The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1907-11-07
THE TQEASUpE
Q RET'A,.:2,.P.LJ
ea1eaw 5s4GaAseAssse JWto4MzHAE RMzoM
8yfRAM LILLE RHz0kX

O"ioSS " jump lutO tHG DldCK gull
of the hold.
He floated down through the
water as lightly as a falling leaf,
however, and landed without a lar
upon a miscellaneous mass of tum-
bled freight. There was a faint
green-gold light in the piece. and
| at first 1t was hard to distinguish
anything. but as his eyes grew
more accustomed to the $strSnge
gloom he made out the aEtieles of
cargo distinctly. Il
He found that he had been stand-
ing on one of the gold chests, land
he hitched the tackles to it, aston
ished to find that he could movelits
heavy weight with considerable
ease. He signaled through8the life
line, and the case was hotsted up
and disappeared out of his sight.
BY the time the grapplAg-hooks
returned empty upon him he had
found another of the treasure cases,
which he at once sent aloft. He Sc
cured four cases in this way.
Henninger took his place, and
sent up two more cases. making
seven that were stored in the
dhow's cabin. The first one had
already been repacked, and Hawke
and Bennett were busy stacking
the chests in the strong-room, lash
ing each one strongly to the ring
bolts to prevent shifting when the
dhow rolled. They opened two
more just enough to see that there
was certainly gold in each, and
closed them again. The heavy
heavy of the cases was evidence of
the amount.
All day long the work went on,
under the full blaze of an equatorial
sun. When at last it seemed that
all had been taken out, the tally
showed only Is in the strong-room.
while Bennett had counted % in
the hold. The missing ones would
have to be discovered, and Hennin
them.
Il wonder what the crew are
thinking of all this" Margaret re-
marked to Elliott. He had passed
at the entrance to the strong-room
where she was keeping tally in a
note book as the precious cases
came aboard.
Il don't know what they think. |
know what the refs told them" re-
turned Elliott. HE told them that
we're wrecking the steamer and
taking out lot of cases of car
tridges for the sake of the brass
and lead. He knows all about it.
of course, but the crew would
never dream of so much gold being
in her"
Margaret shivered a little.
Things have gone almost too
smoothly since we sailed | felt
certain that We would get here in
time and | was right. But now
feel, hardly know how, as If some
thing was going wrong. Iwish we
could leave the rest of theEold; and
go away. We have more ,thah we
need now"
ooh, no. Elliott expestulated.
"And there are two more Cases in
the afterhold which won't be, easy
to get OUT
81 have been nearly happy she
broke out, after a silence, chap
pier than | ever expected to be
again in my life. | feel almost
ashamed of it, after all that | suf-
fered such little while ago. | see
now that it was a dreadful thing
for me to come on this expedition;
am surprised that you let me do
it. But everybody has been sd nice
to me. If l had been the sister of
all these men they couldn't have
treated me with more respect and
real kindness. Aren't you almost
glad | came, after all?"
Yes said Elliott. He hesitated
do you know why | wanted all
this money!" he went on, bending
toward her. at wasn't for my
self"
What, them" said Margaret,
family. mo, don't tell me-" she
exclaimed, mot yet. Let's be COM
rades the same as ever, and we
haven't got the gold yet, anyway"
Then I'll tell you when We do
get it, Elliott answered; and at
that moment another case came
down the hatch and Bennett fol-
lowed it, breaking off the converse
ton. But the girls mot yet" left
a glow of excitement and exulta-
ton in Elliott's heart for the rest
of the day.
Two more of the missing chests
were located at last and sent up.
A fourth had been. burst; it might
have been the very one which Ben
nett had opened while imprisoned
in the hold, and the contents were
scattered. After some consultation
Elliott went down again and sent