Willmar tribune., 1904-07-20
CHAPTER TX.
DICKORY SETS FORTH

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IAS--9 Spanish Town, the capi.
tai OF Jamaica, occupied a commodious
house in the suburbs of the town, II
miles up the river from Kingston, the
seaport, which establishment was
somewhat remarkable from the fact
that there were no women in the fam
lily. Madam Delaplaine had been dead
for several years, and as her husband s
fortune had steadily thriven, he now
found himself possessor of home in
which he could be as independent and
as comfortable as if he had been the
president and sole. member of club.
Into this quiet and self-satisfied life
came, one morning, a great surprise in
the shape of beautiful young woman,
who entered his Office in Spanish
Town, and who stated to him that she
was the daughter Of his only sister,
and that she had come to live with
him. There was an elderly dame and a
young man in company with the beau
tiful visitor, but Mr.. Delaplaine took
no note of them. With his niece's
hands in his own, gazing into the face
so like that young face in whose CON-
pany he had grown from childhood to
manhood, Mr.. Delaplaine saw in flash,
that since the death of his wife until
| that moment he had never had the
least reason to be content with the
world or to he satisfied with his lot.
| This was his sisters child come to
! live with him!
When Mr.. Delaplaine sufficiently re-
covered his ordinary good sense to un-
derstand that there were other things
in this world besides the lovely niece
who had so suddenly appeared before
him, he remembered that she had a
father, and many questions were
asked and answered; and he was told
who Dame Charter was, and why her
son came with her. Then the uncle
and the niece walked into the garden,
and there talked of MAJ Bonnet. Lit
tie did Kate know upon this subject,
and nothing could her uncle tell her:
but in many and tender words she was
assured that this was her home SIS
long as she chose to live IN it, and that
it was the most fortunate thing in the
world that Dame Charter had come
with her and could stay with her. Had
this not been so, where could he have
found such a guardian angel, such a
chaperon, for this tender niece? AS
for the young man, it was such rare
good luck that he had been able to ac-
company the two ladies and give them
his protection. He was just the per-
son, Mr.. Delaplaine believed, who
would be invaluable to him either on
the plantation or in his counting
house. In any case, here was their
home; and here, too, was the home of
his brother-in-law, Bonnet, whenever
he chose to give up his strange fancy
for the sea. 1t was not now to be
thought of that Kate or her father, or
either one of them, should go back to
Barbados to live with the impossible
Madam Bonnet.
II her fathers vessel were in the
harbor and he were here with them, or
even if she had had good tidings from
him, Kate Bonnet would have been a
very happy girl, for her present abode
was vastly different from any home
she had ever known. Her uncle's
house on the highlands beyond the
town lay in region of cooler breezes
and more bracing air than that of Bar
BADGES. Books and music and the gen
in ant
early life with her mother, and with
the exception of the anxiety about her
father, there were no clouds in the
bright blue skies of Kate Bonnet But
this anxiety was a cloud, and it was
spreading.
When the Amanda moved away from
the side of the pirate vessel Revenge
she hoisted all sail, and got away over
the sea as fast as the prevailing wind
could take her. When she passed the
bar below Bridgetown and came to an
chor, Capt. Marchand Immediately
lowered boat and was rowed up the
river to the recent residence of Mai.
Stede Bonnet, and there he delivered
two letters-one to the wife of that
gentleman, and the other for his
daughter. Then the captain rowed
back and went into the town, where he
annoyed and nearly distracted the
citizens by giving them the most eau
tious and expurgated account of the
considerate and friendly manner in
which the Amanda had been relieved
of her cargo by his old friend and fel-
loW-vestryman, Maj. Bonnet.
Capt. Marchand had been greatly
Impressed by the many things which
Ben Greenway had said about his mas
ters present most astounding freak,
and hoping in his heart that repent
ance and suitable repatriation might
soon give this hitherto estimable man
an opportunity to return to his former
place in society, he said as little as he
could against the name and fame of
this once respected fellow-citizen.
When he communicated with the Eng
llsh owners of his now departed cargo,
he would know what to say to them,
but here, safe in harbor with his vessel
and his passengers, he preferred to
wait for time before entirely black
ening the character of the man who
had allowed him to come here. Like
the faithful Ben Greenway, he did not
yet believe in Stede Bonnet's piracy.
Madam bonnet read her lottor ord