The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-12-28

snip, you shall have half profit. between you;
If yon don't. You can go back to Milwaukee
again to get q couple of pluckfer fellows.
Answer each for yourselves. Hiram, will you
go with meg" $B &S Il
How shall l know you'll keep your prom
isc?" asked Hiram. gan
For the best of all possible reasons" re-
piled the captain, %jauntily; because, il 1don't,
you can inform upon me,to the insurance peo-
Pile" fAs5 E@Sa -
In Hiram Cofin's soflids soul there was q
moments turning over of the chances; and
then greed prevailed over revenge and he said,
grudgingly:
swell, cap'u, I'll go with you."
TIL captain smiled the smile of calm self
approba' ION and turned half round TO Pete.
Aud your" he asked
'If Hiram goes l go too" Pete answered.
half hoping that some chance might occur for
comforting with his, neighbor ON the road and
following outtheir% original conspiracy. But
Capt r.erpoint had been too much for him;
he had followe ed the excellent rule, divide ct
lmpcra, " and he remained clearly master of
the situation. Capt.. Pierpoint certainly didn't
spend a comfortable time during his voyage
down thcliako or through the Straits of Macki-
Law. To say the truth, he could hardly sleep
at all, aud he was very tagged and weary when
they arrived At Manit1ulin Island. But Pete
and hiram, though they had many chances of
Ia KING together, could not see their way to kill
linn in safety; and II ram at least, in mis- own
| 49, ''s A"'' ''.i' w WY tlN ~ Ndo
better to make a little maney than to risk ones
neck for a foolish revenge, So i'll the
dead of tho night, on the second day
out, when a rough wind had arisen from
the north and Il fog had come over thrn,
tn captain quietly began TO cut away at the
roDe thai tied them 10 the luz lie cut the
ripe ali round, leaving n sound core in the CEN
ter, ana when the next guest OF wind came the
rope strained and pared quite naturally, 80
that the people on the tug never suspected the
commences of the Transaction. They looked
about IN tho fog and stNrm for tho, scow, but
of course they couldn't fad her, FOR Capt. Pier.
point, who knew his grouHl web had driven
her stlalg'it ashore beftre lhe wind, and
beachel her OF 4 small shelving cove on
Manlieulin island There they found FIVE
lnan waiting for tncm, who helped unload the
cargo win Startling rapidity, for it was all
arranged i'll sacks. not iii bulk, AID u high
sldc liked on the Sansway ena yled them 10
slip 1t quickly unto an Underground granary
eScavated blow the level of the beach.
After uuloa ling they made their way down
before the breeze toward the jag sed rocks of
ntouiu
1t was IL O'Clock on q stormy moonlight
nislt When the. Fortuna arrived af the jutting
point of tho great island. A 'b.ack s1uaII.'
as il y call IL on the lakes, was Blowing down
rom the Sauit Sic; Marie, The scow drove
about aimlcsely under very little canvas, aud
tie b "a was ready to be lowered, Sin case, :"
The captain sud Nhulaoroasly, s'of any acci-
& MT Close to the end of 'he point tho cap
lain ordered Pete and Hiram down into tic
hold. lie had -hown them beforehand the way
to draw the piu4s, aud had exp 2ained that the
water would rise very slowly aud tlev would
hive picn J of time to get up the companion
ladder loLS before there WIS 3 fooideep of
waller in the he'd. AT the last MIN ayL. Pete
hlluS back alittle. The captain tookIinl quietly
by the shoulders and without au oath (Aih ouis-
: on which told einqucntly on pet9 thrust him
down the laider, and toll INN in Lis caimest
manner to do his duty. Hiram held the light
| ~ ~ ttp bl atl l.-tI ,pnnf ~ ,..., ,A.H ,.-,..
The back abyss. There was no time tosee lost;
they were well Off tho polut, and in another
moment tho wreck wcul1 have lost all show of
reasonable probability.
AZ the TWO miners went down into the hold
Cast laerpnut drew Quiatly from his pocket q
large hammer and a plckcs of five inch nails.
) i4rv were good stout nails ana would resist a
consi! raule pressure. He looked carefully
down into The nola aud saw tbs two men draw
the iirst D!ng. OAc after another lie watched
them II til the fourth WAS dra WI. and then he
I ok one OF the nails firmly between his thumb
and torstiugcr. %
Next week everybody Mt Sarnia was grieyei
to hear that another of Capt. Pierpout's YES ella
Ant gone down of Maultlulin point III tnat
dreadful black equal on thursday evening.
Both the sailors on board had been drowned.
Still, ii was Il fortunate TIL g that such a de-
IiEhtfui mau as the captain had not perlahed in
tns founderiEg of tao Fortuna.
Ill.
tOUlsilOM, alleT t!Ehb wreck SipL IlprOODt
never cared for tho water again. His nerves
were shattered, he said, aud he couldn't stand
danger us he used to- do when he was
younger and stronger. So he went on the
laka no more. and confined his attention
y ricty TO tie futures bueiness. He was a
Thriving ana prosperous person in spite of his
los 'es, aud fle und trwrit,ts lad begun to LOOK
a ll;tle askance at his assurances even before
this lat, Laundering case. Some whisper cd
ominouslv in underwriting circles that they
| lYi tllplr lDnht- nl,1nt the FnrtuDn E%l
0le summer a few years later the water on
Lake II urou sank lower than it had ever been
known to sink before. II WAS q very dry season
in tie back country, and the rivers brought
down very. Diminished streams into the great
basins. Foot by foot the lcvel OF the lake fell
slowly till many of tue wharves were left high
and dry, and tao vessels could only come along
side III very few deep places. Capt. Pierpoint
had suffered much from sieeplessness, COM
hiusd with Canadian acus, for some years past,
bnt this particular summer bis mind was verv
ev IDENTIFY much troubled. For some unaccount-
able reason he watched the falling of the river
with the intensest anxiety, and after it had
passed ascertain, po,nt his interestin the .ques-
ton became painfully keen. Though the fever
and the sgue gained upon him from day to
day and his doctor counselled perfect quiet, he
was pcrpetually committing charts aud making
measurements of the conf suration which the
coast had row reached, especially at the upper
cad OF Lake Huron. At1ast his mud seemed
almost to give way, and weak and feverish as
he was he insisted, the first time for many sea-
sons, that he must take n trip upon the water.
Remonstrance was quite useless gheswouid 60
on TIE lake again, he said, if it killed him. So
he hired one of the little steam pleasure Yachts
winch are always to let in numbers Mt Detroit.
and started with his wife aud her brother. q
young surgeon, for q months cruise into Lake
Superior.
As the yacht rcared Manitoulin Island Capt.
Pierpoint insisted upou beng brought up on
deck in q chair-he was too i'll to stand-and
swept all the coast with his binocuIar. Close
to the roint q fat-topped object lay mouIder-
ing in the sun, half out of the water, on the
shoals by the bank. "What is it. Ernest? ~
asked the captain. trembling. of his brother
in-tnw.
"a wrecked should saw tho brother-in-,av
answered, careiessir. Shy Jove, now | look
at it with ,hs glass I can read tho name.
Fortuna, Ssrnia."
Capt, Pierpoint seizedthe glass with a shak-
ing hand and read the name on the stern him
self in a dazed fashion. sTake me down
stairs" he said feebly, "and let mo die
quietly; aud for teavcn's sake, Ernest, never
let her know about it all
/. They took him back and buried him ut
Sarnia. and all the world went to attend the
Funeral, as of 8 man who died Justly respected
fer mis- wealth aud other socially admired quail
ties But his brother-in law knew there was a
mystery somewhere in the wreck of the For
tuna. and rs soon as the funeral was over he
went back with the yacht, and took its skipper
with him to examine the stranded vessel.
When they came to look at the bottom thoy
found eight holes init. Six of them were wide
open, one was still plugged, and tho remaining
ono had tho plug pulled half out, inward
as if the persons who were pulling it had
abandoned tho attempt for fear of the rising
water: That was bad enough, and they did
not wonder that Capt. Pierpolit had shrunk in
horror from the revealing of tho secret of the
Fortuna
But when they scrambled on the deck they
discovered another fact which gave u mdtT