The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-05


pointed.
Wait" he said, as Lynch was about
| to run forward. THE chests you seek
are buried in a cave beneath the altar.
You can have them, but tell me first
where L shall find my boy
1.-TWO hundred yards back in the
| JUNGLE cred Lynch in frantic haste.
GO with Gabriel and his men quietly
and bid Donnereau come. He will I'M
derstand and fly fast enough. But hold!
! When you are gone, who will hold Off
| these black devils?"
| Sir Roger waved his wand, which still
he bore, and said few words and at
once the negroes, though somewhat
sullenly, drew back toward the woods.
You are satisfied" Sir Roger asked
and at Dixey's nod FASTENED away.
| But he had not gone ten yards, call
| ing Gabriel to follow, before a curse
from Dixey turned his head. and, look
| ing back, he saw that old Gabriel held
pistol pressed to Lynch's head,
| "A share cried the desperate old
\ man, COR, in spite of Sir Roger and all
his blacks, and a thousand Justin's
lives. l blow your brains out"
other curse First let us have the
chests. and once aboard the schooner
we will talk of shares"
The two greedy men jostled each other
| in the passage to the cave, and so con-
| tagious was the fever of their eyes,
glittering with ayarice, that the three
men of the schooner, without more de-
bate than an exchange of looks, drew
cutlasses and plunged after them, ready
in turn to fight for a portion Of the
gold.
They had hardly disappeared when
the thunder rolled again. and again the
whole earth shook and the lake rose up
against it's shores in boiling waves. Sir
Roger in dismay, hurried to the woods.
but again he had to turn at the sound
of voices behind him. The treasure
seekers were out again, sweating I'M
der the weight Ola great box, dragging
1t, pushing it to. the air. There they
hacked and hewed it with cutlasses
until the lid burst open, and they dived
head first at its contents in a delirium
of greed. A cry of anger came from
them. They hauled out nothing from
the box but old clothes and uniforms.
Down they rushed to the cave once
more and brought up more chests. IN
their blindness, their madness, they
saw not that the negroes has scattered
and fed, that Sin. Roger gazed on IRON
ically from distance, nor did they
mark the thunder crash, nor feel the
earth Shake. They knocked the olo
chests asunder and parted them with a
Cry and white, perplexed faces. Cola
and jewels there were none-nothinS
but books and papers and clothes and
trash. There came a fearful crash in
the sky and a yell of agony from Don
nereau in the woods. Sir Roger dashed
into the jungle, crying in that tumult:
Justin. Justin. My son."
By the scattered altar Lynch and
Gabriel Murrin faced each other, and
suddenly, as dogs over a bone, in their
fury of disappointment. they began to
blame each other for the fault, and flew
together with cutlasses drown. The
other men stood apart, Stupefied. AS
they We're thus postured for one in
slant, the thunder rolled again, the sky
seemed to close in on them, and the
earth cracked in all directions. Up rose
the lake. Kissing and bubbling, and
with a mighty roar the whole point of
land, the place of sacrifice and of battle,
crumbled and sank, while the hideous
shrieks of the doomed treasure seek
ers rose TO the skies and echoed in the
mountain tops, and at last ceased, as
DiXey Lynch and old Gabriel fell to-
gether, lighting still, mid rocks and
ruins to the bottom Of the lake.
AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
Before the crash of the earthquake
had passed. Sir Roger was well into the
wood nor saw the final catastrophe
and the disappearance of the white
men. To his continued crying of his
sons name at last he heard an answer,
and recognized with joy Oziefs voice.
Running on, he came to the great
chaSm in the earth, on whose brink lay
the two friends, Justin still white and
iEsensible. Oziel, utterly exhausted.
and in a dreadful state of mind at
these commissions of tropical nature
xx-lli Rl, I,e Il Mt in lie.
unlearned simplicity, as direct judg-
ments of an angry GOD upon so wicked
a land. Poor lad, he was on his knees
in earnest prayer when Sir Roger
found him, and SO Sir Roger reverently
left him. while he attended to the care
of his son, whom at last he was able
to embrace. ia
When the sorely-tried lad was re-
stored after a time to- consciousness.
the old man Gained their fears and
told them of the search for the chests.
The earthquake had passed.; the thun-
ders rumbled mere distantly, and
heavy, cooling rain descended. Through
this downpour the three made their
way to the open cautiously, for Sir
Roger did not know of Lynch's death,
and feared his rage. But the scene that
met their eyes dispelled all alarm. The
ruined cape, the mud and rocks thrown
up, the altered aspect of the angry
take, told their own tale, and the three
gaZed, aWeStruck, at the mighty grave
of the gold robbers. The judgment was
too recent, too appalling for comment,
but to the lips of Justin came curiously
the words of Dixeys song, and he NUT
tered them as now he pressed Oziel's
hand in safety:
When the moon sails in southern sky,
Where the south wind blows softly by,
There's the red gold where the dead men
lie.
Where all bold lads are sailing.
He paused and his father looked on
him thoughtfully.
Not a sign of the chests, JUSTIN he
said; they rest in the same grave with
the wretches who valued them at the
price Of human life
Justin shuddered.
Let them be, my father" he said.
Il have had enough of treasure hunt
ing"
Sir Roger said no more then, but
Oziel laughed for the first time for
many weeks.
Then there is some prospect, lad"
he cried, IF that be so, Of our seeing
good Boston town and peace and quiet
ness again
Indeed, no other thought had honest
Oziel now that the villains were safely
killed than to bear Justin back to
Marian in safety. and say to that lone
maid:
Il have obeyed you: 1 have been
faithful"
The treasure might lie for him till
doomsday at the bottom of the lake.
But Sir Roger grew strangely thought