Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-12-21

ship, you shall have hair profits between Won !:
sc you don't, ron can go back to Milwaukee
Like q couple OF fools, and I'll put into port
i AGAIN 70 get q couple OF pluckier fellows
answer each for yourselves. Hiram, will You
go with me ?,' 5fs 5s&5 s.
How shall I know you'll keep your prom
lse?n asked Hiram, : IS. -
b For the best Of all possible reasons.n re-
pied the captain, jauDtily; t.because, If don't
you !, can INFORM upon me to the insurance peo-
In Hiram Coffn's sordid soul there was a
moments turning over of the chances; and
then greed prevailed over revenge and he said,
grudgingly: = ~ 80. +. = ~ =
.@ well, cap'D, TIL go with you" ~, d.,
The captain smiled the smile of calm self
approbaaon and turned half round TO Pete.
rs "And yous" he asked = -.>slS. ,
III Hiram goes I go too" Pete answered.
hair hoping that some chance might occur for
comforting with his neighbor on the road and
following out their original conspiracy But
Capt Pierpolnt had been too much for him;
no had followed the excellent rule, ''divlde OF
1mpera, and he remained clearly master of
the situation Capt Pierpoint certainly didn't
spend comfortable time during his voyage
down the lake or through the Straits Of Macki-
naw 70 say the truth, he could hardly sleep
at ALL and he was very tagged and weary when
u.
and Hiram, though they had many chances Of
talking together, could not see their way to kill
him in safety; and Hiram at least, in his own
mind, had como TO the conclusion that it was
better to make little money than to risk ones
n nees FOR foolish revenge So in the
out, when a rough wind had arisen from
the north and a fog had como over them,
tho captain quietly began 10 cut away at the
rope that tied them to the tug He cut the
rope all round, leaving sound core in the CEN
ter, AMI when the next guest OF wind came the
that the people on the tug never suspected the
SenGineness Of the transaction. They looked
about In the fog and st,rn for tho scow, but
OF course they couldn't tiud her, for Capt Pier
point, who knew his ground well, had driven
her straight ashore before the. wind, and
beached her on small shelving cove on
Maaitoulin island There they found FIVE
men waiting for them, who helped unload the
cargo with. startling rapidity, for it was all
arranged in sacks, not in bulk, aad high
slip it quickly into an underground granary
excavatsd below the levei Of the beach.
After unloading they made their way down
before the breeze toward the jagged rocks of
Man!touEin.
1t was IL o'clock on stormy moonlight
night when the Fortuna arrived off the iuttIng
point Of the great island. A ';black squall,"
as they call it on the lakes, was blowing down
from the Sault Ste Marie. The scow drove
about aimlesely under very littlo canvas, aud
the b 'as was ready to be lowered Sin case"
the captain said lumorously, s'of any acct
I mt Close to the end of the point the cap
tain ordered Pete and Hiram down into the
hold. He had shown them beforehand the way
to draw the plugs, and had explained that the
water would rise very slowly and they would
have plenty of time to get up the com anion
ladder long before there was foot deep of
water in the hold At the last momoDt Pete
hung back little The captain took him quietly
by the shoulders ami without an oath IAN omis-
sion which told eloqucn,ly on Pete) thrust him
down tho ladder, and told him in lis calmest
manner TO do his duty. Hiram held the light
i'll his hand and bo1h went down together into
the black abyss There was no time to be lost:
they were wel of the point. aud in another
moment the wreck would have lost all show of
reasonable probability.
AZ tho two miners went down into the hold
Capt. Pierpont drew quietly from his pocket
large hammer and packet Of fva-incA nails.
they were good stout nails and would resist
considerable pressure. He looked carefully
down into the hold and saw the two mon draw
the first plug. One after another he watched
them u It'll tho fourth was drawn and then he
T. ok one Of the nails firmly between his thumb
and foretinser
Next week everybody at Sarna was grieved
to hear that another of Capt. Perponts vessels
had goue down Off Manit6un point i'll tuat
dreadful black sQuall Oh Thursday evening.
18th tbs sailors on board had been drowned.
Still, it was a fortunate thing tAat such a de-
lightfui man as the captain had not persisted in
tho laundering of the Fortuna.
Somehow, after that wreck Capt Pierpont
never cared for the water again. His nerves
we're shattered, he said, and he couldn't stand
danger as he used to do when he was
younger and stronger. So he went on the
],I-a md fined his attantinn
strictly to the futures business. He was a
t3riyIng and prosperous person ia spite Of his
los ses, and tue underwriters Lad begun to look
q little askance at MS assurances even before
this late foundering case Some whispered
ominously in underwriting circles that they
had their doubts about the Fortuna.
One summer few years later the water on
Lake Huron sank lower than it had ever been
known to sink before. 1t was very dry season
in the back country, and the rivers brought
down very diminished streams into the great
basins Foot by foot the level of the lake fell
slowly till many Of the wharyes were left high
and dry, and tue vessels could only come along
side 10 very few deep places. Capt. Pierpoint
had suffered much from sleeplessness, COM
bined with Canadian ague for some years past
but this particular summer his mind was very
evidently much troubled For some unaccount-
able reason no watched the failing of the river
with the intensest anxiety, and after it had
passed a certain point his interest in the ques-
| ton became Dalul lilly AC6l. luOuSu bu6 lGV6T
aud the ague gained upon him from day to
dav and his doctor counselled perfect quiet he
was perpetually consulting charts and making
measurements Of the confguration which the
co asst had now reached, especially at the upper
cad Of Lake Huron. At last his mind seemed
almost to give way, and weak and feverish as
no was he insisted, the first time for many sea.
sons, that he must take trip upon the water.
RenAonstrance was quite useless; he would go
on the lake again, he said, if it killed him. So
he hired one Of the little steam pleasure yachts
which are always to let in numbers at Detroit,
and started with his wife and her brother a
young surgeon, for q months cruise into Lake
Superior.
As the yacht neared Manitoulin Island Capt
Pisrpoint insisted upon bong brought up on
deck in a charlie was too i'll to stand--and
swept ali the coast with his binocular. Close
to the point aat-tolped object lay moulder-
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-law.
answered, careless]y. sEBy Jove, now I look
at it with the glass I can read the name,
Fortuna Sarnla. ," -.,'H
Capt Pierpoint seized the glass with shak-
ing hand and read the name OH the stern him
self in dazed fashion. ''Tske me down
stairs,"' he said feebly. sand let me die
quietly; and for heavens sale, Ernest, never
let her know about it all.
They took him back aud buried him at
Sarnia, and all the world went to attend the
funeral, as Of a who died justly respected
for his wealth and other socially admired quail
ties But his brother in law knew there was a
mystery somewhere in the wreck of the For
tuna. aud as 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 tue bottom\ they
found eight holes in it. Six of them were wide
open, one was still plugged, and the remaining
one had the plug pulled half out, inward,
abandoned the attempt for fear of the rising
water That was bad enough, and they did
not wonder that Capt Pierpoint had sh1unk in
lo,ror from tbe rsyaaEnr of tho aecrat Of ha