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About Lexington wheatfield. (Lexington, Or.) 1905-19?? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1906)
THE IRON PIRATE A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea By MAX PEMBERTON CHAPTER IV. (Continued.) The helm went over, and the yacht loomed up black, as our own light died eway; and passed us within a cable's length. What lift of the night there was showed us her decks again ; but riey were not deserted, for as one or two aboard .gave a great cry, I saw the white and horridly distorted face of a man who -clung to the main shrouds and he alone wias the guardian of the wanderer. That vision of the man 1 had left well and hopeful and strong not three days since was terrible to me. A brave man had gone to his death, but to what a death, if that agonized face and distorted visage betokened aught ! And I had prom ised to aid him, and was drifting there with the schooner, raising no hand to give him help. "Skipper," I cried, "this time we'll risk 'getting a boat off; I'm going aboard that vessel now, if I drown before I return." Then I turned to the men and said : "You saw the yacht pass just now, and you .saw that man aboard her he's my friend, and I'm going to fetch him." As the good fellows gave way and our boat rode easily before the wind, I no ticed for the first time that the clouds were scattering; and we had not made another cable's length when a great cloud above us showed silver at its edges, and opaquely white in its center, through ' which the moon shone. Anon it dissolv ed, and the transformation on the surface ; of the water was a transformation from . the dark of storm to the chrome light of a "summer moon. The deserted yacht was beating. up to us, and we stood right iii her track. "Get a grapnel' forward, and look out there," -cried the man in command. As if to help us, the wind fell away as the schooner came up, and she began to hake her sails. Suddenly there was the aound as of fierce contest, of the bursting of wood, and the spread of flame; and in that instant the decks of the yacht were ripped up, and sheets of fire rose from them' to the rigging above. "Give way," roared Dan again, for the men sat motionless with terror. "Are you going to let him burn?" The words awed them. They shot the long boat forward ; and I stood in her atern to observe, if I could, what passed en the burning decks. And I saw a sight the like to which I pray that I may never Bee again. Martin Hall stood at the main shrouds, motionless, volumes of flame around him, his figure clear to be viewed by that awful beacon. "Why doesn't he jump it?" I called aloud. But Martin Hall never moved, his gaunt figure was motionless the flames beat upon it, it did not stir; and we drew near enough anon and knew the worst "He's lashed there and he's dead," :Baid Dan. "Easy! for a parcel of stark tools! Would you run alongside her?" There they lay, for any nearer ap proach would have been perilous, and even in that place where we were, twenty feet -on the windward side, the heat was nigh unbearable. So near were we that I look ed close as it might be into the dead face of Martin Hall, and saw that the fiends who had lashed him there had done their work too well. But I 'hoped in my heart hat he had been dead wheh the end of the ship had begun to come, and that it were no reproaoh to me that he had per ished ; for to save his body from that holocaust was work no man might do. So did we watch the mounting fire, and the last tack of the yacht La France, Saucily she raised her head to a new breeze, shook her great sail of flame in he night, and scattered red light about her. Then she dipped her burning jib as If in salute, and there was darkness, As we neared our own ship Roderick took my hand, giving it a great grip. Then we came aboard, where Mary waited for us with a white face, and the others stood 'ailent; but we said nothing to them, going , below. There I locked .myself in my own cabin, and though fatigue lay heavyvon me, I took Martin Hall's papers from my locker and lighted .the lamp to read them through. But net without nwe, for they were message from the dead. : CHAPTER V. The manuscript, which was sealed on Its cover in many, places, consisted of several pages of close writing, and of sketches and scraps from newspapers Italian, French and English. The sketches I looked at first, and was not a little surprised to see that one of them was the portrait of the man known as "Roaring John, and there was wit hthis a blur red and faint outline of the features of the seaman called "Four-Eyes." But what, perhaps, was even more difficult to understand was the picture of the great liull of what I judged to be a warship. howing her a-bullding, with the work yet progressing on her decks. The newspaper cuttings 1 deemed to be in Borne part an xplaiwtlon of these sketches, for one of them gave a description or a very note worthy battleship, constructed for South American republic, but in much secrecy. . All this reading remained enigmatical. Lot course, and as I could make nothing of it'to connect it with the events I have narrated, I went on to the wrjting, which V 'flue "inwull, M-M yxt of an exact man. And the words upon the head of it were these : SOME ACCOUNT OF A NAMELESS WARSHIP. Of Heb Crew, and IIeb Purpose. Written for the eyet of Mark Strong, by Martin Hall, sometime hit friend. From that place the story was in great part autobiographical. -It was, as you shall see, the simple narration of a man sincere in his dreaming, if he did dream ; logical in his madness, if ho were mad. And this was his story as first I read it : "I was born in Liverpool thirty-three years ago, and was educated for a few years at the well-known institute in that city. They taught me there that con sciousness of ignorance which is half an education ; and being the son of a man who starved on a fine ability for model ling things in clay, and plaster moulding, I went out presently to make my living. First to America, to get the experience of coming home again ; then to the Cape, to watch other men dig diamonds; to Rome, to Naples, to Genoa, that I might know what it was to want food ; to South America as an able seaman ; to Australia in the stoke-hole of a South Sea liner; home again to my poor father, who lay dead when I reached Liverpool. "I was twenty-two years old then.vand glutted with life. By what chance it was I cannot tell, but I drifted lik a living log into the detective, -force ., of my city, and after working, up . for' a few years through the grades, they p'ut'ine on the landing-stage at Liverpool, to watch for men who wished to emigrate. Jt was mis erable employment, but educating,-for it1 taught me to read faces that were dis guised, old men become beardless, young men made old. I suppose I had more than common success, for when I had been so employed for five years I was sent to London by our people, and there commended to go to the Admiralty and get new instructions. . Regard this, please, as the first mark in this record I am mak ing. Of my work for our own people I may not tell even you, since I engaged upon it under solemn bond of secrecy ; but can indicate that I was sent to Italy to pick up facts in the dock yards there, and that our people relied on my gifts of disguise, and on my knowledge of Ital ian. In short, I was expected to provide plans and accounts of many things mate rial to our own service, and I entered on the business with alacrity, gained admit tance to the public dock yards, and knew in a twelvemonth all that any man could learn who had his wits only to guide him. It was in Italy during my second year of work that I had cause to be at Spezia, inspecting there a new type of , gunboat about which there was much talk and many opinions. It was an evening late in the year, and the sun was just setting. I watched the changing hues of the peaks as the light spread from point to point upon the castle roof, upon the steel hulls of great ships. And then I saw a strange thing, for amongst all the vessels I saw one that stood out beyond them all, a great globe, not of silver, but of golden fire. There was no doubt about it at all ; I rubbed my eyes, I used the glass I al ways carried with me; I viewed the hull I saw lying there from half a dozen heights; and I was sure that what I saw was no effect of evening light or strange refraction. The ship I looked on was built either of brass, or of some alloy of brass, as It seemed to me, for the notion that she could -be plated with gold was preposterous; and yet the more I exam ined her, the more clearly did I make out that her hull was constructed of a metal infinitely gold-like, and of so beautiful a color In the reddened stream which shone upon It that the whole ship had the aspect of a mirror of the purest gold I had ever seen. The dark fell. I returned to the town quickly. I went straight to the sea front and began, if I could, to find where the water lay wherein this extraordinary steamer was docked. I had taken the bearings 01 it trora tne Mils, ana I was very quickly at that spot where I thought to have seen the strange vessel. There, truly enough, was a dock in which two small coasting steamers were moored, but of a sign of that which I sought there was none. I should have had the matter out there and then, searching the place to its extremity ; but I had not been at my work ten minutes when I knew that I was watched. A man, dressed as a rough sailor, and remarkable for the hidcousness of his face and a curious malformation of one tooth, lurked behind the heaps of sea lumber, and followed me from point to point. I returned in a good disguise of a common English seaman on the follow ing evening, and again entered the dock yard. The same man was watching, but he had no suspicion of me. "'Any job going?' I asked, and the question seemed to Interest him. " 'I reckon that depends on the man,' he replied, sticking his hands deep into his pockets. 'What's a little wizen chap like you good for, except to get yer neck broken? " 'All In my line,' I answered Jauntily, having fixed my plan; 'I'm starving amongst these cutthroats here, and I'm ready for anything.' , ... I chatted with him, and later on with his companions, about as fine a dozen of selfjstamped rascals as. ever I wish, to lee.." fteit' day, I cauieVgaln td the dock yards, convinced that I was at the foot of a mystery, and, to ni delight, I got em ployment from the "chief of the gang, named 'Roaring John' by his Mends; and was soon at work on the simple and matter-of-fact business of cutting planks. This gave me an entry ,to the dock yard all I wished at the moment. "I had got admission to the dock, but had learnt nothing of the vessel., I was admitted only to tho outer basin, where the coasting steamers lay, and 'Roaring John' threatened me if I passed the gate which opened into the dock beyond. Min ute by minute and hour by hour, I wait ed my opportunity. It came to me on the morning of the eighth day, when I reached the yard at four o'clock ; and the gate being tinopen, I lurked in hiding until the first man should come. He was no other than the one who had engaged me ; and when he had gone in he did not close the second , door after him, there being no men then at their work. I need not tell you that I used my eyes well in those minute. Thore, sure enough, lay the most remarkable warship I had ever beheld a great, well-armed cruiser, whose docks were bright with quick-firing guns, whose lines showed novelty In every Inch of them. More remarkable than anything, however, was the confirmation of that which I had seen from the hills. The ship, seemingly, was built of the purest gold. This, of course, I knew could not be; but as the sun got up and his light fell on the vessel, I thought that I had never seen a more glorious sight. She shone with the refulgent beauty of a thousand mirrors ; every foot of her deck, of her turrets, of -her upper house made a sheen of dazzling fire ; the points of her deck lights were as beacons, all lurid and a-gold. So marvellous, truly, was her as pect, that I forgot all else but it, and stood entranced, marvelling, forgetful of myself and purpose. The flash of a knife in the air brought me to my senses to know that I was in the grasp of the man 'Roaring John.; A bad mishap befell me. The best of my disguise was the thick, bushy black, hair I wore about my face. As the ruffian went to take a -firmer hold of my collar, he pulled aside a portion of my beard, and left my' chin' clean shaven 'beneath as nat urally it was. - The Intense , surprise of this discovery seemed to hit him like a blow; He stepped back with a murderous look In his eyes. . .But I cheated him, and,' turning on my' heel, ' I-fled" wifh all the speed I possessed, . and got into the street with twenty ruffians at my heels, and a hue and cry such as I hope never to hear again. "The escape was clever.. I reached my hotel. I was sure that I had cut off all hone of returning to the yard ; and what Information I was to get must come byl other modes. The nature of these I knew not, but I was determined to set out upon a visit to Slgnor Vezzia, who was the builder to whom the docks wherein I worked belonged. To him I came as the pretended agent of a shipping firm In New York, with whom I had some little ac quaintance, and he gave me audience readily. He was very willing to hear me when he learned that I was in quest of a builder to lay down steamers for the American trade with Italy; and some while we passed in great cordiality, so I ventured the other business. '"By the by, Signor Vezzia, that's a marvellous battleship you have In your second dock ; I have never seen anything liko her before.' "I spoke the words, and read him as one reads a barometer. He shrank visibly into his bulb, and the tone of his conver sation marked a storm. I heard him mut ter under his breath, and then the mer cury of his conversation mounted quickly. " 'Yes, yes ; a curious vessel, quite a special thing, for a South American re public, an idea of theirs but you will extend me the favor of your pardon, I am busy' and in his excitement he put his spectacles off and on, and called 'Giovan ni, Giovanni !' to his head clerk, who made business to be rid of me. I mounted to my hill top again; and spent the morning looking down upon the golden ship which was built for 'a South American repub lic' That tale I never believed, for the man's face marked It a lie as he gave it to me. I resolved In that hour to devote myself heart and soul to the work of un ravelling the slender threads, even If I lost my common employment In the busi ness. The reverie held me long. I was roused from it by the sight of a dull va par mounting from the funnel of the nameless ship. She was going to sail then at the next tide she might leave Spezia, and there would be no more hope, I hurried to my hotel. "Here was a problem at this stage as It then appeared to me: Item (1), A ship built of some metal I had no knowledge of. Item (2), A ship that shone like a rich sunset on a garden lake. Item (3), A ship that was armed to the full, as a casual glance told me, with every kind of quick-firing gun, and with two ten-inch stuns in her turret. Item (4), A ruffian lv blackguard, to whom the cutting of a throat seemed meat and drink, with ten other rogues no less deserving, from a murderous point of view, put to watch about the ship that no strange eye might look upon her. Item (5), The confusion of Signor Vezzia, who made a fine tale and said at the same time with his eyes, 'This is a lie, and bad one ; I'm sorry that I have nothing better ready. Item (0), My own adamantine conviction that stood near by some mystery, which was about to be a big mystery, and whicn would pay me to pursue. Instinct told me to go on in this work, if I lost all other, if I starved, if I drowned, If I died at it. And to go on I meant, (To be continued.) Yenrs nun the French eovernment of fered 300,000 francs ($00,000) to any one who would give a remedy for the phylloxera, but the prize has never been awarded, because no remedy has been discovered. It Is easy enough to kill the pest with a poisonous spray, but that same spray kills the grape also. Ilome-Made Drill. On our farm we have a shop for re pairing machinery. It Is an essential factor in farm management to bo nblo to repair breakoges uud keep the ma chinery In good working condition, writes a contributor In Orange Judd Farmer. The accompanying Illustration shows a drill made to drill holes for repair ing purposes. This machine will drill a hole through steel or wrought Iron us quickly us a drill we have Unit cost several dollars. The main piece upon which the drill rests Is a 4 by 4 2 feet 0 Inches long mounted upon four legs made of oak 2 by 4 materials. The legs are worked down to two inches square at the bottom to secure neatness and make the drill as light as possible. Tlie main standard Is a 2 by 4 two feet high mortised Into the main 4 by 4. The stub standard Is also a 2 by 4 eight inches high and mortised In the same 4 by 4 (in Inch from the end and two and a half Inches from the main standard. The shaft to which the large wheel Is attached Is a three-quarter-Inch bolt fifteen Inches long. At the head a hole Is drilled Into the holt, heat ed and then squared In order that Jtie HOME-MADE DRILL. drill may be securely held. To feed the drill a steel spring sixteen Inches long Is bolted to the top of the main stand ard and attached to the drill bolt by a slot In the spring. The small wheel at tached to a threaded bolt does the feed ing. The piece upon which the pressure Is put while drilling Is a 4 by 4 mor tised into the main 4 by 4 In the form of a sliding slot in order that any dis tance can be procured according to the size of the Iron Intended to be drilled. A bolt passes through this piece from underneath the 4 by 4. By loosening the bolt It can be moved to any re quired distance. The General Purpoae Farm Home. Very many of our farmers get the Idea that all they have to do Is to breed their nondescript mares to the leggy, coarse type of so culled coach horses being peddled through the country to get the genoral purpose farm horse. I have seen hundreds of colts from this kind of breeding and must say that not 5 per cent of them are even fair speci mens of the general purpose horse, while 50 per cent or more are failures from every point of view. I have seen much better results where the coach stallion has been a finer and more compactly built one or where a hackney or American trotter 'of a compact, smooth, muscular type has been the sire. These observations have led me to the conclusion that this latter plan is the surest one to bring some measure of success in producing the general purpose farm horse. Geo. McKerrow, Wisconsin. OatM for Hoga, Oats may be a portion of a ration for hogs, but they are much more satisfac tory if they are ground. Mixed with corn, oats and shorts, they add materi ally to the value of any hog feed. They should not constitute more than one- fourth of the grain ration. A mixture of oats and peas ground and fed as a swill Is exceedingly valuable. Ameri can Agriculturist. Curing for Turkeys, The young turkeys suffer more than do other fowls at this season of the year If they are not looked after and carefully fed. The supply of nature's food which so largely sustains them during the summer and early fall be gins to dwindle and lessen with each coming day.. The young turkeys and the old turkeys as well should be plen tifully provided with a grain supply to guarantee their continued growth with out being stunted or retarded when they should be growing every day. Country Gentleman. Value of a Jool Vow. What are the cows worth thut pro' (luce 400 pounds of butter per annum? Hero I am going to make a statement and undertake to prove It correct, says a writer In Successful Fanning. When a cow that produces 200 pounds of but ter per annum at a food cost of $IiO and a labor cost of $12.50 Is worth $115. the cow that produces 400 pounds of butter annually Is worth $100, and tho owner can make net $11 more from her after paying Interest on tho $100 than he can from the cows that produce 200 pounds of butter. There Is no more labor connected with the 400-pound cows than there Is with the 200-pound cows. The price at which butter has been credited, namely, 20 cents a pound, Is the net price from the creamery after the making has been paid for. In this herd the Increased cost of feed for tho 400-pound cows was more than offset by the Increased amount of skim milk, so we have tho 200 pounds Increase of butter ns net profit over the 200-iKund cow. Two hundred pounds of butter nt 20 cents is $10. Wo have $400 Invested In these cows, which at 0 per cent In terest Is $24, which we will deduct from tho $10, and we have left $10 to the credit of the 400-pound cow. The Km 11 1'lowlnif. , The question of fall plowing Is a de batable one In the minds of most fann ers. The practice seems to grow more common upon trial in some neighbor hoods and to fall Into almost total dis favor In other sections. Upon the roll ing lauds which are so common there Is little question that' it Is justly con demned, If,. Indeed, it is good practice anywhere, says an exchange. Some loss of plant food from washing and blow ing of the surface soil upon fall-plowed ground Is Inevitable, although its me chanical condition may be Improved somewhat 'by' the action of the frost upon the freshly plowed ground. Of course, the condition of the labor mar ket affects the amount of fall plowing undertaken or accomplished to a very considerable degree, but Independently of any and all of the factors mention ed, fall plowing may be expedient in some cases, The writer has done very little fall plowing during recent years, but this year the plow will be kept go ing as long as the weather will permit after the crops are all secured. Bent Not to Sell Earlr. For years farmers have been grow ing sheep In a small way, and general ly have sold their lambs wheu they weigh GO to 70 iwunds for from $2 to $2.50 each. Even at these prices one makes a nice profit out of his sheep. It has cost little to grow them and so he is well paid, but It Is possible to do better. For several years Western lambs weighing from 50 to 00 pounds have sold at from $2 to $2.50, and after being fed sixty or ninety days, or up to 80 to 90 pounds, they sell for almost twice as much. As a rule the farmers who sell the young lambs have feed enough to finish them and get the additional price. Although this extra feed had to be bought at market prices there would be no loss, for feeders are buying both sheep and feed and making a profit. More profit Is made from, farm products when ani mals are properly finished, and lambs are In this class. ' Salting the' Batter. For those who prefer to salt out of the churn the following Is the best method: Remove the butter when In the granular state, weigh It and place It upon the worker, spread evenly and salt to suit the taste. Sift the salt evenly over the butter, pass the work er over It, then run the butter and work again or until the salt Is thor oughly worked 4n, It may then be set away, for a few hours, after which it should be given a second working. American Cultivator. Chemical Weed Killer. A chemical weed killer has been de-, veloped or tested by the Wisconsin ex periment station In attempts' to kill wild mustard, cocklebur, yellow dock, etc. The peculiar thing claimed for this poison Is that when sprayed on a grow ing grain crop infested by weeds It kills the weeds without Injury to the cultivated crop. " The solution used consists of 100 pounds of Iron sulphate dissolved in fifty-four gallons of water, wnicn nuiuuiu win wyiuy uu ucie. Kill Free Seed DUtrlbntlon. The free seed distribution by the gov ernment costs $242,000 a year, besides the cost of handling in the malls, which costs about as much more, or half a million dollars a year, total. This sum of money wisely used would teach farmers the correct plan to market and build the machine for marketing, which will compel a profitable price for ev ery farm crop grown anywhere in the country. The machine once built will not cost tho fanners anything directly to run It, but will pay great dividends every year. -Up-to Date Fanning.