The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-01-12

1.-THE pirates ormory," said he.
many minutes before, with all power at
my command, I could turn it, but / sue
ceeded at last and pushed the heavy
iron door back.
wait a few moments" said the
| don, ''until fresh air be admitted. Re-
member, half a century has passed
since a foot has crossed this threshold"
The air that we encountered at the
door was fiat and dead. I pushed again
at the door till / had it wide open.
Then we sat for 10 minutes on a bench
in the great hall, after which we en-
tered the room. At the don's request
l closed the door.
THE pirates armory," said he.
Hanging from the wall on either side
from end to end were weapons Of all
descriptions-the old fashioned broad
sword of Great Britain, the rapier of
France, the cutlass of Morocco and In
dia, the saber of America.
"All nations" said the don, con
tributed to this armory."
Stacked against the wall were mus
kets, rifles, shotguns and pixies innu-
merable. A long oaken table extended
the length of the room, with benches
at each side for seats.
THE festive board and council Ia
ble," said the don.
l gazed in wonder at the contents of
this room. Midway of the room on n
side was an immense sideboard, on
which stood decanters without number,
also goblets and glasses. At the lower
end a table and a rack were filed with
short arms, pistols, dirks and knives.
All were moldy and showed evidence
of great age, and in places the straps
that had held muskets and sabers in
their positions had given way, and they
had fallen to the floor. Even as we
walked along a heavy cutlass and an
enormous breastplate fell from their po-
sition of perhaps a century and struck
the stone floor with a clang that star
tied me. l glanced at them. The re-
v~erberation of our football had caused
the moldy straps to part. At the end
of this large room a door stood open.
We stepped to it and glanced in.
THE culinary department" said the
don.
Huge freplaces were on either side,
and large kettles still hung on the old
fashioned cranes. Bake ovens and pots
all ranged on either side, while piled
on shelves and tables were tin plates
and china plates, immense platters and
knives and forks, but when l picked up
a huge carver the wooden handle crum-
bled into dust.
"Why," said I, "your ancestors must
have had many followers"
'Ignace, my father, I believe" re-
piled the don, had 90 pirate crafts
afoat and manned by many hundred
men, though rarely more than two or
three crews would be here at one time.
But come" And we retraced our steps
to the council room.
Arrived neal the center Of the room,
I noticed two large black flags hanging
from either side of the door we had en-
tered, while above them one large flag
was suspended by two corners and hung
straight down. The flag was black. l
could just discern in its center the let
tiers l. D. F. THE pirates fags-I. D.
Floremo," said Don Ignace.
I placed my hand on the folds of one
of them. 1t fell to dust.
Nov for the vaults" said the don.
and at the sideboard he halted, reached
one hand behind it, seized a lever and
pulled, but without any result.
Pull with your younger arms,
Claud. Here; stand here"
] seized the lever and pulled and
pulled again. and right in front OF the
sideboard an iron plate of some 6 by s
feet sank gradually down until it hung
suspended by straps, which were Sc
cured to the plate from the under side.
Holding my lantern. l could see an
iron ladder. which leaned against the
stone on which we stood.
Let US descend" said the don.
But the air!' 1 exclaimed; the
atmospheric"
Plenty of ventilation there, he re
piled, from the outside
We were soon at the foot of the lad
der. some 10 feet below. The vault was
a large one, solidly walled up with
stone. The floor was solid stone, and
ranged along the walls were barrels,
casks, boxes and moldy packages with
out number. Most of them, at a kick,
would drop to pieces. In a number of
the boxes were bottled goods, old wines
and brandies.
Here" said I, lis where our wine
comes from"