Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-10-02
BY LUKE SHARP.

"Time!" shouted the man on the
bridge.
"We'll give you the gold," said the
captain, returning to his place.
"All right. And SO that there will
be no temptation to play us any tricks,
for the amount / understand is demor-
alizingly large, I will stay here and
receive your packages. Two of my
men will go aboard you, and two
others will work the ferry between
your craft and mine. Those four men
T can easily spare, and if you kill or
capture them you are welcome to do
SO, but in that case I shall undoubted-
ly sink the ship. If you will think
over the crisis for moment you will
see that nothing else is left for me to
do. 1t is the only safe plan therefore
trust there will be no trouble"
There wasn't. The miners saw at once
that there was little use in making a
row, and in short time the precious
cargo was transferred from the ship to
the yacht. 1t came in boxes and bags,
in large quantities and in small, and
the man on the bridge opened every
package so that there was no chance
of fooling him. When the transfer
was complete the young man sang
out:
"I wish you good day, captain, and
safe voyage. It may strike you as
strange that I do not sink the ship
now and so destroy all evidence
against me. assure you that I gave
the plan the deepest consideration,
and if, unfortunately, one life had
been lost, yen would all have gone to
the bottom, but, as it is, this is only
robbery or piracy, and I believe they
don't hang for that now, SO chance
your evidence against me, for I will
be disembarked long before you can
reach the nearest telegraph Office. So,
if were you, Iwould plug right along
to San Francisco and not give me the
trouble of calling at Victoria or any Of
those intervening ports. Well, 50
long,"
The yacht moved away from the
ship at speed which showed that all
hope of keeping her in sight for long
was hopeless. With sad hearts the
plundered passengers watched her
grow smaller and smaller to the south
of them, while the Bear churned her
leisurely course through the waveless
sea.
At last the lookout shouted:
"The Yachts coming back, sir.
The captain put his glasses to his
eyes and gazed for long time at the
horizon to the south.
"By jingo, she is," he said, turning
triae less ruddy. Then he said to
the mate, "What do you think of it?'
"He's probably changed his mind
and is going to sink us. Thought he
didn't seem to be more than half con-
vinced when he talked of not doing it.
What are we to do?"
'T don't know anything to do"
said the captain hopelessly, swearing
inwardly that if he escaped he would
have faster steamer next voyage OF
quit the high seas.
Everyone aboard was now watching
the northern bound yacht, and the
same disquieting thought seemed to
run through every mind, even before
one of the passengers gave voice tc
his fears. Suddenly the captain cried
out with his glasses still to his eyes:
$50 help me! It's not the same
yacht. Look, JOe!'
The mate examined the approach
ing steamer and conceded with the
captains view. Soon all doubt wal
set at rest. The oncoming boat was
seen to be much larger than the yacht
and apparently much faster, speedy al
the other had seemed in comparison
with the Russian Bear. A big black
bearded giant with voice like fog
horn was in command. He wasted NJ
time in talk, but sent shot towards
the Bear, shot that skipped along tn
water and sank without coming within
dangerous distance. Once more tn,
Russian Bear lowered her flag, SLOWED
down and stopped. The other cam'
up with her.
"We want what gold you have OF
board" roared the man with the WINS
kers.
"We haven't any," replied the cap
tain; "we've been"
'I know better. You have 70, ooO,
900 worth of the stuff with you ant
I'll have it without any more nonsense
I'm not running . moonlight excuf
sion with o brass band on board
Surrender, or I'll sink you"
you're too late. We've beel
robbed already"
"Oh, that's too thin. Every NAL
hold mn his hands; we're going to la.
a,onoside and the man that moves get
shot"
"You're wasting valuable time,
said the captain, come round to tn
other side and see the shot he pu
through US, if you don't believe me
We don't get such marks as this o.
moonlight excursions, either"
"Here's the shot that came throug
tho eide (" corroborsted the mate, hold
inc Il mn in his hands. All on boar
cried aloud that this was true, and tn
n;rsta made an emphatic remark re
rard;no his future destination, whic
Was as likely as not prophetic:
"Didnt you meet q rakish- looking
black. .hulled yacht about half the siz
of your own?. j.. -, .. ~
.;me sbe sheered off and showed this
che didn't want to be hailed. Bnt q
ws didn't, either, took no notice
,r,1-, T cop overhaul har hefOr