The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-09-23

held the night telescope, who seemed 10 have
command over the entire party.
"A barrel Of liquor was rolled out and the
bung taken from it. and each man produced >
tim psnnikin- Az yet no words save the brief
command to the captives TO seat themselves,
had been uttered; but now the leader said In .
tone Of voice which, harsh and grating ~ 1t
| was, had q strange, ufearthly sound:
.'Are you ready TO sweary'
I'VE swear was the reply And each man
raised his right hand and pointed with the fore
| finger upward
sThe light from the lantern now shone full
upon their faces, and though all, like their
leader, wore luxuriant, untrimmed boards and
whskers, to my indescribable horror / per-
ceived that the features beneath were those Of
corpses. Their skins were of n blush white,
their lips parted their eyes staring wide open,
/ glanced toward the captives-their faces
wore the like cadaverous hue!
Mark Davenportp shouted the leader.
"A stout, low-sized man, with a red beard
descending to his chest, stepped forward
lis it doneg' cried the leader
sIt is
@.Tis well Did he make cQniessions'
@The gag was in his mouth. He made a
sign; took 1t out He pleaded hard for his
life, said he would swear to keep our secret
was on y twonfy tvs years old, and that he was
engaged to DO married to the Lady Dorothy in
| a week.
4This was uttered sententiousy by Jerks,
as it were, and In detached sentences
And youY said the leader
@Tied sack over his head and threw him
overheard He sank like lead
The young lady uttered piercing Shrek
which, however, was almost drowned in the
loud, gruff Ha, ha, hat which burst from
the entire party at this description of their
"'Drink TO the success of our enterprise. and
confusion and death to our enemies!' shouted
the leader rs soon as the uproar ceased
"A lad stepped forward with an oddly
shaped pitcher, which he filed from the cask
and afterward filled the tin cups the men held
in their hands. Each raised the cup 10 his
grinning, parted lips, and shouting, Death and
confusion to our enemiesv drained the liquor
to the dregs.
Now count the gold said the leader.
Shalt q dozen small kegs were brought for
ward, the heads knocked in, and the next
moment heap of Spanish doubloons and
moidores covered the floor of the cavern. The
lady, whether corpse or not still lay like one
in swoon; but the old gentleman, who ap-
cess, TO bring her to, now arose from his seat,
and advancing toward the leader, his hands
still bound beside him, said:
wretch! Wretches that we all are! blood
hounds and murderers! though for a time you
may escape vengeance is on your track and
'Ha! Say'st thou so, Hubert Ingoldsby?'
cried the leader, his voice trembling with rage,
aud lurid light cleaning CHASTITY from his
fixed, CLASSY eyes; go thou first to tell Satan
we are coming
@He drew forth one of his pistols, and point
ing olcse to the old mans forehead pulled the
trigger I saw tho flash and the report
sounded in the vaulted cavern az loud as that
of cannon, and. was echoed and re-echoed
among the rocks until it gradually died away
Il tha oil oil 70 hat
to atoms, while his gray hair dabbled in the
pool of blood which escaped him. A peal of
fiendish laughter resounded throughout the
cavern, and the next moment all was darkness
and silence.
aPer ectly Mortified, I CROPPED my way out of
the cavern into the open air. 1t was still dark,
but the storm had ceased and faint dawn of
light was visible in the east Recklessly heed
less of the danger, and not daring to look be-
hind me, essayed the perilous descent
CHAPTER v.
Il recollected nothing more until awoke
from what seemed a long, dreamless slumber.
was lying in bed at the house of my friend.
/ tried to rise, but was too weak, and then
discovered that my head was bandaged
tried TO remember how got into this condi-
ton, but | could not, although gradually /
recollected my adventure in the cavern and all
that had occurred until l had attempted the
perilous descent after flying from the horrors
had Witnessed
"In few moments my friend entered the
apartment He expressed his surprise and
delight at seeing me restored TO consciousness.
He told me that a week before. the morning
after the storm, I had been found by
party of raen who had been in
search of me, lying at the foot of
precipice my clothing torn and drenched,
and bleeding from severe wound In the head
They supposed had fallen in attempting u
scale the cliff / was eneeless, ard they car
ried me home, and was laid on a bed and my
wound dressed Since then / had wandered IN
my mind necessarily, and had spoken of
caverns ard bands of pirates, and OF rich
spoils and treasures and heaps of golden coin,
and of bloodsheda and murder. Until that mo-
ment L had shown no signs OF returning con
seriousness.
aIrelated what had seen, but though per-
sisted IN asserting the truths OF nav state
ments, / could see that all 10 whom / related
my adventure were ncredulous and believed
me still to be laboring under delusion caused
by light charlottesville effect OF the wound
in my head.
-Three weeks passed by before was suff-
GENTLY recovered to go abroad, AMI then, as l
still insisted upon the truth OF my story, and
that L had not dreamed but had really seen
the ghostly pirate band and their captives.
and the treasures III the cavern, II was
solved, partly out of curiosity, partly to con
vince me of my error, to search the cliff for
the cavern | had described
Ladders and ropes wore provided, and
large party, led by me-, proceeded TO the spot
Greatly TO their astonishment, they dis
covered the mouth of the cave "a had de-
scribel IT. though it could not be seen
from the beach beneath. L and some
half dozen others entered the cavern, and
though there was no spoil, no treasure, no
barrels and boxes and bales, no stacks of fire
arms, and no cutasses or batte-axes, there
was the half-rotten seaman's chest on which
had seated myself and slept, and there was an
aperture through which | had seen the light
glimmer, which disclosed second cavern of
much larger dimensions.
"Th at least was proof that had entered
the cave, though all wondered how L could
have scaled the almost perpendicular prcci-
pice, and proof also that lamp or a lantern
must have been lighted to enable me To see
the aperture which led 10 the interior cavern.
since but for the torches carried by our party
the place would have been in utter darkness.
~Ths discovery, and my frequently re-
iterated assertions that / had really witness
ed the ghostly apparitions OF the pirates
and their unhappy captiyes, led TO much
gossip regarding the matter, until at length
the old superannuated sexton of the parish
church came 81 hear the story, and then
he said how, when a child, he had
heard his grandfather tell of n legend
relating to a band of pirates and Snug
glors, the terror of the coast and sur
rounding country, who were beeved-a full
hoff hos xal ol,