PAGE SIXTEEN
THE DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL, SALEM, OREGON, SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919.
Eien
KING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE Of
TREASURE DISCOVERED IN
ISLANDS-INTHE-'EAR-tgoi
OVEN TO THE PUBLIC
Q Ric Wd ie
J V-4 V V-
Book I.
CHAPTER I.
- Introduce thai Secretary of th Treat-
Hry of HI Britannic Majesty's Gov
- ernment at Nassau, New Provi
dence, Bahama Islands.
During the summer of 1903 I was
paying what nmst have seemed like an
Interminable visit to my old friend
John Saunders, who at that time filled
with becoming dignity the high-sound-lng
office of secretary of the treasury
of bis majesty's government, In the
quaint little town of Nassau, In the
Inland of New Providence, one of
those Pnham islands that He hnlf
lost to the world to the southeast of
the Caribbean sea and form a some
what neglected portion of the Prltlsh
West Indie.
Time wns when they had a Bounding
Dame for themselves In the world;
when the now sleepy little luirlior
five shelter to rousing freebooters
and tarry pirates, tearing In there un
der full still with their loot from the
Spanish Main.
But those heroic days are gone, and
Nassau Ih given up to a sleepy truuV
in sponges and tortoise ahell, and
peace Ih no name for the drowsy tenor
of the days under the pulm trees and
the wlet polnelimns.
Here, a handful of Englishmen,
clothed In the white linen suits of
the tropics, curry on the government
after the traditional manner of Frit
Ish colonies from time immemorial,
Mel) of them, like my friend, not with
out nn English smile at the humor of
the thing, supporting the dignity of
office Willi Impressive untiles. lord
chief Justice, attorney general, speak
er of tho house, lord high admiral,
colonial secret ury and so forth.
1 My friend tho secrolnry of (he
treasury Is a limit possessing In an un
common degree that rare und most at
tractive of human qualities, conipnn
lonnhleness. As we sit together In the
hush of hia snuggery of nn evening,
surrounded by guns, fishing lines nnd
old prints, there aro time when we
scarcely exchange a dozen words be
tween dinner and bedlime, und yet
' we havo nil the lime a keen and sat
isfying sense of companionship. It Is
John Saunders' girt. Companionship
acema quietly to oozo out of bltr.
Without the need of words.
And occasionally we have ns third
In tlioMB evening com laves a big, slow
smiling, broud fined young merchant
of the snme kidney. In he drops with
nod and a smile, and takes his place
In the smoke cloud of our meditations,
radiating without the effort of speech
that g 1 thing huimuilty; though
one must not forget the one subject
en which now and again the good
Charlie Webster achieves eloquence
la spile of himself duck shooting.
John Saunders' subject Is shark
fishing. Ibo k shoot lug and shark
fishing. It Is enough. Here, for sen
slide men, Is a sulllclcut basis for life
long friendship, and unwearying, In
exhaustible companionship.
It was in this peace of John Rium
dcra' snuggery one July evening In
1IKO, the three of us being duly met
and ensconced In our respective arm
chairs, that We got onto the subject
of- burled treasure. It was I who start
ed us off by asking John what he
knew about burled treasure.
At this John laughed his funny little
quiet laugh. "Burled treasure 1" he
said; "well, I have little doubt that
the Islands are full of It If one only
anew how to get nt It."
"Ki'rioiHy?" I asked.
"Certainly. Why not? Weren't
(lo-ae inlands fur nearly three centu
ries the Mumping ground of all the
pilules of (lie Kiuiiiisli Muln? Morir'in
was bore. Plackhcnrd was here. The
ery governors thcmselve were little
tetter than pirates. Tills room we are
sitting In was the den of one of the
!',.--I rogn. of tlieui all -J.ilin Tin
ker the governor when llruce was
here building Kurt Montagu at the
east end yonder; building It a.-Mhist
pirates, and little else but pirates at
the Government house all the time. A
great old lime linker gave the poor
fellow. You enn read nil about It In
his 'Memoirs.' Nasau was the ren
dezvous for all the cutthroats of the
Caribbean sea. Here they came In
with their loot, their doubloons and
, pieces of eight ;" an I John's eyes twin
kled with enjoyment of the rh h old
romantic words, an though they were
old iort
"litre they squandered much of It,
lin doubt, but they couldn't flounder It
alt. Some of them were thrifty knaves,
too, anil the, looking itrottnd for
Some place of safety, would naturally
think of the bush. The niters keep
their little? hoard there to tbla day."
"It Is their form of stocking." put In
Charlie HYbsfer.t
Trc-tisely. Weil, as I was saying,
1
THE BAHAMA
- NOW - ?
WW
Gallienne
Vl-f . . j
those old fellows would bury their
hoards In some rave or other, and then
go off and get hanged. Their ghosts
perhaps came back. Hut their money
Is still here, lota of It, you bet your
life.'
"Io they ever make any finds?" I
asked.
"Nothing big that I know of. A Jug
full of old coins now and then. I
V'
r-itv. -a hi
mm
!:
"Tho.
Old Fellows Would
Their Hoards."
Bury
found one a year or hvo ago In my
garden here hurled down among the
root of that old Hi; tree."
"Then," put In Charlie, "there was
Hint mysterious 'at ranger over at North
Cay. lie's supposed to have got away
with Quito a pile."
"Tell me about him," said I.
"Well, there used to be an old ec
centric character In the town here a
Im If breed by the "name of Andrews.
John will remember him "
John nodded.
"He used to go around all the time
with big mnbrelln, and inulterlnif to
himself. We used to think him half
crony. Gone so brooding over this
, , . , , , , " '
vej-y subject of burled treasure. I!et-
ler look out, young man I" smiling at
mo. "He used to be always grubbing
about In the bush. Well, several years
ago there camo a visitor from New
York, and he got thick with the old
fellow. They used to go about lot
together, nnd were often oft on ho-
called fishing trips for days on end.
Actually, It Is believed, they were
after sonielhlng on North Cay. At nil
events some mouths afterwurd the
New Yorker disappeared ns he had
come and has not been heard from
since. Hut since then they have found
n sort of brick vault over there which
has evidently been excavated, I have
seen It myself. A sort of walled chum-
her. There, lt' supposed the New
Worker found something or other.
That's the story for what It's worth."
Am Charlie finished John slapped his
knee.
"The very thing for you!" be said;
"why have I never thought of It be
fore?" "What do yon menu, John?" we both
flsli ed.
"Why down nt the oflice I've got the
very thing. A pity I haven't got It
here. You must come In and see It
tomorrow,"
"What on earth is ItT Why do yon
keep us guessing?"
"Why,
It's (in old manuscript that
Charlie, you remember old Wicks old
Hilly Wicks ' Wrecker1 Wicks, they
culled lilin-" i
"I should say I do, A wonderful old
llll'lln " n,,",,,rl .'n nun ii iui lew
' ' ' ' , I XI. tnur thia roc it la buried four feel
tint the document, for heaven's j U ft.) deep.
ake," I said. "The document first:' T1" t","'r ' um of ml,llon dollars
the K(ni will b..i,r, I l."'.". It la buried on wnat has
, ' , ?' known aa Short Hhnft Itiand: on the
Well, they were pulling down huhest point of (hi. Khoit tflu ift Wand
Wicks' own house Just lately, nnd out l'" cabbage wood slump and tweniy
of the rafters there fell a roll of pa-
per now I'm Coming to It roll of
paper, purporting to be the account of
(be burying of a certain treasure, tell
ing the place where It Is burled, and
giving directions for finding It"
Charlie and I exclaimed together;
and John continued, with tantallziug
lelilnitillou ;
"It's a statement purporting to be
n n !e by Mtne fellow on his death-
bed s..me fellow dying out In Texas
a quon lam pirate, snsious tn muks
his tnce at the end and to give his
friend the benefit of bis knowledge."
"Oh, John!" said I, "I shan't sleep
t wink tonight,"
"I don't take much stock In It." sal4
John. To Inclined to think it's
hoax. Someone trying to fool the old
fellow. . . . But, boys. It's bed
time, anyhow. Come down to the
oftlce In the morning and well look
It over."
So our meeting broke up for the
time being, and taking my candle I
went upstairs, to dream of caves over
flowing with goldpleees, and John Tin
ker, fierce and mustachioed, standing
over me, a cutlass between hia teeth
and t revolver In each hand.
CHAPTER II.
Tho Narrative of Henry P. Tobias,
ex-Pirats, as Dictated en Hit Death
bed, In the Vear of Our Lord 18S9.
The good John had scarcely made
bis leisurely, distinguished appearance
at bis desk on the morrow when I too
entered by one door and Charlie Web
ster by the other.
"Now for the document," we both
exclaimed In a breath.
"Here It Is," he said, taking up a
rather grliny-looklns roll of foolscap
from In front of him, which, as he
pointed out, was evidently the work
of a person of very little education,
and began to read us follows :
County of Travsa, Btata of Texas,
Liceinbr U39.
Feeling my end la near, I make tha fol
lowing; statement ot my own free will and
without solicitation. In full exervlsa of all
my fHcultlea, and feel that I am doing my
duty by so doing.
I waa born tn the city of Liverpool, Eng
laad (on the 6th day of December 1TM).
My father waa a seaman and when I was
young I followed the saina occupation.
And It happened, that when, on a passage
from fcpatn to the Weat Indies, our ahlp
waa attacked by free-tradurs. as they
called themselves, but they were plratea.
Yt all did our beat, but were over
powered, and the whole crew, except
three, were killed. I waa one of the three
they did not kill. They carried us on
board their ahip and kept us until next
lay when they aeked ua to join them.
They trjed to get ua to join them willing
ly, but we would not, when they became
enraged and loaded three cannon and
laaheil each one of ua before the mouth
of euch cannon and told ua to take our
choice to join them, as they would touch
the guna und that damn quick. It Is use
less to aay we accepted everything before
denth, ao we came one of the pirates'
crew. Both of my companlona were killed
la less time than six months, but I waa
i with them for more than two years, In
I which time wo collected a vast quantity
I of money from ditrerent ships we captured
and wo burled a Rrcat m mount In two
different lots. I helped to bury It with
my own hands. The location of which It
Is my purpose to point out, to that It ran
! found without trouble In tha, Bahama
Wand. Afler I had been with them for
more than two yunra, we were attacked
by a liuire warship and our commander
told us lo flh'lit for our lives, aa It would
bo death If we were taken. Hut the guna
of our ship were too smnll for the war
ship, ao our shtp soon hefrun to alnlc,
when the man-of-war ran alongside of our
vetoiela and tried to board us, but we were
sinking too fant, so she had to haul oft'
HKtiln, when our vessel sank with every
thing on boaid, and I escaped by swim
ming under the- stern of the ship, as ours
sank, without heina- seen, and holding on
to the ship until il.uk, when 1 swam to a
portion of the wrecked vessel floating not
fur awny. And on that I floated. The
next morning the ahlp was not seen. I
waa picked up by a passing vessel the
next day as a nhlpwrecked seaman.
And let me say here, I know that no
one eseuprd sllve from our vessel except
myself and thoae that were taken by toe
man-of-war. ,And those were all executed
as pirates so I know that no other man
I knows of this treasure except myself and
It must be and la where we burled It until
today and unless j'oii get It through this
statement It will remain there always and
do no one any good.
Therefore, It la your duty to trace It up
, ottmr
and get It for your own benefit, aa well aa
a. ao delay not. but act aa aoon aa
I possible.
I 1 Tm n."w ncrlb 'hf P'7. locations.
marks, etc , etc., so plainly that it can be
found, without any trouble,
l'h sum of one million and
half dollars (U.SOswO)-
At this point John pntised. We all
took a long breath, nnd Charlie Web
ster gnve a soft whistle and smacked
his Hps.
"A million nnd a hulf dollars. Whnt
ho I"
Then I, happening to cast my eye
through the open door, caught sight
of a face gaxing through (he Ironwork
of tin' outer olMce with a fixed and
glittering expression, a face anything
but prepossessing, the face of n hulf-
I breed, deeply pockmarked, with a
I coarse hook nose and evil looking eyes,
I unnaturally close together. It was
evident from bis evnrcHuInn that ho
had not mlsstat a word of I he rtmding.
"There is sorieone In the outer of
fice," I said, nnd John rose uiul went
out.
"flood moriilnjr, Mr. Saunders," sold
iin unpleasantly soft and cringing ;
voice,
"timid morning," snld John, some-1
i what grumpily, "what Is It you want?"
I . It was some detail of account, which, '
S being dispatched, the man shtitlled off,
! with evident reluctance, casting a I
long. Inquisitive look al us seated nt '
the tlesk, and John, taking up the Uinu-
I tiscrlpt once more, resumed : j
r . . . sum of ona million and one
,v known aa
I'ead Mmi Hhoea, near Nsi.-iu, In tho
liahama Islands. Aliout filly feet (SO ft.)
tamm (( tluai I a . i,l Men's bhoea la a ro k,
ua nhich we cut toe term ot a compusa.
1 A'"' '"""J" fwt - " K"' from lle l'y '
I. ,M . . , "T? .
run t 'found without d.fllcutty. Short
, Mirlfl lutHiid l a place where passing
ienrla atop to get fretb water. No great
distance from Xaasau, ao It can be easily
I. '011,1.
The mt pod was taken from (Spanish
m.T. h.mt and It la la Spunxh silver
dt.llnra.
The other on Short Shrift Island la In
dinerent kmtta of money, taken from dlf-
1.:,",fh,: d,,,WM
J Now frwn.'la. 1 hav told you all that la
nfceaaary for you to know to recoer
iir. traurea and I leave It In your
hands and it la my rf.j ie.t that when
you read ibis, you il! at vnce take ateia
to recover it. an-l when ynu get tt, it ta
my with that you use it In a way most
good to yourault and others. This la ail I
ask.
I am, trut ynar friend.
Jlt..KI K TUBUa
"Henry P. TobiasT said Charlie
Webster. "Never beard of him. Did
vou. John!"
"Never T
And then there was stir Is the
inter office. Someone was asking for
the secretary of the treasury. So John
rose.
"I must get to work now, boys. We
ntn talk It over tonlfcht." And then,
hundlug me the manuscript: "Take
It borne with yon. If you like, and
look It over at your leisure."
Aa Charlie Webster and I passed
out Into the street I noticed the fel
low of the slulsler pockmarked visage
standing near the window of the In
ner office. The window was open, and
anyone standing outside could easily
have beard everything that passed
Inside. As the fellow caught my eye
he smiled unpleasantly and slunk off
down the street
"Who Is that fellow T I asked Char
He. "He's a queer-looking specimen."
"Yes! he's no good. Yet he's more
pii
will f
tekrUW---
V&lPik J& v ft-.
'Who Is
That Fellow!"
Charlie.
Asked
Imlf-witti'd than bad, perhaps. Hi
face la against him, poor devil."
And we went our ways till the eve
ning, I to post home to the further
study of the narrative. There, sealed
on the pleasant veranda, I went over
It cnrefully, sentence by sentence.
While I wnsvrendlng, someone called
me Indoors. I put down the inaiiu
script on the little bauibon tuhle nt
my side anil went In. When I re
turned a few moment afterwurd the
manuscript was gotiel
CHAPTER III.
I Charter the "Maggie Darling."
As luck would have It, the loss, or
rather the theft of Henry I. Tolilus'
narrative was not so serious ns It nt
first seemed, for It fortunately chanced
that John Saunders hud had It copied;
but the theft remained none the less
mysterious.
However, leaving that mystery for
later solution, John Saunders, Charlie
Webster und I spent the next evening
In n general nnd particular criticism
of the narrative itself. There were
several obvious objections) to be made
against Its authenticity. To start with,
Tiddas, ut the time of his deposition,
wns nn old man seventy-five years
old and It was more than probable
that bis experiences us n pirate would
date from his early manhood; they
were hardly likely to have taken place
as late as his fortieth year. The nar
rative. Indeed, suggested their taking
place much enrller, nnd there would
thus be a space of at least forty years
between the burial of the treasure
and his deathbed revelation. II was
natural to ask: Why during nil those
years did he not 'return nnd retrieve
the treasure for himself? Various
circumstances may have prevented
him, the Inability from luck of menus
to nuke tho Journey, or what not;
but certainly one would need to Imag
ine circumstances of peculiar power
that should be strong enotmh to keep
n ninn with so valuable a secret In bis
possession so many years from taking
advantage of It.
For a long while, too, the names
alven to the purported silos of the
treasure cache puzzled us. Modern
itnips give no sucli places ns "Head
Men's Shoes" hud "Short Shrift
Island," but nt last. In a map dating
back to 17t3, we came upon one of
the two mimes. So Tnr the veracity
ot Tobias was supisn'ted. "Iend
Men's Shoes" proved to be the obi
name for a certain coy some twenty
miles long, about s day nnd a half's
sail from Nassau, ono of the long
string of coral Islands now known as
the "ICxumn Cays." Put of "Short
Shrift Island" we sought In vuin for
a trace,
"All the same," said I. "the adven
ture calls me; the adventure and that
million and a half dollars end tho'e
I'ead Men's Shoes' nnd I Intend to
undertake It. I am not going to let
your middle-aged skepticism discour
age me. Treasure or no treasure.
there will be the excitement of the
quest, and all the fun of the sea."
"And some duck perhaps" added
Charlie.
"And some shark fishing for cer
tain." si Id John.
.
The o?xt thing was to set atotit
getting a boat and a crew.
After looking over much likely and
unlikely craft we finally decided en
a two-masted schooner of trim bat
solid build, the Maggie Darling, 42
feet over all and 13 beam; something
under twenty tsns, with an auxiliary
gasoline engine of 24 horse power,
and an alleged speed of ten knots.
Next, the crew.
"You will need a captain, a cook, an
engineer and deckhand," said Char
He, "and I hstve the captain and the
cook all ready for you."
That afternoon we rounded them
all up, including the engineer and the
I deckhand, and we arranged to start.
weather permitting, with the morning
tide, which set east at six o'clock on
July 13. 1903.
Ship's stores were the next detail,
and these, including fifty gallons of
gasoline, over and above the tanks
and three barrels of water, being duly
got aboard, on the evening of July
12 all was ready for the start; an eve
ning which was naturally spent in
parting conclave In John Saunders'
snutigery.
"Why, one Important tlUng you've
forgotten," said Charlie. "Machetes
and spades and pickaxes. And I'd
take a few sticks of dynamite along
with you too. I can let you have the
lot. We'll get them aboard tonight."
"It's a pity you have to give It
away that It's a treasure hunt," said
John, "but then you 'can't keep the
crew from knowing. And they're a
queer Jot on the subject of treusure,
have some of the rummlest supersti
tions. I hope you won't have any
trouble with them."
"Had any experience In handling
niggers?" asked Charlie.
"Not the least."
"That makes me wish I were coming
with you. They are rum beggars. Aw
ful cowards, and Just like a pack of
children. You know about sailing
anyhow. That's a good thing. Yon
can captain your own boat, If need be.'
That's all to the good. Particularly
If you strike any dirty weather. Put
let me give you one word of advice:
Pe kind, of course, with them but
keep your distance all the same. And
be careful about losing your temper.
You get more out of them by coax
ing hurd as It Is, at times. And, by
the way, how would you like to take
old 'Sailor' with you?"
"Sailor" was a great Labrador re
triever, who nt that moment turned up
his big head with a devoted sigh from
behind his muster's chnlr.
"Itaihor," I said. Tso "Sailor" was
thereupon enrolled ns a further addi
tion to the crew.
"Old Tom," the cook, was first on
baud next morning. I took to him nt
once. A simple, kindly old "darky" of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" type, with faith
fulness written all over him, and a cer
tain sad wisdom In his old face.
"You'll find Tom n great cook," said
Charlie, patting the old man on the
shoulder. "Many a trip we've taken
together nfter duck, haven't we, Tom?"
"That's right, suh. That's right,"
said the old man, his eyes twinkling
with pleasure.
Then came the ciipluln Capt. .Tubez
Williams a younger man, with nn In
telligent, self-respecting manner, some
what noncommittal, businesslike, evi
dently not particularly fluxions ns to
whether he pleased or not, but looking
competent nnd civil enough.
Next came the engineer, a young
hulking bronze giant, a splendid phys
ical specimen, but rather heavy nnd
sullen and not over-intelligent to look
nt. The (leckhnnd proved to be a
j shackly, rather silly, effeminate fellow.
suggesting Idiocy, hut doubtless wiry
j and good enough for the purpose.
I While they were busy getting up the
I anchor of the Maggie Darling I went
down Into my cabin to nrrnnge various
I odds and ends, and presently cume the
: caplaln, touching his hut.
"There's a parly," he said, "outside
I here wants to know if you'll take him
i passenger to Spanish Wells."
"We're not taking passengers," I an
swered, "but I will look him over."
A man was standing' up In a row
.boat, leaning against the ship's side.
"You'd do me u great favor, sir," he
; began to sny In a Boft, Ingratiating
j voice.
I looked at him with a start of rec
1 ognltlon. He was my pockmarked
i friend, who had made such nn miplons
i ant Impression on me nt John Satin
! tiers' office. He was rather more gen
! tlemanly looking than be hud seemed
i at the first view, nnd I snw that,
! though he was a lialfbreed the while
j blood predominated,
j "I don't want to Intrude," he said,
' "but I have anient need of getting to
Spanish Wells, nnd there's no boat go
ing that way for a week. 1 ve just
missed the mail."
i "I didn't think of taking any passen
gers," I snld.
"I know," he said. "I know It's a
great favor I ask." He spoke with
certain cultivation of manner. "Hut
, I am willing of course to pay arythlng
you think well for my food and my
passage."
I waived that suggestion aside and
istesMl liresolulcly looking Rt him, with
i no very hospitable expression In my
'. eyes, I dare say. Put renlly my dls
i taste for him was an unreasoning prej
i ltdiee, and Charlie Webster's phrase
' came to my mind "Ills face Is against
j the p.ior devil!"
I It certainly was.
Then at last I said, surely not over
graciously: "Very well. Get aboard,
i You can help work the boat ;" nnd
with that I turned Bwny to my cabin.
CHAPTER IV.
In Which Tom Catches an Enchanted
Fith, and Discourses of tha Danger
ef Treasure Hunting.
The morning was a little overcast,
bnt a brisk northeast wind soon set the
clouds moving as It went humming la
our tails, and the sun, coming out In
its glory over the crystalline waters,
made a fine Bashing world of it, full
of exhilaration and the very breath of
youth and adventure, very uplifting to
the heart.
Nassau looked very pretty In the
morning sunlight, with Its pink and
white houses nestling among palm
trees and the ma.ts of Its sponging
schooners, an l stu we were abreast
of the picturesque low-lying fort. Fort
Montague, that Major Fruce, nearly
two, hundred years ago, had such
time building as s protection against
pirates entering from th? est end
of the hai'bor. It looked like a veri
table piece of the past, and set the
Imagination dreaming of those old
days of Spanish galleons r.nd the black
flag, and Uiougbt my thouiiits ec'erly
back to the ob'ett of my trip, those
doubloons and pieces of eight :hat lay
in glittering heaps somewhere out In
those island wildernesses.
Then Tom cume up with my break
fast. The old fellow stood by to serve
Vaw '"'i'tV jfQ i
m:- ifl
Then Tom Came Up With My Break
fast. me as I ute, with a pathetic touch of
the old slavery (Jays In his deferential,
half-fatherly manlier, dropping n
quaint remark every now and again;
as, when drawing my attention to the
sun bursting through the clouds, he
said, "The poor man's blanket Is com
ing out, snh" phrases In which there
seemed a whole lot of palhos to me.
Presently, when breakfast was nyer,
and I stood looking over the side Into
the incredibly clear water, in which
It seems linrdly possible that a boat
can go on floating, suspended ns she
seems over gleaming gulfs of liquid
space, down through which ut every
moment it seems she must dizzily fall.
As Tom nfld I gazed down, lost In
those rainbow deeps, I heard a voice
at my elbow saying with peculiarly
sickening unction:
"The wonderful works of God."
It was my unwelcome passenger,
who had silently edged up to where
we stood. I looked at him, with the
question very clear In my eyes as to
what kind of disagreeable animal he
was.
"Precisely," I said, and moved iftvay.
I had been trying to feel more kind
ly toward him, wondering whether I
could summon qp the decency to offer
him a cigar, but "the wonderful works
ot God" linlshed me.
"Hello! captain," I said presently,
pointing lo some sails coming up rap
Idly behind us. "What's this? I
(nought we'd got the fastest boat In
the hnrbnr."
"It's the Susan B., sponger,." said
the captain.
The captain was a man of few
words.
The Susun P. was n rakish-look-ins
craft with a black hull, nnd she cer
tainly could sail. No doubt It was pure
Imagination, but I did fancy that I no
ticed our passenger signul to them In
n peculiar way.
I confess that his presence wns be
ginning to get on my nerves, nnd I
was ready to get "edgy" nt anything
or nothing an Irritated state of mind
which I presently took out on George
the engineer, who did not belle his
hulking appearance, and who was for-
I ever letting the eniiine slop nnd tak
ing forever to get it going nirain. One
could almost have Kwom he did it on
purpose.
My language wns more forcible than
classical had quite a piratical flavor,
In fact ; and my friend of "(he wonder
ful works of God" looked up with a
deprecating air. Its effect on George
was nil, except perhaps to further
deepen his sulks.
And this I did notice, after a while,
that my remarks lo George seemed to
have set up a certain sympathetic ac
quaintance between him and my pas
senger, the shackly deckhand being ap
parently taken In as an humble third.
They sat for'ard, talking together, and
my passenger read to them, on one
occasion, from s piece of printed pa
per that fluttered In the wind.
The cap, n In was occupied with bis
helm, and the thoughts he didn't seem
to feel the necessity of shnring; a
quiet, poised, probably slnpld man, for
whom I could not deny the respect we
must always give to content, however
simple. He was a sailor, and I don't
know what belter to say of a man.
So for companionship I was thrown
j back upon Tom. I felt, too. that be
was my only friend on board, and a
vague feeling had come over me that
within the next few hours I might need
a friend.
"Are we going too fast for fishing, -
! Tom? I asked.
"Xot too fast for a hr.rracouta," said
Tom ; so we put out lines and watched
the stretched strings, and listened to .
the sea. After a while Tom's line grew
taut, and we hauled in a five-foot bar- :
racnuia.
"Look !" said Tom, as he pointed to '
a lit'le writhing eel-like shape, about i
nine inches long, attached to the belly ;
of the barracouta. '
"A sucking fish V said Tom. "That's j
good luck;" and he proceeded to turn '
over (he poor creature and cut from j
his back. Immediately below ins head, '
a flat Inch and a half of skin lined I
and stamped like a rubber sole the J
device by which he held on to the j
belly of the barracoula much a the 1
circle of wet leather holds the stone ,!
in a schoolboy's sling. j
"Now," he said, when he had lt
clean and neat In his fingers, "we must 3
hang this up and dry It in the north- h
east wind ; the wind is Jnt right s
nor -nor east and there is no mascot
like It, specially when" Old Tom
hesitated, with a slyly Innocent smllch
in his eyes.
"What Is it, Tom?" I asked.
"Well, sir, I meant to soy that this
particular part of a sucking fish, prop
erly dried in the northeast wind, Is a
wonderful mascot when you're going
after treasure."
"""Who said I was going after treas-'j
tire?" I asked. I"
"Aren't you, snh?" replied Tom.iJ
"asking your pardon."
"Let's talk it over luter on, when.!
you bring me my dinner, Tom." ji
Later, ns Tom stood, serving my j
coffee, I took It up with him again, jj
"What was that yon were saying
about treasure, Tom?" I asked. j
"Well, sar, what I meant was (bis: j
thnt going lifter treasure Is a diinger-'j
oils business . . . It's not only the I
living you're to think of " Here Tom j
threw a careful eye for'ard.
"The crew, you meant"
Ho nodded.
"Put It's the dead too." ;
"The dead, Tom?" '
"Well, sar, there was never a burled
treasure yet that didn't claim Its vic
tim. Not one or two either. Six or
eight of them, to my knowledge und
the treasure Just where It was for nil
that. I das'siiy It sounds nil foolish
ness, but It's true for nil that. Sonie
lhlng or other'!! come, mark my word
Just when they think they've got
their hands on It: a hurricane or a
tidal wave or an earthquake.' And
well, the ghost laughs, but the trensuro
slays there all the same."
"The ghost laughs?" I asked.
"Eh! of course; didn't you know
every treasure Is guarded by n ghost?
He's got to keep watch there till the
next fellow comes along, to relievo
sentry duty, so to speak. He doesn't
give It away. My no I He dassn't do
that. Put the minute someone else Is
killed, coming looking for It, then he's
free nnd the now ghost has got to
go on sitting there, waiting for ever
so long till someone else comes look
ing for It,"
"Put what has (his sucking fish got
to do with It?" And I pointed to tho
red membrane already drying in Tom's
hand.
"Well, (he man who carries (his In
hrs pocket won't be the n'xt ghost," he
unswercd.
"Take good care of It for mo, then,
Tom," I said, "and whi n It's properly
dried let me have It. For I've it sort
of idea I may have need of It, after
all."
And Just then old Sailor, the quietest
member of the crew, put up his head
) .1--- -- . '' -V j
v -i:k .- i v inn;! 'i w m::
' Mil M
:-r-i 'r.;r.i :
:- :. ' - ' i1 V it,
-sj. - '
1 fV.i"A
V
r, , - . til , '-
"Tom and You and I."
into my hands, as though to say that
he had been unfairly lost sight of.
"Yes, and yon too, old chap that'
right. Tom und you and V
And then I turned in for the night
(Continued Next Saturday.)
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