The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-03-31
SELECTED STORY.
A Divers Romance.
BY CUrLIFFE HYNE, IN NEW
YORK SUN.

1Ohh oONs
l fancy the two divers must have
been in it from the very first, and, in.
deed, I've q strong notion the whole
plot to steal the treasure was in the be.
ginning theirs, and theirs alone.
can't be sure, but I've an idea that
Miss Bradbury came into the business
soon after we sailed from Liverpool;
and If one may hazard guess, it was
because Willie Cameron, the diver
with the black hair, fell in love with
her and let out the secret However,
didn't arrive at any OF this till later;
and If 1 hadn't been lugged into the
business by the veriest outside chance,
it's my belief the three of them would
have walked off with the gold, and the
salvage company would never have
seen so much as the bare color OF it.
There was q distinct understanding
between me and Captain Boyd when l
signed as "third "of the Cleaner that
was doing it only as a personal obli-
CATION to himself. The berths OF sec
ond and chief engineer had been filed (;
they wanted man who wouldn't mind
bearing q hand if anything went wrong
with the diving tackle; and they
couldn't have picked better than my
self. was thoroughly we'll grounded
in the shops before ever l thought of
the sea; and, though say it, few bet
ter filters and al-round mechanics have
ever stood on the footplates of steam
boats engine-room. If it wasn't for
the Board of trade and their rotten ex-
aminations I'd have been chief long
ago; and with q chiefs ticket in my
pocket you may be sure I'd have got
the master hand over the whiskey, at
any rate at sea, and ashore in sight OF
any one for that.
OF course 1t was condescension for
a man like me to be third on a bit OF
steamboat like the Cleaner; but was
drawing GO q month, which was the
same az the second engineer got; and
I'll not deny 1 was in manner forced
into taking the first berth that offered.
I'd been paid off from my last ship in
Liverpool, land I'd met friends who
knew Bsllindrochater, where my father
had been Free Kirk minister, and we'd
got a little noisy and found trouble.
The fat English brute of magistrate
did give US the option, but it took all
the money had.
| might even admit, too, that the
business of the Cleaner had some al
traction for me. She was off treasure
fishing to the Canaries; she was char.
tered bv a little company that called
itself the S. S. Corinth Salvage Asso-
citation. and the work for her engineers
promised to be light. We should steam
down channel, through the bay and
down to the spot among the islands
where the Corinth had been sunk.
And there we should swing at anchor
while the boats went off with the divers
to do their work. We should Keep
banked fires in case an onshore breeze
came and we had to steam out, but as
general thing there would be no
Watches for us engineers and full pay
going all the time.
"It'll be the softest job you've
tumbled into for many long day, Mr..
McTodd," said the old man when he
offered me the berth. "We shall be
quite a family ship. There's a big,
large cabin, and we shall all mess to,
gether-mates, engineers, divers, and
passengers-with your chief at one END
of the table and me at the other"
"Passengers?" said /. 81 thought
this was a salvage job"
"They are coming just for cruise
a Mr.. Kent and his wife and her sister
a Miss Bradbury. OF course the
Cleaner hasn't got passenger certid
cate, 80 they will have to sign articles
like the rest of us to get to windwart
of the Board of Trade. The ladies vii
be stewardesses, and Mr.. Kent cal
take his choice between being docto
and fourth mate"
care they interested in this sal
vage?"
HNot Bit" said Captain Boyd
"They're people of means, and Mis-
Bradbury writes novels. They pay TO-
their grub and rooms as they would OF
regular packet. They are just com
ing TO see the diving and get blow o.
sea air, and 1 shouldn't wonder blu
what the young lady writes bool
about it when she gets home. So kee]
your hair combed straight, Mr.. McTodd
It's pretty big affair, anyway. Tn
Corinth took down e270,000 worth o
gold with her when she foundered
She was Cape boat, you know, com
ing home"
Her propeller shaft broke, didn't il
somewhere in the after end of the tun
nel?"
"That's the idea, Mac. There wa
breeze on at the time, and suppos
she was racing badly. And it rippe'
the stern plating to smithereens whel
1t went. or course, the sliding door t,
the shaft tunnel jammed when it wa
wanted, and so they had just got t.
swamp. There was no help for il
They'd half an hour to get clear in, an,
the boats saved about two-thirds of he
people. l guess the rest of the poo
beggars are in her now, and ugly sigh
they'll be for the divers when they q
to try to weigh that gold"
The Captain had other business t
attend to then, 80 1 left him, but after w