The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-03-22

rents made by my progress.
! | had decided that under the poop
! deck was the most likely place to find
what | was looking for. The most
! precious part of that Inflated cargo
| SO | argued with myself-would be
! placed where it would be most imme-
diately under the eyes of the officers
| who, no doubt. We're quartered on the
poop, and ! was anxious to ge some
| thing undeniably precious, gold if pos
| sble, to take back with me. My eyes
| searched the place as / went for signs
of gold. Silver, supposed, might tar
nish. but gold would be proof against
| decay; if it We're not hidden in cases,
| | should see it even in that dim light.
| And who that sees it can be mistaken
| in gold?
The hold was longer than | had
| thought. Little by little as | went on
the light grew DINNER. The shadow of
the coral shrubs began to look ghostly,
| and the waving seaweeds overhead
more and more suggested mcdusa faces
half hidden behind these tangled tress
es. / must surely be near the place
| where the treasure had been stored, and
it was worth while to take a few steps
more even though they led into those
eerie shadows. / seemed to be all eyes.
| My glanCcs peercd into each darker hol-
low in search of the yellow gleam of
gold, ANA in half conscious dread Of
| some unknown terror about to show it
self in the shadow.
l had nearly reached the stern. at
last, for already | could dimly make
out the shadow that marked the end
before me. If the treasure We're not
| hnra my of fai
after all the story of the treasure had
been false. Perhaps it had been taken
by the crew. and the tale of the native
attack had been but a blind to cover the
! robbery. l grew cold at the thought,
hut yet l didn't stop. I would at least
make sure, now that | had come SO far
/ took another step. No, it wasn't the
| stern after all. The shadow | had seen
come from something that was piled up
higher than my headbut it didn't reach
to the black covering overhead which
| knew to be the deck. ! looked AT it mar
roWly: / touched it with my hand;
struck it with the tomahaWk. In
closed as | was in my helmet | could
fancy it sounded hollow to the blows.
| struck again and again. Then some
| thing gave way, and out of the dark
ness there rolled something that fell in
a stream into the darker shadows at my
feet. Dim as The light was, | seemed to
catch the glitter Of gold: deaf aS / was
to all other sounds, seemed to hear the
chiuk of metal as the little stream ran
swiftly down into the darkness. | had
found the treasure!
The reVulsiOn of feeling was almO Ost
too great felt myself stagger for a
moment and | dropped the tomahawk
at my feet. Then my senses came back
to me with a wild thrOb of eXultation
For moment bright visions, indefinite
but splendid, tloated before my eyes
and seemed to dazzle me by their vague
brilliancy. ! was the owner-the right
full oWner-of the great treasure. What
might l not be? What might | not dc
with it? 1t doesn't take long to dream
and l dreamed many things in that
minutes pause. And all the time that
slender stream of gold was runnig out
and cleaning family as it fell. Then
l came to myself and bent forward to
grasp it in my outstretched hands. As
l did something like a narrow shad-
Ow seemed to fit past me, and even as
I bent forward l felt myself arrested by
! some invisible force. 1t was gentle but
firm, soft. but for the moment almost
irresistible.
My heart seemed to stand still. and
for several moments I felt powerless
even to make an effort to free myself
from that mysterious grasp. What il
could be that held me | could not ever
guess, but vaguely | pictured to myself
the bony fingers of some Spanish do1
who for three long centuries had stood
, guard over the sunken treasure l am
not an imaginative man, however, anG
as my heart recovered itself and tht
blood began again to rush through my
, veins, my courage came back to me
Ii might be only a fancy. With the
thought came the effort to prove it cor.
. rect, and l threw myself forward once
more to grasp the falling gold. Again
] found myself held back, and now
= knew that the grasp was on my shoul
der Surely 1t was a hand. The weigh
, with which l had thrown myself for
ward, resisted as it was, swung mt
/ partly round, and in the dim twilight
my eyes caught sight of a thin, darl
a line that stretched out of the dark
= ness rigid and strong. Was it the skel
!, eton arm l had dreamed Of? lnvolun
| tarily my hand went up and caught it.
! No, it was no bony substance on which
. my gauntlet closed so ConVulsively, fO
ii bent as l pressed against it-ben
like a piece of highly tempered steel
With a sudden wrench l tried to loosel
its hold and | almost succeeded. Then
with kind of shudder that communi
Gated itself to my hand, it suddenl!
sWelled and grew rigid again, and
felt as if | had been drawn closer I,
the spot in the darkness out of which
it came. At the same moment some
thing else sprang out of the shadow
trembled for an instant as if in doubt
and then darted suddenly at my othe
shoulder. Then l knew what it wa
that | had to deal with-a devil fish.
Strange as it may seem--strange as
it even seems to myself now-the con,
Niction was a positive relief, 1 has
never seen a devil fish, it is true, but
had heard and read Of them, and thei!
appearance was familiar to me from
pictures. Terrible as the creature was
he WAS not invested with the terror,
of the unknown, and | felt as if cOult
face him on very different terms from
the bony skeleton | had imagined tC
myself in my first moment of dread
Like a flash it passed through my mint
as l felt the new arm of the anima
touch and cling to my breast. Ther,
was somethinE about that touch tha
was unlike any other experience | hat
ever had. IT was not a blow; it wa
not a grasp; ii wasn't even a push
yet the sensation | felt was a littl
like all three, l staggered for a mo
ment, but l held fast by the long, thin