Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-08-25
CHAPTER XVI.
ISRAEL HANDS.

hauled into the west. We could run so
much the easier from the northwest
corner of the island to the mouth of the
North inlet. Only, as we had no power
to anchor, and dared not beach her till
the tide had flowed good deal further,
time hung on our hands. The cock
swain told me how to lay the ship to;
after a good many trials I succeeded,
and we both sat in silence, over another
meal.
"Cap'n," said he, at length, with that
same uncomfortable smile, "here's nv
old shipmate, O'Brien; s'pose you was
to heave him overheard. l amt par
ti'clar as a rule, and I don't take no
blame for settling his hash; but don't
reckon him ornamental, now, do you?"
''I'm not strong enough, and I don't
like the job; and there he lies, for me-"
said I.
''This here's an unlucky ship-the
'Hispaniola.' JIM" he went on, blinking.
"There's power of men been killed in
this 'Hispaniola'-a sight o. poor sea-
men dead and gone since you and me
took ship to Bristol. I never seen such
dirty luck, not I. There was this here
O'Brien, now-he's dead, amt he Well,
L y
can read and figure; and, to put it
straight, do you take it as dead man
is dead for good, or do he come alive
again ?"
"You can kill the body, Mr.. Hands,
but got the spirit; you must know that
already" replied. "O'Brien, there, is
in another world, and may be watching
u.s.
"Ah!" says he. "Well. that's unfort'
nate-appears as if killing parties was
waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits
don't reckon for much, by what I've
seen. I'll chance it with the sperrits,
Jim. And now, you've spoke up free,
and I'll take it kind if you'd step down
into that there cabin and get me "a
we'll, a-shiver my timbers! I can't hit
the name ont; we'll, you get me a bottle
of wine. Jim-this here brandy's too
strong for my head"
Now the cockswain's hesitation
seemed to be unnatural; and as for the
notion of his preferrin wine to brandy,
I entirely disbelieved it. The whole
story was pretext. He wanted me to
leave the deck-so much was plain; but
with what purpose could in no way
imagine. His eyes never met mine;
they kept wandering to and fro, up and
down, now with look to the sky, now
with fitting glance upon the dead
O'Brien. All the time he kept smiling,
and putting his tongue out in the most
guilty, embarrassed manner, so that
child could have told that he was bent
on some deception. I was prompt with
my answer, however, for I saw where
my advantage lay; and that with fell
low so densely stupid I could easily
conceal my suspicious to the end.
"Some wine?" I said. Ear better.
Will you have white or red?''
"Well, I reckon it's about the blessed
same to me, shipmate." he replied; $50
it's strong. and plenty of it, what's the
odds?''
"All right I answered 'sF!l bring
you port, Mr.. Hands. But I'll have to
dig for it,"
With that scuttled down the COM
panion with all the noise I could,
slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along
the spared gallery, mounted the fore
castle ladder, and popped my head out
of the fore companion. I knew he
would not expect to see me there; yet I
took every precaution possible; and
certainly the worst of my suspicious
proved too true.
He had risen from his position to his
hands and knees; and, though his leg
obviously hurt him pretty sharply
when he moved-for I could hear him
stifie groan-yet it was at a good, rat
ting rate that he trailed himself across
the deck. In half a minute he had
reached the port scuppers, and picked
out of a coil of rope a long knife. or
rather a short dirk, discolored to the
hilt with blood. He looked upon it for
a moment, thrusting forth his under
jaw, tried thespoint upon his hand, and
then, hastily concealing it in the bosom
of his jacket, trundled back again into
his old place against the bulwark.
This was all that required to know.
Israel could move about; he was now
armed; and if he had been at so much
trouble to get rid of me, it was plain
that I was meant to be the victim.
What he would do afterward-whether
he would try to crawl right across the
island from North inlet to the camp
among the swamps, or whether he
would fire Long Tom, trusting that his
own comrades might come first to help
him, was, of course, more than could
say.
Yet felt sure that could trust him
in one point, since in that our interests
jumped together, and that was in the
disposition of the schooner. We both de-
sired to have her stranded safe enough,
in sheltered place. and so that, when
the time came, she could be got off
again with as little labor and danger as