Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-05-20
CHAPTER x.-Continued.

The change in the man speaking |
held me breathless; his cant. his usu-
ally oily method of utterance had
merged into an earnestncss full OF
fascination.
Well. that was about all. SIR" his
voice sinking back into commonplace.
I'm Two hours we were out o sight.
an feclin' our way through n blndin'
snow squall. But IT was such a rum
thing, discoverin' them islands out
there all uncharted. with that queer
ghost ship perchin' on 'em. that |
wrote down the latitude an longitude
an the hooker's name in my og-book.
We was about three weeks maxim the
West Falklands. where | shipped
few more hands. an then bore away
north for home
He drew plug of tobacco from out
his coat-tail pocket. cut OF what he
needed. and slowed 1t away in his
cheek. He ran his fingers through his
thin hair. and resumed:
About IS months later | was back
with the ol' Betsy in the South Pa.
cific. One night. with the moon shin
In. hardly a ripple anywhere. my
mate run her nose onto rock. a
couple o hundred miles south o. Eas-
ter island. an in less than 20 minutes
the bark had eone down like stone.
We made Easter island in the boats
without much trouble. but 1t want so
easy to get away. had six weeks OF
1t before | got chance. an then |
shipped aforc the mast on a sandal
wood trader De Nova here was mate.
an finally. huntin' goods to peddle
among the islanders. we sailed into
Valparaiso. an the most of us shipped
out. Well. by that time | wasn't
thinkin' very often about that ice
ship down in the Antar'tic: | was
hustlin' for some sort o berth to take
me back to the States. But one night,
down in RodriGues' back room. where
hung out. | got TO talkin' with a
gambler named Francisco-the same
smooth duck who introduced himself
as De Castillo to you. sir. He was an
educated man, an seemed to like TO
hear me talk. an among other sea
yarns | happened to tell him this one.
He seemed mighty interested. although
he wasn't never given to seafarin',
an asked me whole pile o fool ques-
tions. Finally he wanted TO meet me
again alone the next day.
We'll, having nothin' better to do.
was there when he came. an he
showed up with a queer-lookin'. big.
oil book the cover half ripped of.
under his arm. Then he made me tell
him that yarn over again. and de-
scribe the ship jest exactly as | re-
membcrcd it. Then. when Id got
through, an told him everything
could dig out o my memory. he opened
up that book o his on the table, an
dammc. sir If he didn't show me a
picture of that same OIL hooker. plain
rs life, only everything was trim an
shipshapc on board. with the masts up
an the sails drawin'. The name was
printed underneath, too-Donna Isa
bel, Cadiz
That book he showed me was
printed in Spanish-not just like what
you see to-day, sir. but the letterin' all
rough, as though it had been cut out
O wood, but the fellow showed me the
date when ii was printed. an IL read
Seville. l1I9.' plain enough. Francisco
wrote out In English what he said was
printed there about this Donna Isa-
bel: an there it is. sir. in his own
hand writin'."
He took the paper out of his inner
coat pocket and spread 1t open on
the table before us. De Nova and
Anderson leaned forward eagerly to
look at 1t. but Tuttle showed it along
toward me.
Read 1t out loud. sir" he said. his
voice trembling. The writing was not
clear, and held 1t up to the light.
"GaIIeon Donna Isabel. ship.rlsged,
$50 tons, Amador. Master. built 1880,
home port Cadiz. Sailed Guayaquil
for Valencia, June IL. 1853; crew num-