The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1901-07-18

NETS Wer3 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 language Kettle
knew barely a score Of words. .Prac-
Stically these people might have weaved
any kind Of plot noisily and under his
very nose without his being any the
wiser, and this possibility did little to
quell his suspicious.
But still Tazzuchi was all outward
frankness. It's as well we brought
out this little. steamboat just to skim
the wreck and survey her." he said. eff
they'd waited to fit out big salvage
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 beg
CARS can dive pretty nearly as we'll and
as long in their naked skins as their
betters can in a proper diving 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
already. The charthouse had been loot
ed down to the bare boards. Matches
were off both forward and aft, and al
ready the cargo had begun to diminish.
The black 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-
1oated. In addition to the holes al
ready made in two of her compart-
ments, she had settled on a sharp Jag
of rock, which had pierced her in
third place, aft. This one piece of rock
was the only solid spot in the neighbor-
hood. All the rest of the sea floor was
pulpy white clay, and in this the unfor-
tunate wreck had settled till already it
was flush with her lower decks. There
were evidences, too that thelooze was
creeping higher every day, so that all
that remained was to strip her as quick
~ as might be before she was swallow
ed up.
Tazzuchi asked Captain Kettle for
his opinion that night while in the
charthouse. "I'm to be guided by
you, of COURSE" he said, "but nv idea
is that we should go for the specie first
thing and let everything else slide till
that's snugly on board here. Birds
gave f5, 400 for the wreck, and there's
$4,000 in cash down there in a room
they built specially for it over the
shaft tunnel. If we can grab that, it
will pay our expenses and commission
and all the other actual outlay, and
Birds will be out of the wood"
eyes," thought Kettle; 'you want
those gold boxes in your hands, you
blessed dago, and then you'll begin to
play your monkey tricks. wonder if
you think you're going to jam a knife
into me by way of making things snug
and safe?
But aloud he expressed agreement to
Captain Tazzuchi's plan. He felt that
this was diplomacy, and, though the
diplomatic art was new and strange to
him, he told himself that it was the
correct weapon to use under the cir
cumstances. He had risen out of his
old grade of hole and corner shipmas-
ter. He was captain in regular line
now, and wild flights and scrimmages
were beneath the dignity of his posi-
ton.
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 sal
wage steamers winch chain. A lot of
dhoWs were showing here and there
among the reefs, obviously watching
them, and Tazzuchi was beginning to
get nervous.
"We're in for trouble, I'm afraid" he
said to Kettle. "That rock on which
she's settled astern has made a hole in
her you could drive a cart through
"Well?"
"Didn't you hear the report they've
just sung off from the boats? Oh,
forgot; you don't understand Italian.
Wen, the news is that the rocks split
a hole in the bottom of the strong room,
and those gold boxes have toppled
through"
"And buried themselves in the slimeY'
That's it. And Lord knows how
many feet they've sunk. It's dreadful
stuff to dig among; 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 among the reefs and
along the distant shore, swung and
shimmered in the heat haze hungry
dhows prowling like carrion birds tenn
porarily driven away from a prey.
Tazzuchi and the chief engineer bus
led themselves in binding together
fragments of fire bars with iron wire.
The Italian shipmaster had a great no.
ton Of the damage his signal guns
could do against dhow if they were
provided with orthodox solid shot AS