The news & observer., 1897-03-07

| actly what was going to happen, and
/ slipped through the hatch after Cam
eron.
We were in Corinth's strong room. The
gold was beneath and around as, in iron
bound boxes, built together like the
bricks of wall. Cameron lifted an end
of one OF the boxes, and nodded his he'll
meted head toward me impatientIy.
took hold, and together we swung it up
through the water and out through the
matches. Then he scrambled up himself,
and | followed. Again, we lifted the
box, treading with care along the Shiny
alley ways so as not TO fool our air
pipes. | could feel the bones of the
iead shift beneath my feet, and my
chest WIS tight with labor In spite Of
he huoyancy OF the water, the box Of
gold was as much as the pair of us could
struggle along with.
At last, with infinite trouble, we came
out through the companion hatch, and
lowered the box with "A rope down to the
bed of slime below. We followed it, lift
ing IL between us again, and wallOwed
N with it through the morass of slime.
The herbage Of the sea brushed our
shoulders as we struggled on; the skele
tons Of the dead stood sentinel along
our path, and the golden silence of the
water crushed into my spirit. We held
our way right round the steamers bows,
and there against her keel we came upon
a pit lit had been dug through the
slime with infinite labor and shored up
with planbing With rope we lowered
the gold chest down into the pit, and
Cameron followed / switched on my
lamp, and saw him heaying and thrust
ing it down a gallery which led far be-
. nc bs iron abn of hos A
shovel lay against u sea shrub at the
lip of the pit. took it in my hand. /
was away from the world of air in this
lonely world of water Cameron and ]
were the only human occupants, with
none to overlook us; and | felt that ]
ought to be ON my guard against him.
From his point of view it was clear /
knew too much.
Presently he returned from out of the
pit, and was about to go back again
round the bows of the steamer, but /
touched him with my shovel and he
turned. Then / pointed to the front
glass Of my helmet, and he came up
close and peered at my face, and as
quickly recoiled. Then again he came
toward me- this time with clenched fists.
but / menaced him with the uplifted
shovel, and he kept his distance How
l longed for speech then to say TO him
what | wished!
For full minutes we stared at one an-
other, and then with sudden gesture
he picked a fragment of stone from the
ground and wrote q message on the rusted
jplating Of the wreck.
"Hold your tongue, Mae" I read "and
yon shall share"
Il wrote a laborious reply with the
peak of the shovel: Cannot deal with
you. Am bound to employers
He scribbled "E25,000 and watched
my face
shook my head inside the helmet.
He wrote 100000" and looked at me
again.
wrote ''Not for f270,00O." 1 saw he
was ready to spring upon me- and held
the shovel edge above my shoulder handy
to cut him down.
He considered for a minute and then
wrote: ''lf you blow on me you will kill
her. She knows. She never liked the
idea, but | persuaded her into it. We
wanted to marry we wanted to be rich:
there was no other way; she is half dead
with anxiety. You must have seen that"
l nodded. He wrote on:
''Then consider her, Mae, and make
your own fortune at the same time"
! could not stand any more of this. I
have been poor enough all my life, and.
God knows, / knew the value of silver.
If it had not been that Capt. Boyd treat
ed me in the way he did, and looked in
Imy eye when he gave me the job, I'll
not say what might have happened. 1t
takes a strong man to resist the bigger
kind of temptations, and-Pm no over
lusty. / beckOned to the water surface
i ob vsritI eslr md ct0
forward. With his arm he implored me
to pause.
Are you going to report what you have
seenY he wrote.
i / shrugged my shoulders.
Through the glass of his helmet | saw
his face harden
II give you fair warming" he wrote
on the rusted iron, ''that if YOU do
will kill you first, and then myself SO
you will not find it cheap to ruin me-"
I nodded my head to show I under
stood, and beckoned him to go on. He
lifted his hands-I thought he was go
ing to grapple with me, and / slashed
at him with the shovel, / drove him be-
fore me furiously. He might be desper-
ate, but l was savage enough myself
The thought of all that wealth lying
within touch made me grit my teeth in
SIutl rage. IL OHly lue Skipper udu dloL
said what he did.
We plowed our way across the Shiny
sea floor to where the boats lay at moor
ings, and first Cameron went up, and
then / followed. On the row back to
the Cleaner we said nothing, either of
us; and for long enough we did not find
opportunity of bein lone. But that
night, when most Or the hands were
turned in, he and sat out together ON
the bridge deck, and he talked whilst /
looked out ut the stars where they hung
above the black ridges of the island.
! He told me the whole tale Of what he
and Storey intended to do. They could
not go far from the wreck, as the air
bubbles, rising to the surface, would
advise their movements; so they had TO
set to work and make a hiding place
for their plunder close at hand. They
decided to dig out a chamber beneath
the steamer, and infinite labor it cost