Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-10-25
DAILY SHORT STORY
A VALUABLE ANTIDOTE.
fOriginaL1

1 am a practical illustration of its
truth. Indeed, an ounce of fluid once
saved my life. As a medicine? Well.
poisoned. Nevertheless that ounce
saved my life.
My father had been an officer in the
United States navy-nOt when our
| ships had come to be big machine
shops. but light wooden affairs that
skinned the waves like bird. He
went alOft just before the struggle be-
tween the states. and |. being about
sixteen at the time. preferred 10 20 IN
to active service afiOat rather than To
the Naval academy. As il was, l saw
nothing but BlOckadinG service, and
after the war was doomed to the mer-
chant service.
This is only preliminary 10 what / II
going to tell YOU. In the last year Of
the sixties | was mate of Il brigantlue
and We We're picking up goods i'll ports
on the China sea. one evening We
Were coming down through the strait
Of MalacCa when, after passing one OF
the islands at the southern end, we
saw ON our port quarter and nearly
abreast of us as queer "A looking little
craft as ever sat ON the water. She
wasn't common trader. for she WAS
shaped for speed. She wasn't yacht
She wasn't sleek enough for Yacht
Besides. she didn't carry n Yachting
fag-or any flag whatever. for that
matter-which set our teeth to chatter
ing in 40 time. for / never knew but
one kind OF craft that didn't show
colors, and when that kind do show
them they invariably hoist the skull
aud croSsbones.
1t wasn't long before we could see
that she was shaping her course to mar
row the distance between us, and we
shaped ours To keep apart. This didn't
suit the suspicious vessel, .nd she put
her nose closer still ana before long
was heading right for Us. Then We
could see the smoke bullying out of her
stack, and she came through the water
like present day motor boat.
You couldn't get me to 20 over what
followed for the biggest farm or the
biggest ship in the world. After the
crew. captain and first mate had step
ped off the plank and it came my turn
one of the pirate crew came up To the
captain and said something to him.
The captain turned to me.
Where's the treasure boXT lie
asked
There was no treasure box worthy
OF the name aboard. but | caught ut
straw and pretended to try 10 remem-
Der
Come. hurry up with your think
ing if you want ii comfortable death in
cool water. There are hot irons for
people with poor memories
Il don't really know, captain. but |
suspect there's a lot of money in the
ship. and il any one can find if l can
We'll. hunt for it
Since my life depended on finding
money, | hunted for my life. 1t was
dusk when | began. and worked hard
till . o'clock, when the captain sent
for me To come into the cabin. He had
Il fine dinner set before him and was
just falling TO. He asked Inc if / had
found the treasure, and | admitted that
l had not.
Sit down here and tell me what
you know about it
Il concOcted yarn about Il suspi- |
cious looking box that the captain had |
watched while it was being brought |
aboard and made the story plausible. |
l let out that had been IN the United |
States navy. The pirate pricked up his |
ears at this and passed me the bottle.
An idea. a hope. straw To catch at. |
Could | drink the man drunk? | re |
membered how my father when in the |
navy had told me of terrible drinking |
bouts between the American and Brit |
lSh naval officers and how Il dirty, vel |
low faced, pigtailed man had put him |
on 10 4 secret whereby lie could go |
through the worst bibular contest and |
come out perfectly sober. There was |
Il bottle OF olive oil ON the table-SOme |
we had taken i'll at LeghOrn-that the |
pirate had used 10 make potato salad
with. | clumsily Knocked il over
picked il up and with Il spoon ladled /
the spilled oil into my wineglaSs.
Then / looked for something TO turn
il into from the glass and. not see
ing anything. drank it Off. My host
remark cd that TO do such thing would
make him sick as dog. but took 10
further notice OF my act As | had
supposed. he was hard drinker, and |
we sat pouring down one bottle after
another. Now and again | would pique
him 10y suggesting that he had had
enough. whereupon he would call for
fresh bottle. and | could see he was
bent on laying me out His original in
tention was to find out if l really knew
anything about the ships treasure. but
as we proceeded he became interested |
in showing me that he could put me
under the table. | drank every time
feet Of the liquor the captain was as
tonished. But he wouldn't give up. AMI |
we drank on. | could hear sounds
from without. indicating that his men
bad got into our liquor and were roar
ing drunk At midnight had the sat
isfaction 10 see the pirate captain slide