Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-08-20
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Sailors Find.
pyright. 1903, by c. B. Lewis. ]

Wnen we picked up man auOaL on
raft. He was not only a white man,
but a sailor, and his rudely construct
ed craft had q cargo. Securely dashed
to the planks and timbers were four
large elephant tusks and an earthen
jar, together with two other jars con-
tanning food and water.
The name of the rescued sailor was
William Scott. He was second mate
of Ceylon schooner called the Hap
by Day. Three months before we
found him the schooner was wrecked
on an island.
OF the crew of eight men Scott
alone escaped. He believed this island
to be one of the easternmost of the
Chagos. 1t was, he said, about a mile
in circumference, rocky and barren, but
having plenty of fresh water on it.
Scott lived on the barren rock for
fourteen long weeks without once
sighting d sail. and but for his own
strenuous efforts the time might have
been indefinitely prolonged. One day
lot of wreckage from some unfortu-
nate native craft drove ashore, and he
secured planks and timbers and set
about building a raft.
He had made up his mind to go to
sea and take the chances of being
picked up. His raft had been COM
pleted and he was collecting shellfish
for food when he found the mouth of
cave under n blum. 1t turned out to
be wonderful discovery. In the cave,
which ran back for considerable dis
lance, he found over 200 elephant
tusks and five jars of gold dust. On
leaving the island on his raft he
brought away four of the tusks and
one of the jars, and there they were
for all of us to see.
Had the raft been without cargo the
mans story would have been laughed
at and ridiculed. He said he had
found a great fortune in gold and
ivory. He had proofs of it with him.
1t made no difference that he could not
exactly locate the island or that none
such as he described was on the chart.
He could only have come to us from an
island not so far away.
Our Scotch captain was incredulous,
and yet he had to believe He thought
the matter over and then made the
castaway q proposition. The sailor
knew the value of what he had Sc
the rest of his days, and, having
knocked about on the raft week be-
fore we rescued him, he was not at all
anxious about what he had left behind
| in the cave. The captain was, how
ever, and so was every man of the
crew.
The proposition was that Scott
should do his best to pilot us to the
| island and take another jar of gold
dust for his full share. The rest of the
treasure would fall to the brig for de-
waiting from her voyage and landing
him in some civilized country.
1t was a hard bargain our captain
wished to drive, and the castaway
would never have consented had he
not been told the crew would come in
for fair share of the loot.
We were then 200 miles to the south
of the Chagos, and, as the wind was
| from the north, we had to beat back.
This was slow work, and we had not
vet made half the distance when we
got a gale from the west which sent
us driving away toward the Japanese
coast. and It was sixteen days before
we reached the islands.
|
a score of islands, banks and reefs.
| While Scott believed that his island
was the easternmost of all he could not
be sure about it, and we had to ex-
| anime each and every one as we came
to it. Running between them and
around them was slow work and we
had to feel our way, and thus it was
six or seven days before we reached
the last.
| We found no such island as described
by the castaway, and in our disappoint-
ment and chagrin were inclined to be-
| lieve him a liar who was working out
some scheme. He retaliated by point
| ing to his treasure.
| At the close of the fourth day of sail
| Ing back and forth across sea of
which the chart showed no land for
hundreds of miles in any direction but
the west, we sighted an island which
| Scott identified as soon as it could be
seen from the deck.
As we came up to it we ran into n
small but deep harbor and anchored
! for the night within n cables length Of
the beach. Had the night not been so
dark the captain would have had a
| boat down, but as ii was he did not
| dare chance it, Such was the excite
ment aboard that no man slept for an
hour. and as soon as daylight had come
and the men had bite to eat we set
off to secure the treasure.
We soon found the opening of the
bay and rowed toward it. Scott had
been on the island for over a year. and
the hut lie occupied and the Flagstaff
he erected were in plain sight. At the
end of the bay we came to the cave,
and, leaping out of the boat, the cap
tain was the first to enter
y moment later he reappeared. and
| for the next quarter of an hour he
| cursed as have never henrd n seaman
| before or since. The cave had been
| plundered.
One broken tusk had been left behind
and there was perhaps an ounce of