Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-18

rings and money in Tassards pockets while
oyerhauling him for means to obtain fire
but held my peace.
"Sbould not we have been imbeciles to
sacrifice these beautiesf he cried, viewing
the watch and snuffbox with a rapturous
grin.
"They were hard to come at l expoctf'
mo" he answered. pocketing them and
turning to a piece of beef in the oven. II
knocked away the ice, and after a little
wrenching got at the pockets But poor
Trentanove. dye know, his nose came away
with the mask Of ice! He is no longer lovely
to the sight" He broke into u outlaw, then
stuffed his mouth full, and talked il the in
tervals OF chewing. "There was nothing
worth taking on Barros They are both
overheard"
"Overboard!' cried.
"Why, yes" said he. "They are no good
on deck. stood them against tho rail, then
tipped them over"
This was an illustration of his strength
lid not much relish
81 doubt if | could have lifted Barros,n
said l.
"Not you" he exclaimed, running his eye
over me. "A doad Dutchman would have
the weight OF fairy alongside Darrosn
"Well, Mr.. Tassard, said l, ''since you are
so strong you will be very useful TO our
scheme There is much to be done"
"Givc mo sketch of your plans that
may understand you,n he exclaimed, con-
tinuing TO eat very heartily.
First of al,n said |, 1--WE shall have to
break tho powder barrels out of the magazine
and hoist them on dock. There are tackles,
| suppose"
"You should ho able to find what you want
among the hoatswain's stores in tho run" he
replied.
iThere are some splits wide enough to re-
ceive a whole barrel of powder" said /. II
counted four such yawns all happily lying in
line athwart the ice past the bows. l pro-
pose to sink these barrels twenty feet deep,
where they must hang from piece of spar
across the aperture
lie nodded.
Have you any slow matches aboardN
PLENTY among the gunner's stores, he ro
piled.
"There are but yon and me-" said /;
these operations will take time. We must
mind not to be blown up by one barrel while
we are suspsnding another. We shall
have to lower the barrels with their matches
on fire, and they must be timed To burn an
hour"
SAY, certainly--at least an hour" he ex-
claimed. "Two hours would be better"
"Well, that must depend upon the num-
Der of parcels of matches we meet with.
There will he a good many mines to spring,
and one must not explode before another.
Ills the united force Of tho several blasts
which we must reckon on. The contents OF
ut least four more barrels of powder we
must distribute among the other chinks and
splits in such parcels as they will be able to
receive"
And thenp
"And them" said 1, 1--WE must await the
explosion, and trust to the mercy of heaven
to help us"
lie made a hideous face, as if this was
sort of talk to nauseate him, and said: DO
you propose that we should remain on board,
or watch the effects from distance.n
"Why, remain ON board, of COURSE | an
swered, Suppose the mines liberated the
ice on which the schooner lies and it hoated
away, what should we, watching at dis
lance, do"
True" cried he, 'but it is cursed perilous.
The explosion night blow the ship up"
mo, it will not do that. We shall be bad
engineers if we bring such a thing about.
The danger will be-providing the schooner
is released-in her capsizng, as l have before
pointed OUT
"Enough!n cried he, charging his panni-
kin for the third time. 1--WE must chance her
capsizing"
''If l had n crew at my back" said l, 81
would carry an anchor and cable to the shout
der of the cliff at the end of the slope to hold
the ship if she swan. would also put
quantity Of provisions on the ice along with
materials fer making us shelter and the whole
of the stock of COAL SO that we could go on
supporting life here if the schooner cap
sized"
Then" said he, ''you would remain ashore
during the explosions"
Most certainly. But as all these prepara-
tions would mean degree of labor imprac-
ticable by us two men, 1 am for the bold ven
ture-prepare and fire the mines, return to
the ship, and leave the rest to Providence"
He made another ugly face, and INDUCED
himself in piece of profanity that was in
expressibly disgusting and mean in the mouth
of a man who was used to cross himself when
alarmed and swear by the saints But per-
haps he knew, even better than l. how little
he had to expect from Providence. He filled
his pipe, exclaiming that when he had smoked
it out we should fall to work
Now that had settled plan, 1 was eager
to put it into practice-hot and wild, indeed,
with the impotence and hope of the cast
away animated with the dream of recovering
his liberty and preserving his life; and l was
once, on account of the weather being fair
and still; for if it came on to blow stormy
wind again we should be forced, as before,
under matches. But | had to wait for the
Frenchman to empty his pipe. He was so
complete a sensualist that | believe nothing
short of terror could have forced him to
shorten the period OF a pleasure by a second
of time He went on putting so deliberately,
with such leisurely enjoyment of the flavor
of the smoke, that expected to see him fall
asleep; and, my patience becoming exhausted,
| jumped up, but by this time his bowl held
uothing but black ashes
Now" cried he ito work"
And he rose with prodigious yawn and
seized the lantern, Our first business was to
hunt among the boatswain's stores in the run
for tackles to hoist the powder barrels up
with, There was good collection, as might
have been expected in a pirate, whose com
morce lay in singing goods from other ships
holds into her own; but the ropes were
frozen as hard as iron, to remedy which we
carried an armful to the cook house. and left
the tackles to lie and soften. We also CON
veyed to the COOK house a quantity of ratline
stulf-a thin rope, used Ior the making of
steps in the shroud ladders; this being a line
that would exactly serve to suspend the
smaller parcels of powder in the splits. Be
fore touching the powder barrels we put a
lighted candle into the bulls eye lamp over
the door, and removed the lantern to a safe
distance. Tassard was perfectly well ac-
quainted with the contents of this store
room and on nay asking for the matches put |
his hand on one Of several bags of them. |
They varied in length, some being six inches l
and some making a big coil There was |
nothing for it but to sample and test them,
and this l told Tassard could be done that |
-yeninn The Innin hutch WAS inst fnr.,un,.1i /