Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1901-01-31
CHAPTER xxx.

Twelve men," said /. ARE more
than every one would have got off the
lceshore on which ten of them were
lying"
Credit where credit is due, Master
Topp," replied the boatswain. "All
praise to your surgeoning. But for
you an the old man an nevvy Job.
which. though little better than natural
in general. has unstowed a few grains
O. sense for this time o need. doat
say but we should have lost a hand or
two more. But as it is we got 12, an
what | say is ~ men bain't able 10
take the Scourge to England"
at could be done" interpOsed Alec
in a half musjng tone. If we could
keep of the Sour.
But you can't. replied the boat
swain gluay .-l, Is well Try to
escape gpas IN ..olIon tavern as
scurvy On long o,raa yCra.,r. an new
Iy healed men Is pa tcu!@ Liable TO H.
Mark EIr Captain lr,ia.i If the
Scour.r sail. c.I A.rr W4th none but
us = ahoas! ler stc'il never WORK up
Bristo! ri:"r"
"Bui VIZ. rh. men Sau! D:ckory tells
of said { we corl3 10 d:
"Couil ST.. -.: g-.mt" inquired Ace.
turning ty il,. Glau
WHY g.~ rapia.u al easy Los
RouEs:- f.. .:..- o a." islands
they re- on nn yoAI G4l tlat down in
your charts The cl.ap ~ tc.1 n1r was
half breed uial- @ui Blown OF there in
fishing cruisr
How did they Eot thereT
We'll YOU see. they're a scratch lot
English. t'renchers an naues-th that
banded together NJ the mines TO escape.
They gets out. reaches the coast. seiZes
boat an puts 10 sea They meant to
reach one o the islands an live there
till they could steal ship that would
carry them home. but the boat was
Knocked to spinters in the surf on
landing. an having no tools to build an
other they found themselves safely
jailed"
See. Alec" said l. unrolling n chart
md spreading it on the ground. Give
ne crew Of six. and I'll take the
Scourge round. leaving you others here.
BY keeping plenty of northng we shall
be out Of the usual track and can be
back here in ten days without sighting
a sail"
But no Alec would not hear II. IL
we went NJ all. ii should be with all
hands aboard and himself in com
mand And finally. after much discus
sion. this was what we decided to do.
Further. it was resolved TO leave the
treasure on cave island for the present.
The repairs TO the Scourge were soon
finished and the earliest possible day
was fixed for the cmbarking
But AT the last moment an unexpect-
ed dliliru,ty arose The old man re-
| fused absolutely to quit the island. He
had been ailing of late. and 1t seemed
| that he had never quite recovered from
| the wound be- put u the battle with the
galleon. His wits were quecrer than
| usual, ana hc continually complained
| of the cold though the hot summer sun
| drew streams Of sweat from the rest of
| us.
We all felt great concern FOR the old
man, nnd. though we knew he would
never play us false, but would defend
| our treasure even with magic arts If
need be- SIN we an not like to leave
| him behind nilng as he was. But
none OF us dared 10 palnsay his wish
except our captain Fully an hour did
! Alec spend IN useless argument trying
| tu turn him from his purpose aud seem
rd All the time t0 be strangely moved,
though from what rause we could not
| tell But hp failed Ana when at last
the stonrpt srl sail nnd the old man
was left ga the beach my sworn ship
mate covered HIN Win hls eyrs tlll
wt hnd Founded the spil hhi run out
| uf anhl thrh with a heavy sltl hu
turned ana went down io the cabin
n was a strange anhlt hhi perhaps
Wu shbuli hhtH lhkph n as hii Binth VI
m iuek Though ! hhi myself slhsti.
iAfit rrDp ffbih shhptsllllbhs 6f hll
kIhds. must hpilptp tiht lit 0li mht
had aUme f6ftkhHWlpdet Ur misfortune
W eamp hhh Bpl I ahhhHl illnk thai
! he kheW that lhe hre would break 0Nl
~ lhe he6urHn's aNlrll f6Bih 90 surely
| he WHuld nave warned We hNl npt
haps, Aa Wllle 'frohAllGh SAYS, ihe seei
eah aeel hNi cannot GhAnHet the deelres
az fats " mAF Wv sG
That however " neither here hGl
lhep hHl ihe hCl rGmAlHa that u ilrt
dld hFpAk puh aAd ihAl, lGGl en thf
seeGAh dAY NNt frpm cave Island dNr
ing lhp frsl watch ~ thp glAss while
Alec held lhe deck
was w mY buns, hut came up when
ihe alarm Was RlYen Anl was seer
passing WGkels Win the rest iui iht
dainty RppHrge Was dppmed, and pul
nnny efforts were without avail The
water seemed only 70 lrrllaie the hazl
70 further fury, and where az hrst was
pale, lamhpnt fame, blue and trans
parent soon there began ia roll fprll
an avalanche of inky smoke, riyen by
greedy, shooting tongues pf yellow fire
Like furea we wprked In the sting
Ing reek, aud like u moeking hend ouI
enemy grew Ia power aud height, Inch
by Inch we were driven toward the
stern, lighting desperately every steI
of the way Spanard was never 80
relentless foe as this one, which
swallowed our watery missiles as fast
as we hurled them aud turned them
To kissing steam that bit back AT the
sender.
Painting aud scorChed, we gathered
smoke grmed group, on the counter
and realized that we were beaten. A
shout arose that the powder room was
on Gre and half charred boat was
dropped into the water Springing in
we pushed Off.
Scarcely had we pulled cables
length away when the Scourge blew
up. Musts, spars and deck shot up to-
ward heaven ana then fell In n blazing
shower around the column of smoke
which marked the place where the
, shattered hull had sunk.
The rest OF the night dragged Itself
wcarlly through, and the sun rose upon
an unlocked sky. The boat was with
out stores or provisions of any kind
She had neither compass nor sail. and
/ with one pair OF oars we could make
little headway through the calm, even
had we known where 10 steer for.
Which OF us did not envy the old
man in his beautiful island hermitage
them
We looked around at the unbrokcr
circle of the horizon, with the water
II cnclnctulcd uutaulshcd by single
zephyr and cleaning like n glancinl