Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-05-06
clawed hold of others; Morgan groveled

clawed hold of others; Morgan groveled
on the ground.
cts Flint, by y" cried Merry.
The song had stopped as suddenly as
it began-brollen off, you would have
said, in the middle of a note, as though
some one had laid his hand upon the
singers mouth. Coming so far through
the clear, sunny atmosphere among the
green tree-tops, l thought it had sound
ed airily and sweetly, and the effect on
my companions was the stranger.
Come" said Silver, struggling with
his ashen lips to get the word out, that
won't do. Stand by to go about. This
is rum start, and / can't name the
voice, but it's some one skylarking-
some one that's flesh and blood, and
you may lay to that"
His courage had come back as he
spoke, and some of the color to his face
along with it. Already the others had
begun to lend an ear to this encourage
ment, and were coming little to them
selves, when the same voice broke out
again-not this time singing, but in a
faint, distant hail, that echoed yet
fainter among the clefts of the Spy
glass.
Darby M'Graw," it wailed-for that
is the word that best describes the
sound = DARBY M'Graw! Darby
M'Graw!" again and again and again.
and then rising little higher, and with
an oath that 1 leave out: fetch aft the
rum, Darby!"
The buccaneers remained rooted to
the ground, their eyes starting from,
their heads. Long after the voice had
died away they still stared in silence,
dreadfully. before them.
THAT fixes it'll" gasped one. Lets
CO."
''T'hey was his last words" moaned
Morgan; "his last words above-board."
Dick had his Bible out and was pray
ing volubly. He had been well brought
up, had Dick, before he came to sea
and fell among bad companions.
Still, Silver was unconquered. could
hear his teeth rattle in his head; but he
had not yet surrendered.
Nobody in this here island ever
heard of Darby" he muttered; mot one
but us that's here" And then, making
a great effort: "Shipmates," he cried,
"I'm here to get that stuff, and I'll not
be beat by man nor devil. never was
feared of Flint in his life, and, by the
powers, I'll face him dead. There's
6 100000 not a quarter of mile from,
here. When did ever a gentleman O.
fortune show his stern to that much
dollars, for booty old seaman with a
blue mug-and him dead, too?"
But there was no sign of reawakening
courage in his followers; rather, in
deed, of growing terror at the irrever.
ence of his words.
Delay there, John!" said Merry
Don't you cross sperrit."
And the rest We're all too terrified to
; reply. They would have run away
, severally had they dared, but fear kept
them together, and kept them close by
J John, as if his daring helped them
He, on his part, had pretty we'll fought
his weakness down.
"Sperrit? Well, maybe" he said
"But there's one thing not clear to me
There was an echo. Now. no man ever
, seen a sperrit with shadow; well
then, what's he doing with an echo tc
: him, I should like to know? That amt
in natur', sure!y?"
This argument seemed weak enough
> to me. But you can never tell what will
affect the superstitious. and, to my
wonder, George Merry was greatly re.
lieved.
''Well, that's So" he said. you've 8
head upon your shoulders, John, and
m t.-S3 .iS
5 here crew is on the wrong tack, / do be.
lieye. And come to think on it, it was
. like Flints voice, grant you, but not
i just so clear away like it, after all. II
was liller somebody else's voice now
1t was like"
. by the powers, Ben Gunn!" roared
Silver.
9 "Ay, and SO it were," cried Morgan
J springing on his knees. Ben Gum il
, were!"
f ut don't make much odds, do it
now?" asked Dick. "Ben Gums no
/ here in the body, any more'n Flint"
But the older hands greeted this re
!. mark with scorn. "Why, nobody mind
r Ben Gunn," cried Merry; dead or alive
nobody minds him."
q 1t was extraordinary. how their spir
: Its had returned, and how the natura
r color had revived in their faces. Soo1
: they were chatting together, with in
n tervals of listening; and not long after
: hearing no further sound, they shout
q dered the tools and set forth again
q Merry walking first with Silver's com
). pass to keep them on the right lin
n with Skeleton island. He had said tn
! truth; dead or alive, nobody minde,
y Ben Gum.
q Dick alone still held his Bible, an,
looked around him as he went, wit,
. fearful glances; but he found no sym
pathy, and Silver even joked him on hi
4 precautions.
: 81 told YOU" said he-"I told you, 70,
e had spilled your Bible. If it amt n
$ good to swear by, what do you suppos
G a sperrit would give for it? Not that!
and he snapped his big fingers, haitin
moment on his crutch.
$ But Dick was not to be comforted
indeed, it was soon plain to me that tn
r lad was falling sick; FASTENED by hea'
exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm
d the fever, predicted by DR.. Livesey, wa
e evidently growing swiftly higher
1t was fine open walking here, upo
y the summit; our way lay little down
G hill, for, as I have said, the platea
tilted toward the west. The pine.