San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-02-25
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A TALE OF 4 CARAVAN.
BY ROBERT BUCHANAN.

q William Jones. William Jones!
And all this was yours, at least by right
of plumber. upon the queens seaway;
all this which, turned into cash, would
have made man rich beyond the
dreams of avaTiCe. was the possession
of one who lived like a misery beggar,
grudged himself and his flesh and blood
the common necHSSarieS of life. and had
never been known, from boyhood up
ward, to give a starving fellow-creature
so much as a crust of bread. or to drop
a penny into the poOrhOX. o William
Jones! William Jones!
The above reflection and parenthesis
belong, not TO the present writer, but
to my adventurous diScOYerer. the cap
tain of the caravan.
AS Brinkley proceeded on his tour of
inspection. he became more and more
struck with wonder. Nothing seemed
too insignificant. or too prepOSterOuSly
useless, for secretion in that eXtraOrdi-
uary ships cavern. There were mOps
and broOms, there were holy stones,
there were "sQUPegres." there were can
listers Of timed provisions, there were
bags of weevild biscuits, there were
sacks of potatoes (which esCUlentS, long
neglected. had actually SprOuted, and
put forth leaves. there were ring bOlts,
there were tinmugs and pannikins, and,
lastly, mir bile dictu, there were books
said books lay piled on the top of
heap of sacks. and were in the last stage
of mildew and decay. For what purpose
had they been carried there? Certainly
not to form library. for William Jones
could not read. As curiosity deepened,
Brinkley opened some of the fOrlOrn
volumes. covered with mildew. and full
of hidCOuS crawling things. Most were
in foreign tongues, but there were sew
eral English novels half century old,
and book of famous Voyages also
i'll English. Near to them We're some
large paper rolls-ships charts, evident
ly, and almost falling to pieces. And
on the top of the charts was a tiny pray
er-bOok, Slime-cOvpred and dripping
wet,
What possessed Brinkley to examine
the prayer-bOOk | cannot determine.
but in after years he always avcTred
that it was an inspiration. At any rate,
he did open it, and saw that the hyleaf
was covered with writing, yellow, diff
cult to decipher, fast fading away. But
what more particularly attracted his
attention was loose piece of parch-
ment, fastened to the title-page with a
rusty pin, and covered also with written
characters.
Fixing the candle on nook in the
damp wall, he inspected the title-page,
and deciphered these words:
Christmas Eve, 1864, on board the
ship Trinidad, fast breaking up on the
Welsh coast. If any Christian soul
should find this book and these lines
where place them, if they sink not
with their bearer Ton whom | leave my
last despairing blessing to the bottom
of the sea, or if God in His infinite
mercy should spare and save the little
child" THE book tTembled in his hand
as he read. The writing went ON: Il
cast her adrift in her cradle in sight of
shore, on little raft made by my own
hands. lis desperate hope, but lie
can work miracles. and if it is His will,
she may be saved. Attached to this
holy book are the proofs of her poor
dead mothers marriage and my dar-
ling's birth. May she live to inherit my
name. Signed
MATTHEW THORPE Monk,
Colonel, 18th Cavalry, Bengal"
The mystery was deepening indeed!
At last Brinkley thrusj the book and
its contents into his POCKET. and after
one look round. took the candle, and
made his way up the rocks. and out of
the cave. When he saw the light of day
above him he blew out the light. and
crawled upthrough the aperture. Then,
standing on the lonely Sand-hill. hr sur
veyed the scene on every side. There
was no sign of any living soul.
Carefully but rapidly. he returned
the trap-dOOr to its place. covered it
with the stones and liberal handfuls of
loose sand, and walked away, taking
care. for the first hundred yards, to
ObliteTate his footprints as he went.
CHAPTER NI.
MYSTERIOUS BEHAVIOR OF THE YOUNG
GENTLEMAN.
About this time Matt noticed curl