The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-18

their return the bills were paid and the
schooner bore away south.
She made Apia all right, and here
again the party got tangled up in mess
which the American Consul had to
straighten out. This seems to have com
pletely upset Brown. He declared thai
the party was haunted, and he insisted
that SO much time had been lost in these
delays that the season was gone, and
the only thing to do was to make fol-
Sydney and tie up until calm weather
came again. There were chickering's
charges, and counter charges on all
hands, and at last the vessel was head
ed for Sydney,
Here Brown, who now seemed to have
given up all idea of plotting them to his
treasure island, gave himself UP en-
tirely to enjoyment ashore. By some
oversight, according to Chetwood, the
title of the vessel had been placed in
Browns name, and one day the voyagers
discovered to their disrnay that he was
trying to sell her. They promptly de-
prived him of the captaincy and placed
Sutton in command, so that when the
schooner put to sea again Brown went
along as supercargo. The Adventures
bore away toward Tahiti. On the voy
his fever SPELLS" and for his safety they
had to put in at Tongarewa or Penrllyl
Island
And now followed a period which
seems to have completely shattered the
exhausted nerves of the 1uckless treas
ure-hunters. The voyagers were divided
in opinion. ana their tenlpers-either be-
cause of the sweltering tropic heat, the
uncertainty of the venture, the eccentric
tiles of Brown, or the reckoning visions
of such an immense treasure-suffered
proportionately.
In the height of fever Brown raved
about his old messmates and the ghost
guarded treasure-chests. Plainly in his
delirium he saw the savage crew, with
drawn cutlasSes and ready carbines, at
bay on the island, defying mortal man
to lift the plumber.
There's a curse on it!1 he shrieked
There's curse on it Haven't they
killed every man who tried to get it p
They quoted the fever-racked man as
best they could, and when he was better
he solenln1y said: You're liable to go
crazy, plumb crazy, when you see such
a pile of treasure. / have seen men go
crazy at the sight of it, and I know
First and last there's always been a
curse on it, and there always will be. ;"
To further heighten the nervous strain
of the situation one of the voyagers, in.
rurnmaping about. discovered, secreted
away a lot of arsenic, strychnine, and
rat poison-'e enough" as he put it, TO
kill whole regiment of soldiers" He
showed il to the others. but one and all
denied bringing it on board. Suddenly
there flashed across their minds Browns
-,
and he was charged with bringing the
poison on board, but stoutly denied it.
Finally, the deadly stuff was locked
I'D in DIR. Luce's medicine-chest for safe
keeping A few nights later the medi-
cine-chest was broken open and the
poison distracted Who took it, and
for what purpose? Questions like these
only added to the hair-raising. nerve
wrecking situations which enconnpassed
the bewildered little vessel.
And so the voyagers swung about, all
at skies and sevens, continually badger
ing Brown the while to give them the
location of the island But he stead
tasty refused. Then, in desperation,
they put into ADia, sold the schooner
for sixteen hundred pounds. and all of
them came. back to San Francisco on one
of the Pacific liners Messrs Sutton,
Chetwood. and Luce were so exasperat-
ed that they prevailed Upon the captain
of the vessel to hold Brown prisoner
in his cabin Once on land they asked
the United States authorities TO take up
the case, but there was nothing on which
Brown could be held, and several days
later the old sea rover left for his home
in Providence, r. l.
After the voyage Sutton. who. eventu-
ally succeeded to whatever trust Brown /,
finally reposed in his fellow-voyagers !
said: I'VE started on the trip with
every confidence, but we ended III the
air After we left Honolulu we want I
ed Brown to take us direct to the treas |
ure. but he always had some excuse, /
with lis continually. | firm
" believe the treasure is out there some
where Put does Brown know its loca- /
ton? That's the uncertain point. He |
was given every chance to take us to
it and failed. That settled his claim, to |
my mind
Chetwood said: "What came over
Brown in the South Seas l don't know.