Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-02

would make away with him-I mean that something it would be impossible in me to lay to my conscience should befan him-as becoming comatose again, and so lying like one dead. Assuredly in such case it was not this hand that would have wasted drop of brandy in returning an evil, white nvered, hectoring old rascal to life that smelled foully with him and the like of him.
 entered the ship, and found Tassard roast ing himself in the cook house.
 sI have been surveying the ice," said 1, drawing to the furnace, "and have very little doubt that if we wisely bestow the powder in great quantities we shall succeed in dislocat- ing the bed on which we are lying"
 "Goodl' he cried.
 "But afterr' said I.
 'What?n
 "As much of this bed as may be dislodged will not be deep; icebergs, as of course you know, capsize in consequence of their becom- ing top heavy by the wasting of the bulk that is submerged. This block will make but a small berg should we liberate it, and very much fear that the weight of this schooner will overset it the instant we arc launched"
 tBody of Mosesr he cried, angrily, knit ting his brows, whereby he stretched the scar to half it's usual width, 'what's to be done, thena"
 ''She is full ship" said I, "and weighty. If the liberated ice be thin she may sit up on it and keep it under. We have right to hope in that direction, perhaps Yet there is another consideration. She may leak like a sievem
 "Why?" he exclaimed. sShe took the ice smoothly; she has not been strained; she was as tight as bottle before she stranded; the coating of ice will have cherished her; and stout ship like this does not suffer from six l months of lying upr'
 Six months thought I.
 "Well, it may be as you say; but if she | leaks, it will not be in our four arms to keep | her free"
 He exclaimed, hotly, "Mr Rodney, if we are to escape we must venture something. To stay here means death in the end. I am persuaded that this ice is joined with some vast main body far south, aud that it does | not move. What is there, then, to wait for7 There is promise in your gunpowder proposal. If she capsizes, then the devil will get his own" And with savage flourish of the pannikin he put it to his lips and drained it. | His sullen determination that we should l stand or fall by my scheme was not very use full to me. had looked for some shrewdness in him, some capacity of originating and weighing ideas; but found he could do little more than curse and swagger and ply his | can, in which he found most of his anecdotes and recollections and not little of his cour age. pulled out my watch, as I must call it, and observed that it was hard upon 1 o'clock
 '"Tis lucky" said he, eying the watch l greedily and coming to it away from the | great subje of our deliverance, as though the l sight of the fine gold thing with its jeweled | letter extinguished every other thought in him, "that you removed that watch from Mendoza. But he will have carried other good things to the bottom with him, fear"
 'His flask and tobacco box took away" said I. "He had nothing Of consequence be- sides"
 s'They must go into the common chest, l" cried he; '''tis share and share, you know"
 "Ay," said I, 'but what I found on Men doza is mine by the highest right under heaven. If had not taken the things they | would now be at the bottom of the sea-"
 "What of that?" cried he, savagely. eff | we had not plundered the galleon she might have been wrecked and taken all she had down with her. Yet should such consider ation hinder fair division as between us between you, who had nothing to do with the pillage, and me, who risked my life in it P
 I said, ''Very well; be it as you say" ap- bearing to consent, for there was something truly absurd in an altercation about a few guineas' worth of booty in the face of our melancholy and most perilous position, though it not only enabled me to send deeper glance into the mind of this man than had yet been able to manage, but made me understand a reason for the bloody aud furious quarrels which have again and again arisen among persons standing on the brink of eternity, to whom a cup of drink or the sight of ship had been more precious than the contents of the Bank of England.
 set about getting the dinner.
 "While you are at that work" ," cried he starting up. "Ill overhaul the pockets of the bodies on deck;" and picking up choppe. away he went, and heard him cursing ir his native tongue as he stumbled to the com panion ladder through the darkness in the cabin.
 His rapacity was beyond credence. There was an immense treasure in the hold, yet he could not leave the pockets of the two poor wretches on deck alone. I did not envy him bis task; the frozen figures would bear a deal of hammering, and besides he had to work in the cold. An, though I, with a groan, should have left him to make one of theml
 I had finished my dinner by the time he arrived. He produced the watch I had taken from and returned to the mates pocket when had searched him for finder box: also g gold snuffbox set with diamonds and few Spanish pieces in gold. On seeing these things remembered that had found some rings and money in Tassards pockets while overhauling him for means to obtain fire but held my peace.
 ''Should not we have been imbeciles tc sacrifice these beautiesa" he cried, viewing the watch and snuffbox with rapturou. grin.
 sThey were hard to come at, expectr
 'No," he answered, pocketing them and turning to a piece of beef in the oven. ''l knocked away the ice, and after little wrenching got at the pockets. But pool Trentanovel dye know, his nose came away with the mask of icel He is no longer lovely to the sight," He broke into guffaw, ther stuffed his mouth full, and talked in the in tervals of chewing. "There was nothing worth taking on Barros. They are bott overboardn
 ) "Overboard!" cried.
 s'Why, yes," said he. ''They are no good on deck. stood them against the rail, ther tipped them over."
 This was an illustration of his strength did not much relish.