Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-05-11

them as If they had been so many
sheep, noted that they were all here,
except poor Miguel; Planck and
Schwartz were down toiling at the
boilers.
Stay here till / come back" he
commanded. I'm going below to see
that everything's slowed all right.
When l come back l want to talk to
you"
He disappeared down the after
hatchway, switched on a light and in
dulged in a long, satisfied look at the
great masses of precious metal which
were stacked, according to his direc-
tons, in the strongroom.
His purpose in coming down here
was threefold. He meant to see that
the gold was stored correctly and he
meant to lock the room UP, SO that its
precious contents would not be tam
pered with, and bring the key away
with him. He was not afraid that any
of his crew would try to steal it, but
he thought the moral effect Of having
it locked away where it was inacces-
sible to them, and Of his keeping the
keyin his own possession, would be a
help in maintaining his prestige as
commander. They knew the sea bet
ter than he did, Just as he knew the
nature Of gold-bearing rock. 1t was
necessary to do something to bolster
up his position as chief Of the party
and keep it above dispute. He did not
want to have to kill any Of them yet.
The Aurora would be s~hort-handed
enough as it a
But there was one more reason for
that hurried trip to the s%trongroom.
He wanted to be sure that a certain
rosewood box had come aboard along
with the treasure and what few stores
they were taking away with them.
That little box had occupied much
of his leisure since the day when he
had murdered the owner Of 1t. He had
sometimes wished that when 1t came
into his hands that day he had yield
ed to his first impulse to shatter it,
for the thing had always Knocked him
-coquetted with him.
He had often seen 1t lying open on
!, Captain F%ielding's table in the tiny
w~alled-off cubby hole Of a room they
called the captains cabin, while the
a, captain himself was writing up his
: journal or working upon his charts.
/, He had, during that first winter, fire.
quently thought of trying to open it,
should the opportunity offer itself,
After the murder, when he took that
little room for his own quarters, he
found the box and preserved it with
5 the idea that now, at least, he would
get the better Of it. He knew what
Q its contents were we'll enough-Cap-
tain Felding's charts and journal, and
he had no curiosity concerning them
g But the secret mechanism Of the boz
itself tantalized him, and he meant
d some day to solve 1t. Once he hat
y done so, he would kick the thing t.
pieces and destroy Its contents.
n That was all there was to 1t at first
but during the next winter, when thu
long night kept them prisoners IL
9 their narrow quarters, the mystery
Q Of that little rosewood box took OF
a an added Importance to him and tt
the others, out Of all proportion to any
k effect which the solution of 1t coulC
n have. One by one, with the exception
s Of the Portuguese, they tried. Houl
after hour they labored with it, and | n
8 variably they failed.
The rest of them gave it up, ant
their admitted defeat gave Roscoe an
@ other incentive for solving the thine
9 himself, for he meant to leave M
Q stone unturned to convince them tina
y they were fools and weaklings; tina
3 he, Roscoe, was the only man among
them. Such a conviction was neces
% sary to his leadership. ,
y 1t was toward the end of that win
'r ter that the Portuguese made a sug
u gestion destined to bear fruit. "It'
y a curse that has sealed up that box,
he said. "You can't open it, and /
you break It, the curse will kill you.
He evidently believed implicit
in this theory, for no persuasion coul,
induce him to touch the box himself
Gradually the others had shown, b,
te little involuntary acts, shrinkings an
a chances, that Miguel's belief was IL
n fecting them. Sometimes, after a Ion
succession of sleepless, lightless days
r. Roscoe found himself believing it, too
ID and regarding that little box as tn
If ~sealed-up casket Of the murder he ha
Il. done upon the owner Of it. The Grim
was there inside.
" To overcome that feeling, he ha
worked all the harder trying to solv
its secret.
I'd His interest, now, however, in m;
I'd king sure that the box had really bee
h brought aboard the Aurora was M
al superstitious, but wholly practica
20 They were leaving most of their store
an behind them, as there was no tim
ct either to transport them to the A,
lie rora or to destroy them. With thes
az stores and with the shelter afforde
Sc by the hut and the little clump of su
st rounding out-buildings, 1t was pro
It's able that some members of the A
rora's party, at least, would surviy
on the winter. II a relief ship shoul
a arrive the next summer, or even Il
ey summer thereafter, it would probabI
find some one on this desolate shol
lis who could tell the story Of the disa
ID. pearance Of the Aurora and form
I'd. more or less definite surmise as
We tie cause Of 1t. That rosewood be
had Captain F~elding's journal in it
ed journal that had been written un
- =,