The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-19
"1nts ,cay," said the tai, man..

lNt6 Wttu, outN TtC tutt mum
ii would be the worse for him. He had
given trouble enough already. he was
told, by turning up at all.
This was mysterious and hardly sat.
isfying, but there was only one deduc-
ton to make from 1t. Whatever their
game was, it BODIED harm to the ketch
and her people.
Guthrie whispered this to Henrietta
and the woman nodded. They're after
the gold, l expect, sir, said she. "We
must just stop 'em!"
"But I've given my word for the
pair Of US not to try to escape from the
cave"
$50 you have, sir" was the reply,
land you couldn't help doing that same
either. but you haven't given no word
not to interfere in any hanky panky
games against the ketch. We'd best lie
low for the present and keep our eyes
and our ears open to find out what the
devilment is that they re after"
During the rest Of the afternoon, till
nightfall, there was no further move on
the part of the negroes. They gave
their prisoners food and then went back
to their niche and went to sleep; at
least some of them slept, if shores were
to be taken as proof Of sleep, but the
prisoners made no doubt that there
was at least one pair Of eyes wakeful
enough to have squinted along a gun
barrel If they had attempted bolt.
The green light dimmed as the sun
neared the water on the opposite side Of
the island, and before long the cave
was in complete darkness. Still no signs
were given Of an intended move, and
the snorers slept on undisturbed
About an hour after sunset, however,
a voice was heard bidding the prisoners
stir their stumps, and, looking up, they
saw the meager form Of the tall negro
standing at the angle Of the cave with
a ships lantern in his skinny hand.
"Where are we to go tor" asked
Guthrie.
"Come along with me, and you'll
see," said the man. "And tell your
mates to come too. I can't din any
sense into the fat one.
As the negro had the butt Of pistol
sticking from side pocket Of his loose
cotton coat, the Eureka's people recog-
nized that for the present they must do
as they were told. Their chance, they
hoped, would come later.
"This way" said the tall man as he
led them to where whaleboat lay
snugly hidden in natural dock of the
stone. His three subordinates followed
behind the prisoners, hanging closely
on their heels with sheath knives drawn
suggestively round to their hips in
readiness for instant use.
The whole party boarded the whale
boat, which was then punted out Of the
cave.
When they reached the lagoon, as the
wind was fair for the direction in
which they wanted to co. the leader
had the mast shipped and lug hoisted,
and away she went free They coasted
along the eastern shores Of Piper's cay,
and then, threading few reef chan
nels, hauled their wind somewhat and
bore up to another ialand Of slightly
smaller size that lay about q mile
away. 1t was another o. the group Of
three to which Piper's cay belonged.
Toward this the leader steered her in
through some intricate navigation con-
fidently enough, though one or two
nice bits of handling were required, and
more than once couple Of oars had to
be got out to leeward to make her look
up to 1t. But at last she ran in straight
toward the land, rounded point and
opened out just such another harbor as
that which held the Eureka at the is
land which they had left.
G1thrie gave cry Of establishment,
for there before them, with her spars
and rigging traced in strong black lines
against the sky, lay large schooner A
beautiful fairy ship she looked in the
soft moonlight, but il che were SO she
had surely changed hands recently, for
the four negroes at any rate, did not
belong to the number Of the good spir-