The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-11-24

pressure. He looked carefully down into the hold. saw the two men draw the frs, plug. One after another he watched them till the fourth one was drawn, and then he turned away, and took one oi the nails firmly between his thumb and forehnger.
 Next week everybody at Sarnia was grieved to hear that another of Capta,n Pierpoint's vessels had gone down o., Manitoulin Point in that dreadful black squall on Thursday evening. Both the sailors on board had been drowned. ba, the captain himself had managed to make good his escape Tn the jolly boa;. He would be heavy loser. it was under stood, on the value of the cargo. for in surance never covers the loss of grain. Still, il was fortunate thing that such a delightful man as the captain had not perished in the foundering of the For tuna. III.
 Somehow, after that wreck, Captain nerpoint never cared for the water again. His nerves were shattered, he said, and he couldn't stand danger as he used 10 do when he was younger and stronger. 50 he went on the lake no more, and con- hned his attention more strictly to the futures" business. He was a thriving and prosperous person, Tn spite of h,s losses and the underwriters had begun to look little askance at his insurances even before this late foundeiing case. Some whispered ominously in underwr.:- ing circles that they had their doubts about the ortuna.
 One summer, few years later. .ae x.,afA I Iat- had ever been known to sink before. !, was very dry season in the back country, and the rivers brough, down very dlnl- inished streams into the great basins Foot by foot, the level of the lake fell slowly, till many of the wharves were left high and dry, and the vessels could only come alongside in very deep places Captain Pierpoint had suffered much from sleeplessness, combined with Cana dian ague, for some years past. but this particular summer his mind was very evidently much troubled. For some an- accountable reason, he watched the fall ing of the river with the intensest anxiety. and after 1t had passed certain poin;. his interest in the question became pain fully keen. Though the fever and the ague gained upon him from day to day, and his doctor counselled perfect quie.. he was perpetually consulting charts, and making measurements of the configur- ation which the coast had now reached especially at the upper end of Lake Huron. Al last his mind seemed almost to give away, and weak and feversh as he was he insisted, the hrs: time ter many seasons, that he must take a ,rip upon the water. Remonstranee was qul,e useless he would go on the lake again, he said. if II killed him. 50 ne hired one of the little steam pleasure-yachls, which are always to le, at Detroit, and started with his wife and her brother. a young surgeon, for months cruise into Lake Superior.
 As the yacht neared Manitoulin Island. Captain Pierpoini insisted upon being brought up on deck in a chalr-he was too ill to stand and swep, all the coas, with his binocular. Close to the poin, a hai-topped object lay mouldering in the sun, half out of water. on the shoals by the bank. What is il. Barnes, :. asked the captain, trembling. of his brother-in-law
 A wreck. should say" the brother in-law answered, carelessly. By joye now l look at il with the glass. ! can reaG the name, Fortuna, Sarnia"
 Captain Pierpoint seized the glass win a shaking hand, and read the name on the stern, himself, in dazed fashion . Take me down stairs.' he said. feebl,. " and let me die quietly and for heaven sake. Earnest. never let her know about it all"
 They took him down stairs into the little cabin. and gave him quinine but he called for brandy. They let him have It. and he drank a glassful. Then he lay down, and the shivering seized him and with his wites hand in his. he died tha, night in raving delirium. about clever. 4 black squall was blowing down from the Sault St. Marie, and they lay al anchor out in the lake. tossing and pitch ing, opposite the green mouldering hu.i of the Fortuna.
 They took him back and buried him .; Sarnia; and all the world went to attend his funeral. as of man who died justly respected for his wealth and other socially admired qualities. But the brother-in- law knew there was mystery somewhere Tn the wreck of the Fortuna, and as soon as the funeral was over he went back  with the yacht. and took its skipper with him to examine the stranded vesse When they came to look at the bottom they found eight holes in it. Six ofthem were wide open, one was still plugged. and the remaining one had the plug pulled half out, inward, as if the persons who were pulling it had abandoned the attempt for fear of the rising water. Tha. was bad enough, and they did not won der that Captain Perpoint had shrunk in horror from the revealing of the secret oi the Fortuna.
 Bu, when they scrambled on the deck they discovered another fac, which gave a more terrible meaning to the dead man s tragedy. The covering of the hatchway by the companion ladder was bai,ened down, and nailed from the s.oe with tive-ineh nails. The skipper loos. ened the rusty iren with his knife. and after a while they lifted the lid of. and