The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-08-29
"Taint enough" responded Obadiah, otis

ssTaint enough" responded Obadiah, otis
worth more'n that. What chance wonld you
ever had of gettin' on the track of the scoun-
drel, if it want for us, I'd like to know No.
kernel, we must have bigger divy'n that"
Well, what do you expect?" said the colo
mel. "You must remember there's lots of
work to do before we can get hold of this fell
low. He's slippery as an eel and utterly des-
perate. Pm not sure, on the whole, that I'd
better NEEDLE with the case at all.
''Kernel, I'll tell you what Jake and cal
lated would be pretty fair offer. Well all
share alike. That's the best we can do, Ke--
nel"
'Why, d-n it, man." shouted the excita-
BILE colonel "What can you do toward find
ing him without me? Here you are demand
ing two thirds of all the reward we may OBJ
tain, just for giving me this little piece of
information, when I have all the work
to do yet. I'll tell you the only offer I'll
make you, and if you don't accept it 1
shall work the case up without you. You
and your long partner there shall stay by me
and help me, and whatever is made, you shall
have half to share between you. You can
have five minutes to think this over in, and
give me an answer. If you say no, Pm 60
ing to do without you. That's final"
Obadiah and Jake retired to the end of the
room, and consulted gravely together. Pres
emily they returned to the colonel, and Oba-
diah solemnly grasped his hand with pres
sure only slightly inferior to that of Eydrau-
lie ram.
Kernel, it's trade, provided you stand a
bottle of Santa Cruz to make the thing start
on Christian basis.''
The colonel rang the bell, the Santa Cruz
came, and under its benign influence, the
three gentleman arranged their campaign.
with mutual comfort and good feeling.
II was half past twelve, when Obadiah and
Jake stepped into the street to return to their
vessel. The night was fine, and our two
friends were happy. In their pleasurable
| emotions the remembrance of the way back
| to the schooner became confused, and they
accordingly adopted the plan usually followed
| by mariners similarly situated, and followed
| every downhill street, trusting to eventually
| strike the waterside whence it would be easy
to find their vessel. Their effort to reach the
wharves was at length successful, but at this
point their progress was obstructed by a
crowd gathered about two bodies which had
just been taken from the dock, both sailors
evidently, who had met their death from
| foul play, for one had fractured skull, and
the other deep stab in the left breast; they
had been in the water day at least. Oba-
oiah and Jake jammed forward through the
crowd to get sight, the former being ahead ;
when he came into seeing distance he peered
at the bodies a few moments, then turned
around and whispered,
LOOK here jake"
Jake elongated his neck over the shoulders
of the crowd, and stared steadfastly at the
drowned men.
| "Why, Pm blessed if these amt the felers
that rowed the boat for that Baker,"
''Hist! say nothing Jake; lets get back to
the Lively Turtle. We must keep all we find
out, to tell Colonel Sharpsey. We don't
want nobody else ownin our secrets"
With which wise remark, Obadiah turned
on his heel, and, closely followed by Jake,
proceeded in his quest of the Lively Turtle,
where they finally arrived, sufficiently ex-
hausted to appreciate to the utmost the Sc
auctions of their berths. Ten minutes after,
a brace of healthy SHORES gave token that the
cares and trials of the day had faded from
the minds of our gallant mariners.
| Uo be continued.)