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About Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1903-1919 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1919)
PAGE SIXTEEN THE DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL, SALEM, OREGON, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1919. KING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF TREASURE DISCOVERED IN OVEN TO THE PUBLIC CHAPTER II. In Which I Am Afforded Glimpse Into Futurity Possibly Useful. . Two or three evening before we were due to sail, at one of our snug gery couduves, t put the question whether anyone bod ever tried the di vining rod fur treasure In the Islands. Old John nodded and said lie knew the man I wanted, a half-crazy old ne gro back there In Grant's Town the negro quurter spreading out Into the brash behind the ridge on which the town of Nassau proper Is built. "He calls himself a 'king,'" lie added, "and the nutiveg do, I believe, regard him as the head of certain tribe. The lads mil Mm T)ld King Coffee' memory I suppose of the Ashantce war. Anyone will tell you Where he lives, Ho has a name as a preacher among the Holy Jumpers ! but he's getting too old to do much preaching nowadays, Co and see him for fun anyway." . So next inurnlnc I went I had hardly been prepared for the plunge Into "Darkest Africa" which I found myself taking, ah, leaving Gov ern men t house behind, perched on the crest of Its white ridge, I walked a few yards Inland and uttered a region which, for oil Its green palms, made a similar sudden Impression of pervad ing blackness on the mind which one gets on suddenly entering a coal-mining district after traveling through fields and meadows. There were for more blacks than whltca down on Hoy street, but here there were nothing but blucks on ev ery side. The roads ran In every direction, and along them everywhere were fig urea of black women shullllng with burdens on their heads, or groups of girls, audaciously merry, most of them bonny, here and there almost a beauty. There were churches and dance halla and saloons all radiating, so to say, a prosperous blackness. At first the effect of the whole scene was a little sinister, even a little frightening. The strnngeness of Af rl'un Jungle, was here, ami one was a white man In It all fllono among grin ning savage faces. Rut for the flgmos about one being clothed, the Illusion had been complete; but for that and the kind hearted salutations from comely wblle-tui bulled mummlca which soon sprang up abrtttt me, and the groups of elllhh children that laughingly blocked one's progress with requests not In any weird African dialect but In excellent English for "a copper, please." . Tills rctiext was not shove the maidenly dignity of quite big and bux om lasses. One of these, a really su perb yotmg creature, asked for "a cop per, p'ensp," but with s snuey coquet- I ry bcdttlng her adolescence. "I'll give you one If you'll tell me where the 'king lives," snld I, "Olc King Coffee r she asked, and then fell Into a very agony of negro laughter. liecoverlng, she put her finger to her Hps, suggesting silence, ad anld : , Tome along, I'll show you !" And wnlklng by my side, lithe aa young animal, aha had sn brought me In a cahln much like the rest, though perhaps a little poorer looking. "Win ! There he Is !" and she shook II over agnln with suppressed giggles, I gave her a sixpence and told her to l a good girl. Then I advanced up little atrip of garden to where I had rsught a glimpse of a venerable White haired negro seated at the win dow, aa If for exhibition, with a great open book In his hands. This he ap- II. r - Hill r llli 1 mi ' A U 3JJJ THE BAHAMA 15 This He Appeared to Be Reading With Great Solemnity. peared to be reading with great solem nity, through enormous goggles, though I thought 1 caught a side-glint of his eye, as though he hud taken swift reconnoltering glance In my dl rectlon a glance which apparently had hut deepened his attention and Increased the dignity of his demeanor. Remembering that he was not mere ly royal but pious also, I made my sal utation at once courtler-llke and sanc timonious. "Good day to your majesty," I suld ; "God s good, God looks after his aerr ants." "De Lord Is merciful," he answered gravely; "God takes care of his chil dren. Be seated, ear, and please ex cuse my not rising; my rheumatism Is sore affliction to me." I was not long In getting to the sub ject of my visit. The old man listened to me with great composure, but with a marked accession of mysterious Im portance In his manner. "It's true, aar," he sold, when I hud flnlnhcd, "I could And It for you. I could find It for you, sure enough ; and I'm do only man In nil de Islands dat could. But I should have to go wld you, and It's de Lord's will to keep me bene In dls chair wld rheumatics. De rods has turned In dose old hands many a time, and I have faith In de Lord dey would turn again -yes, J'd find It for you ; si:;'e enough. I'd find It If any man could und It" was do Lord' wilt. But uiebbe I ran see It for you wldout moving from dls chulr." "Do you mean, brother, that the Iord has given you second sight?" "Dat am It I Glory to his name, hal lelujah 1" he answered. "I look In a glass ball so; and If do spirit helps me I can see clear as a picture fur under de ground far, far away over de aca, It'a de Lord's truth, sar blessed bo hlg nnmel" I asked him whether he would look Into his crystul for mo. With a burst of profanity, as unexpected as It was vivid, he cursed "dem boys" that had stolen from him a priceless crystal which once had belonged to his old royal mother, who, before him, had had the same gift of the spirit. But, he added turning to table by bis side, and lifting from It large rut glnRS decanter of considerable capac ity, though nt present void of con tentsthat he bad found thnt gazing Into the large gliiHs ball of Its stopper produced almost equally good results at times. First he asked me to be kind enough to shut the door. V had to be very quiet, he de clared; the spirit could work only In deep silence. And ho asked me to bo kind enough to close my eyes. Then I heard hi voice muttering, In a strange tongue, a queer durk gobbling kind of words, which may have been ancient African spoil words, or sheer gibberish such as magician In all times and places have employed to mystify their consultants. I looked at him through the corner of my eye as doubtless he hud antici pated, for he was glaring with im air of Inspired abstraction Into the bull of the decanter stopper. 80 we sat sileiit for I suppose some ten minutes. Then I heard him give another deep sigh. Opening my eyes I saw him slowly slinking his head. "De spirits don't seem communicable ills afternoon," he muttered tilting tin decanter slightly on oue aide and ob serving It drearily. "Do you think, your majesty," I asked with as serious a face as I could assume, "the spirits might work better if the decanter were to be filled r "Mebbe, ear; mehhe. Spirits Is cu rious things; dey need Inspiration sometimes. Just like ourselves." "What kind of Inspiration do yon think gets the best results, your maj esty T" "Well, sar, I can't say aa dey Is very particular, but I'se noticed dey do seem powerful 'tached to Just plulu KimkI old Jumnlca rum." They shall have It," I said. I had noticed that there was a sa loon a few yards away, so before ninny more minutes had passed 1 had been there and come back again, and the decanter stood ruddlly filled, ready for the resumption of our seance. But be. fore we begun I of course accepted the seer's Invitation to Join hlin and the spirits In a friendly libation. Then I having closed my eyes we began again, and It was astonishing with what rapidity the thick-coming picture begun to crowd upon that In ner vision w ith which the Lord had en dowed his faithful follower! Of course I was Inclined now to Ink the whole thing as an amusing Impos ture; but presently, watching his face und the curious "seeing" expression of his eyes, and noting the exactitude of oue or two pictures, I begun to feel thnt. however much he might lie In I U IV venting or elaborating, there was some substratum of truth In what he was telling me. The first pictures that came to htm were merely pictures, though astonish ingly clear ones, of Webster's boat, the Flamingo, of Webster himself, and of the men and the old dog Sailor; but In all this he might have been visualizing from actual knowledge. Tet the de tails were curiously exact Presently his gaze becoming more fixed: "I see yon anchored under little settlement Too are rowing ashore. Dere are little pathways running up among de coral rock, and a few white houses. Seems to be forest; big trees not like Nassau trees and thick brush everywhere ; all choked up so thick and dark, cant see nut'n. Wait minute, dough. Dere seems to be old houses all sunk In and los', like old ruins. Can't see dem for de brush. Andwalt Lord love yon, sar, but I'se afraid I seem to see a big light com ing up trough de brush from far under de ground Just like yon see old rot ten wood shining la de dark deep, deep down. Didn't I tell you de Lord gave me eyes to see Into de bowels of de earth? It's de bowels of de earth for sure all lit op and shining. Praise de Lord It am de gold, for certain, all hidden away and shining dere un der de ground" '"Can't- yon see It closer, clearer?" I exclaimed Involuntarily; "get some Idea of the place It's In?" The old man gazed with a renewed Intensity. "No," he said presently, and his dis appointed tone seemed to me the best evidence yet of his truth, "I only see a little golden mist deep, deep down un der de ground ; now It Is fading away. It's gone ; I can only see de woods and de ruins again." This brought his virions to an end. The spirits obstinately refused to muke'any more pictures, though, the old mun continued to gaze on In the decanter stopper for fully five min utes. CHAPTER III. In Which We Take Ship Once More. The discovery which through any friend the deuler In "murine curiosi ties" I hud made, or believed myself to have made, of the situation of Henry P. Toblns' second "ikkI" of treuHure, fitted exactly with Charlie Webster's wishes for our trip, smull stock ax he effected to take In It at the moment "Short Shrift Island" lay a few miles to the northwest of Andros Island. Now Andros Is a greut huunt of wild duck, not to speak of thnt more august bird, the flamingo. Attraction number one for the good Charlie. Then, though It Is some hundred and fifty miles long and some fifty miles broad at Its broadest, It has never yet, It Is said, been entirely explored. Its center Is still a mystery. The natives declare It Is haunted, or at all events Inhabited by somo strange peo ple no one has yet approached close enough to see. You can see their houses, they say, from a distance, but ns you approach them, thoy disappear. Here, therefore, seemed an excellent place for Tobias to take cover In. Charlie's duck-shooting preserves, end less marl lakes Islanded with man grove copses, Iny on the fringe of this mysterious region. 80 Andros wns plainly marked out for our destina tion. Bailor had watched his muster get ting his guns really for some days, and, doubtless, memories stirred in him of Scotch moors they hud shot over together. He raised his head lo the night wind mid sniffed Impatiently, ns though he already scented the wild duck on Andros Islund. He wns Im patient, like the rest of us, because. though It was an hour past sailing time, we bad still lo collect two of the crew. The two loiterers turned up at lust and, all preliminaries being 11 1 length disposed of, we threw off the mooring ropes and presently there was heard that most exhilarating of sounds to Ultimo who ioves i.ii.l.ao the 1 -pllng of the ropes thtouh tiie blocks us our muinsall began to rise up high against the moon which was beginning to look out over the huge block of the Colonial hotel, the sea wall of which ran along as far as our mooring. A few llghta In Ita windows here and there broke the blank darkness of Its facade, glimmering through the ave nues of royal palms. I am thus ex plicit because of something that pres ently happened and which stayed the malnsull in Its rippling ascent. A tall figure was running along the sea wall from the direction of the ho tel, calling out, a little breathlessly. In a rich young voice as It ran: Wait a minute there, you follows! Walt a minute!" We were already moving, parallel with the wall, sad at leant twelve feet away from It, by the time the figure that of a tall hoy, cowboy-hatted and picturesquely outlined In the hnlf light stopped Just ahead of us. He raised something that looked like a bug In his right band, culling out "Catch" as he did so; and. a moment after, before a word could be spoken. be took a flying lrap and landed j amongst us, plump In the cockpit and I wns clutching first one of us and then ; the other, ti keep his balance. "Did It. by Jove!" he exclaimed In j beautiful English accent, and then ; started laughing as only absurd dare- j devil yuuug-ters can. "Forgive mc!" he said, aa soon as he could get bla breiilh, "but I had to do It. Heaven knows what the old 111110. will say!" "You're something of a long Jump V said Charlie. "Oh! I have done my twenty-two snd an eighth on a broad running Jump, but I had ru? chance for a run then'," answered the bid, carelessly. r u W Before a Word Could Be Spoken, He Took a Flying Leap. "But suppose you'd hit the water In stend of the deck?" "What of It? Can't one swim?" "I guess you're all right, young man," said Charlie, softened; "but . . . well, we're not taking passen gers." The words had a familiar sound. They were the very ones I had used to Tobias, ss he stood with his hand on the gunwale gf the Maggie Durllng. I rapidly conveyed the coincidence and the difference to Charlie. It struck me as odd. I'll admit, thnt our Second start. In this respect, should be so like the first. Meanwhile, the yonng man was answering, or rather pleading, In a boyish way: "Don't call me a passenger; I'll help work the bor.t. I ll tell the truth. 1 heard never mind how about your trip, and I'm Just nutty about burled treasure. Come, be a sport. We can let the old guv'nor know, somehow . . . and It won't kill him to tear his holr for a day or two. He knows I can take care of myself." "Weill snld Charlie, after thinking awhile In hlg slow way, "we'll think It over. Tou can come along till the morning. Then I can get a good look nt you. If I don't like your looks we'll still be ablo to put you off ut West End; and If I do well rlght-ho I Now, boys," he shouted, "go ahead with the sails." Once more there wns that rippling of the ropes through the blocks, as our mainsail rose up high against the moon and filled proudly with the steady northeast breeze we hod been waiting for. 1 So two or three hours went by, as we plunged on, to the seething sound of the water, and the singing of our sails, and all the vurlous rumor of wind and sea. After all, It was good music to sleep to and, for all my scorn of sleeping landsmen, an Irresistible drowsiness stretched me out on the roof of the little cabin, wonderfully rocked Into forgetfulness. Mv nan came to sn end snddenly, ns though some one hud flung me out through a door of blue and gold into a new-horn world. There was the sun rising, the moon still on duty, and the morning star divinely naked In the heayen. And there was Charlie, bis broad face beaming with boyish happiness, and something like a fatherly gentle ness In his eyes, as he watched hla companion at the tiller, whom, for a hnlf-aslecp moment of waking, I couldn't account for, till our start all came back to me, when I realized that It was our young scapegrace of over night. Charlie and he evidently were on the best of terms aTreaily. Old Tom had been busy with hrenk fast and soon the smells of coffee and freshly made "Johnny-cake" and fry ing bacon competed not unsuccessfully with the various fragrances of the morning. Breakfast over, Charlie filled his pipe, assuming, as he did so, a Judicial aspect. I filled mine and our yiwtig friend followed suit by taking a silver cigarette case from his pocket and Striking a match on the leg of his khukl knickerbockers with a profes sional sir. "All set?" asked Charlie, and, after a slight pause, he went on: "Now, young mnn, you can see we are iieiirliig the end ot the island. An other half mile will bring us to West Knit Whether we put you ashore there, or tuke yrni along, depends on your answers to my questions." "Fire away," answered the youth, blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke In a delicate splrul up Into the morning sky; "but I've really told you all I have to tell." "No; yon haven't told ns how yon came to kmnv of our trip, what we were supposed to be after, and w hen we were starting." "That's true!" flushed the lad. mo mentarily losing his composure. Then, partly regaining t; "Is It necesury to answer that question?" "Absolutely," answered Ctarlle, be ginning to look really serious. "Because, If yon don't mind . , . well, I'd Just as soon not." "For that very reason I .want to know. We are out on a more serious business than perh.ips you realise, and your answer may mean more to us than you think." "I'm sure It cannot be of such Impor tance to you Really, It's htnlly (air for me to tell. I should have to give away a friend." "I'm sorry, but I shall have to In sist" replied Charlie, looking very grim. "All right then." answered the youth, lovklng him straight In the eyes, "put me ashore." "No; I won't do that now. either," declared Charlie, sternly setting his Jaw. "I'll put you iu irons, rather and keep you on bread and water till yon answer my questions." "Tou will, eh?" retorted the youth, flashing fire from his fine yes. And as he sptike, quick as thought, he leeped up on to the gunwale and, with- out hesitation, dived Into the greut glassy rollers. But Charlie was quick, too. Like a flash he grubbed one of the boy's an kles, so that the beautiful dive was spoiled; and there was the boy, hang ing by an Imprisoned leg over the ship's side, a helpless captive his arms In the water and his leg strug gling to get free. But he might as well have struggled against the grip of Hercules. In another moment Charlie hud him hauled ubuard again, his eyes full of tears of boyish rage and hu miliation. "Yon young fool!" exclaimed Char lie. 'The water round here Is thick u M trim 7 -it-- - 1 ' .V " i W "You Young Fooll" Exclaimed Charlie. with sharks; you wouldn't hnve gone fifty yards without one of them get ting you." "Sharks!" gasped out the boy, con temptuously. "I know more about sharks thun you do." , "You seem to know a good many things I don't," suld Chnrlle, whose grlmness had evidently relaxed a little at the lad's display of mettle. Mean while, my temper was beginning to rise on behalf of our young passenger. "I tell you what, Chnrlle," I Inter posed ; "If you are going to keep this up, you'd better count me out on this trip and set us both ashore at West End. You're milking a fool of your self. The lad's ull right." The boy shot me a warm glance of gratitude. "All right," ogreed Charlie, begin ning to lose his temper, too. "I'm damned If I don't." And, his hand on the tiller, he made as If to turn the bout about and tuck for the shore. "No! no!" cried the boy, springing between us und appeallugly laying one hand on Charlie's shoulder, the other on mine. "You mustn't let me spoil your trip. I'll compromise. And, skip per, I'll tell your friend here nil there Is to tell everything I swear If you will leave It to his Judgment" "Right-o!" agreed Charlie at lust; so oitr passenger and I thereupon withdrew for our conference. It was soon over and I couldn't help laughing aloud nt the simplicity of It all. "Just ns I told yon, Chnr'le," I ex claimed ; "It's innocence Itself." Turn ing to the lad, I until : "Dear hoy, there is really no need to keep such a Kiimll secret as that from the skipper here. You'll really have to let n.e tell hi 111." The boy nodded acquiescence. "All the some, I gave my word," he Ml id. When I told Chnrlle the Innocent se cret, he laughed as I had done, and ' his usual good humor instantly re turned. The stubbornly held secret had merely amounted to this: Our lad was acquainted with my conchologlst, and had paid him a visit the very after noon I did, hud In fact seen me leav ing the house. Answering to the boy's romantic talk of buried treasure and so forth, the shell enthusiast had thought no harm to tell him of our projected trip: and thnt wns the whole of the mysterious matter. . Yet the day wns not to end without a little Incident which, slight though Indeed It was, was momentarily to arouse Charlie's suspicions of our charming young companion once more. Presently. In the far southwest, tiny point like a row of pins began very faintly to run re themselves along the sky-line. They were palm trees, though you could not make them out to be such, or anything In particular, till bug after. One darker point seemed closer than the rest. There's High Cay!" rang out the rich young voice of our passenger, whom we'd half forgotten In our tense scanning of the horiion. Charlie and I both turned to him together In sur prise and h'.s fa,. Certainly be trayed the eenfnslnn cf one w ho has A let "something slip involuntarily. "Ho! ho! young man," cried Charlie, bis face darkening again, "what do you know about High Csy? I thought this was your first trip." "So it Is," answered the boy, "on the sea." "What do you mean: 'on the sea?" "I mean that I've done It many time on the chart. I know every bluff and roof and shoul and cay around Andros from Morgan's Bluff to Washington's Cut Tou do, ehr "On the chart. Why. I've studied charts since I was. a kid. and gone every kind of voyage you can think of ' playing at buccaneeriug or whaling. or discovering the north pole. Every kid does that." They do, eh?" said Charlie, evi dently quite unimpressed. "I never did." "That's because you've about as much Imagination us a turnip In that head of yours," I broke In. In defense of my youkg Apollo. "Maybe. If you're so smart," contin ued Charlie, paying no attention to me, "you can navigate us through the North Bight?" "Mjiybe!" answered our youngster pertly, with on odd little smile. He had evidently recovered his nerve, and seemed to take pleasure In piquing Charlie's suspicious. CHAPTER IV. In Which We Enter the Wilderness. Andros, as no other of the Islands, Is surrounded by a ring of reefs stretching ull around Its coasts. We were Inside the breakwater of the reefs and the rolling swell of ocean gave way at once to a inlllpond calm ness. We were at the entrance of North bight, one of the three bights which, dotted ,with numerous low-lying cuys, breaks up AndYon Island in the middle and allows a pussnge through a muze-llke archipelago direct to the northwest end of Culm. Here on the northwest shore Is a femull and very lonely settlement one of the two or three settlements on the else-deserted Island Behrlng's point. Here we dropped anchor and Char He, who had some business ashore, proposed our landing with him; but here again our passenger aroused his suspicions though Heaven knows why by preferring to remain aboard. "Please let me off," he requested In his most toii-lofty EnRllsh accent. "You can see for yourself that there's noth ing of Interest nothing but a beastly lot of nigger cabins, und dirty coral rock that will cut your boots to pieces. I'd much rather smoke and wait for you In peace;" and, taking out his wise ond lighting a cigarette, he waved It gully to us ns we rowed off. He had certainly been light nliout Behrlng's point Charlie was absurdly certain thnt he had known It before, and had some renson for not landing for n more forlorn and poverty stricken foothold of humanity could hardly be conceived ; a poor little clus ter of negro cabins, Indeed, scram bling up from the bench, ond with no streets but craggy pathways in and out 'among the gray clinker-like cortiL But It wns touching to And even here that, though the whole worldly goods of the community would scarce ly have fetched ten dollars, the souls of men were still held worth caring for; for presently we cume upon a pretty little church, with a sehoolhouse nenr by, while from tke roof of an ad jacent building we were balled by a plensant-faccd white man, busy with some shingling. It wns the good priest of the little place. Father Scraplon, disguised In overalls nnil the honest grime of his labor; like a true Benedictine, pray ing with his strong and skillful hands. Father Seraplon mid Charlie were old friends, and Chnrlle took occasion to confide In him with regard to To bias, nud. to his huge delight, discov ered that a man answering very close ly to his description had dropped In there with a large sponger two days before. He hud only stopped long enough to buy rum at the little store nenr the binding and had been off again thrnngh the bight, sailing west. Father Sernplon, who knew Chnrlle Webster's shooting ground, promised to send a swift messenger should any thing further of Interest to tii come to his knowledge within the next week or so. Then we sailed away from Behrlng's point, due west through the North bight. Morning found u sailing through a maze of low-lying desert Is Inmls of a bewildering sameness of shiMM1 nnd size, with practically noth-'1 lug to distinguish nie from another. We had hoil to rench our cinup, out on the other side of the Island, thnt evening, but that dodging the shoals and sticking in the mud hnd considerably delayed us. Besides, though Chnrlle and the captain both hated to admit It, we hud lost our way. So night begun to fall and, as there Is no snllltig In such waters at night, xwe once more cast anchor un der a gloomy, black ahape of land, ex ceedingly lonesome and forgotten loing, which we agreed to call "Lit tle Wood cuy" till morning. Soon all were asleep except Sailor and me. I lay awake for a long time watching the square yard of stars that shone down through the hatch In our cahln ceiling like a little window look ing into eternity, while the waters lap ped and lapped outside, and the night talked strangely to Itself. Next morn ing Charlie and the captain were forced to own up that the island, dis covered to the day, was not Little Wood cay. No humiliation goes deep er w ith a sailing man than having to nsk his way. Besides, who was there to ask In thnt solitude? Doubtless a cormorant flying overhead knew It, but no one thought to ask him. However, we were In luck, for, after sailing about a bit, we came upon two lonely pegroes standing up fn their boats and thrusting long poles Into the ,! mmw They Were Sponging. water. They were sponging mowt melancholy of occupations and they looked forlorn enough In the still drtwn. But they had a smile for our plight. It was evidently it good Joke to have mistaken Sapodilla cay for Little Wood cay. Of course we should have gone "so." And "so" we pres ently went, not without rewarding them for their Information with two generous drinks of old Jamaica ruin. One of our reasons for seeking Lit tle Wood coy, which It proved hnd been close nil the time, was that It t one of the few cays where oue can get fresh water. "Good water here," says the chart. We wanted to refill somo of our Jars, and so we landed there, glud to stretch our legs, whDe old Tom cooked our breakfast on the beach, un der a eupodillu tree. Now thut we knew where we were, it was clcur, but by no meuns careless sailing to our cump. We were.muklug for what la known as the Wide Open ing, a sort of estuary Into which a listless stream or two crawl through mangrove bushes from the interior swamps. Here, a short dlstnnce from tho bank, on some slightly ascending rocky ground, under the spreading shade of something like a stretch ut woodland, Chnrlle, several years ago, hud built a rough log shitnly for bis camp one of two or three cumps he hud thus scattered for himself up nnil down the "out Islands," where nearly all the bind is 110 man's, and so every man's lund. The purtlculur camp at which we now arrived he had not vis ited for a long time. Here Tom brought us our dinner and the dark begun to settle down upon us, thrllllngly lonely, and full of strange, desolute cries of night crea tures, from the mangrove swumps thnt surrounded our little oasis for miles. Sailor luy at our feet, dreaming of to morrow's duck. His master's thoughts' were evidently In the same direction. "How ure you with a gun?" he asked, turning to the boy, "Ob, I wou't brag. I had better wait till tomorrow. But, of course, you will hnve to lend me a gun." "I hnve a beauty for you Just your weight," replltnl Charlie, his face beaming ns It did only nt the thought of his guns, which be kept polished like Jewels and guarded us Jeulously as a violinist his violin, or an Arab his ha rein. Dawn wns Just breaking as I felt Chuiiie's great paw on my shoulder next morning. lie was very serloiw. Fit a moment, as I sat up, still half asleep, I thought he had news of To bias. But It was only duck. I was scarcely dressed when Tom arrived with breakfast, and In a few minutes we hnd shouldered our guns) and were crossing the half mile of peaty waste that divided us from the marl lakes. Ahead of us, the crew were currying the skiffs on their shoul ders, und very soon we were each seated In regulation fashion on a enn vns chair In front of our respective skiffs, with our guns across our knees and a negro behind us to do the poi-' ing. Chnrlle went ahead, with Sailor standing in the bow quivering with ex citement. The necessity of absolute silence, of course, had been ImpresMHl upon ns nil by the most severe of an sportsmen. Tom (who wns poling mo) hand I understood that our Job, Hnd ' also thnt of my companion, was to 1 steul behind one mangrove copse after another till we had got on the other side of a quacking flock of teal which might then be expected to tuke flight In Charlie's direction and rush by him In a terrified whirlwind. This not very easy fint of stalking we were able to accomplish, therehy winning Charlie's Immense approval and put ting him In a plendld temper for the rest of the dny ; for, as the wild cloud swept over him, he was able to bring down no less than seven. Like a true sportsman. In telling the story after ward In John Saunders' snuggery, b averred that the number was nine I , (Continued Next Saturday.) Too plant of the Oregon Lumber company on Deal Point creek In Hood River county was destroyed by fire last Friday. The lom is 20,000. The late rejHirts from tf-nMPfs com ing from Tillamook and Neur- txneh- 'es by way of Sheridan - - :te ef fect that the roads are frfie'- J'.y im-fa-sable.