Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-02
DAILY SHORT STORY
HOW HE GOT HIS NEST EGG.


Who does not remember some school
mate who was especially ntagonistic?
Morgan Enright was so TO me. He
was two years older than 1. and until
we were respectively seventeen and
fifteen he tyrannized over me. AT fif-
teen I was fully as tall as he, though
not as we'll developed. AT any rate.
gave him a good thrashing. and that
ended his annoying me. though his
ugliness toward me was increased.
When I began to earn living l was
attracted by the large sums paid to
divers and became a diver. The truth
is, i was in love. and. being anxious
to marry, chose that which promised
to enable me to secure a nest egg.
My sweetheart didn't approve of my
occupation at all. but. like me. wanted
the nest egg. However. 1 had a moth
er to take care Of, and the nest egg
failed to appear. / was pretty well
discouraged when something hap
pened that very nearly rendered it I'M
necessary.
A ship had gone down close to shore
on which there was heavy insurance.
A diver was to be sent down repre-
senting the underwriters, together with
one representing the owners and the
captain. 1 was chosen to represent the
underwriters. / was standing on the
float in divers rig. all except the he'll
met, waiting for the owners diver,
when a boat pulled off from the shore,
and when it came near enough who
should be In it but Morgan Enright.
A acfnniShaI 10 q
as / was to see him. Neither knew
that the other was a diver. much less
that we We're to go down together, but
we were boys no longer. and offered
him my hand He took Ii, but the look
on his face froZe the marrow in my
bones-a look that / did not fully I'M
derstand till later.
Well, we struck bottom about the
same time on n stretch of white sand.
The ship was in q good position for
inspection. for her bow had come down
ON a ledge of rock that lifted 1t above
the sand and only few feet above
our heads. 1t was no secret that l was
there TO look for foul play. and the
place to find it was on the ships bot
tom. | walked along. looking upward.
till at last my head was even with the
inclining bottom, and after that l was
obliged to stoop. Enright accompanied
me, also looking. He soon got ahead
Of me and motioned me To come on,
shaking his head as if to say that he
had been locking carefully where I
was hunting and bed found nothing.
] looked all the more carefully and at
one place, poking my finger in an In
dentatiOn found hole. | succeeded
in pushing my fist through the bottom
and into the ship. Enright turned back
and saw me STOPPING. with my arm
thrust into the hole. He came up to
me and the first thing | knew seized
me around the body and gave me a
wrench that broke my arm. 1t oc-
Cured to me at once that he had been
sent down by the owners to foil an
attempt to discover, or at least report,
on the scuttling of the vessel. Quick
as n flash of lightning all that had
passed between me and him from the
first blow he had given me before
was old enough to protect myself till
the day l had thraShed him came up
before me. And now he was to take
his revenge fifty feet under water. He
was to kill two birds with one stone
have his revenge and prevent my re-
porting the scuttling of the ship.
Realizing that, handicapped as | was,
/ would be no match for him in
struggle, pretended to faint and sank
down on the sand. He raised his heel
and brought it down Oh the glass over
my face, but its thickness, together
Will hn Of u nf ha nn6ar
his foot, saved me. He failed in the
attempt. Then he took knife from
his pocket and cut the signal line. He
was too late, for l managed to give the
signal to he raised. When he saw me
rising he cut the rope that was lifting
me, and / sank again on the sand.
Then seeing that l was cut of from
succor he gave the signal to be taken Ilp.
As he was rising / saw one chance for
my life Encirciing his leg with my
sound arm. / chung with the strength
of despair. Had he been above water
he might have shaken me off. As 1t
was. lie was unable to do so. The men
above, feeling the extra weight, pulled
hard, and before my enemy coSld do
anything to prevent we were both at
the surface.
AS soon as saw that I was saved I
tainted. When l came to myself En-
right had gone. but, turning my eyes
toward the shore, l saw him pulling
for the dock with furious strokes. Hur-
riedIy called on those standing by to
stop him, and two of them. entering
another boat, reached the dock In time
to prevent him from getting away.
When the underwriters heard my
story they resolved to push both the
owners, the captain OF the ship and
especially Enright TO the wall. They
had no end OF money with which to
do the job and landed every one con-
nected with the swindle ia state
prison. The courts couldn't hang En-
right, as he deserved, because he had