Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-10-08

thrown of my balance by her-dare
say-coquetry. Il would give up the
world itself for yo1. Don't you know
itTp
/ And / made a step toward her, but
she put up her hand
Flush. hush, Master HampGon!. she
cried, affrighted at the consequences of
her pleasantly. and I could swear she
| turned crimson in the candlelight.
"'Tis not time or place now. Remem-
/ Der that ! am alone and that I am at
your mercy"
81 shah never forget that egain," l
said grimly. This treasure removes
| you further away from me than evern
what mean your"
when you get back to England and
! take your place once more among your
! friends in that society to which your
birth entities you and which this
wealth viii enable you to sustain"-
"And who is to take me back to Eng.
| Iand?"
4 T" frssS sis,ssy 49,, b., :.
"How?" 4fHs'ss<s
'I know not. but shall do t."
| "And with the treasurer"
with the treasure, too; at least a
sufficiency of it for all your needs"
"And when you have done this amaz.
ing thing for me you expect to disap-
pear from my life. Master Hampdon?"
AYE, If need be-"
She laughed and did not under
stand the meaning of that laugh either.
Let Us search and see If there be
anything else. Your ancestor spoke
Of Jewels" he said.
"Yes," she said, ''there should be a
smaller casket. Let US look further"
There were perhaps a dozen large
boxes. ! opened them all. Some were
quite empty, with little pile Of dust
in them and a few shreds of color here
and there which indicated silk had
been packed in them. There were also
broken barrels around which still
chung a faint odor Of spices. There
were piles OF rotted debris further on,
and as l stirred one Of them with my
sword struck something more solid.
brushed aside what seemed to be the
decayed remains of cordage and canvas
and finally came upon a smaller casket
bound, hinged, and cornered with some
kind of metal which 1 afterward found
to be silver, for iron would have rust
ed away long since. The casket was
about foot long by six inches wide
and six inches deep. The metal which
completely covered It was curiously
chased. The casket was locked. |
crumbled the wood in my hands, but
could not open the lock. The edge of
my AK, however, proved potent key,
and at last forced it apart, and as /
did so out fell little heap of what !
judged to be precious stones. There
were green, red, blue and white ones,
among them many pearls sadly discol.
ored and valueless. The stones glis.
tened with an almost living energy.
My mistress was more familiar with
these things than I, and presented a
handful to her.
: why. they are precious stonesw she
cried in an awe struck whisper
"Lookw She held up a diamond as
big as her thumb NAIL 1t sparkled like
a sun in the eandleiight. And there
! is an emerald" she cried, picking uT
one of the green stones. This blue
, one is a sapphire; this a ruby. Why
she exclaimed, here is fortune alone
These jewels must be of fabulous val
ue. The gold and silver we might
: leave behind, but these we can carry
: with u.s."
; In my heart was sorry we hat
found them, yet I had the grace i'm
mediately to say:
81 am glad for that. We mus
> gather them up. but where shall W,
put them"
"In the pockets of your coat for tn,
n present" she answered.
: Now there were not so many o.
them-perhaps three or four handfuls-
not nearly enough to Oil the cusket
figured that it had been a jewel DO!
with little trays or drawers and tina
the stones had been wrapped separate
;. ly. but had all fallen together wheI
the partitions rotted away. I easil,
\ found room for them in the capaciou
side pockets of my coat, and then W
turned back to the outer room. Pass
ing by the hideous altar, we gained tn
light 1t was now late in the after
noon. we found to our surprise.
We had spent hours over the treas
. ure and we had just time to retrac
= our steps and get back to the boat o.
the beach and partake of our evening
meal when night fell. AS we sat b.
: the fire that night 1 made little bag
out of a piece OF canvas taken fror
? a bread bag and we put the Jewels int
them. dividing them into equal parts
One bag she wore constantly therea1
ter on her person and 1 the other. Sh
insisted that the rough and ready div
sion we had made was permanent
that the bag / carried belonged to m
and the bag she carried belonged {
her But / refused to have it so 4
spite OF her argument, and there W
left it
During the next two or three day
we leisurely explored the island. Their
was nothing else on it TO see whic
merits any particular description. w
did not again visit the central hill, no
did we enter any other cave. We di
not even go near the treasure cav
again. On the contrary, we kept {