The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-03-01
CH{APTER xxx.

the huts, "alln that counts in the ole
man an Tinker Tom, which is bott
crippled"
twelve men," said l, .'are more
than every one wouldshave got off the
!eesnore on which ten Of them were
lying" III
Credit where credit is due, Master
Iopp, replied the boatswain "Al
praise to- your surgeoning. But fol
you an 1.-THE old man an nevvy Job
winch, Though little better than natura
IN geneEal, has unstowed few grains
SENSE for this time O. need, / don't
say bNt we-,hould have lost hand OF
two fmore. But as it is we got II, al
wha9ft say is - men bain't able tc
tal9e the Scourge to England
ut could be DONE" interposed Alec
a half musing tone, 'tif we could
Keep off the scurvy.''
4 "But you can't" replied the boat
4 Swain gruff1y. Might as well try to
ESCAPE fieas in London tavern as
Sscurvy ona long ocean voyage, an new.
lily healed men is particular liable to it
Mark me. Captain Ireland. if the
Scourge sails from here with none but
. us IL aboard her she'll never work ul
Bristol river
But with the men Saul Dickory tells
off, said l. 1--WE could do it,
Gould we get them?" inquired Alec
turning to- the man.
Why, yes, captain, an easy Los
Roques is the name O. the islands
they're on, an you'll find that down in
q your charts. The chap as told me was
a half breed that got blown off there in
a fishing cruise"
Flow did they get there?"
We'll, you see. they're scratch lot
English, Frenchers an Danes--that
banded together at the mines to escape
Ihey gets out. reaches the coast, seiZes
boat an puts to sea. They meant to
reach one o the islands an live there
till they could steal a shi, that would
carry them home bat the Beat was
knocked to splintcrs in the surf on
landing an having no tools to build an
other they found themselves safely
Jailed
See. Alec" said |. unrelling chart
y and spreading it on the ground Give
43me. a crew of six and I'll take the
Seourge 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
q SAIL
But no-Alec would not hear it. If
we went at all. it 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 embarling.
But at the last moment an unexpect-
ed difficulty arose. The old man re-
fused absolutely to quit the island He
had been ailing of late. and it seemed
that he had never quite recovered from
the wound he got in the battle with the
galleon. His wits We're queerer than
usual, and he 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, and, though we knew he would
never play us false, but would defend
our treasure even with magic arts if
need be, still we did not like to leave
him behind, ailing as he WAS But
none of us dared to gainsay his wish
except our captain. Fully an hour did
Alec spend in useless argument trying
I, 1,;.,
ed all the time to be strangely moved,
though from what cause we could not
tell. But heFfailed. And when at last
the Scourge set sail and the old man
was left on the beach my sworn ship
mate covered him with his eyes till
we had rounded the spit aud run out
of sight. Then with heavy sigh he
turned and went down to the cabin.
1t was a strange affair. and perhaps
we should have taken it as an omen Of
ill luck. Though | am myself singu-
larly free from superstitions of all
kinds. | must believe that the old man
had some foreknowledge of misfortune
to come and yet cannot think that
he knew that the fire would break out
In the Scourge's spirit room or surely
he would have warned us. But per-
haps, as Willie Trehalion says, the seer
can see. but cannot change, the DEGREES
OF fate 1t may be so.
That however, is neither here nor
,there. But the fact remains that fire
did break out. and that, too. on the
second day out from Cave island DUR
ing the first watch of the glass while
Alec held the deck.
! was in my bunk, but came up when
the alarm was given and was soon
passing buckets with the rest. But the
dainty Scourge was doomed and our
puny efforts We're without avail. The
water seemed only to irritate the blaze
to further fury, and where at first was
PALE lambent fame. blue and trans
parent. soon there began to roll forth
an avalanche of inlly smoke, riven by
greedy, shooting tongues of yellow fire.
Like furies we worked in the sting
Ing reek, and like. hooking fiend our
Snemy grew in power and height. Inch
p by inch we were driven toward the