Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-12-15

THE TREASURE HUNT-THE VOICE
AMONG THE TREES.
Partly from the damping influence
Of this alarm. partly TO rest Silver and
the sick folk, the whole party sat down
as soon as they had gained the brow of
the ascent.
The plateau being somewhat tilted
toward the west, this spot on which
we had paused commanded a wide pros
pect on either hand. Before us. over
the tree-tops, we beheld the Cape of the
Moods fringed with surf; behind, we
not only looked down upon the anchor
age and Skeleton island. but saw-clear
across the spit and the eastern low
lands-a great field of open sea upon
the cast. Sheer above us rose the Spy
glass. heredotied with single pines.there
black with precipices. There was no
sound but that of the distant breakers,
mounting from all round. and the chirp
of countless insects in the brush. Not
a man. not a sail upon the sea; the very
largeness Of the view increased the
serse of solitude.
ings with his compass.
There are three tail trees" said
he. about in the right line from Skele-
ton island. 'Spy-glass shoulder | take
IL. means that lower pint there. It's
child's play TO find the stuff now. I've
half a mind 10 dine first"
Il don't feel sharp" growled Morgan.
"Thinkin' O Flint think il were-'as
done me-"
"Ah. well, my sor, you praise your
stars he's dead" said Silver.
lie was an ugly devil" cried a third
pirate, with n shudder; "that blue in the
face, too"
That was how the rum took him"
added Merry. Blue. well, reckon he
was blue. That's true word"
Ever since they had found the skele-
ion aud got upon this train of thought
they had spoken lower and lower, and
they had almost got TO whispering by
now. so that the sound of their tals
hardly interrupted the silence of the
wood. All of a sudden. out of the mid
die OF the trees in front of Us. thin.
high, trembling voice struck up the
well-known air and words:
Fifteen men on the dead mans chest
Yo-ho-ho. and a bottle OF rpm,'
never have seen men more dreadful
ly affected than the pirates. The color
went from their six faces like enchant-
nent; some leaped to their feet, some
clawed hold Of others; Morgan groveled
on the ground.
Its Flint, by -" cried Merry.
The song had stopped as suddenly as
II began-broken off, you would have
said. in the middle Of 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, I thought il 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, thai
won't do. Stand by TO go about. This
10 a 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 10 his face
along with il. Already the others had
begun 10 lend an ear 10 this encourage
ment. and were coming little TO them
selves. when the same voice broke out
again-not this time singing, bur in a
faint. distant hail, that echoed vet
fainter among the clefts of the Spy
glass.
DARBY MGraw." il wailed-for tina:
is the word that best describes the
sound DARBY M'Graw. Darby
MTrnw." again and again and again.
and then rising little higher. and with
an oath that 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 III" gasped one. LET'S
co."
They 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
mp. 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" be 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
he beat by man nor devil. I never was
feared of Flint In his life, and, by the
rowers. I'll face him dead. There's
100000 not quarter Of a mile from
here. When did ever a gentleman O.
fortune show his stern to that much
dollars. for a booty old seaman with a
blue mug-and him dead, too?"
But there was no sign of reawakeniIg
courage in his followers; rather, in
deed. Of growing terror at the irreyer-
ence Of his words.
Delay there. joint" said Merry.
Don't you cross a sperrit."
And the rest were all too terrified 10
reply. They would have run away
severally had they dared. but fear kept
them together. and kept them close by
John. as II his daring helped them.
Tie. on his part. had pretty well fought
his weakness down.
"sperri? Well. maybe" he said.
"Rut there's one thing not clear to me.