The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-03-20

iOou, anu Iue luea lndQe me Slu1Qer In
side my rubber clothes Then [ thought
good to see exactly what was going to hap
pen, and slipped through the hatch after
| Cameron.
We were in the Corinth' strong room.
The gold was beneath and around us, in
iron bound boxes, built together like the
bricks of wall. Cameron lifted an end
1 of one Of the boxes, and nodded his helmeted
head toward me impatiently took hold,
and together we swung it up through the
water and out through the matches. Then
he scrambled up himself, and I followed.
Again we lifted the box, treading with care
along the shiny alleyways so as not to foul
our air pipes. | could feel the bones of
TIE dead shift beneath my feet, and my
chest was tight with labor. In spite of
the buoyancy of the water, the box of gold
was as much as the pair of us could strug-
gle along with
At last with infinite trouble we came
out through the companion hatch and low
cred the box with rope down to the bed
! Of slime below. We followed it, lifting it
between us again. and wallowed On with it
through the morass of slime. The herb
age of the sea brushed our shoulders as we
struggled on; the skeleton 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 steam
er's bows, and there against her keel we
came upon pit. 1t had been dug through
the slime with infinite labor and shored up
with planking. With rope we lowered
the gold chest down into the pit, and Cam
eron followed | switched on my lamp
and saw him heaving and thrusting it down
gallery which led far beneath the iron
sheathing of the wreck. A shovel lay
against 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 Cameran and l were the only
human occupants, with none to overlook
us, and felt that | ought to he 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 90 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 clenehed
| ists, bat | menaced him ii he uplifted
shovel and he KEEP his dis anye How l
longed for speech then Q say % him what
[ wished
For full minute we stared at one
another, and then with sudden gesture
he picked a fragment of stone from the
ground and wrote message ON the rusted
plating of the wreck
sHold your tongue, Mac, l read,
'and you shall share.
l wrote laborious reply with the peak
of the shovel: Cannot deal With you.
Am bound to employers.
He scribbled ''e25, OOO" and watched
my face.
shook my head inside the helmet.
He wrote 'sf3O, 600 and looked at me
again.
| wrote s.Not for e270, 900 / saw
he was ready to spring upon me. and held
the shovel edge above my shoulder handy
to cut him down.
| He considered for minute and then
wrote ''If you blow on me you will kill
her She knows. She never liked the
idea, but l 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.
| nodded. He wrote or :
''Then consider her, Mac, and make
your own fortune at the same time.
could not stand any more of this. |
have been poor enough all my life, and
God knows | ken the value of siller. IF
it had not been that Capt. Boyd treated
me in the way he did, and looked in my
eye when he gave me the job, il not say
what might have happened. 1t takes
strong man to resist the bigger temptations,
and-I' m no over lusty. | beckoned to
the water surface above with my shovel
and took step forward. With his arm
be implored me to pause.
care you going to report what you have
seen p he wrote.
l shrugged my shoulders.
Through the glass Of his helmet | saw
his face harden.
| give you fair warning 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.
nodded my head to show that l I'M
derstood, and beckoned him to go on. He
lifted his hands-T thought he was going
to grapple with me, and | slashed at him
with the shovel. He drew back, and,
once on the move, drove him before me
furiously. He might be desperate, but |
was savage enough myself. The thought
of all that wealth lying within touch made
me grit my teeth in cruel rage. II only
the skipper had not said what he did
We ploughed our way across the shiny
sea floor to where the boats lay at moor
ings. and first Cameron went up and then
I followed. On the row back to the
Cleaner we said nothing, either of us; and
for long enough we did not find opportunity
of being alone. But that night, when
most of the hands were turned in, he and
sat OUT together on the bridge deck, and
he talked whilst | looked out at 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 90 far from the wreck, as the air
bubbles, rising to the surface, would advise
their movements; 50 they had to set to work
and make hiding place for their plunder
close at hand They decided to dig out a
chamber beneath the steamer, and infinite
labor it cost them. Meanwhile, to mask
what they were doing, they gave out the
tale of the ooze covering the treasure out
of reach. Their efforts were nearly ended
when Storey got his stroke; the pit was
made; part of the gold was already trans
ported and when the rest was hid, then
they intended to cover the mouth Of the
pit SO that it never could be found by
chance explorers. Then they we're going
to tell Capt. Boyd that the job beat them,
and get his permission to blow into the
Corinth's strong room with dynamite from
the outside. The explosion would be SO
4,;--od tbat tho steaner Would be in