THE DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL, SALEM, OREGON, SATURDAY, AUGUST Z 1919.
PAGE SIXTEEN
tmO THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE
TREASURE DISCOVERED IN
OVEN TO THE PUBLIC.
KchardLGGalliffi
Hftef a white, when we hnve run the
Bums: of all our ardors and our
dreams, solitude comes to seem the
od excellent tbtag, the eummuin
konum."
I murmured that he certainly seemed
to hare come to the right place for it
"Very true. Indeed," he assented.
With courtly inclination of his head,
a though I bad said something pro
found; "very true. Indeed, and yet,
wasn't It- the great Bacon who said :
Whoever Is dellKhted with solitude is
either a beast or a god?' and this
particular solitude, I confess, some
times seems to Die little too much
like that enforced solitude of the
Tootle marshes of which Ovid walled
nd whimpered In the deaf ears of
Augustus."
I could not help noticing at Inst
s be talked on with fantastic magnifi
cence, the did contrast between his
speech and the almost equully funtus
tlc poverty of his clothing. The suit
ke wore, though still preserving a
certain elegance of cut, was so worn
nd patched and stained that a negro
would bnrdly have accepted It as a
gift; and his almoKt pnlnful emacia
tion gave him generally the appear
ance tof an animated framework of
rags and bones, stnrtllngly embodying
lbs Tolce and the manners of a prince.
Tet the shabby tie about bis neck whs
bound by a ring, in which was set a
turquoise of great size and beauty. .
Presently, as we loitered on through
the palms, we came upon two negroes
chopping away with their machetes,
trimming up the debris of broken anil
decaying palm fans. They were both
sturdy, ferocious-looking fellows, but
one of them was a veritable, giant.
"Behold by bodyguard I" said my
magnificent friend, with the usual pos-
"Beheld My Bodyguard!
smIv wave of his hand; "my
Ewitzers, my Janissaries, so to sny."
The negroes stopped working,
touched their great straw bats, and
si.nt.ojj Vfi. ..i...ffii.i teeth In a de
lighted smile. Evidently they were
used to their master's wsys of talking,
nd were devoted to him.
"This chap here Is Erebus," said
any host, aud the appropriateness of
the name was apparent, for he was
certainly the blackest uegro I had ever
keen, as superbly black as some wom
en are superbly white.
"Aud this Is Samson. Let's have
look at your muscles, Samson there's
a good boy!"
Anil, with grins of pleasure, Bum
son proudly stripped off his thin calico
Jacket aud exitosed a torso of terrify
ing power, but beautiful la Its play of
muscles as that of a gud.
Leaving Samson and Erebus to con
twos their savage play with their
machetes, we walked on through the
Isslms, which here gave a particularly
Junglellke appearance to the scene
from the fact of their being bowed
t from their roots and sweeping up
ward la great curves. One Involunta
rily looked for a man-eating tiger at
any moment standing striped and
splendid In one of the openings,
Tiion suddenly to the right, there
came a flash of level green, suggesting
kwna, and the ontllnes of a bouse,
partly covered with brilliant purple
Bower marvelous splash of color.
"Bmipilnvlllea! Bougatavlllei spec
tahllls of eonrse, you know It Was
there ever such a purple? Not Solo
toon In all his glory, et cetera. And
fccre are at the bouse of King
Airinou a humble version of It U
ed."
It was a large rambling stueeo
house, somewhat decayed looking.
yyn tV .. say
mm
i Ar t a fed w
Of ft w
THE BAHAMA
and evidently built on the ruins of an
older building. We came upon It at
broad Italian-looking loggia, supported
by stone pillars bowed In with vines
very cool and pleasanW with mossy
slabs for Its floor, here and there
tropical ferns set out In tubs, some
wicker chairs standing about, and a
table at oue side on wliich two little
barelegged negro girls were busy set
ting out yellow fruit, and other ap
purtenances of luncheon, on a dazzling
white cloth.
"Has your mistress returned yet,
my children?" asked the master.
"No, snr," said the older girl, with
a gli.'gle, twlatlng and grimacing with
embarrassment
"My daughter," explained my host,
"has gone to the town on an erruud.
She will be back at auy moment
Meanwhile, I shall Introduce you to a
cooling drink of my own manufacture,
with a basis of that coconut uilUc
which I need not ask you whether you
rpprerlate, recalling the pi fa sunt
clrrumstunre of our first acquaint
ance.'' Motioning me to a seat, and pushing
toward mo a box of cigarettes, he went
Indoors, leaving me to take in the
stretch of beautiful garden In front of
me, the trees of which seemed literal
ly to be hung with gold for they were
mainly of orunge and grapefruit
ranged round a spacious beautifully
kept lawn with the regularity of
sumptuous decoration. In (he middle
of the lawn, a little rocky fountain
threw up a Jet of silver, falling with
tinkling murmur Into1 a broad cir
cular basin from which emerged the
hroud leaves and splendid pink blos
soms of an Egyptian lotus. Certainly
it whs no far-fetched allusion of my
classical friend to speak of the gar
den of Alclnous ; particularly connect
ed as It was In ray mind with the white
beach of a dusert Isle, and that marble
statue In the moonlight.
As I sat dreaming, bathed In the
golden-green light of the orange trees,
and lulled by the tinkling of the foun
tain, my host returned with our drinks,
his learned disquisition on which 1
will spore the render, highly Interest
ing and characteristic though It was.
Suffice It that It was a drink, what
ever Its Ingredient and there was
certainly somewhere a powerful
"stick" in it that seemed to have
been drawn from some cool grotto of
the virgin earth, so thrllllitgly cold
and invigorating It was.
While we were slowly sipping It and
smoking our cigarettes. In ail unwont
ed pause of my friend's fanciful ver
bosity, I almost Jumped In my chair at
the sound of a voice Indoors. It was
instantly followed by a light and rapid j
treud, and the sound of a woman's;
dress. Then a tall, beautiful young
woman emerged ou the loggia. '
"'Ah "there you are!" cried my host,
as we both rose; and then turning to
me. "this Is my daughter Calypso.
Her reHl name I assure you none of
my nonsense doesn't she look It? Al
low me, my dear, to introduce Mr.
Ulysses I" for we had not yet ex
changed each other's names.
I am a wretched actor, and I am
bound to say that she proved herself j
no better. Kor she gave, a decided j
start at she turned those glowing eyesj
on me, and the lovely olive of her
cheeks glowed as with submerged rose
color. Our embarrassment did not es
cape the father.
"Why, you know each other al
ready I" be exclaimed, with natural
surprise,
".Vot exactly" I was grateful for
the sudden nerve with which I was
able to hasten to the relief of her love
ly distress "hut possibly Miss Ca
lypso recalls as naturally as I do, our
momenlHry meeting In Sweeney's
stun, one evenln. I hml no expecta
tion of course, that we should meet
strain under such pleasant circum
stances ss this."
She gsve me a grateful look as she
took my hud, aud with It or was it!
only my esger Imagination? a shy lit
tle pressure, again as of gratitude.
I had tried to get Into my voice my
assurance that, of course, I remem
bered no other more recent meeting
though, naturally, as she had given
that little start In the doorway, there
bad flashed on me agnln the picture
of her standing, moonlit In another
resounding doorway, and of the wild
start she had given then, as the golden
pieces streamed from her lovely sur
prised 'mouth, and her lifted hands.
And her eyes I could have sworn
were the living eyes of Jack Uarka
way I Had she a brother. I wondered.
Tet my mind was too daisied aud con
fused with her nearness to pursue the
speculation.
As we sat down to luncheon, waited
upon by the little barlegged black chit
dreo waited on, too, surprisingly
well, despite the contortions of their,
primitive embarrassment tnr host
once more resumed bis chsracter of
3
EecTaSsSckIhf welcoming the storm
tossed stranger to bis board.
"Far wanderer," he said, raising his j
glass to me, "eat of what ov board !
afford, welcome without question of
nam and cation. But If, when the
food and wine bare dona tbelr geolal
office, and the weariness of your Jour
neying has fallen from yon, yon should
feet stirred to tetl os somewhat of
yourself and your wanderings, what
manner of men call yon kinsman. In
what fair land Is your borne and the
place of your loved ones, be sure that
we shall count the tale good hearing,
and, for our part, make exchange la
like fashion of ourselves and the pass
age of our days In this lonely Isle."
We all laughed as he ended himself
with a whinny of laughter. Tor, odd
as such discourse may sound tn the
reading, It was uttered so whimsically,
and In so spirited and humorous a
style that I, assure yon It was very
captivating.
"You should have been an actor, my
lord Alclnous," I said, laughing. I
seemed already curiously at home,
seated there at that table with thle
fantastic stranger and that being out
of fairyland toward whom I dared only
turn my eyes now and again by
stealth. The strange fellow had such
a way with him, and bis talk made you
feel that ba had known you all your
life,
"Ah! I have had my dreams. I have
had my dreams!" he answered, his
eyes gazing with a momentary wistful
ness across the orange trees.
Then we talked at random, as friend
ly strangers talk over luncheon, though
we were glad enough that he should
do all the talking wonderful, Irides
cent madcap talk, such as a man her
and there In ten thonsand, gifted with
perhaps the most attractive of all hu
man gifts, bus at his command.
And, every now aud uguln, my eyes,
falling on the paradoxical squalor of
his clothing, would remind me of the
enigma of this courtly vagabond;
though need I say It? my eyes and
my heart had other business than with
him, throughout that wonderful meal,
enfolded as I felt myself once more in
that golden cloud of magnetic vitality,
which hud at first swept over me, as
with a breath of perfumed fire, among
the salt pork and the tinware of
Sweeney's store.
Luncheon over, Lady Calypso, with
a stately Inclination of her lovely
head, left us to our wine and our
clgurs.
The time hud come for the far-traveled
guoit to declare himself, and I
saw In my host's eye a courteous invi
tation to begin. I had been pondering
what account to give of myself, and I
had decided, for various reasons of
which the Lady Calypso was, of course,
first, but the open-heurted charm of
her father a close second to tell him
the whole of my story. Whatever
his and her particular secret was, It
whs evident to me that It was an In
nocent and honorable one; and, be
sides, I may have had a notion that
before long I was to have a family
Interest In it. So I began starting In
with a little prelude in the manner of
my host. Just to enter Into the spirit
of the game:
"My Lord Alclnous, your guest, the
far wanderer, having partaken of your
golden hospitality, is now fain to open
his heart to you, and tell you of him
self and his race, his home and bis
loved ones across the wlue-dark sea,
and such of his adventures as may
give pleasure to your ears" .
though, having no talents In that di
rection, I was glad enough to abandon
my lame attempt at his Homeric style
for a plain straightforward narrative
of the events of the past three months.
I hud not, however, proceeded very
far, when, with a courteous raising of
his hnnd, King Alclnous suggested a
i pause.
"If you would not mind." he said, "I
would like my daughter to hear this
too, for It Is of the very stuff of ro
mantic adventure in which she de
lights, She is a brave girl, and, as I
often tell her, would haw made n
very spirited dare-devil boy, if eha
hadn't happened to be born a girl."
This phrase seemed to flash a light
upon the questionings that hud stirred
at the back of my mind since I had
first heard that voice la Sweeney's
store.
"By the way, dear king," I aald, as
suming a casual manner, "do you hap
pen to have son?"
"No!" he answered, "Calypso Is my
only child."
"Very strange I" I said, "we met a
whimsical Jud In our travels whom I
would have sworn wss her brother."
"That's odd!" Ssld Ute "king" luiper
ttirhnbly, "but no! I have no sou;"
and be seemed to say It with a certain
sadness.
Then Calypso came In to Join my
audience, having, meanwhile, taken
I lie opiHtrtunlty of twining scarlet
hibiscus among her luxuriant dark
curls. I should certainly have told the
story better without her, yet I was
glad how gladl to have her seat
ed there, an attentive presence In a
simple gown, white as the sea foam
frn which, there was no further
doubt In my mind, she had magically
sprung.
I gave them the whole etory, much
aa I bad told It In John Saunders?
snuggery John P. Tobias, Jr.; dear
old -Tom and his sucking (Ish, his
ghosts, sharks, skeletons, and all; and
when I had finished, I found that the
interest of my story was once more
chiefly centered In my pock-marked
friend of "the wonderful works of
Qod."
"I should like to meet your pock
marked friend," said King Alcinous,
"and I have a uotion that, with you as
"' ""all ot loog be denied the
pleasure.
"I am Inclined to think that I have
I seen hlra already," said Calypso, using
her honey-golden voice for the base
purpose of mentioning him.
"Impossible V I cried; "he Is long
since safe hi Nassaa Jail.
"Oh, not lately." she answered to
our Interrogative surprise, and giving
a swift embarrassed look at her fa
ther, which I at once connected with
the secret of the doubloons.
"Seriously, Calypso T asked her fa
ther, with s certain stern affection, as
thinking of her safety. "On one of
your errands to town?"
And then, turning to me, he said :
"Sir Ulysses, you have spoken well,
and your speech has been that free,
open-hearted speech that wins Its way
alike among the Hyperboreans that
dwell In frozen twilight near the
northern star, and those dwarfed and
swarthy intelligences that blacken-In
the fierce sunlight of that fearful axle
we call the equator. Therefore, I will
make return to you of speech no less
frank and true ..."
He took a puff at his cigar, and then
continued:
"I should not risk this confession,
but that It Is easy to see that you be
long to the race of Eternal Children,
to which, yon may have realized, my
daughter and I also belong. This ad
venture of yours after buried treasure
has not seriously been for the dou
bloons and pieces of eight, the million
dollars, and the million and a half dol
lars themselves, but for the fun of going
after them, sailing the unknown seas,
coral islands, and all that sort of
blessed moonshine. Well. Calypso and
I are Just like that, and I am going to
tell you something exciting we too
have our burled treasure. It Is noth
ing like so magnificent In amount as
yours, or your Henry P. Tobias' and
where It Is at this particular moment
I know as little as yourself. In fact It !
Is Calypso's secret . . ."
I looked across at Calypso, but her
eyes were fur beyond capture, In'un
plumnieted seas.
T will show you presently where I
found It, among the rocks near by
now a haunt of wild bees.
"Can you ever forget that passage In
the Georglcs? It makes the honey
Vtnste sweeter to me every time I taste
It We must have some of It for din
ner, by the way, Calypso."
I could not help laughing, and so,
for a moment, breaking up the story.
The dear fellow ! Was there any busi
ness of human importance from which
he could not be diverted by a quotation
from Homer or Virgil or Shakespeare?
But he was soon In the saddle tigaln.
"Well," he resumed, "one day, some
seven years ago, in a little cave below
the orange trees, grubbing about as I
nin fond of doing, I came upon a beau
tiful old box of beuteu copper, sunk
&MllKvca
-1 Cams Upon a Beautiful Old Box
ef Beaten Copper.
deep among the roots of a fig tree. It
was strong, but It seemed too dainty
for a pirate iNsne great lady's Jewel
box more likely Calypso shall show It
to us presently. On opening It what
do you think? It spilled over with
golden doubloons among which were
submerged some flue Jewels, such aa
this tie ring yon see me wearing. Ac
tually. I( was no great treasure, at a
monetnry calculation certainly no for-
j tune but from our roniHiitlc iHnt of
! view, as belonging to the race of Kter
j nut Children, It was U Dorado, Alad-
i din's lamp, the mines of Pent, the
whole sunken Spanish Main, glimmer
ing fifty fathoms deep In mother-of-I
penrl and the moon. It was the very
Secret Rose of Homnuce; and, also,
mark you. It was some money oh,
Hrbaps, all told. It might be some five
thousand guineas, or wlint would you
say? twenty-five odd thousand dol
lars; Calypso knows better than I, and
she, as I said, alone knows where It la
now hid, and how much of It now re
mains." (
He paused to relight his cigar, while
Calypso and I Welt he began again :
"Now my danghtcr and I," and he
paused to look at her fondly, "though
of the race of Eternal Children, are
not without some of the Innocent wls
don which Holy Writ countenances as
the self-protection of the Innocent-
Calypso, I may say. Is particularly en
dowed with this quality, needing It as
she does especially for the guardian
ship for her foolish talkative old fa
ther, who, by the way. Is almost at the
end of his tale. So, when this old chest
flnshed its bewildering dazxle upon n.
we, being poor folk, were not more
dazzled than afraid. For like the
poor man In the fable such good for-
tune was aH Too likely to be" our un
doing, should It come to the ears of
the great, or the Indigent criminal.
The 'great In our thought was, I am
ashamed to say, the sacred British
treasury, by an ancient law of which,
forty per cent of all treasure-trove'
belongs to his majesty the king. The
Indigent criminal' was represented by
well, our colored (and not so very
much colored) neighbors. Of course
we ought to have sent the whole treas
ure to your friend, John Saunders Of
his Britannic majesty's government at
Nassau, but Well, de didn't Some
day, perhaps, you will put in word
for us with him, as you drink his old
port. In the snuggery. Meanwhile, we
had an idea. Calypso and I"
He paused for Calypso had Invol
untarily made a gesture, as though
pleading to be spared the whole reve
lationand then with a smile, contin
ued: "We determined to hide away our
little hoard where It would be safe
from our ueighlors, and dispose of it
according to our needs with a certain
tradesman In the town whom we
thought we could trust a tradesman,
who, by the way, quite naturally levies
a little tax upon us for his security.
No blame to him ! I have lived far too
long to be hard on human nature."
"John Sweeney?" I asked, looking
over at Culypso with eyes (hat dared
at lust to smile.
"The very same, my Lord Ulysses,"
answered my friend.
And so I came to understand that
Mr. Sweeney's reluctance In selling me
thut doubloon was not so sinister as it
had, at the moment, appeared ; that It
hud In fact come of a loyalty which
was already for me the most precious
of loyalties.
"Then," said I, "as fitting conclu
sion to the confidence you have re
posed In me, my Lord Alcinous, If M!ss
Calypso would have the kindness to
let us have a sight of that chest of
beaten copper of which you spoke, I
would like to restore this, that was
once a part of Its contents, wherever
the rest of them" (and I confess
thut I paused a moment) "may be in
hiding."
And I took from rny pocket the sa
cred doubloon tbnt I hud bought from
John Sweeney may Heaven have
mercy upon his soul ! for sixteen dol
lars and seventy-five cents, on that Im
mortal evening.
CHAPTER IV.
In Which the "King" Dreams a Dresm
and Tells Us About It
The afternoon, under the spell of its
various magic, had been passing nil too
swiftly, and at length I grew reluctant
ly aware that It was time for me to go.
King Alclnous raised his hand with a
gesture that could not well be denied.
That led me his invitation being ac
cepted without further parley to
mention the idea I had conceived as I
came along, of exploring those curious
old ruined buildings.
"Tomorrow," he announced, "tomor
row we Bhall begin there Is not a mo
ment to lose. We will send Samson
with a message to your captain there
Is no need for you to go yourself ; time
Is too precious and in a week, who
knows hut thut Monte Crlsto shall
seem like a pauper and a penny gaff
in comparison with the fantasies of
onr fearful wealth.
So, for that evening, all was laugh
ingly decided. In a week's time. It
was agreed, we should have difficulty
In recognizing each oilier. We should
he so disguised In cloth of gold, and so
blinding to look upon with rings and
ropes of pearls.
When we met at breakfast next
morning, glad to see one another again
as few people are at breakfast, It was
evident thut, as far as the "king" was
concerned, our drcum had lost nothing
In the night watches. On the contrary,
Its wings hml grown to an amazing
span and Iridescence.
Culypso, It transpired, bad certain
household matters of which the
"king" of course was ever divinely ob
liviousthat would tuke her on nn
errand into the town. Those disposed
of, we two eternal children were at
!llerty to be as foolish as we pleased.
The "king" bowed his uncrowned
head, as kings, from time Immemorial
have bowed their diadems before the
quiet command of the domesticities;
and It was arranged that I should be
Calypso's escort ou her errand.
So we set forth In the freshness of
the morning, and the woods that had
been so black and bewildering at my
coming opened before us In easy
paths, end all that tropical squalor'
that had been foul with sweat and In
sects seemed strangely vernal to me,
so that I could hardly believe that I
had trodden that way before. And for
our companion all the way along or,
at least for my other cotniwnlon wus
the Wonder of the World, the beauti
ful strangeness of living, and that mar
vel of man's days upon the eaith
which lies In not knowing what a day
shall bring forth. .If only we have a
little patience with Time Time, with
those gold keys at his girdle, ready, at
any turn of the ways, to unlock the
hidden treasure that Is to be the mean
ing of our lives.
now should 1 try to express what It
was to walk by her side, knowing all
that w both knew? knowing, or gid
dily believing that I knew, how her
heart, with every breath she took, vi
brated like a living flower, with waves
of color, changing from moment to
moment like a happy, trembling dawn.
To know yet not to say 1 Tea ! we were
both at that divine momeut which
hangs like a dewdmp In the morning
sun ah! all too ready to fall. Oh!
keep It poised, in that miraculous bal
ance. tit time and eternity for
this crystal made of light and dew Is
jtne mnng f ihejjfe of man and
woman upon tLe earfJi
As we came to the borders of the
wood near the edge of the little town
we called a counsel of two. As the out
come of it we concluded that having
In mind the "king's" ambitious plans
for onr cloth-of gold future, and for
other obvious reasons, it was better
Sip'
She Drew Up From Her Bosom
Little Bag That Hung by a Silver
Chain, and, Opening It Drew Out,
With a taugh a Golden Doubloon.
that she went Into the town alone
I to await her In the shadow of the
luuhognny tree.
As she turned to leave me she drew
up from her bosom a little bag that
hung by a silver chain, and opening It
drew out, with a laugh a golden
doubloon !
I sprang toward her; but she was
too quick for me, and laughingly van
ished through an opening In the trees.
I was not to kiss her that day.
Calypso was so long coming back
that I began to grow anxious was. In
deed, on the point of going down Into
the town In search of her, when she
suddenly appeared, rather out of
breuth and evidently a little excited
as though, in fuct, she hud been run
ning away from something. She
caught me by the arm with a laugh.
"Do you want to see your friend
Toblnsr she said.
"Tobias? Impossible 1"
"Come here," and she led me a yard
or two bnck the way she had come,
and then looked through the trees.
"Oone !" she said, "but he was there
a minute or two ago or at least some
one that Is his photograph and of
course he's there yet hidden In the
brush, and probably got his eyes on
us all the time. Did you see that
seven-year apple tree move?"
"His favorite tree," I laughed.
"Hardly strong enough to hang him
on, though." And I realized thut she
wns King Alclnous' daughter.
We crouched lower for a moment or
two but the seven-year apple tree
did'nt move again, and we agreed
that there was no use In wnltlng for
Tobias to show his hand.
"isut what made you think It whs
Toblns?" I asked, "and how did It all
happen?"
"I could hardly fall to recognize hlra
from your flattering description," she
answered, "and Indeed It nil happened
rather like another experience of
mine. I had gone into Sweeney's
store you remember? and was Just
paying my bill."
"In the usual coinage?" I ventured.
She gave me a long, whimsical
smile once more her father's daugh
ter. "That, Tm afraid, was the trouble,"
she answered ; "for as I laid my money
down on the counter I suddenly no
ticed that there was a person at he
back of the store,"
"A person?" I Interrupted.
"Yes! Suppose we say a pock
marked person; was It yon?"
"What a memory yon have for de
tails," I parried; "and then?"
"Well! I took my change and man
aged to whisper a word to Sweeney
a good friend, rememher and came
out. I took a short cut bnck, but the
person' that hnd stood In the back of
the store seemed to know the way
almost better than I so well that he
got ahead of me. lie was walking qui
etly this wsy and so slowly that I had
at lust to overtake him. He said noth
ing. Just watched me as If Interested
In the way I was going but, I'm
ashamed to say, he rather frightened
me 1 And here I am."
"Well, then," I aald, "let's hurry
home and talk It over with the klng.' "
The "king." as I had realized, was
a practical "romantic" and at once
took the matter seriously, leaving
as might have surprised some of those
who had only heard him talk his con
versational fantasies on the theme to
come later.
Calypso, however, had the first
word.
"I always told yon, dad," she said
and the word "dad" on the lips of that
statuesque girl who always seemed
ready to take that Inspired frame
work of rags and bones and talking
music Into her protecting arms
seemed quite the quaintest of para
doxes "I always told -you. dad, what
would heppen. with your fairy tales of
the doubloons."
"Quite true, my dear." he snswered,
"but Isn't a fairy tale worth paying
for? worth a little trouble? And re
member, If yon will tllow me, two
things about fairy tales: there niut '
always be some ovil fairy In them,
some dragon or snch like; and there '
Is always a happy ending. Now the
dragon enters at last in the form of
Tobias; and we should be happy on
that very account. It shows that the '
race of dragons Is not, as I feared, ex
tinct And as for the happy ending,
we will arrange it after lunch for i
which, by the way, you are somewhat
late."
After lunch the "king" resumed, but :
In a brief and entirely practical vein : j
"We are about to be besieged," he '
said. "The woods, probably, are al
ready thick with spies. For the mo- f
ment we must suspend operations on
our Golconda" his name for the ro- '
lus that we were to excavate "anil, ;
as our present purpose yours no -less
than ours, friend Ulysses Is
to confuse Tobias, my suggestion Is
this: that you walk with me a mile ,
or two to the nor'ard. There Is an
entertaining mangrove swamp I should
like to show you, and also yon can
give me your opinion of an idea of
mine that you will understand all the
better when I have taken you over the
ground."
So we walked beyond the pines.
down onto a long, interminable flat 1
land of marl marshes and mangrove
trees so like that in which Charlie
Webster had shot the snake and the
wild duck that only Charlie could
have seen any difference.
"Now," said the "king," "do yon see
a sort of river there, overgrown with
mangroves and palmettos?"
Yes, I answered, "almost
though It's so choked up it's almost
Impossible to say."
Well," said the "king," "that's the
Idea; you haven't forgotten those old
rtlins we ore going to explore. You
remember how choked up they are.
Well, this wns the covered waterway,
the secret creek, by which the pi
rates John Teach," or whoever It 'was ;
perhaps John P. Tobias himself
used to land their loot. It's so over
grown nowadays that no one can find
the entrance but myself and a friend
or two; do you understand?"
We walked a Utile farther, and then
at length came to the bank of the
creek the "king" hud Indicated. Tbla
we followed for half a mile or so,
till we heard the murmur of the sen.
"We needn't go uny farther," sold
the "king." "It's the same all the
way along to the mouth all over
grown as you see, nil the way, right
out to the 'white water" as they cull
it which Is four miles of shoal sand
that Is seldom deeper than two fath
oms, and which a nor'eoster Is liable to
blow dry for a week on end. Nuturally
It's a hard place to find, and a hard
place to get oft! and only two or
three persons besiiies Sweeney all of
them our friends know the way In.
Tobias muy know of It; but to know
it Is one thing, to find it Is another
matter. I could hardly be sure of It
myself if I were standing In from
the sen, with nothing but the long
palmetto-fringed const line to go by.
"Now you see It? I brought you
here, bemuse words "
"Even yours, dear 'king,' " I laughed.
" could not explain whnt I suggest
for us to do. Yon are Interested In
Tobias. Tobias Is Interested In you.
I am interested In you both. And Cn
lypso aud I have a treasure to guard."
"I have still a treasure lo seek," I
snld, half to myself.
"Now, to be practical. We can as
sume thnt Toblns is on the watch. I
don't mean that he's around here just
now, for before we left I spoke to
Samson and Erebus and they will pass
the word to four men blacker t!:un .
Ihemselves; therefore we can assume
that this square mile or so Is for the
moment 'to ourselves.' But beyond
our fence yon may rely that Tobias
and his myrmidons is thnt the word?"
he asked with a concession to his nat
ural loollKlincss "are there.
"So," he went on, "I want you to go
down to your boat tomorrow morn
ing to say goodhy to the commandant,
the parson and the postmaster; to haul
up your sail and head for Nassau. Call
In on Sweeney on the way, buy an
extra box of cartridges, and say 'Dlen
et mon Droit It Is our password ; he
will understand, but, If be shouldn't,
explain in your own vny thnt you
come from me, and that we rely upon
him to look out for our Interest. Then
head straight for Nassau; but, about
eight o'clock, or anywhere around
twilight, turn about and head well,
we'll map It out on the chart at
home anywhere up to eight miles
along the coast till you come to a light
low down right on the edge of the
water. As soon ns you see It drop
anchor; then wait till morning the
very beginning of dawn. As soon ss
you can see land look out for Sam- -son
within a hundred yarda of yon
all the land will look alike to yon.
Only make the captain head straight
for Samson, and Just as you think
you are going to run ashore Well,
you will seer
(Continued Next Saturday.)
Advance In M2k Prices To
Bring Action la W ashingtoa .
Taenia, Wash., Aug. 1. The new
state law passed by the last legislature,
prohibiting eombinations or agiecmcnts
to fix the price of dairy products, may
k. I, i, :. ..1 .. .- V : .i, ...
j iiMi)(,i, mtv f'- u-i,-, i, wil m'
is mmle by the t ierce lonnty Milk rro-iln.-ers'
aswiation or Taconii distribu
ters to fix a new rri?e for milk and
cretm next week, it developed today.
T''om distributers announced yes
terday that the price of milk and cream
would adraare next week milk from
12'i tn IS cents a quart and cream from
15 to 17'i cents a hslf pint.
$$ Keep 'eah The Circle $$