudent for Captain Stansfield to appear. For, since his escape, descriptions of him had been sent across to the Colonial governments, and all Scottish ships were closely scru tinized for the condemned murderer. Also in Virginia and the Carollnas thero was no Provost Gregory Partan to blink the eyes of the authorities. But at that time I put down my father's being secretly on the island to some fell design upon my mother. I resolved, there fore, Immediately to devise means of es cape from the Isle of the Winds, and to take my chance upon the mainland, when ever wc could reach it. I thought that the distance could not be very great, at least to some of the civilized and larger islands. But I had no more exact idea of the geography than a vogue remem brance of a map In the Moll's atlas which had belonged to my grandfather. However, I resolved first to question our guide, and so, after resting a few days, I asked him again to accompany Anna and myself into the woods, on pre text of gathering the ripe plums of a tall and beautiful tree which grew there. "Eborra." I said, as soon as wo were without the village, and safe from the prying ears of the liberty men, "must we always stay here? Is there no way to escape among Christian people?" He smiled his wistful smile. "Already jou are tired of poor Obeah man? Christian you like better. Are not these Christian?" He pointed with bitter irony to the buccaneer village beneath us. "Nay, Eborra," I said; "we are not tired of you." And Anna chimed in, "Nay, truly! You are the only friend we have on this accursed Island!" And our quick speech pleased him no little. On this occasion we kept to the right, skirting the high woods and walking first along the shore and then among the easier herbage on the margin of the bay. I had noticed that the sailors of the Cor ramantee never by any chance wandered In this direction, but always took their walks southward along the opposite curve of the crescent. We wero now heading toward its northern horn. I asked Yellow Jack the reason why the sailors avoided this place. He pointed to a low buh, like thf alders which grew along the Kirkcon nel water at home, which overhung the path. "That is tho reason," he said, senten tlously. And he indicated a huge snake which lay along a branch, with its head sway ing a little over and toward us. "Fer-dc-lance strike at faces of those who pass beneath strike like a whiplash so and thn come back to him place!" "Let us go further out." I said, think ing of Anna, "where there is clean, yel low sand to walk on. Why run the risk of dying in n swamp by serpent's poison?" "He will never touch Eborra, nor yet Eborra's friends," said the lad. And though it thrilled me with fear to see him. ho went up close and passed his hand caressingly up and down the snake's back, humming at the same time his low. continuous song. Anna and I shuddered to look at him. but Eborra was perfectly calm, and the huge fer-de-lance arched his ruddy back like a petted cat by the fire side, moving his head quickly to and fro before our guide's face. "He Obeah, I Obeah," said Yellow Jack, and, with a farewell caress, he came on with us once more through the scrubby undergrowth. We were soon forcing our way with cutlass and knife through the tangle toward the northern horn. Here at some former time the whole face of the cliff had fallen down in a vnst tumbled confusion, thousands of huge blocks being piled indiscriminately ever each other, and these, seen from the sea. were full of black holes, overgrown with tasseled creepers and prickly pear the haunt, so the sailor-men said, of wild animals and deadly snakes. Into this tangle Yellow Jack led us by a path which had obviously been trod den more than once before, as confidently as a man will walk up to his own front door. "Do not fear," he said. "I will show you how to escape from these Christians." So, greatly heartened by his premise, we followed, Anna as usual leading the way, and tho guide putting the creepers aside from before the girl's face by hold ing them in tho hook at the end of his right arm till she had passed. I had to attend to myself. The huge down-throw of rock, heaped above In fantastic masses, was a very rabbit warren below, through whose tun nels Eborra threaded his way gliding un der this rock and clambering over the next. Wc followed down a long, gloomy passage, and over a miniature mountain pass. xnen. aucKing low again till we emerged safely In the loveliest little shel tered bay, a very harbor in miniature, completely sheltered from all sight of the sea and defended on the land side from the buccaneer's village. Anna clapped her hands at the sight, and cried out with pleasure at the love ly sand and shells on the shore. The shells were not broken to pieces, as on tho beach in front of the village, by the force of the waves, but every tiny, turret-like form perfect to Its last whorl. Some wero marked like staircases, with steps of alternate yellow and red. Anna bent and gathered handfuls and finally lapfuls of these, murmuring nil tho whil" with a kind of tenderness: "Ah. that I had you home with me at the Miln house, how happv I should be!" And this was all sole complaint I heard her make all the time she was on the Island. In one corner of this fairy paradise, and sheltered from the wash of any seas by the great jutting nose of the North Horn, a ship's Jolly boat rode at anchor close to a little natural pier, as taut and trim as if the Indlaman's crew had Just left her. I ran to her and found that she waa both well-kept and well-found, having oars commodlously packed with a pro tecting ftTnina a short-socketed, spar for hoisting a sail, and all the necessary con veniences for making a voyage of some length. A chain of stout links of Iron connected her stem with the anchor at the bottom of the little harbor. "We must set sail at once, before tho ship comes back!" I cried eagerly. "Where did you get the boat, and why have you not escaped long ago?" For the marvel pf possessing such a treasure, and yet remaining in a position of slavery, troubled me. But Yellow Jack held up his handlers arm. and said reproachfully, without an swering my first question, "This is the reason, sir; also whom would Eborra trust, except his weak old mother? And whither would he go when there there and there (pointing south, north and cast) aro slaves, slaves only slaves?" Then ho guided us to a small hut built of driftwood and thatched with broad pal metto leaves, which stood unseen in a charming recces of the rocks. "Eborra's house!" he explained, with a proud and satisfied look. And here, upon blocks of wood rudely shaped as stools, wo sat and ate bananas and strange fruits which our guide had brought with him. while almost at our feot the wave lets hissed crisply along the beach of bright shells and golden sand. The half-caste stood silent before us a long timo before he spoke. "You Eborra's frionds." he said. "You not like the others. Suppose Eborra show you how to escapo. you never sell him into slavery. Never let cruel white man whip his mother because sho is a witch!" I could not tell him that still in my own country poor old women like his mother wero condemned for witchcraft and that, not so long ago, one had been burned with all circumstance of civil and ecclesiastical pomp upon tho borough moor of Abercairn itself. On the contrary. Anna promised that if we were delivered and restored to our own country, he should be rewarded and cared for, and his mother also. He turned RICHEST MAN Iff ' jfPjj 1 ''""''$' ALFIIED BEIT, AFRICAN BILLIOXAIRBL on her a look of dog-llko gratitude, and, taking tho girl's hand, he set it on his head. "Eborra your slave!" he said grate fully. Then, in fragmentary, but easily un derstood, sentences, he told us, that If wo did endeavor to escape, wo must go northward, that a chain of Islands con nected us with the larger settlements of Puerto Rico and Jamaica, where we would find governments, and ships in which to return to our native land. But he warned us that the voyage would prove a long and dangerous one. Moreover, the jolly boat would go so slow that If the Corro mantee chanced to return about the time of our escape we should be Instantly cap tured. Still, there was a hopo, a possibility, and, according to my fashion, I began in stantly to build upon it In fivo minutes I had us all back In imagination at New Miins, my Uncle John dethroned, the prince come to his own. And the prin cess But Yellow Jack broke In remorseless ly upon the beauty of my vision. "To night or tomorrow at latest the Corro mantee will return. We must wait till they lay her ashore to careen her. We need many things for the voyage. We must find casks for water and bring them hither; we must take dried tongues, smoked beef" "How can we get these?" interrupted Anna, "unless we steal? We cannot buy them." Yellow Jack looked at her In astonish ment. "It Is no sin to steal from the thief," he said. "They cut off Eborra's hand. Ebor ra take his boat to help him to get back his flesh and bones. Will he ever get that back?" Ho held up the stump of his arm as he spoke, smiling strangely as he did so, and neither of us made any further objection, so easily is morality sometimes satisfied. I asked Eborra how ho knew that the ship would return speedily. "My mother told me she saw it sailing hither. It fought and took a ship. Many people killed. Two ships come with much plun der tonight tomorrow perhaps!" I said to myself that If this proved to be true his mother would bo a witch In deed, and In my own country might be in even greater danger than in any pirate Isle. I thought of Mr. John Bell. We went back, not by the way we had come, but through the silent woods Ebor ra, like tho guardian demon of the place, humming his curious song, and the deadly snakes waving their heads at us from the boughs. Bright-colored birds flashed across us. Strange flowers gleamed amid tho dull green of the foliage. Far off we could hear a sound like a bell struck in some church tower, a solemn note, re verberant and sonorous then silence yet more complete, and again, after a space tho solemn toll, as If in the deeps of the unknown wood, the dead were burying the dead. Then out of tho Intenser silence from the forest edges, where the high woods stood up like a black rampart wall, there would come a sudden terrible scream, or laughter equally hideous some bird seized by a serpent, or perchance only a howling monkey playing bo-peep with his kind. An hour afterward, as we entered the village with our hastily seized bunches of grapes and satchels of wild plums, wc attracted no attention; something absorb ing in interest had happened. The wholo population stood at gaze, and oven my mother was on the balcony of her house, looking out to sea as eagerly as any. Two ships had been sighted, one with three and the other with two masts. They were heading directly for the island. And I know not whether Yellow Jack's mother was a witch, or whether our guide owed his prevision to some superior trick of eyesight. CHAPTER XXXIII. Jim Mnkcx n -uiKtnlcc. But at any rate we had now some thing definite to do. The Jollyboat must ba provisioned. Will Bowman must be enlisted, a watch kept upon tho beach for such readily conveyable articles as would bft US.ef.Ul tO US In OUT adventure, and, most difficult of all. my mother humored and kept in ignorance till the last mo ment. It was too lato for the ships to pass tho Intricate and dangerous passage of tho reefs before tho morning. But I do not think that In the buccaneer village there were many shut eyes that night. A continual hum of voices came to our ears, and as we went cautiously arong the shore tho acrid smell of tobacco, or the red glow from a lop-sided pipe bowl told where the liberty men wero discussing the chances of a new capture. Anna and I stole near a group of them that we might listen to their talk. That also might prove useful, or so we told each other. For with the throwing overboard of ono convention many others go. But we wero bound to escape, and must not stand upon a scruple. We had re solved to suspend the commandment we had learned, "Thou shalt not steal." And so the unwritten addition, "Thou shalt not eavesdrop," could be of no more bind ing interpretation for us. "Tell ye what," said one man, whom I recognized by his accent as Rodney Pax. a red-bearded burly man, and a great favorite on account of his good humor; "if yonder boat's a three-master, I'm glad I was not aboard o' the Corromantee when sho was took. Flghtin I am with you in, but walkin tho plank blindfold! That's what gets me Jim! I can hear them scream as thoy hit the water!" It was Jim Pembury who replied, a lean, snaky, gipsy-like fellow with a nose bro ken in combat. "For me," ho said, between quick puffs of his pipe, "I see no two ways. Either die old in the ditch or, run your chance of dying young on the scaffold. I do not hold with this cant of mercy. If we are Brethren of the Coast, brethren let us be. I don't hold with bringing white women here with a palace for them to live in, and thnt boy and girl running peering everywhere. No good comes o' that, as I see!" IN THE WORLD. "One's captain's son t'other's super cargo's daughter! That's why!" said an other out of the darkness. "P'raps they'll make It up and start a new crew," chuckled another. "First we know," continued Jim Pem bury. "this island will get blowed on, and wo'll hear the blessed magistrate a-tellin us that we had better get ready to bo hanged by the neck till we be dead. 'And the Lord have'!" "Stow that, Jim," said Rodney Pax. quickly; "no good ever comes o takin them words In vain I" "Rodney's turning soft, I guess, like captain and old Saul!" said Jim Pembury. "Daro you say as much to either o' them you've named, Jim?" retorted Rodney. "Tony Drake an' me 'ill come along and bring homo the pieces in a fo'c'sle sack, If you do!" "If you think I'm afeard o' either cap tain or any gipsy tinker that breathes, you'ro mistaken," said Pembury. "Im as good as they Is, and better. I didn't kill my father when he was asleep!" Something passed us- quickly, a tall fig ure, dark against the sky, as Anna and I cowered lower behind the hedge of prickly pear. "Stand up, Jim Pembury," I heard the voice of Captain Stansfield, very clear and yet not loud. "You never killed your father, did you not? Well, you have a chance to kill a better man now. Stand up and fight for your life! I might have you tied up and shot like a dog for the words you have spoken. If I gave the or der. Is there a man would say mo nay? But I give you a chance, which Is more than he deserves. Has he his knife, men? Get over the hedge, the rest of you! I will fight him in the dark who slanders in tho dark. Are you ready, Jim Pem bury"? Step out!" But the man did not reply. Already he had dropped to the ground, and from whero wo crouched we could see him creeping around the shelter of the hedge with intent to strike the first blow. It was a terrible moment. We were on the same side of the hedge, and he was crawling so closely that he could scarcely avoid touching either of us. Yet the prickly pear hedge was full of keen spines, and it was Impossible either to overleap it or to push through. So, though I suffered Intense pain from tho pricking, I pressed my back against the fleshy leaves and drew Anna down upon my knees, just as Jim Pembury came creeping softly round. He was so close in that I thought he could not possibly escapo seeing us. But ho had eyes only for my father, who had never moved since ho had spoken. I could see him still, black against the sky, mak ing a blank among the stars. Every moment I expected to feel the knife, and I wondered if It could hurt much moro than the needles which were piercing my back and side. But, just as Pembury crouched for the rush. I felt something strike my foot. The crouching man stumbled and fell forward upon the stones, and shingle, with an oath and a ring of iron as his knife went clattering out of his hands. The dark figure of Cap tain Stansfield vanished too quickly for our eyes to see what happened next. We also heard the sound of two heavy blows stricken in quick succession, a dull groan like that of a pole-axed ox, and then be tween us and :he sky we saw the dark, tall figure of the captain. He was wiping a knife delicately, even as I had seen him do once before in the Blue Room at New Mllns. Then a hand fell on the collar of my shirt, and I was lifted to my feet, Anna still in my arms. "What is this?" said my father's voice. "More traitorous knaves? Whatr my son Philip night-lurking here among the hedges!" "Ho fell over my foot, sir!" I stam mered, without thinking what I had said. "Aha, Son Philip! then I owe you that which I shall not forget! But now es cort this young lady to your mother's house, and go you to bed. This is neither time nor place ror cither of you to be abroad." So Anna and I walked back to my mother's house, and found her sitting at her stocking with' an open Bible before her. She knitted steadily, and as If her flnsers could not stop. But though, she looked at the book, I do not think she read much. "You are too late out. Philip, and Anna!" she said, as if we had been play ing about the Yett "house at hi-spy or marbles. "It Is altogether unseemly!" So for once In their lives my father and my mother were agreed upon a question of morals. CHAPTER XXXIV. Corramantce's Prize. Our friend Yellow Jack always said that Captain Stansfield was not by any means the worst of white men; and unqualified praise seemed to be the sense of all we could gather from the other slaves upon the Island. Indeed, my father's own Doy." a fat rascal named Jacob, was looked upon by all as a very fortunate person, and was constantly In demand at every negro dance and Obeah festival on ac count of his supposed influence with his master. Strangely, of late I also had begun to doubt the evidence of my senses, and to wonder if, Indeed, what I had seen and heard In the blue room of New Milns could have been real. But now, and for some time afterwards. I had soon other things upon my mind that speculation as to the particular tinge of red upon my father's hands. At the best their purity was by no means vimln. In the morning the ships were In the bay. They proved to be the Corraman tee and another tall vessel of three masts, full-rigged and capable of containing twice tho number of men which manned the hermaphrodite schooner. But, though there were blanks in the muster-roll, and the second mate would never more bid a man wash his socks on board any earthly ship, there were no new faces; and it was obvious that the task of bringing the ships Into port had been a difficult one. But now the liberty men swarmed on board, and in a trice the boats were going merrily to and fro between the ships and the beach, convoying provisions and plun der of all sorts. Saul Mark stood at the landing-place and examined every boat load, to all appearance occupied In sep arating what was kept for future disposal from those articles which were to be di vided Immediately. All provisions and mxmltlons of war were sent to a common store. But, on the oth er hand, the men were allowed to keep small articles of private loot, such as watches and jewelry. (V'here were the pcor souls who had worn these?) Several wounded buccaneers sat about the shore, talking In low tones to their women, and saying a word occasionally to their com panions as they went jovially by. Yet all was done in so matter-of-fact and cheer ful a way that I could not bring myself to believe that red slaughter had been done on the high seas, or that these men, who so cheerfully would give a nelghb.iT a helping shoulder beneath his burden or cast sportive arms about the waists of two giggling yellow girls, could be the bloody pirates and murderers tho dead Pembury had represented them to be. As usual. Captain Stansfield stood apart, neither associating with officers nor with menv but watching with keen eyes that every one did his duty. The task ol discharging the captured ship occupied a full week of wondrously hot weather. The men worked stripped, most of them to their trousers, while others went about with nothing moro upon them than a breechclout. The sea was smooth as a mill pond (Ah! that I could have seen Umphray Spurway's!) all the time, and the boats went regularly out, and came as regularly In. I desired greatly to visit the captured ship, and I think that I might have succeeded In hld lns In some of the boats, for the men were cheerful and good-humored beyond their wont, partly with the rum that had been freely served and partly with the prospect of the large dividend which each expected at the close of the discharge. But. Just as the boat in which I was hidden started. Anna Mark came running down to the shore crying; "Take me, too!" For she had been delayed at some task for my mother, which liked her little, be cause It kept her within doors. As soon as her father heard Anna call, he hade the men cease from rowing. "Who Is that In the bow of the boat?" he said. 1 And, when they told him, "Send the lad ashore!" he cried; "tho ship Is no placo for him." Whereupon I told him that I had not wished to go aboard, but only went for tho pleasure of the sail. But he looked as If he had hard work to believe me, and made me disembark. Then came my father by, and I saluted him, as I saw others do, making bold to ask him it I could not go out with one of the boats to the ship. He shook his head, and passed on without speaking. Yet Captain Stansfield had r.ot gone far before he turned and said: "You can co to my cuarters and get my telescope. You may visit the ship through that." I was overjoyed, and Anna and L started to get the glass at once. Now, I had never been In the house where my father abode, and I would not at this time have been able to make my way within had not lazy Jacob been out lounging upon the wall beneath keeping all the while his eyes upon his master, so that upon his return he might be fqund busily engaged at his own proper work. The great brass perspective glass was not In the little room, where the debris of my father's breakfast was not yet cleared away from the table by that good-for-nothing Jacob. The walls were hung around with swords, pistols, mus kets and other material of war, but nothing of the nature of a spyglass could I discern. Accordingly I pushed my way Into my father's sleeping-room. Tho bed was narrow and plain as a cabin- bunk, the room wholly without ornament, save that, to my great surprise, I found the picture of my mother which Umphray Spurway had had painted. It hung on the wall at the foot of my father's couch in such a position that it must have been the first object upon which his eyes lighted when he awoke. This I could Tiot understand, and I called In Anna to my assistance. But the matter presented no difficulties to her. "He must love her In spite of all," sho said, with a true woman's belief In the eternity of love. And from this she could not be driven, say what I would to shake her. "He tried to kill her," I reminded her. "For all you know," she retorted, "he may have aimed at some one elso and shot his wife by accident." "He was cruel to my mother, and left her for another," I said next. "Well, he may be sorry now," she said. "His heart may have turned." "His heart turned!" said I, mockingly, "after what we heard and saw last night!" "JIrn Pembury tried to kill him." said Anna quickly. "Why, Anna," I cried, "what makes you defend him? I cannot understand it!" "There Is no great reason why you should," she responded, acridly. "Get the telescope and come out." At last I found the perspective glas3 in a cupboard, where were many old suits of clothes, and cutlasses, both naked and hung up In their sheath3. I took it under my arm and came out. My father still stood on the beach all alone and looked out to sea. Anna and I found a commodious place of refuge on tho cliff edge, and, after examining the crevices of the rack for green scorpions and red ants, we laid un down and took turn and turn about at watching the ships, with great de light. As the tide began to run inward the prize swung to her anchor, and I hoped at last t6 make out her name and destination. But In this I was dis appointed, for the lettering had been carefully offaced, and I was not sailor enough to guess from her rigging and equipment anything even of her nation ality. The men of the Corramantee were now taking out of her such large articles as spare spars, coils of rope, and bales of sailcloth. The 'former they pitched overboard, to bo drawn ashore; the latter they lowered into boats, all working with a will and as merrily- as Innocent "harvest folk singing among the corn stooks on the. braes of Morcham. All that day Anna and I watched the work on shipboard, and marveled at the celerity with which everything was cleared away. A little before dusk I took back the telescope and gave It Into the hands of Jacob, who was now running about preparing his master's dinner with Im mense bustle and show of alacrity. (To Be Continued.) THE PALATJAi. Kot a dark orace la the tmiltUngfe absolutely fireproof; electric Ilxht. nnd rtrtcslnn water: perfect nanlta tlou and thorun;rl 'vrntllntlou. Kle vators run doy anil nlirht. VlOORIt. ANT5ERSOX. GUSTAV. Attorney-at-Law ...CIS ASSOCIATED TPRESS; H. I Powell. Mgr .. &n. BANKERS LIFE ASSOCIATIOM. ot De Moines. Ia.; C A. ilcCargar, State Asent.. 302-1-BEHNKE. H. W.. Ptln. Perntn Shorthand School ...... ...211 BENJAMIN. R. W.. Dentlut 3H. BINS W ANGER. DR O. S.. Phys. & Sur..l-413. BRUERE. DR. G. E.. I'hy!clan 412-413-414- BUSTEED. RICHARD. Agent Wilson & Mc- Caltay Tobacco Co 002-C01. CAUKIN. G. E.. District Agent Travelers Insurance Co ............ "IS- CAr.DWELU DP.. J. B 30 CLARK. HAROLD. Dentist 314. CLEM. E. A. & CO.. Mining Propertles...515-51i-COLUMBIA TELEPHONE COMPANY C04-C05-COC-COT-013-ei4-S:3. CORNELIUS. C. W.. Phys. anj Surgeon 20(1 COVER. F. C.. Cashier Equitable Lire 3uU COLLIER. P. F.. Punllsher; 3. P. McGuire. Manager 415-413" DAY, J. Q & I. ?I SIS DAVIS, NAPOLEON. President Columbia Telephone Co COT DICKSON. DR. J. F.. Physician 713-714. DRAKE. DR. H. B.. Physician 012-513-514 DUNHAM. MRS GEO. A. 71T DWYER. JAS. F. Tobaccos 402: EDITORIAL ROOMS Eighth floor EQUITABLE LIFr: ASSURANCK SOCIETY: L. Samuel. Manager; F. C. Cover. Cashler..304 EVENING TELEGRAM.- 323 Alder atret FENTON. J. D.. Physician and Surgeon-.500-51O FENTON. DR. HICKS C. Eye and Ear 311 FENTON. MATTHEW F.. Dentist 50 FIDELITY MUTUAL LIFE ASS'N; E. C. Stark. Manager G0L FRENCH SCHOOL (by conversation); Dr. A. Muszarelll. Manager TOfr GALVANI. W. H.. Engineer and Draughts man go GEARY. DIt. EDWARD P., Physician and Surgeon 212-21S GIESY. A. J.. Physician and Surgeon.. ..70O-7i GODDARD. E. C & CO.. Footwear, ground floor ;29 Sixth street GOLDMAN. WILLIAM. Manager Manhattan Life Insurance Co.. of New York 203-21' GRANT. FRANK S.. Attorney-at-law GIT GRENIER. MISS BEATRICE. Dentist 703 Hammam Baths. King & Compton, Props.. 30O HAMMOND. A. B 310 HEIDINGER. GEO. A. & CO.. Pianos and Orgars 131 Slsth St. HOLLISTER. DR. O. C. Phys. & Surg... 504-303-IDLEMAN. C. M.. Attoraey-at-Law...410-17-lS , KADY. MARK T.. Manager Pacific North west Mutual Reserve Fund Life Asso...C04-CC3 LAMONT. JOHN. Vice-President and Gen eral Manager Columbia Telephone Co C03- LITTLEFIELD. H. R.. Phys. and Surgeon. ..200 MACRUM. W. S.. Sec Oregon Camera CIub..214. MACKAY. DR. A. E.. Phys. and Surg....711-713 MAXWELL. DR. W. E.. Phys. & Surg.. 701-2-3. McCARGAR. C A.. State Agent Bankers' LIfo Association ..................... ..502-50J: McCOY. NEWTON. Attorney-at-Law 713- McFADEN. MISS IDA E.. Stenographer 201 McGINN. HENRY E.. Attorney-a:-Law..3ll-313i McKELL. T. J.. Manufacturers Representa tive - 303. MILLER. DR. HERBERT C.. Dentist and Oral Surgeon G0S-G0S MOSSMAN. DR. E. P.. Dentist 512-513-514. MANHATTAN LIFE INSURANCE CO.. of New York; W. Goldman. Manager 200-218- McELROY. DR. J. O.. Phy. & Surg. 70 1-702-70 J: McFARLAND. E. B.. Secretary Columbia Telephone Co.... COS- McGUIRE. S. P.. Manager P. T. Collier. Publisher 415-41S McKIM. MAURICE, Attorney-at-Law 500- MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO.. of New York; "Wm. S. Pond. State Mgr. 404-405-40& MUTUAL RESERVE FUND LIFE ASS'N: M. T. ICady. Mgr. Pacific North west.... 604-0 NICHOLAS. nORACE B. At:erney-ot-Law.. 710 NILES. M. I. Cashier Mnnhattan Life In surance Co.. of New York 201 OREGON INFIRMARY OF OSTEOPATHY; Dr. L. B. Smith. Osteopath 40S-403. OREGON CAMERA CLUB 214-215-21ft-2ir PERNIN SHORTHAND SCHOOL; IL W. Behnke. Prln 21t POND. WM. S.. State Manager Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York 4O4-403-40C PORTLAND EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY.. - Ground floor. 133 Sixth s:rt PORTLAND PRESS CLUB 71i PROTZMAN EUGENE C. Superintendent Agencies Mutual Reservo Fund Life, of New York en. PTJTNAM'S SONS. G. P.. Publishers 31S QUIMBY. L. P. W.. Game and Forestry Warden 710-71T REED & MALCOLM. Optician v. 123 Sixth streer REED. F. C. Fish Commissioner 407 RYAN. J. B.. Attorney-at-law 41T jALIsBURY. -""EG N-. Section Director. U. S. Weather Bureau 01O SAMUEL. L.. Manager Equitable Life 3oa SANDFORD. A. C k CO.. Publishers' Agts..513 SCRIBNER'S FON3. CHAS.. Publishers: Jes?e Hnb'on. Manager 513-r.l6-3tr SHERWOOD. J. W.. Deputy Supreme Com mander. K. O. T. M 31T SMITH. DR. L B.. Osteopath 408-409 SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLTTTON Vny STARK. E. C. Executive Spec'al. Fidelity Mutual Life Association cf Phlla.. Pa fint STARR .t COLE Pyrography 40? STEEL. G. A. Forest Inspector 21S STUART. DELI Attorney-at-Law... 015-niC-f.1T STOLTE. DR. CHAS. E.. Dentist 704-703 SURGEON OF THE 3. P. RY. AND N. P. TERMINAL CO 70J STROWBRIDGE. TITOS H.. Executive Spe cial Agent Mutual Life, of New York 40 CfPERINTEVDENTS OFFICE 201 TUCKER. DR GEO. F.. Dentist Gift 011 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU . 0ort-007-W?-90 U. S. LIGHTHOUSE ENGINEERS. 13TH DIST.. Captain W. C Langntt. Corps of Engineers. U. S. A 80 U. S. ENGINEER OFFICE. RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS. Captain W. C Lancfltt. Corps of Engineers. U. S. A... .81 WALKER. WILL H.. President Oregon Camera Club 214-21.'-2ltV2I7 WATERMAN. C H.. Cashier Mutual Life of New York 4(yj WATKINS. Miss E. L.. Purchasing Agency 71( WEATHERRSD. MRS. EDYTH. Grand Sec retary Natjve Daughters 71G-717 WHITE. MISS L. E.. Ass't Sec. Oregon Cam era Club 214 WILSON. DR. EDWARD X.. Phys. & Sur.304- WILSON. DR. GEO F.. Phys. & Surg... 70G-7O7 WILSON. DR. HOLT C. Phys. & SurK...507-503 WILSON & McCALLAY TOBACCO CO : Richard Bustoed, Agent 602-CC.1 WOOD. DR. W. L.. Physician 412-413-414 WILLAMETTE VALLEY TELEPIL CO 613 A few more decant office mny lf had ly npplylns: to Portland Trnit Company of Orccon, 10!) Third at., 09 to the rent clerk in the bHdlaj, OBEBOHH BtllLMSG rail JP Pal Pit fells j Sim S MbbsbwS11! i