The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-15

IF AA A | tions hungry. Entering an afngn' I~ u lunch room took seat and gave my
 order to waiter, who, when ne nao
 %kN<M filled it, sat down at the table with me- y&2S&&28 It was very late, and his duties were
 ..yon're looking well'' he remarked. his glance travelled over my evening clothes. You're dead swell but the last time saw you, you were GOV cred with mud, carrying stern line ashore ID the Welland Canal
 ."You seem to have the advantage of me-" said sI know the WeIand Canal, however, though am trying to forget that ditch"
 went through it. That trip with you In the oo Samana was nay first and last struck for salt water again when the old man paid me on T. .. fo, Claiborne. Don't you remember going to school with mel" He mentioned his name and with ntue effort recalled nina schoolmate little older than myself who had gone to sea early in nfe ana returned fu1Ifedged saltwater navigator to ship. on his record as first mate in the schooner tnet carried before the mast, and to meet his water. loo in the -Weand Canal, the navigation or wnicn demands qualities taught nor acquired In the curriculum of seafaring After grounding the schooner several times parting every line on Doaro and driving us to open revolt by the extra work coming of his mistakes, he was discharged by the skipper. As I thought of all this the grum bling sailor rose within me, and there at the table he a waiter I a writer, fought out grudge of twenty years standing. But 1t ended amicably; called him farmer, he called me soldier, ana we shook hands
 arve learned' he said as we settled back "only in the last so. that you're the fellow that writes these rotten sea stories. Why don't you
 
 s'For the same reason that you don't serve real Welsh rabbit" answered. tapping the now cold connection ne nad l. served me = ,a nctsr ss
 "Were all buffers, guess. You are Aere Ia this beanery with your glad rags on am. tso-no. not now. I'm slinging hash, and glad of the chance while it lasted had 5dre4nns-bige dre1n1B.
 "You must have read in the papers few weeks back" he began, about that bunch of college men that chartered the old racer Maynower filled her up with diving gear and dynamite and went down after the treasure in the sant. Marsheris, s'. ., and they barely escaped
 \ They're keeping num-" he said, "and mean to try again: but it's no use. That treasure is seven hundred miles to the nor nor'east now and was about the last man to, look at it. It's resting in the hold of small schooner, sunk in four hundred fathoms. never heard of that treasure ship un- til about three years ago. when quit brigantine at Cedar Keys and mixed in with the boarding house crowd There was fellow out of job named Gleason, and he had chart in his pocket that he talked about, but never showed. He told us all about that old Spanish ship that went down with all hands in the sixteenth century. carrying with about millions worth of gold silver and jewels. and he knew the location. He had got It from drunken diver who had seen her on the sea zbottom spelled her dingy old name on the stern and saved the news to himself while he wormed out of the skipper the latitude and longi- tudes of the place And now he wanted to enlist capital, make up1a crew of men that would do the work. Dead easy he said. Just to get there, drag the bottom with two boats and length of chain until the wreck was located then to go down in diving suit, hook to the chests and hoist them up.
 Well, in the crowd that he talked to there wasn't dollar. We were all dead broke, but we were all ambitious There was Pango Pete, a nigger six foot tall. who couldn't write his name, but he was a seaman from his feet up: and Dago named Pedro Pasqualai These two the kind that will choke you before they ask the time of night. Then there was Sullivan, old man Sullivan decrepit old codger who had sailed second mate all his Hfe,. and never got first mates berth because he couldn't master navigation. And there was Peters. young fellow filled up with the romance and the glory of the life at sea-rot, as you and know, but he was enthusiastic and that was enough. trio of Dutchmen were taken ln--Wagner. Weiss. and Myers, three good fellows down on their luck. A Portuguese named Christo, and two Sou'wegian brothers named Swanson com pleted the bunch. We talked N over down at the nd o the % eSss congregate to smoke and boast of the prosperous past
 Seven millions. said Gteason l4y down there off Turks Island in less thAn sfxty fathoms, and all we needed was some kind of craft to get us up bulb to search for the tfsSsure These things {eemed beyond our reach. until q schooner came in Tor supplies. We sized, hsr up and Gleason went ap. There were the diving dresses we needed: there was the storage battery: there the no sntsa nS t M TOT craft over certain Ing operations, scattered about the deck. She was small craft. and manned by men who did not skipper. and they smoked on deck while working. and talked back and forth as though all were equal
 company,' said Gleason just like us. only they've got the money. and possibly the secret. We'll the company that gets the loot owns it, and such matters the ownership of the schooner and the outfit can be settled afterwards possibly out of court What do you say? Are you gamer
 We were. We laid low. but watched and when that schooner was filled up with grub, we were ready to raid her and chuck the crew overheard: |: but 1t wasn't necessary to do the latter They AlleA up tee late for the tide and ashore for she evening leaving no one aboard but Japanese ce0k We remembered climbed, aboard after dsrf that we hadn't q mss among who could ceok and soN instead of Cropping that Jap over the rail. we simply locked him into stateroom and aAAA AA