The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-12

o ship's skyiight Through this the nu
wss streaming IN ihsfts of radiatins
light, which focused themselves with
an accuracy that seemed almost par-
poSsful upon another tar letter inscrip-
ton scrswied over tho door which had
admitted them This was the legend
which 1t bore:
eye Bobo. Hys Trappa Nick Cole
pepper Fecit. Ammo Dom: 1858. Sept;
xXiiij"
"Looki" cried Dolly. "there's more
writingi What's bobo, Alanf"
''Spanish for fool I believe" said
the young man. "'Ye bobo, hys trappe; :
modern Engliah, BOBBY trap Your
pirate ancestor was bit Of humorist.
II seems"
"A BOBBY trapi" exclaimed Miss
,Colepepper. "We're the boobies, sup.
poes. as we've fallen into H."
'Quite sol don't see how We can
logically refute that argument" was
the reply.
"How very rude Of Nicholas the
Firstl' said that worthy's descendant
Indignantly. but what d'you suppose
IL the meaning Of It all, Alanf
"Well, l can only guess, Of course; but
from the evidence should fancy 1t was
something like this: Nicholas the First
obviously put this snuggery together in
September, 1887, which Is the date on
the front door in the cave up above,
you remember. Then he went away on
a cruise and in the meanwhile some
evil minded person picked the lock Of
the aforesaid front door, came In and
raided the room. Nick I returned, saw
and considered. His absences from the
cay were long. However strong q front
door he put up. a determined man
would always have plenty of time to
smash 1t down undisturbed IL he wanted
to- So your worthy ancestor devised,
and on Sept "a, 1883, completed this
BOBBY trap. which resets itself and ID
evidently capable Of holding just a.
many Of the Pry family a. choose to
march into it. I rather fancy Nick
would chuckle considerably, too, II he
could know how neatly his invention
had caught us today. But do you think
that's correct reading of the history 7"
Perfectly" said the girl "But
what do you suppose happened to the
prisoners who were caught in the trapP'
''If Nicholas the First returned soon
after their capture. I've no doubt he
dealt out hard listed justice according
to his lights. If, on the other hand, his
cruise was protracted one I'm afraid
the intruder would starve. The ira
ditions Of the time do not suggest that
the Jail would have been victualed."
Dolly shuddered. "And wet" she
suggested in tone which was more
than half frightened
''Shall find way ont, no fear, re.
turned the undergraduate boldly.
probably by the identical passage
which the old gentleman used for his
own comings and goings. But before
we 60 Wen just see what sort of an in
heritance the old scoundrel has left
you"
But, though he thus assumed reas-
surfing tone, Guthrie was far from feel
ing in his own mind the confidence
which he simulated. But, even 80, 1t
must be admitted that the strongest
emotion in his mind at the moment was
curiosity, and 80 the other feeling Of
doubt was for the present RELOCATED to
the background.
The furniture Of the chamber was
simple. There was an old four post bed.
stead Of heavily carved Spanish ma
hogany, with roof over 1t strong
enough to resist a waterspout; there
was small oak table with three tripod
stools to match, and there was clumsy
seaman's chest, made Of oak and fitted
with rope beckets at the ends The lid
Of this chest was locked, but vigorous
kick from Guthrie sent it flying open.
Dolly and be at once began to overhaul
Its contents, and the first thing they