The Red Cloud chief., 1913-05-01


Yes boy. not one Of yer holdyer.nose rock.
atyer.feet, twominute diver boys but reg'lar
tinh leadshoes. rubbersuited. stay-forever
shark; and II that box Of Doodle is still where
you figure on bet your last thirst well get II.
and get II ALL by Satan!"
The afternoon Of the eighteenth day out from
Maize we raised the rocky peaks Of East Island,
four thousand feet high, and as It was never GER
tain that landing could be made. we stood on
till dusk and hove to for the night getting every
thing ready for a full days hard graft the
morrow.
But II was not the next day that we took up
our berth, nor for two more after that Dirty
weather. commoner down in that God.forsaken
penguin hatchery than suckers on Broadway. set
In with bump, and for three days our little
Pearl had to fight tooth and nail to hold her po.
siton within hail OF the islands.
On the fourth day the breeze blew out and left
just good working air. we hauled up and
stood in for the rocks again. this time getting
close enough to let go our warp and take the
lines ashore.
BY the official report Of the wreck, we were
pretty sure that we were right on the spot. and
this was established when, after sounding all
round the schooner, the lead foued something.
and brought away piece Of sea.rotted rope from
a depth Of twelve fathoms.
On the principle that Job well started is half.
way done, we soon had the diving gear laid out.
and at dead low water manned the wheel OF the
and our quest was on when Red clambered over
the low rail and slipped into the cold depths
At the end Of an hour the signal came to haul
up, and when Saunders bobbed over the rail and
had his head gear removed. he reported that we
were almost plumb the poop Of the wreck
and by ranging ahead twenty feet could drop
line down her cabin skylight.
We shifted our position and went below to get
bite Of tucker against the next spell. while my
mate voiced his opinion that:
a haya hapn hpffp Aypd IN
toted some explosive along. for the rudy ship
is steel, and quite likely had a strong room un.
der the cabin"
We expected, however. to strike some snags.
as there are mostly always plenty Of spikes to
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. bouquet. After our
brief spell for grub Saunders got over the side
again and took crowbars along. intending as he
said. ITO bust something or eat the bars"
Next time he came to the surface he brought
up rusty chronOmeter. the mahogany case Ut
which was quite good. and said he had located
the safe, which was build into the steel bulk
head Of the shippers cabin.
What do you think of the chances Of hook.
ing anything Red?" I asked, when he had
crawled out Of his casing.
"Tell you tomorrow son." he grunted. Seems
tougher lay than cracking open pearl.shell. but
II the weather gives us a good fair tilt at It,
there's chance Of busting her with the bar.
think"
As soon as It was light enough to grope. an.
other start was made on the wreck. and we
knew that 1t would be case Of pulling up the
chest or giving up the chase at the end of that
days work.
Red took along everything we had that was
likely to be useful below and remarked as he
put his head into his hat:
what don't come adrift this spell will have to
wait for dynamite Gabriel's big bassoon. for
won't come up till the bars bend double!"
What titanic efforts he must have put forth
down below were we'll proven by the bundle OF
crowbars he sent up on a line. bent to horseshoe
shape: and attached to the line was the handle
Of safe. He did not come up for some time
yet. however, and Triton only knows what he
actually succeeded in doing, but when at long
last he signaled and was hauled up. he had q
small tin box made fast to his waist.
No sooner was he free Of the headgear and
able to speak, than he blurted out:
"Good Gordon's beer. bo'. she's too much for
me! Every blasted trick did I work that iron
locker. but might as we'll dig into the great
pyramid with a cream.puR for all the impres.
sion I could make with those bars!"
II the safe had been easy to break as the
box was we would have had those spondulicks
aboard by now for crack with the end of
bar concertina-ed our find. which contained the
ships papers and sundry private documents evi.
IDENTIFY the captains
No good could come of hanging round any
longer. after decided the Job was too big for
our limited means to tackle so we lost not a mo-
ment In getting our lines and hauling of to the
anchor. Then, before hoisting our canvas. We
took the casks ashore for water, filling them at
the same place those poor devils must have
used years before. and taking look at the site
OF their camp where they had made dugout in
the cfside for the lady and child Of the party.
We might have spent more time looking
around this place had the weather looked pref
tier, but Saunders had his eye to wndward. and
suddenly he jerked me by the arm and growled:
Say, young fellow we don't want to duplicate
the Robinson Crusoe act this trip-not for senti
ment anyway: and that's Just about what we'll
do II don't our hook and edge Off this
spot OF dirt in a number hurry, or I'm no
Mother Shipton"
Pointing to the westward. Red asked me II
had ever seen the Roaring Fortes' tear;
and sure enough It looked like goodnight for us
II we failed to ratch OFF shore before the storm
hit down on us.
That gale followed us for a week, and did
dodge Kerguelen but not by more than the we'll