Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-03-12


chest closed and locked" said Barnett.
"Of course. 1t was a spring lock.
You sent Mr.. Edwards and his men
aboard No such experts as Pulz or
Perdosa were in your crew. Conse-
guently it took longer to get the chest
open. When at length the lid was
| raised there was a repetition of the
tragedy. Mr. Edwards and his men
lcaped. Probably they were paralyzed
almost before they struck the water.
Your bo's'n, whom Slade picked up,
was the only one who had time even
| to grab a life preserver before the i'm
pulse toward water became irresisti-
| BILE. There was no element of fright.
you UNDERSTANDING desertion of their
post. They were dragged as by the
sweep of a tornado" barrow spoke
direct to Captain Parkinson. IF there
is any feeling among you other than
sorrow for their death, it is unjust
| and unworthy"
Thank you, Mr.. Darrow," returned
| the captain quietly.
1--WE found the chest closed again
when the empty ship came back" OBJ
| served Barnett.
"Being masterless, the schooner be-
| gan to yaw," continued barrow. THE
| first time she came about would have
heeled her enough to shut the chest.
Now came the turn of your other men"
lives and Mcclure" said the captain
| as barrow, paused.
| "The glow came again that night, and
the next day we picked up Slade," said
Barnett.
| "You know what the glow meant for
your companions" said Darrow.
But the shipI The Laughing Lass,
man. She's vanished. No one has
seen her since"
"You are wrong there" said barrow.
81 have seen her."
| In a common impulse the little circle
leaned to him.
YES. / have seen her. wish I had
not Let me bring my story back to
the cave on the island After the vol
canic gases had driven me TO the ref
uge sat near the mouth of the cave.
looking out into the darkness. That
was the night of the 18th, the night You
saw the last glow. 1t was very dark.
except for occasional bursts of fire
from the crater. Judge of my in
credulous amaZement when In an &C.
cess of this illumination I saw plainly
a schooner hardly a mile offshore, COM
ing in under bare poles"
Under bare poles" cried Slade.
THE halliards must have disinte,
| ,,rofod from cOna Slow action nf thc
celestium 1t could be destructive, ter
rifically destructive. You shall judge
There was the schooner, naked as your
hand. Possibly 1 might have thought it
hallucination but for what came aft.
err Darkness fell again. 1 supposed
then that Handy Solomon's crew
were managing-or mismanaging-the
Laughing Lass without the aid of their
leader whom l had satisfactorily bur
led I hoped they would come ashore
on the rocks. Yes, l was vengeful then
"Of sudden there sprang from the
darkness a ship of light You have al
seen those great electric effects at eX
positions. Some one touches button
you know. 1t was like that, only thai
the piercingly brilliant jeweled wonder
of a ship was set in the midst of 9
swirl of varicolored radiance such as
can't begin to describe. You saw Il
from a distance. Imagine what it was
coming close upon you thai way, dead
on, out of the night-a living glory, 6
living terror"
IBIS voice sank. With a shaking
hand he fumbled amid his cigarette
papers.
1T came on. A human figure, glow
ing like a diamond ablaze, leaped GU
from it: another shot down from ths