White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1914-11-01
Inc Million Dollar Mystery

S'oe pfoidnltys OF cutters, and
Diuntnose s%chooners. and tramps. can.
vas u steam, some of them honest
some of them shady, and some OF
them pirates of the first water who
did not find 1t necessary to hoist
aioft the skull and bones. The seas
are dotted with them. They remind
you or the once prosperous merchant
run down at the heel. who sinks
along the side streets, ashamed to
meet those he knew In the past. You
never hear them mentioned In the
maritime news. which is the society
column of the ships; you know of
their existence only by the bleached
bones of them, strewn along the
coast.
You who crave adventures on
hlgh seas, you purchase a ticket, a
steamer chair, and a couple of popu-
lar novels, 90 on board to the blare
OF a very Indifferent brass band.
and believe you are adventuring:
when, as a matter of fact. YOU are
about TO spend a dull week or fort
night on a water hotel, where the
most exciting thing is the bugle's call
to meals or the discovery of a card
sharp in the smoking room. Take a
real ship, go as s%upercargo, to the
Southern seas; take the side streets
OF the ocean, and learn what 1t can
do with hurricanes, typhoons. blister
Ing Gains. and mems souls. There
will be adventure enough then. II
you a weakling. either you are made
strong or you die.
An honest ship, but run down at
the heel, rode at anchor in the sound.
a fourth-rater of the hooker breed;
that is, her principal line of business
was hauling barges up and down the
coast. When she could not pick up
enough barges to make ii pay, why.
she'd go g%alayanting down to Cuba
Tor bales OF tobacco or over TO the
Bermudas for the heaven smelling
onion. Today she was an onion
ship; which ~precludes any idea of
adventure. She was about 1000
tons, and her engines were stern
ward and not amidship. She carried
two masts and a half dozen hoist
booms. and the only visible sign of
anything new on her was her bow
spirit. This a new doubtless be-
cause she had poked her nose too for
into her last slip.
Her crew a orderly and tract
able. There were shore drunks, 10
be sure. because they we're sailors;
but they were a peaceful lot withal.
AT this moment they were at work.
They moved about briskly, for they
were on the poinl of sailing for the
Bahamas-perhaps for more onions.
Presently the windlass creaked and
shrilled and the blobby links. much
in need of tar paint. red as fish gills,
clattered down into the bow. Some
times they painted the chain as, IT
came over; but paint was costly. and
this was done only when the anchor
threatened to stay on the bottom.
There was a sailor among this
crew, and he went by the name of
Steve Blossom; and he was one of
his kind. A grimy dime novel pro-
trnded rakishly from his hip pocket,
and his right cheek was swollen a
with the toothache, due, probably.
to a generous ''chaw" of Seaman's
Delight. He vas a real tobacco
chewer. for he rarely spat. He was
as peaceful as a baekwater bay in
summer, non-argumentative and
passive. be stood his watch in fair
weather and foul.
No one gave the anchor any more
attention after ii came to rest. The
great city over the way was fairy
like in It's haziness and tr%ansparity.
Il VAS the poetry of angles. OF shafts
and spars of stone; and Steve Bios
som, having a moment to himself,
leaned against the rail and stared
regretfully. He had been generous
~ drunk the night before. and 1t
was a pleasant recollection. Chance
led his glance to trail down the cut
water. His neck stretched from his
collar like a turtles from its she'll.
We'll, I'll be hornswoggled," he
murmured. shifting his oud from
s~tarboard to port.
Caught in the fiuke of the anchor
was the s%trangest looking box he had
ever laid eyes on. There was leather
and steel bands and diamond-shaped
ivory and mother of pearl, and 1t
lung jauntily on the point of the
rusty tiuke. Anybody would be
hornswoggled to glimpse such a droll
" n. tLn AnlA of tho old