The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-12-29
CHAPTER vI-(Continued.)

amer, IlmOtnyT
May that same ship rot on verdur-
Gus reefs!"
But you are risking your life, mani"
He stood up and fiicked the ash Of
his cigar into the sea.
Yon Is life," he said, "a little red
light in the houses of our pleasure .
and then the ashes on the waters.
Fan. my bhoy. go with you to Santa
We smoked awhile In silence. Pres
emily he asked mo how I came to think
of the Azores at all and why expected
to find John Fordibras upon the island
of Santa Maria.
Timothy" l said. when we dined
with Joan Fordibras at Dieppe. her
chaperone, the elderly but engaging
Miss Aston. met us with letter in her
hand"
'Tndadc, and she did"
Il saw the stamp upon It, Timothy"
He raised his eyes to heaven.
God save all wicked men from Fan
Fabos!" he exclaimed.
But I had only told him the truth;
and but for that letter the lady carried,
the high seas might yet embosom the
secret Of the Diamond Ship.
CHAPTER VII.
We stopped two days at Porto
Grande. and after that. sparing our
engines as much as possible, despite
our impotence, we set a course al
most due north, and upon the third
day we were within 80 miles Of that
island Of our hopes, Santa Maria, in
the Azores. I am not likely to forget
either the occasion or the circumstance
of it, The month was November; the
hour, IL o'clock in the forenoon watch;
the morning, that of Saturday, the 18th
day Of the month.
The second officer sent down word
from the bridge that he would like
to speak with me. Understanding that
he did no. wish to call the captain
from the cabin, / went up immediate
ly and discovered him not a little ex-
cited about a black object drifting
with the wind at q distance, 1t may
be. Of a third of a mile from the ship.
This he pointed out to me and hand
! made Of 1t.
IT'S raft, Andrews" I said Cor
that was the second officers name);
"a raft and there are men upon It,"
Exactly as 1 thought. sir. 1t is a
raft, and there are men upon it.
but not living men, I fear. I have
been watching 1t for a good 10 min
y.
Yon poor fellows will never sail a
ship again"
That's a fearful thing, Andrews"
! exclaimed, returning him the glass;
"of course we shall go and see what
we can do"
Be II said that we were steaming
some 15 knots an hour by this time.
and had soon come almost within a
biscuit toss of the raft. The fore
ward lookout had been warned to say
nothing, and Abel, the quartermaster,
took HE cue from the officer of the
watch. So It came about that we
passed by the dreadful spectacle and
remained, as crew, almost ignorant
of it. Indeed. knowing how easily sea-
men are depressed, I was thankful
that II should have been 30. Seven
poor fellows upon the raft must have
been dead for some weeks. Two OF
them were little more than human
skeletons. The others We're washed
by every wave that broke over the
hellish contrivance Of ropes and
planks to which they had been
tied. Neither peril Of the sea NOR ac-
cident Of destiny had sent those men
to death unnamable. / felt that
they had been foully murdered, and
that he who had thus dealt with them
was the man / had set out to seek.
We had always intended to make
Santa Maria after shutdown, and II
was quite dark when We cspied the
islands lights. shining over the water
like the lanterns Of q fishing fleet.
A kindly breeze blew at that time
from the southwest, and little sea was
running. AS we drew near to the
land, the silence of an unspoken curl
osity fell upon the men. Some whis-
per Of talk had gone about that the
master" would land at Villa do Porto,
and that only the Japanese Okyada
would accompany him. l knew that
the good fellows were itching to speak
out and to say that they believed me
TO be little less than mailman. So
much had already been intimated by
honest McShanus, and had been an
swered in the cabin below.
"Fabos, we have more wits than the
common, and I'll believe no FOOLS tale
Of We" he had said. Good God, IL
your own story Is true. ye'd be safer
in a lions den than In yon menag-
erie OF thieves? What's to forbid the
men accompanying We? 'Tis my So
ciety that may be disagreeable to we,
perhaps. Faith, / want no man to In
suit me twice, nor will stop in the
yacht Of the one who does so, though
1t were as big as Buckingham palace
and the Horse Guards thrown In"
Timothy" I said, your coat Is
picturesque. but I refuse to tread
upon the tail Of it. Don't be
a choleric ass. And understand.
man, that as long as the yacht
stands out to sea and has my good
friends aboard. I am as safe as your
maiden aunt In q four-wheeled cab.
Let any harm come to me and you
know what you are to do. This ship
will carry you straight to Gibraltar,
where you will deliver my letters to
Admiral Harris and act thereafter as
he shall tell you. / do not suppose that
there will be the slightest necessity
for anything Of the kind. These peo-
pie are always towards. have a
strong card to play and II will be
played directly / go ashore"
He reJoined little savagely. Now
don't you know that Joan Fordibras
Ii ashore there?"
II think it very unlikely. Tim
othy."
"Ah, to blazes with the pretty face
of her. When shall we have the news
OF your
Every day at shutdown. Let the
pinnace be at the landing. II not that,
stand off for signal. We will ar
range II tomorrow night. You shall
come ashore and dine with me when
know how the land lies. Tonight
I must go alone, old friend
He assented with great reluctance.
The men had already manned the life
boat. and were waiting for me- We
lay, perhaps. a full mile from the port,