Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-23
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,b. Merrill Company ..
"Any augers?"
whats an augur?"
"A giant gimlet.''
mo, only little ones with turn
wiggle."
"How big hole could the biggest
maker" @se-,.
Hardly an inch-no, less
"Too small-but twOrinch chisel
can be driven through anything"
But what about the copper sheath
ing you were afraid of" '| -
Drive through that, too-the trou-
BILE will be to get those axes out with
out noise"
"Will you wait till the time comes,
or choose one of those slam-bang
Gains? used to thing a calm was
calm till the last one jounced us to
pieces"
Better wait-make one job Of it.
Don't want s. nosing In there and
turning things over.'
Have you any idea where we are?'
ACROSS the line-that's all know.
B. has the chart locked in his room.
How can you tell, then?"
"Only guess, but If we are where
think we are, we soon can't avoid PICK
ing up an island or two. Two reasons
a. birds today; CD B. went aloft and
spent an hour in the cross trees with
his glass"
But you will make absolutely GER
tain before attempting anything?'
1T will take row Of palm trees to
nerve me up to It! But We'll soon be
seeing them, and them"
Courage and daylight go together.
1t is at night that the spirit shrinks;
that the spine feels icy shivers; that
the coward In all of us draws the bed
clothes over his craven head. At night
Matt and Chris were hardly able to-
keep their resolution alive. To. send
their bed, their home, their whole lit
tie world to the bottom of the sea hor-
rified their imagination. The lisp and
gurgle of the water outside gave
dread reality to the mental picture. 1t
was the voice of death that rippled
along the schooner's keel, that sw1rleo
in her wake, that foamed and splashed
on the billowing crests, death, not the
width of a hand away. grading them
in that fragile shell which they were
mad enough to dream of destroying.
Had 1t not been for that other sound,
never still in the deadest of the early
hours, they might have abandoned
their plan CT sinking the Esmeralda.
But the wireless had its own note OF
menace and was perpetual reminder
of dangers as real, as mysterious ana
terrible as any to be feared from the
dark depths beneath them, When the
wireless began to snap and hum they
were heartened to fresh determine
ton to strike first, cost what 1t might.
There was besides, in both those stub
born natures, hatred OF confesslng
themselves beaten. To turn the tables
on Schwartz and Brandeis thrilled
them with a grim delight. Chris hot
little heart burned no less eagerly for
revenge than Mats. They had been
fooled, lied to, successfully victimized
and carried away, but
They were twenty-four days out OF
San Francisco when the first land
rose over the horizon. The absence OF
clouds above it proved to be one OF
those coral atolls that abound In the
southern ocean. To the eye 1t was
long, low blur, scarcely more than
discernible on the rim Of the sky; to
the glass palms were visible, and the
lake-like water of a lagoon whose
farther confines we're lost in the dip
Of the earth. The fact that they were
at last in the zone of reefs and islands
filled Matt and Chris with an over
mastering excitement which the cap
tain propably ascribed to the interest
that always attends a land-fall after
prolonged spell at sea. He was very
much interested himself, as indeed
was notwithstanding his binocu-
lars willingly, exclaiming at the
beauty of the shimmering, sapphire
tints, and annoying Mr.. Brandeis with
his incessant questions.
To Matt the sight of the island was
like signal; it made him acutely
restless and uncomfortable; he was
possessed with the suffocating sense
of almost terror that precedes all
desperate deeds. Taking advantage of
the commotion on deck he ran below,
watched his opportunity, and entered
the trade room. No craftsman, on his
knees before a safe, and thrillingly
conscious that at any moment he
might be interrupted. could have ex-
perienced more trepidation than did
Matt as he sought out the case of
axes and pried open the lid. He seized
one and laid it aside, showed back the
case and hastily covered 1t with the
first things handy-some bolts of can
vas and a couple Of drums OF niger
head tobacco. Then, with panicky
glance at the door, which had no key
in the lock nor any bolt, he went down
on his knees before the hatch and
fumbled with the ring countersunk in
the planking.
He raised the cover with no great
difficulty, and lifting it clear. stared
into the depths What he had feared
most of all was that the after-hold
might be filled with cargo. But as his
eyes grew accustomed to the semi
darkness he saw nothing save void,
with a glimmer Of pigs Of iron ballast,
some metallically bright and others
red with rust, showing dimly beneath.
He breathed a sigh of relief; there
was no cargo, no packed array OF