San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-04-03

"Goodl" he cried.
"But afterp said I.
"What2n
"As much of this bsd as may be dislodged
will not be deep; icebergs, as Of coarse 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 q
small berg should we liberate it, and l very
much fear that the weight of this schooner
win overset It the instant we are launched"
"Body Of Moses!" he cried, angrily, knit
ting his brows, whereby he stretched the scar
to half its usual width, "what's to be done,
them"
''She is a 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
q sieve!"
"Whyr he exclaimed. "She 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 a
stout ship like this does not suffer from six
months of lying upr'
Six months, thought /.
"Well, it may be as you say; but if she
ieakS, III Will nOU De III our IOuT aTIllS W keep
her free"
He exclaimed, hotly, "Mr. Rodney, if W.
are to escape we must venture something.
To stay here means death in the end. l 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 fora
There is promise in your gunpowder proposal.
If she capsizes, then the devil will get his
own" And with a savage flourish of the
pannikin he put it to his lips and drained it.
His sAl.en determination that we should
stand OF fall by my scheme was not very use
full to me- 1 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 couI-
age. Ipulled out my watch, as l must call
it, and observed that it was hard upon l
o'clock
''Tis lucky" said he, eying the watch
greedily and coming to it away from the
great subject Of our deliverance, as though the
sight of the fine gold thing with its jeweled
letter extinguished every other thought in
him, shat you removed that watch from
Mendoza. But he will have carried other
good things to the bottom with him, fear"
Ellis flask and tobacco box took away"
said l. "He had nothing OF consequence be-
Sides"
'They must go into the common chest"
cried he; It's share and share, you know"
"Ay," said l, sbut what found on Men,
doza is mine by the highest right under
heaven. If l had not taken the things they
would now be at the bottom of the sea-"
"What of that?" cried he, savagely. "If
we had not plundered the galleon she might
have been wrecked and taken all she had
down with he-. Yet should such consider
alton hinder u fair division as between US
between you, who had nothing to do with
the pillage, and me- who riSked my life in itf'
| said, Every we'll; be it as you say" ap-
pearing to consent for there was something
truly absurd in an alteration about e few
guIneas' worth of booty in the face Of our
melancholy ard most perilous position, though
it not only enabled me to send d deeper glance
into the mind of this man than | had yet been
able to manage, but made me understand
reason for the bloody and furious quarrelS
which have again and again arisen among
persons standing on the brink of eternity, to
whom cup OF drink or the sight of a 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, "Tll overhaul the pockets of the
bodies on deck;" and picking up chopper
away he went, and heard him cursing in
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. | did not envy him
bis task; the frozen figures would bear
deal Of hammering, and besides he had to
work i'll the cold. All, though l, with a
groan, should have left him to make one
of them!
1 had finished my dinner by the time he
arrived. He produced the watch had taken
from and returned to the mates pocket when
had searched him for a finder box: also a
gold snuffbox set with diamonds and a few
Spanish pieces in gold. On seeing these
things remembered that had found some
rings and money in Tassard's pockets while
overhauling him for means to obtain fire,
but held my peace.
"Should not we have been imbeciles to
sacrifice these beautiesG" he cried, viewing
the watch and snuffbox with a rapturous
grin.
''They were hard to come at I expects"
NO" 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 icel He is no longer lovely
to the sight" He broke into guffaw, then
stuffed his mouth full, and talked in the in