The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-07-28

anu you Slall snare.
~ wrote laborious reply with the
peak of the shovel: "Cannot deal with
you. Am bound to employers. :"
He scrubbed legs. 900" and watched
my face.
shook my head inside the helmet.
He wrote "e3O. 900" and looked at
me again.
wrote sNot for ee7o, ooo." saw
he was ready to spring upon me and
held the shovel edge above my shoulder
handy to cut him down.
He considered for minute and then
wrote: eff you blow on me you will
kill her. She knows. She never liked
the idea. but I persuaded her into it,
We wanted to marry, we wanted to be
rich There was no other way. She is
half dead with anxiety. You must have
seen that"
nodded. He wrote on:
''Then consider her, Mac, and make
your own fortune at the same time.'
could not stand any more of this.
have been poor enough all my life, and,
God knows. ken the value of siller. If
it had not been that Captain Boyd treat
ed me in the way he did, and looked in
my eye when he gave me the job. I'll
not say what might have happened. It
takes strong man to resist the bigger
kind Of temptations. and-I'm no over
lusty. beckoned to the water surface
above with my shovel and took step
forward. With his arm he implored me
to pause.
care You going to report what you
have scent 2" he wrote.
shrugged my shoulders.
81 give You fair warming" he wrote
on the rusted iron. 'that if you do I
will kill you first and then myself. So
you will not find it cheap to ruin me-"
nodded my head to show under
stood and teckoned him to 90 on. He
lifted his hands, thought he was go
ing to grapple with me. and I slashed
at him with the shovel. he drew back
and. once on the move. drove him be-
fore me furiously. He might be desper-
ate. but was savage enough myself.
The thought of all that wealth lying
within touch made me grit my teeth in
cruel rage. If only the skipper had not
said what he didl
We plowed our way across the Shiny
sea focr to where the boats lay at moor
ings. and first Cameron went up, and
then followed. On the row back to the
Cleaner we said nothing, either of us.
and for long enough we did not find OPP
portunity Of being alone. But that
night. when most Of the hands were
turned in. he and sat out together on
the bridge deck. and he talked while I
looked cut at the stars where they hung
above the black ridges Of the island.
He told me the whole tale of what he
and Storey intended to do They could
not go far from the wreck, as the air
bubbles, rising to the surface, would
advise their movements, SO they had to
set to work and make a hiding place for
their plumber close at hand. They de-
cided to dig out chamber beneath the
steamer, and infinite labor it cost them.
Meanwhile. to mask what they were
doing, they gave out the tale of the ooze
covering the treasure out Of reach.
Their efforts were nearly ended when
Storey got his stroke. The pit was made,
part Of the gold was already transport
ed, and. when the rest was hid. then
they intended to cover the mouth of the
pit SO that it never could be found by
chance explorers Then they were going
to tell Captain Boyd that the job beat
them and get his permission to blow
into the Corinth's strong room with
| dynamite from the outside The explo-
sion would be so contrived that the
steamer would be rived to pieces and
the ooze would cover all her fragments.
''You think that the Cleaner would
return home them" I asked.
''There would be nothing else for it. -
"But the company would send out
another expedition.
.'Let them send out ten; they d find
nothing"
"And afterward?''
"Storey and were going to charter
a schooner, put diving tackle on board
and come out here again by ourselves.
We could weigh the gold in a couple Of
days, and know of market"
"Well. Storey will never use limbs OF
tongue again"
M sure of it, Mac. You must take
his place. We two and one other can
work the schooner, and a year from
now Well be rich men. Think of it, lad
rich beyond what you ever thought
of Think of it-no more having to
stand your watch at sea, no more sea at
ALL You can stay il England and mar
~ and live a decent life. Think Of it,
Macl'
was thinking of it. AS sat there
Watching the heat lightning wink
among the black hills of the island /
Was remembering that it was chance
such as had never had before in all my
life, and one which would never come
to me again. I'd been kicked about the
world ever since first went a wee bit
wrong in Ballindrochater, and L d sworn
never to see the place more till I'd
enough siller to build house there as
big as the manse itself hungered fo1
the old spot again. with its gray houses
and the brown moorland at the back.
| nv nOfhar was cfiJl fhora op1 meow