The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-15
kY CHARLES GARVICE
Author of "Just a Girl" "Diana and Destiny"
 "In Wolf's Clothing" etc.
Copyright, 1909 By George H. Doran Compa

explained.
 Some portable houses" he said. Made of wood; they all screw to- gether; you know the kind of things :? One of them is rather a pretty cha let-for you and me. We shall af- feet to go in for fishing and sailing in the bay. I've got a neat little sail ing-boat aboard"
 He opened the door of the apart ment bordered off from the rest of the hold, and, raising the lantern, showed Ronald a stack of arms, ri- f1es, revolvers, cutlasses. We may be interfered with" he said rather grimly; "so I thought it best to be prepared. The captain and the crew will stand by me to a man. Of course, they must be told when we land; and they'll have their share. liberal share"
 They went back to the saloon, and Vane, with his hands in his pockets, gazed steadily at Ronald.
 "Now you know the game, Carew," he said, whats your decision?"
 Ronald laughed and held out his hand. Scarcely necessary to ask, Vane," he said. "You are offering me fortune; and, goodness knows, l want it badly enough. for am and shall be as poor as church mouse! But even if there weren't any money in it. if you'd only engage me at thir- ty shillings a week to work one of those picks or spade, I'd say I'm your mani"
 That's all right then," said Vane. as they shook hands again. "I thought you'd say so. Now, don't let us say anything more about it to- night, or I shan't sleep wink. Help yourself to some more whisky"
 "All right" said Ronald. "I sup pose we are making straight for the island?"
 "No," replied vane. There are a good many vessels, some, like the Hawk, cruising about our course;aud I don't want to seem in hurfy, don't want any one to think I've got a ser ious purpose in going to Lipari. We'll just cruise about, look in at a port here and there, and take it easy, choosing our opportunity to slip round to Sicily in a casual kind of way There's no hurry; the treas ure is there, and will stop there till we dig it up. Now let us shut up on it. and talk about something else"
 Couldn't" said Ronald. with a laugh. "I'Il take a. turn on deck, and try and get it off my mind. or l shan't sleep a wink either" up and down, tried to realize that le was going a-digging for a treasure amounting to quarter of a million. It was difficult to do so; all the more of laughter came from the fo'c'sle, where some of the men were evil dently enjoying themselves. as if they were bound on an ordinary pleasure Irlps dS II tncIc. WSIO ilo 5uCI IhiuS as treasure islands. In one of his turns Ronald looked in.
 smithers was seated on bunk, his legs dangling; the men were lying and sitting about him, listening with the rapt attention of sailor-folk to some yarn Smithers was spinning, and re- | warding him with bursts of laughter. It was evident from Smithers' grin and his sparkling eyes that he had not only found his feet on board the Hawk, but had already become pop ular.
 Ronald, with smile of amuse- | ment, waited for a moment to listen and heard Smithers say, evidently in the winding up of the story, which had moved his auditors to extreme mirth:
 I'm a-tellin' you of this, boys, as a kind of warnin'. It's werry nice l to have a wife in every port, and ain't sayin' that it ain't sailorman's g right to do so; but don't carry the ! photographs of the turin ladies about you, like my Uncle Joe did; or the reg'lar wife at 'ome might get at