The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-13

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The other Item was . Spanish pillar
dollar, hammered up into the form Of .
bullet and tied to yellow paper which
bore this inscription:
"Mem: too frye vat lubberlie priests
wi thiss nexte time and SOC settel hys
hasshe."
whatever did he mean by thati"
cried Dolly In wonder.
"As I read it," replied the other,
"that bit Of hammered money Ia q
strong proof that, although your re-
doubtable ancestor Nicholas the First
might have been sacrilegious upon occa-
sion, be was most certainly superstitious
too This bit Of gold was meant to be used
as a bullet, but apparently Mr.. Nick
Colepepper never got the chance Of send.
ing 1t to nestle within 'ye lubberlie
prieste hys ribs. wonder whether he
managed to 'ssttel hys hasshe' In any
VsASA C4udAAy CAuChC4Ou6 way
"Ughl" shuddered the pirates de.
scendant "Whata bloodthirsty old ruff
fanl"
"I'm afraid hs was" agreed her
companion. II congratulate you upon
your relative, Miss Colepepper. He
seems to have been thoroughly pleas.
ant and gentle minded sort Of person.
Miss Colepepper accepted the con-
graduation with laugh, and. though
she did not say as much, 1t is probable
that the thought Of having owned such
aquaint sort Of ancestor was not entire.
ly displeasing to her. II must be re.
membered that tho man was most dis
tinetly dead. Had he been alive just
then, there can be no doubt that she
would have regarded him as decided
nuisance
The two explorers spent an hour in
rummaging through that queer old time
snuggery, examining it's rude furniture
time after time. in the vague hope Of
finding some secret drawer or cupboard
which might contain something Of
greater value than they had as yet dis
covered They pictured to one another
the scenes which the room must have
witnessed and took curious pleasure in
thinning out from his surroundings q
fancy portrait Of the original owner.
Tradition gave them every warrant for
using the most lurid pigments in their
sketch.
"Hadn't we better go, Alan 2" sug-
gested Dolly at length. "And, by the
way, which is the way Quit"
''Don't know" replied the under
graduate as carelessly as he could.
"We've still got to find it, but If that
old brigand had his shore quarters here |
he must have had some way of getting |
in and out.
II expect there's secret door in one |
Of these panels, suggested the girl.
"Yes, probably there IT," assented
her companion. But he could not throw
much enthusiasm into his tone. though,
for the girls sake, he tried to do 3d.
They spent another half hour in ex.
aiming the wooden wainscoting Of
the walls tapping, showing and kick
ing. in the hope of discovering the hid
den doorway. but in vain The only
spot where the wooden barrier was
broken was at the tiny door which had
given them entrance. And by that way
they knew that there was no return
possible The sloping shoot Of planks
was utterly unscalable.
ODDLY" said the undergraduate
quietly, "things are beginning to look
blue. I'm afraid We seem to be bot
tied"
But Dolly had an idea. There was a
small hatchway or manhole in one cor
ner Of the ceiling. Would it not be we'll
to climb up through that and see where
It led TOT
Quickly the table was dragged across
The floor and one of the three legged
stools placed on the top Of it. Guthrie
climbed up and beat at the hatch with
lis upturned palm. 1t was fastened
rom above. Dolly handed him another
# the heavy oaken stools, and with this
,e hammered at the hatch savagely. A
taple gave The door of wood rose and
ell back He wrenched it away, and
hen, clasping his fingers round the
pulled himself up.
Around him on every side rose steep,
'are walls Of rock. The snuggery had
'een built at the bottom Of regular
veil
Far away above the young man could
ee the shrubs and creepers which lined
is edge. That was where the light stole
own from. But surely the old buc-
aneer had not been accustomed to
limb in and out of his sanctum from
Il that distance above No, there was
black opening about Is feet up the
'all. 1t was a mouth of the same cave
'hich had led them to the first oaken
COR up above. That this was SO was
roved by the fact that there projected
'om it some four feet of wooden lad.
err; the same ladder whose top they
ad seen at the moment when they
epped upon the swinging trapdoor.
"Wellf' cried Dolly's voice from be-
W. "Any SUGGEST"
Guthrie hesitated Could they reach
lat LADDER No; the sides of the rocky
all above him were quite smooth;
ere was not single crack or fissure {
r foothold.
sim coming down again, Dolly" &
cried to the anxiously waiting girl !
low. =
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