Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1913-11-28

~ nN NA "a ARMA MAN0 AANm NH0 hnAI ~
was packed. II was packed the day
we sailed; therefore It will not ex-
plode TIL we are neal the American
coast. I'm not sure It win explode at
all. It may be that it's a joke pre-
petrated by that fellow Burns after all.
IL so he wouldn't hesitate to put a
clock In the box to make il worse. /
wish had him here now to punch his
head. This isn't the first time he's
caused me trouble by his FRANKS"
What do you %propose?" asked the
captain. III you think the matter a
hoax you'd better open the box and
find out whether II Is or not"
"And blow up your ship as well as
myself II it's a real Internal machine?'
The captain evidently bad not
thought Of that. He looked confused.
Il tell you what you do, captain"
continued Jenkins. STOW IT,"
The captain looked relieved. He told
the purser to take down a list Of the
articles I'm the box from the owner,
with their values, so that I'm case the
box were lost the amount OF claim
would be limited. But he did not
want to have this done before getting
rid OF the box. He directed one Of the
crew to carry It to the upper deck.
where the lifeboats were swung on
the davits, and put Il I'm one OF the
lockers intended for provisions. wedg-
ing It so that It would not slide about
with the motion Of the waves. This
was done. The boat was lowered, a
cable attached TO her bow, and she
was suffered to drift a hundred yards
astern.
While this was being done the cap
tain gave orders that what was in
the boat. or rather what was supposed
to be in the boat. be confined to those
who were in the baggage room when
the matter was discussed. He did not
consider that a bomb a hundred yards
away from the ship could endanger
her.
The Tartaric sighted Fire island on
the fourth day out. She was twelve
knots east Of Montauk point Just before
daylight on the morning of the fifth
day. A man stood on the after deck Of
the ship, where the cable that towed
the lifeboat was attached. He tied
loosely to the rope a pair Of oars, which
drifted back to the lifeboat Then he
fixed to the rope n clutch with handles
like those Of a pair of timers shears.
Grasping the handles. he swung him.
self of the stern n let himself down
slowly till he reached the water. The
pressure against him exerted by the
Roadway Of the ship was so great that
he would not have been able to main
tain his hold had it not been for this
clutch. By its use he let himself be
slowly forced backward till he reached
the iifeboat and pulled himself up by
the cable on to It's bow.
Once in the boat he cast an eye to
the westward, where shone a light,
which be recognized as one on Mon
tauk point. Taking from the bow the
oars lie had sent before him, he put
them in the boat. Then he cast off
and was left astern. As the dark body
Of the Tartaric grew darker in the dis
lance he smiled and raised his hat to
her.
"Goodby, my friends" he said. 81
think can now get on without your
valuable assistance"
Taking the box from the locker in /
which it had been placed, he ripped it
open with Il s%crewdriver he drew from
his pocket, took out a clock, which he
threw overheard, and a small package,
which lie concealed in a pocket Of his
flannel shirt. Then. beginning to SILVER
with the cold. he took up the oars and
pulled for the light on Montauk point.
BY this time a streak of gray light
appeared in the east end. in due time
the sun came up, but the man in the
boat did not need its warmth to dry
his clothes, for the heat of his body,
kept up by the exercise of rowing, had
already done that. He was making
slow progress. for n mar pulling on
so large a boat could not move 1t rapid
ly. However, by o o'clock in the morn
ing he was but half a dozen miles from
the Long Island coast. and. a motor
boat passing him, he made a bargain
with the man running her to take him
ashore.
Once on terra nrma, leaving his boat
hauled up on a beach, he started in
land till he came to a town. where he
hired a horse and buggy TO carry him
to the northern coast OF the island.
There he chartered a mOtorboat to
tal1e him across the sound TO SaybrOok,
where he boarded a Long Island east
bound train for Boston. Arriving
there in the afternoon, he purchased
clothing and, dropping into a diamond
dealers. took from his pocket the pack
age he had taken from the box sup
posed 10 contain the internal machine,
unrolled II and displayed a dozen enOr-
nous diamonds. Before leaving the
shop he sold a number Of them to the
dealer and early the next morning
parted with the rest OF his stock. real
izing a handsome profit between what
the stones had originally cost him at
the diamond mines and what he re
ceived for them. He had reached the
end Of a series Of brilliant impostures