The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-23

"come on below, old man.. sa--,
I'll tell you all about H..
The skipper nodded TO Madison.
That's tall.in' now" he said. Get him
10 lie down for a bit, till he gets over
n Mr.. Madison. ] should like TO hear
about it myself, only I've got TO go
ashore again now. Keep the yarn till
I come back, Mr.. Hall; yen tell 1t
all the better for sleep
"Now, what's TO be done. MadisonY"
I asked, as we sat'half an hour later
ON opposite sides of the table in the
little saloon of the brig.
you're dead sure there was no mrs
take. HaIl?" he said. 1T was coin you
saw trickling into the waterT
"Sure?" / calculated, with contempt
"should want TO go back again Tor
fun, do you suppose"
"WelI." he said after thinking for
half a minute. there's only one way
that / can think of-you'll have to go
down again. I'd 90 myself in mo-
mont, old man, but the chances are
| / shouldn't find it."
jumped up and gripped Tom by the
hand as 1 exclaimed: That's what 1
saw. but how are we going TO manage
| IT? They'll try TO stop my going"
"The skipper would, sure enough
said Tom. with laugh, "but can man.
| are the others while he's gone ashore.
! I'll go and talk to the mate now while
I you get into the togs again. III nave
TO offer him a share, though, ex-
pect."
"Oh." 7 said, "of course we'll all share,
| Tom. There'll be something for every
body, if we can once get 1t up"
| Ten minutes later / went on deck
ready 10 face il again, and the moment
| looked at the men / could see that Tom
| had been as good as his word. There
was more curiosity than ever In the
| gIances they cast at me. but there was
look of suppressed eagerness about the
| mates face that convinced me he would
forward my enterprise by every means
in his power.
Look here, sir!" he said, coming up
| 10 me, do We think We could pilot us
| somewhere near the spot? Mr.. Madi-
son tells HE We saw it. from the deck,
and i should feel more easy in my mind
| il / could feel sure as there we're no mis-
take afore We went down"
| Tho idea seemed good one, and In
less than five minutes we we're in the
boat, two sailors rowing, and the mate
and Tom peering over the gunwale on
each side, while did my best TO direct
| the men as sat in thestern. Werowed
some little distance, and then / made
| them turn and come back, but az yet
I we had seen nothing. Surely we were
close 10 the brig now, thought. and vet
we seemed to have taken the right
track, too. stopped over the side and
gazed into the CLASSY depths, and even
as did SO a shadow seemed torise from
the bottom. Igrasped the gunwale and
stared into tho water. Yes; there IL
was again. Tho same shapeless yet sug-
gestive rock / had looked at from the
big.
"Stop rowing!" shouted: "back wa
ter, men!"
In another minute we lay perfectly
still, and TO my surprise not more than
thirty yards from the brig. Tom and
the mate gazed downwards for some
seconds without speaking, and then
the latter looked up.
"Well. I'll be jiggcred," he exclaimed,
"if don't believe as it Is ship after
| ALL"
I put on the helmet which lay ON the
seat beside me, and Tom saw TO the fas-
Jennings. I motionod TO the men TO pull
a stroke and then to stop. Tom saw
that the gear was clear and the hands
on tho brig looking after the pump, and
in another instant had lowered my
self over the stern. Tom put large
butchers knife into my hands and
nodded. Then let go. We had judged
our distance well, for when / felt my
feet touch the bottom and looked
around I found that was standing
once moro on the sloping deck of the
| Spanish galleon. A step or two and 1
had reached the edge OF the hold. and in
another moment had dropped into the
| hold.
1t looked strangely familiar as I
cast a quiet glance around me in the
| LIQUID twilight, but felt that L couldn't
afford 10 pause. turned my face reso-
lutely 20 the darker shadows and de-
scended the slope step by step into the
darkness below. i was determined 10
succeed. and yet the effort was the
greatest had ever made in my life.
At last had reached the place. II ID
had only been by the sharp shudder
that passed through me should have
known that It was the same. Yes, there
An,hLM/l