The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-03-10

door. Capt. Sellinger fell 8 careless
pace or two behind and followed.
did not hesitate, but as felt the lady
tremble whispered to her to take
heart, for there was but small danger.
and so saying pressed her arm hard
with mine, and with that we passed in
All was as we had left it. The buc-
cancers were still sitting or lying
| about, save he who nursed his arm and
walked up and down, and the haze
of the tobacco smoke continued. We
marched down the hall, |, as must
confess, in some perturbation, and
made toward the vaulted passage 1t
seemed an interminabie distance, but.
to my tremendous relief. 10 attempt
was made to stop us, and at last we
passed safely inside. The first part
of the strain was now over. and with a
congratulatory look or two, but no
words. for those were too risky, we
continued on and entered the court
Here we found the former disorder ard
confusion. some Of the buccaneers
struggling about laughing or roaring
drunken songs. some ordering their
arms, and others in groups talking.
Morgan was not in sight. but Tow
lands rival, the savage and hard.
lighting Capt. byte, was sprawled
near by on a bench. Ills back was
luckily toward us. There was but single
other captain in sight, one Steavcs
VINO was lounging i'm the main gate.
This last person, as | thought, was the
officer OF the guard. for | noted that
three Of his company were close by,
and that one carried a lanthorn Two
more buccaneers. though | could not
say who, seemed to be stationed at
the other gate-that is, the postern-
for | could catch the CLEAN of their
armor as they paced to and fro.
Mr. lynn was not for hating, ana lea
us boldly to the main gate. The pos
tern, as | might say here, was the
more obscure and the guard smaller.
but ii was the farther removed and
again we must pass the wings of the
castle, where men were frequently
lodging in and out. Finally, this gate
gave upon the edge of the plateau, be-
low which was the bold, exposed beach
The main gate, on the other hand, let
us at once upon considerable street.
and this was crossed by other streets
and was darkened in many places by
trees. Mr.. lynn thus proved his wis
dom by preferrng the chief gate, and.
in brief. all went well. for we passed
safely out ! was now for thinking the
danger as good as over, and drew
great breath of relief, and spoke a
90 IL a. Al
lynn. however, looked pretty sharply
back. and without stopping set us a
quicker pace and drew on to the turn
Of the first alley. glanced down the
street seeing no cause for apprehen-
sion, and thence fetched a look out
upon the dusky, yet starlit bay, and
still conceived that our troubles were
nigh over. This alley would take us by
a quiet way to the water, whence ii
ought to be an easy matter to reach
the ictty and so the boat.
For the reason that this quarter
contained so little wealth, we were in
the smaller danger of meeting strag-
Cling parties of our men. and, indeed,
MIR. lynn here ventured to relax the
pace a little, the which was heartily
glad of for the scnorita's sake. We
might now have taken to the beach.
had we SO minded. as we had come out
to the water but on the whole we
thought it best otherwise. and 50
fetched yet again to the right, this
continuing till the land once more
widencG, when noted with JOY that we
were close upon the ietty.
1t seemed lighter here. The space
about us was more open, and the clear
stretch of water lay just before. The
jetty appeared to be deserted Gndeed,
it was an old one, little used), and
as far as could be seen not a person
was in the neighborhood. The stars
made some show in fetching out the
eNpanse of the bay, which gave a wider
boundary seward than one would
have guessed, and on the left there
was quickening to more and bright
er lights, where the ships and small
craft lay. | could now give some at
tention to the wind, which | found
was Off the land though as yet, it
seemed, not confirmed, and in strength
hardly more than n small stir. There
was a moderate swell on, as could
tell by the slow rising and sinking of
the ships. and the air was warm with
kind of tropic smell and heaviness.
BY this time we were all upon the
jetty Mr.. lynn and the captain wait
ing biz ill my companion and l
could come up.
"Tcll the senorita she can take a
long breath now" said Sellinger cheer.
lily. 81 will but fetch the sloop, and it's
good-by to this heil-hole!"
The captain now left us, and l sug-
gcsted THAI my companion would do
well to rest, which found her pass
able place to do by spreading her cloak
upon the planks.
While l looked anxiously in the di-
rectiop whence the captain was to
be expected, gray, square outline
broke out of the obscurity, and inn
mediately growing proved to be the