The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-09

/ They came up to the air for a quarter
/ of an hours spell and made their an
] nouncement, and then the copper helmets
/ were clapped into place again, and once
more they faded away into the depths. a
! gable of excited Italians kept pace TO the
/ turning of the air pumps and of that Ian
\ guage Kettle knew barely a score OF
| words. Practically these people might
have weaved any kind of a plot noisiiy
and under his very nose without his be-
! ing any the wiser, and this possibility did
little to quell his suspicious.
But still Tazzuchi was all outward frank
! ness. Its as well We brought out this
! little steamboat just to skim the wreck
and survey her." he said If they'o
waited to fit out big savage expedition
to raise her straight off, L reckon there
wouldn't have been much left but iron
plates and coal bunkers. These Red sea
niggers are pretty useful at looting, once
| they start. The beggars can dive pretty
nearly as well and as long in their naked
| skins as their betters can in a proper div
| ing suit
Each time the divers came up from the
Opaque white water they brought more
| reports. Binnacles, whistle, wheels and
| all movable deck fittings were gone al
ready. The chart house had been looted
| down to the bare boards. Matches were
| off both forward and aft, and already the
Cal 81 ndO DSS utl " Inc Didth
! men of the district had been making good
use of their time
| News came from the cool mysterious
water to the baking region of air above
almost at the second hour of the search
that the Grecian could never be re-
! noated. In addition to the holes al
ready made In two of her compartments,
she had settled on a sharp jag of rock
! which had pierced her in a third place,
aft. This one piece of rock was the only
solid spot in the neighborhood all the
rest of the sea floor was PUPPY white clay,
and in this the unfortunate wreck had set
tied, till already it was flushed with her
bower decks. There were evidences, too,
that the ooze was creeping higher every
day, so that all that remained was to
strip her as quickly as might be before
| she was swallowed up.
Tazzuchi asked Capt. Kettle for his
! opinion that night in the chart house
I'm to be guided by you. of course" he
| said, but my idea Is that we should go
for the specie first thing, and let every
| thing else slide till that's snugly on board
here. Birds gave f6,40O for the wreck and
there's Is, 900 in cash down there in a room
they built specially for 1t over the shaft
tunnel. If we can grab that Ii will pay
our expenses and commission and all the
other actual outlay, and Birds will be out
OF the wood"
YES" thought Kettle, you want those
gold boxes in your hands, you blessed dago
and then you'H begin to play your mon
key tricks. 1 wonder IL you think you're
going to jam knife into me by way of
making things snug and safer
But aloud he expressed agreement to
| Capt TazzuchPs plan. He felt that this
was diplomacy, and though the diplomatic
art was new and strange to him, he told
| himself that 1t was the correct weapon
to use under the circumstances. He had
| risen out of his old grade of hole-and-
| corner shipmaster. He was a captain in
| a regular limo now, and wild fights and
| scrimmages were beneath the dignity of
| his position.
Accordingly, as soon as dawn gave
! waking light, the boats put out again, and
the divers were given orders to put all
their efforts into getting the specie boxes
on to the end of the salvage steamers
winch chain. A lot of dhows were show
ing here and there amongst the reefs, OBJ
viously watching them, and Tazzuchi was
beginning TO get nervous.
Were in for trouble, I'm afraid" he
said to Kettle. THAT rock on which she's
settled astern has made hole in her you
could drive a cart through"
"Weli?"
Didn't you hear the report they've just
sung off from the boats? Oh, 1 forgot,
news is that the rocks split hole in the
bottom of the strong room, and those
| gold boxes have toppled through"
/ and buried themselves in the slime ~
That's It, And Lord knows how many
feet they've sunk. It's dreadful stuff to
! dig amongst; slides In on you as soon
| as you start to dig and levels up. They'll
have to brattice as they work. It'll be
| big job.
All that day Kettle watched the sea
with an anxious eye. From below the
| mud came up in white pillows. And out
| beyond, IN and amongst the reefs, and
| along the distant shore, swung and SHIN
mered in the heat haze, hungry dhows
| prowling like carrion birds temporarily
driven away from a prey.
Tazzuchi and the chief engineer busted
themselves in binding together fragments
| of firebars with iron wire. The Italian
shipmaster had a great notion of the dam
| age his signal guns could do against a
| dhow If they were provided with orthodox
| solid shot. AS soon as the second night
came down and the darkness became
| fairly fixed in hue, there began to crackle
| out of the distance desultory rifle fire
from every quarter of the compass. 1t
was not very heavy-at the outside there
| were not a score of weapons firing, but 1t
| was annoying for all that, and as the
| marksmen and their vessels were com
pletely swallowed up by the blackness of
the night, it was impossible to repay their
| compliments In kind.
Morning showed the damage Of one port
window smashed two panes gone from
the engine room skylight and the air
pump in one of the boats alongside with
| a plunger neatly cut into two pieces. But
there was a spare air pump In store, and
| after dawn came work went on as usual.
| The dhows came no nearer, neither did
they go much further away. Tazzuchi,
| full of enthusiasm for his artillery, tried
carefully aimed shot at one of the larg
| est But the explosion was quite outdone
/ In noise by the cackle of laughter which
followed it. So slow was the flight OF the
| missile that the eye could trace It, So
short was it's journey and so curved its
trajectory that ii came very near to hitting
one Of the boats q the divers.
well" thought Kettle, "these are pref
ty cool hands for dagos. anyway. I'm
going to have a fine tough time of IL
when my part of the scuffie comes"
! THAT NIGHT he had "a still further a sfe