Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-07-06
CHAPTER TX.
THE HAUL OF THE GRAB.

Those brown eyes of Dolly's must in
site where the Santa Catarina was ~
ing, for, with the exception of a slight
mound, covered by the omnipresent
ooze, there was little to distinguish the
Spanish treasure ship from the ocean
floor on which it rested.
Every drop of blood in the girls body
was tingling with excitement at the
discovery which her bright eyes had
been the means Of making, and with a
little flush of pleasure she made way
for the undergraduate to take her place
at the window of the coming tower.
DR.. Tring meanwhile, kept up run
ming fire of congratulations.
AS he looked through the glazed port
Guthrie could hardly persuade himself
that before him lay the foundered gal
leon that they had come so far and
labored so heavily to discover.
He had pictured to himself a shattered
and rotten wreck. which, though eaten
by the sea water and broken by the ex-
plosion, would still retain good deal
of it's old form and appearance. In DR..
Things room at 1903 Shaftoe street had
been, among other things. a volume Of
old prints which were copies from the
sea pictures in the great council cham
Der of the doges' palace at Venice
Dolly and he had studied these careful
ly, and from them had obtained very
tolerable notion Of the naval architec-
ture Of the earlier centuries. He ex-
pected, therefore, that the galleon would
have some traces remaining Of lofty
forecastle and aftercaste that at least
one of her great poop lanterns would be
left; that she would have. at any rate,
one mast standing He had pictured to
himself the size and shape of its heavy
"roundtop" and, in fact, though the
whole would doubtless be shrouded by
| a heavy growth Of sea shrub and creep
er, he had hoped that his Imagination.
by filling in few gaps here and there,
would still have given him a very fair
picture of what the galleon was when
she rode in all her bravery of canvas
and bunting over the waves of the
surface.
But he had forgotten to allow for the
corroding power of the brine, Iron nails
had dissolved to mere threads, copper
had turned to a thin green strip, the
hard lex oak timbers and sheathing
had rotted to pulpy slime The whole
fabric of the great vessel had disin-
tegrated of lite own weight, reclining
where it fell. and the ever precipitating
diatom ooze had shrouded its identity
almost completely. Save here and there,
where some charred beam or plank OF
the hard Spanish timber projected
crookedly like a rotten tree snag the
symmetry of the mound was unbroken,
Bravo Dolly!' said the doctor.
"Whatever we do get now we've tc
thank you for D'you know, Guthrie,
that this is the third time we have been
over this particular piece of ground and
that I was on the watch on the other
occasions, and must have passed thi:
precious hillock as did any other in
equality of the sea floor p
Miss Colepepper. said the under
graduate. "the very next time we pipe
down to dinner / shall crave the honor
of proposing your health.
"And III join you in drinking the
toastl' cried the doctor heartily "Bu'
now we won waste any more time IL
congratulations. The length Of our stay
down in this gloomy treasure house II
limited. We can + prolong it without