The news & observer., 1897-03-07
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81 CuTCLIFFE HYNE.
Copyright, 1897, by cutclife Hyne.I


In ii from the very first, and, indeed,
I've a strong notion che whole plot TO
steal the treasure was i'm the beginning
theirs. and theirs alone. / can't be sure,
but I've am idea that Miss Bradbury
came into the business soon after we
sailed from Liverpool; aud if one may
hazard a guess, it was because Willie
Cameron, the diver with the black hair,
fell i'm love with her and let out the Sc
crat. However, | didn't arrive at any of
this till later; and il it hadn't been
lugged into the business by the yeriest
outside chance, it's my belief the three
of them would have walked off with all
the gold, and the salvage company would
never have seen so much as the bare
color of it.
There was a distinct understanding be-
tween me and Capt. Boyd when | signed
on as third of the Cleaner that | was
only doing it as personal obligation to
himself. The berths of second and chief
engineer had been filled; they wanted
man who wouldn't mind bearing hand
if anything went wrong with the diving
tackle; and they couldn't have picked
better than myself | was thoroughly
we'll grounded in the shops before ever
| thought of the sea; and, though | say
II, few better filters and all-round me-
chanics have ever stood on the foot
plates of a steamboats, engine room. If
it wasn't for the board of trade and
their rotten examinations I'd have been
chief long ago; and with a chiefs ticket
in my pocket you may be sure I'd have
got the master hand over the whisky, at
any rate at sea, and in sight of any one
that mattered ashore.
OF course it was condecension for
man like me to be third ON a bit of a
steamboat like the Cleaner; but / was
drawing eight pound month, which
was the same as the second engineer got;
and I'll not deny / was i'm a manner
forced into taking the first berth that
offered. I'd been paid off from my last
ship in Liverpool, and I'd met friends
who knew Ballindrochater, where my
father had been Free Kirk minister, and
we'd got little noisy and found trou-
BILE. The fat Snglish brute of magis-
trate did give us the option but it took
all the money / had left to pay myself
out.
| might even admit, too, that the bust
ness of the Cleaner had some attraction
for me. She was off treasure fishing to
little company that called itself the S. S.
Corinth Salvage Association, 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 whilst the boats went
off with the divers to do their work We
I-eaJ an
shore breeze came and we had to steam
out, but as a 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. I'VE shall be quite family ship,
There's a big large cabin, and we shall
all mess together mates, engineers, div
ers and passengers your chief at
one end of the table and me at the
other
'.Passengersg' said /, Il thought this
was a salvage job
They are coming just for a cruise;
Mr.. Kent and his wife and her sister,
Miss Bradbury. OF course the Cleaner
hasn't got a passenger certificate, so
Dney NWll mdNe 10 SlSn dTLGIeS LIKE ulle
rest of us to get Ito windward of the
board of trade. The ladies will be stew
ardesses, and Mr.. Kent can take his
choice between being doctor and fourth
mate"
''Are they interested in this salvage
business %
mot Bit said Capt. Boyd. They're
people of means, and Miss Bradbury
~,
and rooms like they would ON regular
packet. They're just coming to see the
diving and get blow of sea air, and I
shouldn't wonder but what the young
lady drites a book about it when she
gets home So keep your hair combed
straight Mr.. McTodd It's a pretty big
affair, anyway. The Corinth took down
f270,000 worth of gold with her when she
foundered. She was a Cape boat, you
know, coming home
'.Her propeller shaft broke, didn't it,
somewhere in the after end of the tun-
nel?''
That's the idea, Mac There was a
breeze ON at the time and / suppose
she was racing badly. And it ripped the
stern plating to smithereens when it
went. OF course, the sliding door to
the shaft tunnel jammed when it was
wanted, and so had just got to swamp.
There was no help for it. They'd half
am hour to get clear in, and the boats
saved about two-thirds of her people. I
guess the rest of the poor geggars are
dn her now, and an ugly sight they'll be
for the divers when they go down to try
to weigh that gold"
The captain had other business to at
4 I-rA Il
got fairly started and had dropped our
Mersey pilot at point Lynas, there was
information about the work ahead for
any one who chose to listen. The talk
was upon nothing else. The three pas
sengers fairly brimmed with it. They
said treasure-diving was so romantic"
For myself, when l thought of those
dead bones guarding chests of gold far
down is the slime and the weed and the
cold wash of the sea, thought the busi-
ness was merely gristly. But then /