Morris tribune., 1906-02-17

heIlish spot. But tie real courage of
the man was gone now. His simula-
ton had not even been good enough to
deceive his enemies, and now even
that had left him.
He was alone, so he believed, upon
the island, and all Of the mortal fear
slowly creeping upon him already APP
peared i'll his awful face. clearly ex-
hibited by the light of the setting sun
streaming upon his left hand, for he
was chained facing northWard- that
is, seward. As he fancied himself the
/ only living thing upon that island, he
took little care to conceal his emo
| tions-indeed, it was impossible for
| him any longer to keep up the pretense
OF Indifference. Ills nerves We're shat
| tered, his spirit broken Retribution
| was logging him hard. Vengeance was
close at hand at last Besides, what
mattered it? He thought himself alone
absolutely alone. But in that fancy
| he was wrong. for in the solitary lit
| tie copse' of bushes of which mention
! has been made there lay hidden man
-an ancient sailor. His single eye
cleaned as hercely upon the bound
shackled prisoner as did the setting
! sun itself
Old Benjamin Hornigold, who had
schemed and planned for his revenge.
had insisted upon being put ashore on
4! the other side of the island after the
| boats had roWed out OF sight of the
| captive, that be might steal back and
| himself unseen, watch the torture Of
/ the man who had betrayed him and
| Wronged him so deeply. Alvarado had
| complied with his request and had fur
| Their promised to return for the boat
swain in two days. They calculated
| nicely that the already exhausted pris-
oner would scarcely survive SO long.
and provisions and water ample for
that period had been left for the sus-
tenance Of HOrnigQld-a alone.
Morgan, however, did not know this
He believed his only companions to be
the body of the half breed who had
died for him as he had lived for him
and the severed head of Teach, a new
er c0mrade who had not betrayed him.
The body lay almost at his feet; the
head had been Wedged in the sand so
that its sightless face was turned to-
ward him in the dreadful. Hdless staring
gaze of sudden death
They had said to the buccaneer as
they fastened him to the rocks that
they would not take his life. but that
/ he would be left to the Judgment Of
God. What would that be? He
thought he knew.
He had lived long enough on the
Caribbean to know the habits of that
beautiful and cruel sea. There was a
little stretch OF sand at his feet, and
then the water began He estimated
that the tide had been ebbing for an
hour or so when he was fastened up
and abandoned The rock to which he
had been chained was still wet, and he
noticed that the dampness existed far
above his head. The water would re-
cede and recede ~and recede until per
haps some 300 feet of bare sand would
stretch before him, and then it would
turn and come back, back, back.
Where would it stop? How high would
it rise! Would it flood in in peaceful
calm as it was then drawing away?
Would it come crashing in heavy as
sault upon the sands as it generally
did, beating out his life against the
rock?
OF the two he thought he should pre-
fer storm. He would be beaten to
pieces, the life battered out of him hor-
ribly in that event, but that would be
battle, struggle-action He could
fight if he could not wait and endure.
1t would be a terrible death, but it
would be soon over, and therefore he
preferred it to the slow horror of
watching the approach Of the waters
creeping in and up to drown him. The
chief agony of his position, however,
the most terrifying feature in this
dreadful situation to which his years
of crime had at last brought him, was
that he was allowed no choice.
So long as it was light Morgan in
tently watched the sea There was a
sense Of companionship in it which
helped to alleviate his unutterable lone
Illness. And he was a man to whom
loneliness in itself was a punishment
There We're too many things in the past
that had a habit of making their pres
ence felt when he was alone for him
ever to desire to be solitary. Present
~ the sun disappeared with the star
Ting suddenness Of tropic ATTITUDES, and
without twilight darkness fell over the
sea and over his haggard face like
veil. The moon had not yet risen, and
he could see nothing. There were
few faint clouds on the horizon, he had
noticed, which might presage storm.
1t was very dark and very still, as
calm AID peaceful tropic night as
ever shrouded the Caribbean. Farther
and farther away from him he could
hear the rustic of the receding waves
as the tide went down. Over his head
twinkled the stars out of the deep
darkness.
Then the moon sprang up as sudden
ly as the sun had fallen Her silver