The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-10-05

objected to the Deal smuggling project be-.
throughout considered the risk too heaI
to adventure told them that Mr. Masd
believed he could immediately find pur<
chaser for the small arms, in which case
they would have to be sent privately ashore;
and to give proper color to this ruse
made them pack away all the remaining
weapons in the arms room and carry them
to the run, ready to be taken with the other
chests.
Once fairly round the Forelands, half my
anxieties fell from me. There was no longer
the French cruiser or privateer to be feared;
and however wonderingly the people of my
own country's vessels might stare at the un-
common figure of my schooner, they could
find no excuse to board u.s. Besides, as
have said, was greatly helped by the
weather, which, continuing hazy, though
happily never so thick as TO oblige me to
stop, delivered me to the sight only Of such
vessels as passed close, and offered me only
as a mere smudge to the shore.
We arrived off Barking Level at Z o'clock
on the Thursday evening, and dropped an
chor close to lighter that lay there with q
large boat hanging by her. 1t was then very
dark The first person to come on board was
Mason. He was followed by several men,
one of whom he introduced to me as his head
clerk, who he said would see to the unload
ing of the schooner and to the transshipment
Of the goods to the ship in the Pool. He in
formed me that there was a covered van
waiting ON shore; and telling Wilkinson that
the small arms had been disposed of, and
that Mr.. Mason would hand over the pro-
ceeds ON our calling at his office, l went with
a party of my relatives men into the run,
and presently had the whole of the chests in
the boat. Mason went with her.
Then, as she disappeared in the darkness,
but not till then, did I draw the first easy
breath had fetched since the hour of the col
lision of the Laughing Mary with the iceberg.
A sob shook me; had gone through much;
many wonderful things had happened to me;
| had been delivered from such perils that the
| mere recollection Of them will stir my hair,
though it is years since; my first duty knew,
and discharged it by withdrawing to my
cabin, and kneeling with humble and CRATE
| full heart before the throne of that being to
| whom owed everything.
Here concludes the remarkable narrative
of Mr.. Paul Rodney. 1t is to be wished that
he had found the patience to tell us little
more The circumstance of his dying In
| 1928 worth $Sl 600 leads me to suspect that
his associate, Tassard, greatly exaggerated
| the value Of the treasure. am assured that
he lived very quietly, and that the lady he
married, who bore him two children, both of
whom died young, was of nun-like sim
plicity of character, and loved show and ex-
travagance as little as her husband. Hence
there is no reason to suppose that he squan-
dered any portion of the fortune that had in
the most extraordinary manner ever heard of
fallen into his hands. I have ascertained
that he very substantially discharged the
| great obligation that his relative Mason laid
him under, and that his three men received
Ct, 900 apiece 1t is possible, then, that the
pirates were themselves deceived; that what
they had taken to be gold or silver ingots
were not all so; or it might be that the case
of jewelry was less valuable than the admir-
ring and astonished eyes of plain sailor
who admits that he had never before seer
such sight, figured it. Be this, however
as it may, it is nevertheless certain, as proved
by Mr. Rodney's last viii and testament, thai
he did uncommonly well out of his adventure
on the ice.
Whatever may be thought of his story Of
the Frenchman's restoration to life, in Other
directions Mr.. Rodney's accuracy seems un
impeachable. 1t is quite conceivable that 9
stoutly built vessel, locked up in the ice anG
thickly glazed, should continue in an excel
lent state of preservation for years. The
confession of his superstitious fears exhibits
honesty and candor. 1t is related that 6
Capt. Warren, master of an English merchant
ship, found derelict in August, IT'S, that
had long beCn ice bound, with her cabin.
filled with the bodies of the frozen crew
ellis own sailors, however, would not suffer
| hin, RI search tha uacSal thnrof1uhlx thro.roI
superstition, and wished to leave her imme
diately." A pity they did not try their hand.
at thawing one of the poor fellows; the result
might have kept Mr.. Rodney's strange ex
perience i'm co9ntenancel
Accounts of vast bodies of ice, such as Mr.
Rodney fell in with, will be found in the
"South Atlantic Directory For instance:
'sSir James G. Ross crossed Weddel's track
in lat. 65 dogs. S., and where he had found
an open sea Ross found an ice pack of an i'm
passable character, along which he sailed fol-
160 miles; and again, when only deg. be
yond the track of Cook, who had no occasion
to enter the pack, Ross was navigating
among it for fifty-six days.
"But these appear insignificant when com
pared with body of ice reputed to have beer
passed by twenty-one ships during the months
of December, 1854, and January, February
March and April, 1855, floating in the South
Atlantic, from lat. A dogs. s., long 2s dogs
W., to lat. 40 degs S., long. 20 dogs. w. 1t:
elevation in no case exceeded 800 feet. The
first account of it was received from the
Great Britain, which, in December, 1854, was
reported to have steamed fifty miles along
the outer side of the longer shank. One ship
was lost upon it; others embayed."
| THE END.