Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-02-06

fog. He was leaning forward in an
attitude of attention, his elbows rest
ing on his knees, his forearms depend
ing between them, his head thrust out.
| could detect no faintest movement
of eyelash, no faintest sound of breath
ing. The stiffness was portentous. The
creature was exactly like wax figure,
one of the sort you meet in corridors
of cheap museums, and for a moment
mistake for living beings. Almost l
thought to make out the customary
gray dust lying on the wax of his fea-
lures.
l am going to tell you more of this
man because, as you shall see, he was
destined TO have much to do with my
life. the fate of DIR. Karl Augustus
SchermerhOrn and the doom of the
Laughing Lass.
He wore on his head red bandan
ma handkerchief. l never saw him
with other covering. From beneath 1t
struggled oily and tangled locks of
glossy black. His face was long, mar
row, hook nosed and sinister. His
eyes, as 1 have described them, a
steady and beady black. | could at
first glance ascribe great activity, but
only moderate strength to his slender,
wiry figure. In this l was mistaken.
His sheer physical power was second
only to that of Captain SelOver. One
of his .forearms ended i'll steel hook,
At the moment l could not understand
this; could not see how man so
,c,,I s.hf
Later l wished we had more as handy.
He knew a jam hitch which he caught
over and under his hook quicker than
| most men can grasp a line with the
naked hand. 1t would render one way
| hut held fast the other. He told me
| it was a cinch hook hitch employed by
mule packers in the mountains and
| that he had used it on swamp hooks in
| the lumber woods of Michigan. |
| shouldn't wonder. He was a Wander
| ing Jew. His name was Anderson,
| but 1 never heard him called that. 1t
was always Handy Solomon" with
| men and masters.
We stared at each other, fascinated
| by something, some spell of the ship,
which l have never been able to ex-
| plain to myself nor even describe 1t
was a mystery, a pOrtent, Fremont
| ton such as overtakes a man some
| times in the dark passageways of life.
l cannot tell you of 1t nor make you
! believe-let it pass.
| Then by a slow process of successive
perceptions l became aware that l was
watched by other eyes, other wax fig
ures, other human beings with I'M
wavering gaze. They seemed to the
sense Of mystic apprehension that for
the moment held possession of me to
be everywhere-in the hunks, on the
floor, back in the shadows, watching
watching, watching from the advan-
tage of another world.
l don't know why l tell you this; why
l lay so much stress on the first weird
impression l got of the fOrecastle. II
means something to me now-in view
of all that happened subsequently
Almost can 1 look back and see in that
moment of occuitism warning, an en-
lightenment- But the point is II
meant something to me then. l stood
there fascinated, unable to move, I'M
; able to speak.
Then the grotesque figure in the cor
ner stirred.
, "Well, mates" said the man, ''be
| lieve or not believe it's in the book
and it stands to reason too. We have
t gold mines here in Californy and Ne
vada and all them states and we hea
of gold mines in Mexico and Australia
, too, but did you ever hear tell of golC
mines In Europe? Tell me thati AnC
z where did the gold come FROM then
| before they discovered America? Tel
r me that! Why, they made 1t, just n
the man that wrote this here says, ant
you can kiss the book on that"
How about that place, Ophir, 1 rea'
about?" asked a voice from the hunks
The man shot a keen glance thithe
: from beneath his brows.
Know last years output from tn
e mines Of Ophir, Thrackles?" he in
quired In silky tones.
: "Why, no." stammered the man ad
/ dressed as ThrackIes.
!, well, l do" pursued the man wit
: the steel hook, land it's just the Who'll
|, of nothing, and you can kiss the boo
{ on that too. There amt any gold out
e put because there amt any mines, an
n there never have been. They made thei
t gold'
d He tossed aside a book he had bee
L holding In his left hand. Recognized til
: fat little paper duodecimo with amust
S ment and some wonder. The only otbe
Il copy l had ever laid my eyes on is 4
}. the Astor library 1t Is somewhat of
e rarity, called 1.-The Secret Of Alchemy
n or, The Grand Doctrine of Transmit;
l. ton Fully Explained" and was write
: by a Dr. Edward Duvall, a most e.
: traordinary volume to have fallen int
t the hands of seamen.
S l stepped forward, greeting and b.
8 ing greeted. Besides the man l hav
= mentioned there were four. The coo
e was bullet headed squat negro with
: broken nose. believe he had mann
Robinson or something of that sort. b
was to all of us simply the niger. u
8 like most of his race, he was gloom