Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-04-07
reputation was my only nope.
shielded the arms and ammunition.

shielded the arms and ammunition.
AS look back on 1t now the period
seems to me to be one of merely po-
tential trouble. The men had not TAX
en- the pains to crystalline their ideas.
really think their compelling emo
ton was that Of curiosity. They want
ed to see 1t needed definite i'm.
pulse to change that desire to one Of
greed.
The impulse came from Percy Oar
row and his idle talk of voodoos. AS
usual he was directing his remarks to
the sullen niger.
"voodoos?" he said "Of course
there are. Don't fool yourself for a
minute on that. There are good ones
and bad ones. You can tame them
II you know how, and they will do
anything you want them to-" Pull
chuckled in his throat you don't be-
lieve it?" drawled the assistant, turn
ing to him. "Well, It's SO. You know
that heavy box we are SO careful of!
Well, that's got tame voodoo in it."
The others laughed.
w AdL ue l1hS3 ASheu luo ulSScI
gravely.
"He's fine voodoo, with wavery
arms and green eyes and red CLOVIS"
Watching narrowly Its effect he swung
of into one Of the genuine old Groom.
Ing voodoo songs, once so common
down south, now so rarely heard. Nc
one knows what the words mean-they
are generally held to be charm words
only-a magic gibberish. But the mig.
ger sprang across the fire like light.
ming, his face altered by terror, to
seize barrow by the shoulders.
"Doan you! Doan you!" he gasped
shaking the assistant violently back
and forth. DAT he King yoodoo song
Dat call him all de voodoo-all!'
He stared wildly about in the dark
ness as though expecting to see the
| night thronged. There was moment
Of confusion. Eager for any chance
Kissed under my breath: danger
Look outv'
could not tell whether or not Oar
row heard me. He left soon after
the mems interest.
WELL" Pull began, we've been
here on this spot for a long time"
"a year and five MONTHS" reckoned
| Thrackles.
"a man can do lot in that time"
III he's busy"
They've been busy
'Yes."
wonder what they've done?'
There was no answer to this, and
the sea lawyer took new tack.
II suppose we're all getting double
wages?"
THAT'S SOL
"And that's say four hunder' for us
and Mr.. Eagen here. suppose the ole
man don't let the schooner go for moth
ing"
1.-TWO hundred and fifty MONTH
said I and then would have had the
words back.
They cried out in prolonged aston
| ishment.
Seventeen months" pursued the 10
| gician after few moments. He scratch
ed with stub of lead. "rhat makes
over $1,000 since we've been out. How
much do you suppose his outfit stands
him?" he appealed to me-
I'm sure can't tell you," replied
shortly.
well, it's pile of money anyway
Nobody said anything for some time
/, wonder what they've done? Pull
asked again.
Something that pays big" Thrac
kles supplied the desired answer.
dat CHS - suggested Perdosa.
"Voodoo'- muttered the niger.
'Thats to scare US out" said Handy
Solomon, with vast contempt "That':
what makes me sure 1t is the chest"
Pull muttered some Of the jargon Of
alchemy.
That's It," approved Handy Solo
mon. "If we could GET
I'VE wouldn't know how to use it.
interrupted Pull.
'The book said Thrackles.
well, the book asserted Pull;
! pugnaciously. "How do you know
what it will be? 1t may be the philos
opher's stone and 1t may be one Of
| these other things. And then where't
we bey'
1t was astounding to hear this non
sense banded about SO seriously. AND
| yet they more than half believed, fo
they were deep sea men of the OLE
! school, and this was in print. Thrac
kles voiced approximately the genera
| attitude.
Philosophers stone or not, some
things up, The old boy took too goot
care of that box, and he's spending to-
much money to be doing 1t for hi.
health"
"You know wat t'ink;" smiled Per
dosa. HE max drmons. He sa,
dat"
The niger had entered one of hi
black, brooding moods from whicl
these men expected oracles.
Get him ches'," lie muttereds II SCI
him FULFILL of dimon's."
They listened to him with vast re
! spect aud We're visibly impressed. S.
| deep wasthe sense of awe that Hand,
Solomon unbent enough to whisper t,
| me:
II don't take any stock in the mig
gers talk ordinarily. He's fool mig
ger. But when his eye looks like tina
then you want to listen close. He see
! things then. Lots of times he's seel
things. Even last year-the Oyuma-
he told about her three days ahead
/ That's why we were SO ready for her,
he chuckled.
| NothiuO mo,r, da.-a)onod fop a Ian.