The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-07
THE F0UNDERED GALLEON.
D. wEATHERBY CHEsNRY AND
ALICx MUNRO.
Copyright Bse. BY the Authoral
CHAPTER XII.
PIPER'S CAY.

CHAPTER xL
PIPER's CAY.
Fer three days the storm ragged un.
ceasingly, and then the weather mod.
Grated. The ketch behaved in this fear.
full turmoil Of the ocean like the splen,
did sea boat which Captain Colepeppel
had declared her to be. But the inter.
val for preparation had been too short.
Between the time when the two leaders
Of the enterprise had decided that they
must give up for the present all hope Of
being able to take the Eureka down to
the bottom for another deck load of the
Spanish gold and the moment when the
first blast of the tornado had struck her
there had been breathing space Of
barely two hours And this had not
been enough.
The damage to the imperfectly 80
cured spars and rigging had in conse-
quence been very great. The whole Of
the gearing Of the mizzsnmast had
gone by the board. and at every roll the
broken bulwarks let in the big green
seas through half dozen gaping rents.
''We must run In somewhere to 70.
fit declared Captain Colepepper, re-
gretfully, for the necessity of abandon
ing the Santa Catarina Just when she
was becoming profitable had been a
great disappointment to him. "No use
to think Of anything else till we've seen
to our repairs"
A council was being held in the after
cabin, consisting Of the two leaders,
Dolly and the undergraduate. Miss Cole
pepper was unwontedly silent and seem
ed to find difficulty in meeting
Guthrie's eye. This was the first time
they had seen one another since the
episode during the storm, so, perhaps,
the young lady's bashfulness was nat.
ural.
The captain, who while the canvas
remained unbent and the ketch was
transformed into diving bell had sell
dom ventured on an opinion, had now
resumed his authority. He was in COM
mand again now that his ship had re-
turned to her proper functions, and he
understood what was due to himself.
DR.. Tring, therefore, reverted naturally
to his sea position Of mate.
"H'mT" said the doctor, showing
bis wig over his brows and rubbing his
ear perplexedly. Tdon' t altogether ad-
mire the idea.
"Of what7" inquired Captain Cole.
pepper.
"Of running into any of these West
India islands. As I've told you before,
l know EN- rather well-Spanish, Eng
lish, Republican, all the lot l was out
here naturalizing, If you remember.
Can't we manage some sort Of make
shift to repair our damages and rub
along somehow without calling any.
where7"
"No," said the captain decidedly,
1--WE can't. I wouldn't undertake to
sail the Eureka through another blow
in her present trim. Besides, our supply
of fresh water is running short, and by
the time we had found the Santa Cata-
rina again and got the rest Of the dol
lars out of her the barrels would be
about empty. We shall have to run in
in any case to get them filled
before we can point our bows to the
Bristol river again. What have you
against the islands3"
"They aren't healthy neighborhood
for folk in our position, Colepepper;
that's all. Our enterprise has been pref
ty well talked about, and if it got
round, as it most assuredly would, that
the kstch had got any Of the Spanish
dollars under her matches we should
stand about an even chance of getting
our throats cut. They re awful rapscal-
lions hereabout-English and all the lot
Of them. The islands used to be the head
quarters Of western piracy only CEN
fury back, and there are blackish tales
hanging in the air about the thing be. !
ing done pretty freely even now. You
zee, there are liberated slaves every
where and semicivilized niger is the
greatest savage in creation. A black
nan in his native African wilds is bad,
put niger who has been exported |
md trained turns into the very warm
'st kind Of demon If he gets the least |
nance And that's not hearsay evil
lence, mind you. I've seen it for my
elf"
"Aye, said the captain, "the darkies
md the tinted folk hereabouts have
'retty nasty reputation, know. But
here's Jamaica. We should be snug
nough in Port Royal"
"Revenue mulcts on treasure trove;
ifficulties with a colonial admiralty
curt; yellow fever, which is usually
retty virulent, and about as good a
nance of raid from niggers and
mean whites as we should have at
Iavana itself. That's all that occurs to
,e at present, Colepepper l think l
ould guarantee that little selection at
ort Royal"
The nanfein tI,uood oou,o oy,d, - |