The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-06-29
CHAPTER XVI.

I HEAR OF GREAT TREASURE.
l lighted a pipe, and sat bordering his
story little while. There was no doubt he
had given me the exact truth so far as his
relation of it went. As it was certain then
that the Boca del Dragon las she was called
had been fixed in the ice for hard upon fifty
wears, the conclusion formed was that she
had been blown by some hundreds of leagues
farther south than the point to which the
Laughing Mary had been driven; that this
ice in which she was entanglcl was not then
drifting northward, but was il the grasp Of
some polar current that ti'oudel it south
eaStCrly; that i'm due cOirS, it was carried to
the antarctic main of is'e, where it lay COM
pacted; after which, through stress of
weather or by the a%:lC: of q particular
temperature, a great mass of it broke away
and started on that nort'IwGT,i course which
bergs OF all magnitude :}'.c when they are
ruptured from the fro2".I Cln.i.;Cnt.
Now that | had O. nDruiOn should be
able to escape from this :urrid situation! He
had spoken of chests o. silver. Where was
the treasure-in the run! There might he
booty enough in the hold to make n great
man, fine gentleman, of me, ashore 1t
would be noble endin:; to an amazing adj
venture to come off witt as much money us
would render me indc LENT for life, and
enable me to turn my hl,..: forever upon the
hardest calling to which the destiny of man
can wed him.
OF such were the fancies which hurried
through my mind.
I wished to see how the schooner lay, and
what change had befallen the ice in the
night, and went on deck It was blowing a
whole gale of wind from the northwest
The sea was swelling very furiously, and I
could divine its tempestuous character by
clouds of spray which spread like volumes Of
steam under the sullen dusky heavens high
over the mastheads. The schooner Law with
a list of about Ii dogs, and her bows high
cooked. | looked over the stern and saw
that the ice hal sunk there, and that there
were twenty great rents and yawnin9 seams
where had before noticed but one A vast
block of ice had fallen on the starboard side,
and lay so close on the quarter that l could
have sprung on to it. No other marked
changes were observable.
was about to go below again, when my
eye was taken by the two figures lying upon
the deck. No dead bodies ever looked more
dead; but after the wondrous restoration Of
the Frenchman ! could not view their forms
without fancying that they were but as he
had been, and that if they were carried to the
furnace, and treated with brandy and rub
bling and the like, they might be brought to.
Full of thoughts concerning them l stepped
into the cabin, and going to the cook room
found Tassard still heavily sleeping. The
coal in the corner was low, and as it wanted
an hour of dinner time took the lantern and
a bucket and went into the fore peak, and
after several journeys stocked up good pro-
vision of coal in the corner l made noise
enough, but Tassard slept on. When this
was ended l boiled some water to cleanse
myself, and then set about getting the dinner
ready.
The going into the fore peak had put my
mind upon the treasure, which, as I had
gathered from the Frenchman's narrative,
was somewhere hidden in the schooner-in
the run as doubted not; mean in the hold,
under the lazarette-for you will recollect
that, being weary and half persisted with the
cold, had turned my back on that dark part
after having looked into the powder room.
ALI the time / was fetching the coal and dress
Ing the dinner my imagination was on frs