Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-02
American Sunday Monthly Magazine Section
The Leopard Skin Bag
Confined from preceding page

but--G0H an H1mmeU it could not contain
anything more precious than the things they
imagined 1t could not. They thought of
all the peculiar things connected with that
thing. The finding of the girl on the brig,
the fat-headed viper that seemed to be the
guardian of the thing, the death of the cook
after he had stolen it, and the risk that
Miguel was taking to hold the prize for
himself. They went crazy trying to guess
what was in the bag. They ran about the
deck, cursing themselves because they had
given the mate a chance to bolt when they
had followed Lopez into the foc'stle.
"'I'll catch him!' screamed The Shark
Wait till we get capful of wind! I'll run
the swine down before he has gone half
a league! Wait till we get puff of wind!
"A big brute of sailor gave sigh that
you could hear half d mile away, and that
sigh was echoed by the others. They we're
in nice mood just then. They were great
hands at thieving from other people, but
they did not like a taste of their own medi-
cine. That big mate had euchred them good
and plenty, and they cursed him in dozen
different languages.
The hot afternoon went slowly by, but
the schooner still rocked on a smooth sea-.
That mate was good judge of the weather.
He guessed that he could make one of the
Comoro Islands before we got breeze, and
as the day wore on it looked as if he guessed
right.
1.-The sun famed down the sky and
dropped into the ocean, and that ship was
like a volcano with the lid on Lopez was
nearly hysterical, and now and then one
of his snuf4ing wolves would cry out an oath
that would make my blood curdle. |
damned myself for an old fool in coming on
that boat thought that the Almighty had
some scheme on hand for wiping out that
bunch and | was afraid was not good
enough to bring about a change in that
scheme.
"Ill catch him. Lopez would scream
over and over again. Well get wind in a
little while! I'll take the bag from him and
tow his carcass to Dar-es-Salam'
1t was nice to listen to that, was it not?
And the tension increased as the night came
down on u.s. The imaginations of those
poor devils pictured the mate getting farther
and farther away as the schooner rocked
with empty sails, and perspired as | lis
tened to them.
They started to guess at the contents
of the bag, and that made them worse.
- 1t holds great diamond! cried one. A
diamond as big as the great Cullinan stone!'
No, it's a PEARL roared another.
:" Ay, it's PEARL screamed the little rat
that had asked Lopez what he thought was
in it. It's a pearl as big as The White
Ghost that they gathered out of the silt at
Tremaine Shoal. I'm sure it's pearl!
"Shut up!' yelled Lopez. Shut up,
you fools Pray for wind, damn you!
Pray for wind!'
and the bunch of them sat there on the
deck rocking themselves. backward and
forward and trying to ease the longing that
was eating into their hearts. They thought
that a fortune had been in their grip and
that they had let it slide through carelessness
1t was long after midnight when the
first puff of wind came to us. 1t came from
the southeast, and The Tiger Shark nearly
went crazy as the Donna Isabella heeled
over to it. And his crew howled like wolves
as they pulled on the ropes. Shades OF
Friedrich Humboldt! didn't they howl!
They were devils just then. Somewhere
out on that water was Miguel with treas
ure that their minds had pictured as greater
than any treasure that the world had seen,
and they were mad They piled on every
scrap of sail that the schooner could carry,
and when the Donna Isabella started to
plough through the water, they lost all
control of themselves. They danced around
the deck and shouted songs-songs that were
not fit for human ears.
ia, we sighted Miguel! know that