Los Angeles herald., 1905-07-16
DV
Walter
Scott
Aasx1IHScAaeu !
. ROODING over a sea which had
* used him III throughout the quar-

aAerN
tossed upon its bosom Gideon Pass
certified second mate, bent ear to the
tempter His, too, was a storm swept
face, but it had been made dark with
the strife for gain rather than with the
beat of seas and burn of sun.
TITS fine, man, L tell you; sure
thing and easy money. See here" and
Van Moon, soldier of fortune. leaned
closer over the sequestered table in the
back room of South street saloon and
talked low and earnestly. Pass made
rings with his beer glass on the table
and listened. Counting you" whis-
pered Van Moon, ''there are seventeen
of us; we want three more, twenty in
all and twenty millions to divide, clean
share and share alike. Hello, here
Jake; been waiting for him all even
ing; want you two to meet. He's our
chief engineer"
Jake, former ferryboat fireman, an
swered the signal flung across the room
and came over to the table. "Our skip
per-" said Van Moon briefly nodding to
Pass; that is, we hope to claim him as
such. What's the good word with
you?"
"Got the very man you're looking for
husky lad, 'fraid of nothin' -
"Rotl" interrupted Van Noon;
they're cheap, common; find 'em on
every street corner and in the middle.
What we want, what we must have If
this thing is to go through, are twenty
who can hold their jaw. More than
that, these twenty must be men who
can hold together, work together, be
satisfied to take things as they come
for year or so and then divide twenty
million"
Here's the scheme" continued Van
Moon, moving his chair closer and
warming to his subject. II have not
told it to you fully before-just outlined
it. Well, here's the whole Of it. The
K. w. III sails from this port on the
Goth of this month; she is to carry
twenty million dollars in gold to the
banks of Europe. This is the 10th.
We charter the yacht Red Light /
have an option on her now; yacht now
anchored off South Brooklyn, coaled,
provisioned and in charge of a ship
keeper. Well, we enlist our own crew.
Two or three must be engineers,
eight or nine more must know about
coal bunkers and passing coal, two
must know something about navigation
and sailorizing, so as to relieve each
other in handling the yacht, and the
rest needn't know anything at all, ex-
cept to keep their mouths shut and do
as they are told.
"Now the X. w. III sails with these
twenty millions in her strong box. She
is big and fast and how are we going
to get it, you say? Easy. Listen! We
go out the day before she does and wait
for her. We have on board a six
FOUNDER and fifty rounds of ammuni-
tion for the gun. We take the Red
Light and lay to about two hundred
miles outside and in the track of the
treasure vessel-right in the steamship
lane-they all travel the one route go
ing, same as they take parallel one
coming back. We are there lying to
and as she approaches we sidle up to
her and let go shot across her bow
and at the same time hoisting a black
flag"
'Thats piracy!' objected the listen
ers.
Nothing less" assented Van Moon,
"but what OF it? Amt there pirates
everywhere? More here in New York
than on the high seas. you can bet
And what happens to them? Nothin'
They just get the dough and get away
with it-that is. If they know how"
"But if we don't know how this will
be hanging" Pass observed.
1--WE know how, my son, and Wen get
away with it, Van Moon said conf
IDENTIFY. "Itll be this way; she'll stoI
all right. A six-pounder isn't as big
as door or as deep as well, but g
she'll from it will put the machinery OF
any merchantmen out of action and q
few more will send her and all of hel
watertlght bulkheads TO the bottom.
1--WE will assume, then" continued
Van Moon, that she will stop. WE
range alongside, make known our pre-
ference for those twenty millions in hel
strong box-masks about our faces
guns pointed and a time limit for then
to get busy in the way Of delivery
They'll know we have taken our livei
in our hands and that there's to be NJ
fooling and will hand over the goods.
First off neglected to tell you thar
this plan of mine contemplates
schooner. a three master, now unde
charter TO me and with six good fellow
OF my own choosing on board. She 4
now down by the Horseshoe, cleared 70
Honduras, in ballast. No cables ther
and no trouble II she is not heard from
My idea is to start her out about tn
18th with orders TO hover about lat
itude ss. where It cuts the longitud
Of so. That is out OF the beaten tract
and no one Is likely to see her there