The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-07-05

IN Sydney; and Seaton now conceived wild
hops Of acquiring one. by some lucky hit.
before Wardlaw could return to Helen ROl-
leStOn. And yet his common Sense ylid, II
was a. rich as Crn'sus, how could she ever
mate with me. stained man. And vet his
heart said, don't listen to rcason; listen
only to me. Try.
And SO he worked double tides; and in vir.
tue Of his University education, llad no
snobbtsh notions about never putting his
hand to manual labor he would lay down
his pen at any moment, and hcar II hand TO
HIT Q chest, or roll q casI. Old White
saw him thus multiply himself ind WIS 30
pleased that he raised his salary one third.
He never saw Helen Rollcston, except on
sunday. Onthat day he went to her church,
and eat half behind pillar, nn,i feaste.l his
eyes and his heart upon her. He lived spar.
ingly, saved money. bought strip Of land
by payment of SO deposit. and sold IT in
keeniy for similar opportunities OH IL large
scale: and oil for her. Struggling with
mountain: hoping against reason, and the
world.
White and Co. were employed to ship q
valuable cargo on board two vessels charter.
ed by Wardlaw and Son; the shannon and
Proserpine.
Both these ships lay in Sydney harbor.
and had taken in the bulk Of tllrir cargocs
but the supplement was the cream; for Ward.
law, in person. hard warchoused eighteen
cases Of gold dust and ingOts. and fifty at
lead and smeltrd copper. They were ull OK
had duplicate keys Of the gold rases. hut
the contents as II matter OF habit and pru-
dence were not described outside: but were
marked Prospcrinc and Shannon. respective
"; the mate OF the Proscrpine. who was in
Wardlaw's confidence, had written instruc-
ton to looks carefully To the stowage of all
afternoon just before closing. and measured
the cubic contents of tho casc, with IL
view to stowagc in the respective ves-
sels. The last timo he came he
seemed rather the worse for liquor: and Sea-
ton, who accompanied him. having stepped
out for minute for something or other, was
rather surprised on his return to find the
door closed, and il struck him Mr.. Wyhe
(that was the mates name) might he inside;
the more 40 as the door closed very easily
with spring bolt, but it could only be
opened by q key Of peculiar construction.
Seaton took out his key, opened the door.
aud called to the mate: but received no reply.
the store, nnd rec whether Wyle, rendered
somnolent by liquor. might not be lying oh
livous among the eases; Wylio. however, was
not to be seen, and ScatOn finding himself
alone did am unwiss thing; he came and con-
tcmplated Wardlaw's eases OF metal and
causes their pain.) He eyed them with grief
and with desire, and could not restrain u
sigh Mt these material proofs Of his rivals
wealth: the wealth that probably had
smootlled his way to General l,olleston's
home. and to his daughter's heart: for wealth
can pave the why to hearts, ny, even to
hearts thnt cannot be downright bought.
This reveric, no DOUBT, lasted longer than lie
thought. for presently he heard the loud rat
tie oil shutters goingup below: it was closing
time: he hastily closed and locked the iron
shutters. md went out and shut the door.
lie Ind been gone about two hours, ind
that part %: the street, 80 noisy in business
casional footstep on the flags outside, when
something mysterious occurred in the ware.
house, now asdark as pitch.
At an angle Of tho wall stood two large
cases in vertical position, with smaller
cases lying at their feet; these two cases we're
hind these cuses suddenly flashed feeble
light, and the next moment two brown and
sinewy hands appeared ON tho edge Of one OF
the cnses-the edge next the wall; the cases
vibrated and rocked little, aud the next
moment there mounted ON the top oft not u
cat, nor monkey, as might hive been ex-
pected, but IN animal that in truth resembIe
both these qundrupe,ls, viz, u sailor; and need
we soy that sailor was the mate of the
Proserpine? He descended lighted from the
top of the case behind which no had hsen
jammed for hours. and lighted dark Ian.
tern; and went softly Cropping about the store
with 1t.
This was mysterious act, and would per-
haps have puzzled the propretors OF the
store even more than it would IL stranger;
for a stranger would have suid at once this
IL burglary, or else arson, but those nc
guainted with the place would have known
that neither OF those crimes was very pruc
ticable: This entcrprising sailor could not
burn down this particular store without
roasting himself the first thing: and indeed
he could not burn it down nj ALL for the roof
was flint, and was in flrt one gigantic iron
tank, like the roof of Mr.. Godings brewery
in London: and, by neat contrivance Of
American origin, the whole tank could be
turned in one moment to shower bath, and
thereabouts. Nor could lie rifle the places
the goods were greatly protected by their
weight, and it was impossible to get ont of
the store without raising an alarm, and being
searched.
But, not to fall into tho error of writer's
who underrate their readers curiosity and
intelligence, and 80 deluge them with com.
ments and explanations, we will now simply
relate what Wylie did. leaving you to CLEAN
his motives as this tale advances. His iack-
ct had urge pockets, and lie took out OF them
bunch Of eighteen bright steel keys. mum.
'treu, u htG M new acfew-urlvefs, liusk OF
rum, and two ship biscuits.
He unlocked the eighteen cases marked
Proscrpinc, &C., and, peering in with his
lantern. saw the gold dust md small ingots
packed in parcels. and surrounded by Aus.
tralinn wool Of the highest possible quality.
1t was n luscious sight.
He then proceeded to heavier task; he
unscrewcd ono nfter another eighteen of the
cases marked Shannon, and tile eighteen NO
selected. perhaps by private marks. proved
to BIZ packed close, and on different sys-
tenn from the gold. viz, in pigs, or square
blocks, three, or in some eases four, to each
chest. Now. these two ways OF packing the
specie and the baser metal, respectively, had
the enect OF producing i! certain uniformity
nf weight in the thirty-six cnsrs Wylic was
inspecting; otherwise the gold cases would
hive been twice the weight of those that
contained the baser metal; for lead is pro-
verbally heavy, but under scientific tests is
to gold as five to twelve, or thereabouts
In his secret and mysterious labor WyIie
step on the pavement outside. he drew the
slide OF his lantern and hid the light. If he
had examined the iron shutters, he would
have seen that his light could never pierce
through them into the street. But he WINS
not aware Of this Notwithstanding these
occasional Interruptions. he worked so hard
and continuously. that the perspiration
poured down him ere lie had unsciewed those
eighteen chests containing the pigs Of lead.
However. it was done ut last, and then he
refreshed himself with draught from his
flask. The next thing was, no took tho
three pigs OF lend out of ono of the eases
marked Shannon. De-, and numbered fifteen,
and laid them very gently on the floor. Then
he transferred to that empty case the mixed
contents of u case branded Proserpine I,
&c., and this he did with the utmost care
ind nicely, lest gold dust spilled should tell
tales. And SO he went on and amused him.
selfby shifting the contents of the whole
eighteen cases marked Pr0serpine, &C.. into
filling them with the Shunnon's lead Frol.
icsome Mr.. Wylel Then he sat down on ono
of the cases Proaerpined, and ate u biscuit
and drank little rum; not much for Mt
this part of his career he was very sober
man, though he could ftign drunkenness, or
indeed anything else.
The gold was all ut his mercy, yet he did
not pocket an ounce Oft; not even penny.
weight to make wedding ring for Nancy
Rouse. Mr.. Wylie had conscience. And Il
very original one it was: and, above all, he
was very true to those he worked with. He
carefully locked the gold rases up again, and
resumed the screwdriver. for there was un-
other heavy stroke Of work to he done; and
he went at it like nun. Hecareiully screwed
down again, one utter another, all those
eighteen cases marked Shannon, which he
had filed with gold dust, ind then, heutinr
wick. he put his own secret marks on those
eighteen cases-marka that no eye could de.
tect. BY this time, though very powerful
man. he felt much exhausted, and would
gladly have snatchcd an hours repose But.
consulting his watch by the light OF hin Ian.