Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-10-23

he forgot about the peril Of his ship
and the loss Of profit in the excited
succession Of discoveries. At last we
came to a high portion of the rocky
mass. the ridge of which one really
might have mistaken for ruined battle
ments of some old German castle on
the Rhine Bill reached the top before
/ did; and while was still struggling
to surmount smooth red boulder
heard his call.
"Jim! Jim !"-his voice was a strain
ed whisper. 1 looked UP and his face
was paler than l had ever seen 1t.
"Who would ha' thought itr And he
turned away from me and looked again
at the thing that held him.
1 steeled myself against surprise; but
l must admit that when | gazed In the
direction his finger pointed the whole
skin Of my body felt on edge as If cleo
trified. There, wedged between two
rocky masses, was a sight which | had
never seen the like. 1t was the resur-
rected carcass of a ship-a galleOn, as
one seen depicted in seventh century
prints-with poop and prov high in
air, and bellied like Dutch bilander.
Great masses of weeds festooned down
around her-weeds that must have re-
Gently f1oated high above in the trOpic
seas depth-and here and there peeped
out shell fish which hung with equal
tenacity to her planks.
We approached with caution, fearing
we knew not what denizens of the
depths.
Then we saw that the huge timbers
of the galleon were riddled by worms
and boring shellfish to such an extent
that it was a marvel she held together.
It could not have been the calm of the
depths and she would soon fall to
pieces and vanish now she was exposed.
On one side of her the sand had drift
ed high, and we had no difficulty In
stepping aboard, but we both shrank
from further exploration.
We revisited the galleon In the after
noon, accompanied by several Of the
crew-we left the others dealing with
the gray volcanic dust-including Dick
Leash, who was dignified with the title
Of carpenter, though precious little
wood could be found on the steel-hulled
and steel-decked Whitby Witch. But
no one volunteered to explore the YES
sells inner regions.
"I'll show you what we'll do them"
said Bill suddenly. "Give us that ak,
Carp" The captain took the weapon
and aimed several times at the hull.
The splinters flew plentifully, notwith-
standing his somewhat erratic blows.
Let me, Gov'nor." The carpenter
pushed forward again, and Bill surren-
dered the AK. Don't like to see nobody
hurt themselves"
A large gap was soon made through
the thick but rotten planks, and cou-
pie of ponderOus ribs were cut asun-
der. As the second of these came
away, something shifted inside the yes
sells hold.
From under, chaps!" shouted Dick,
and we all jumped back. Not bit too
soon, for out rolled a small barrel,
with hoops still round it, and fell just
where l had been standing to peer into
the breach.
AS it struck the ground with heavy
thud, the old wood that composed the
barrel collapsed, for the hoops were
now Of rust; and there on the sand be-
fore us lay scattered a mass Of virgin
gold in ingots and bars OF varying
shapes and sizes. Gold it was without
a doubt, still bright after It's sojourn
Of centuries beneath the waves. We
picked up pieces and weighed them In
our hands, and the excitement was at
a high pitch.
"Now, lads" broke in the captain,
''back to the ship and fetch some tackle.
We may as we'll take some Of this"
"But what's the use?" l protested.
''What can we do with 1t? We can't
move the Witch"
"The use?" Bill looked his nequiv-
alent for scorn. "If it's under our deck
it's our'n, isn't it, you idiot?"
The result was that in a couple of
hours we had slowed on the Whitby
Witch enough bullion to satisfy
Rothschild, and were still hard at it
when young Carford came running up
the gulley, looking scared.
Look out, captain; look out, Mr..
Thomas. The tides a-risin' like blazes
II you're not sharp out Of it"
We left the heaps Of broken slaves
and metal by the galleon's side; and
half a minute later were racing down
the sandy path for dear life. When
we reached the Whitby Witch the brine
was already swirling round her, and
her stern was a1oat. We waded
through it up to our waists, and swung
up the hempen stairs.
Fortunately the engineers had not
been asleep, and as the ship lifted free
Of the sand, we backed against the
surging tide and in a few minutes were