The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1914-03-25


It and that Is enough for me. start
In three days time"
Three days!'
Yes. by working overtime, I'll have
the cargo out OF the Belle day after
tomorrow night"
The two men wandered forth to-
gether from Maman Faly's. and to n
waterside warehouse. run by one
JaQues; where SagcSse began ut
once TO chatter for diving apparatus.
Taking advantage OF "A pause In
the conversation between Jaques and
Sagesse. Gaspard leaned forward:
Excuse me, monsieur" said he.
pointing to a picture that hung In
front OF him. but you have "a strange
portrait on your wall. and the strang
est thing about II IL that / feel
have seen the gentleman before"
1T is Simon Serpente."
who was hc?"
what. you have never heard Of
Simon Scrpontc-ah. but ] forgot. you
are. no doubt. fresh to the West In
dies. Well, monsieur. Simon Scrpente
was deVil-he was man al! the
same
Here Sagcsse nodded as though he
knew all about Simon Scrpcntc.
'Bnt," continued Jaqucs, ''he was
all the same Il devil. We have had IA
good many devils in these parts In
the old days, but Simon out-IIerodod
them all. He was one of the last of
the pirates and the worst. Kidd.
Horne, Singleton were not so bad AZ
he. They said he was not "A man;
they said that no one could Kill him
and that when he departed this life
he would have TO die by his own
hand. People imagined that he
brought bad luck to any one who
crossed his path or at whom he
looked CroVkedly.
He'd been pirating FOR years and
he'd made n very large fortune. No
one knew whore he had hidden It,
Wind got about that he had an island
of his own somewhere in the Carib-
bean, but no one ever tried To find
II. for. l tell YOU quite plainly. that
had his treasure been lying on tho
beach down there, people would have
let IL lie
Fools" said Sagesse.
perhaps 80. but, all the same, |
doubt II | would have cared to med
die with It myself. People said II was
the DEVILS treasure and that 1t was
well guarded am not SO sure that
they were fools either
sand SO he went through life TIL all
AT once he gave up plrating. Ii Was
"A most extraordinary ending To his
piracy too. for he fell foul of Laropc
of Matanzas. Larope. You must
know, was n brother pirate; his ship
was the Golden Shell: Scrpent"'s ship
was the Puerto Mexico: both ships
had been chasing IA brigantine when
Serpentc signallcd LarOpe to haul oil
that the prize was his. AZ lies had
sighted II first Larope refused. an
the next thing h. knew wds that his
maintopmast had p"vi shot away
Then, forgetting tho hriSanrlne
the two pirates closed, J. WAS OF Ma
tanZas and the shore was ere VIDE
with people watching. They said that
the guns could be heard at ilayana
the wind being from the east The
upshot was that serpcnte laid tht
Puerto Mexico alongside III" Golden
Shell. boarded her, put every man e
death and hanged Larupc from hi'
own mainyHrd for a pirate.
"'Thcn Scrpcntc, leaving the Colder
Shell 10 float drrollct. sailed away II
the direction OF cape sable. He never
hoisted the black flag again. and th'
next thing We hear about him Is tina
hr turned his ship into a SLAYER
Turned respectable, so To- speak.
Men no longer feared him so much
now, They said that II h" was roailN
a d"Yil he would not have turned over
new lcif, They began to rcmcmhoI
his crimes, ana u movement WsS So
on foot against him.
ute heard tins, but h. did no
seem 10 mind, putting IT down mos
likely 10 idl" talk. til one day def
mite news cam" 10 him as h" wa
leaving the American COas, with
cargo OF slaves that q corvette wa
out against INN ana that when h'
was caught b" would be hanged
surely enough, two days out from
port, he sighted n corvette ana sh'
chased him. The Puerto MeNic,
could give heels 10 anything in thos
waters, and by shutdown Tn" corvett'
was only showing her tppsDilS allow
IA" huIizun, ana 10y next u Wn Sh'
was gone; bat S"rpcn'c knew tia
all wa over with him IN tines" seas
m" i'.vil bad ii .'nd-d hiu - ilh su"i
face ana form that h. could no
hope to hid" himself 50 he prrhap
made sail for thai island OF his " hrr
he had placed his treasure al al
events he was never seen again,
An, mon D!eu'" suddenly crie'
Gaspard He rose to his feet an,
went over TO the picture on the wal
, OF n sudden 1t had flashed upoi
: him where he had seen the frame