The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-07-23
CHAPTER XVI.
ISRAEL HANDS.

mucn the custer from the uOrtuWcbJ
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 a good deal further,
time hung on our hands. The cock
swain told me how to lay the ship to;
after a good many trials / succeeded.
and we both sat in silence, over another
meal.
"Cap'n." said he. at length, with that
same uncomfortable smile, "here's my
old shipmate. O'Brien; s'pose you was
to heave him overheard. l amt par
ti'clar as a rule, and / don't take no
blame for settling his hash; but don't
reckon him ornamental. now, do your
I'm not strong enough, and 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 a 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. never seen such
dirty luck, not /. There was this here
O'Brien, now-he's dead. amt he? Well,
now, I'm no scholar. and you're a lad as
can read and figure; and, TO put IL
straight, do you take IL as dead man
Is dead for good, or do he come alive
again?"
"You can kill the body. Mr.. Hands,
but not the spirit; you must know that
already" replied. "0'Brien, there, is
In another world, and may be watching
us"
"Ah!" says he. "Well, that's unfort'
nate-appears as ~ killing parties was
waste OF time. Howsomever, sperrits
don't reckon for much, by what I've
seen. I'll chance IL with the sperrits,
Jim. And now, you've spoke up free.
and I'll take II kind II you'd step down
into that there cabin and get me a.
we'll, a--shiver my timbersl / can't hit
the name ont; well, you get me 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 preferring wine to brandy,
I entirely disbelieved IL. The whole
story was n pretext. He wanted me TO
Il ltdNC lHC htNh--oO Llhth was PAIN DhN
with what purpose / could in no way
imagine. His eyes never met mine;
they kept wandering TO and fro, up and
| down, now with a look 10 the sky, now
with n fitting glance upon the dead
O'Brien. All the time he kept smiling,
aud putting his tongue out in the most
| guilty, embarrassed manner, so that a
| child could have told that he was bent
on some deception. / was prompt with
my answer, however, for / saw where
my advantage lay; and that with fell
low so densely stupid l could easily
conceal my suspicious to the end.
"Some wine?" said. Far better.
viii you have white or red?"
"Wen, / reckon it's about the blessed
same TO me, shipmate," he replied; so
it's strong, and plenty Of 1t. what's the
| odds?"
"Ail right" / answered. "Tll bring
you port. Mr.. Hands. But I'll have to
dig for H."
With that scuttled down the com
| panion with all the noise l 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. | knew he
would not expect 10 see me there; yet l
took every precaution possible and
certainly the worst OF my suspicious
proved too true.
lie had risen from his position 10 his
hands and knees; and, though his leg
obviously hurt him pretty sharply
when he moved--for could hear him
stife n groan--yet IL was at good, rat
Ting rate that he trailed himself across
the deck In half n minute he had
reached the port scuppers. and picked
out of coil of rope a long knife, or
rather n short dirk, discolored 10 the
hlt with blood. lie looked upon II for
moment. thrusting forth his under
jaw. tried the point upon his hand, and
then. hastily eoncealing IL 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 IL he had been at so much
trouble TO get rid OF me, IL was plain
that | was meant TO be the victim.
What he would do Observation-Disclosures
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 10 help
him, was, Of course. more than l could
say.
Yet I 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.
aired 10 have Der stranded safe enough
in . sheltered place. and so that, when
the time came. she could he got ofl
aualn with al little labor and danger q,