The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-08-03


lent form had left something behind, a
small dark object whose outlines were
lost In the darkness. Then the waves
came again and again, sucking up the
sand and piling 1t over and. about the
dark object until 1t was entirely hid
den from view.
With appalling suddenness the storm
vanished as If it had never been. Over
head the stars shone gently, and the
waves softly Tapped the quiet beach.
Jarvis found his motive power as II
magically restored. With a leap he
was off the cot and dashing down the
stairs to the sand. There he stood
dumfounded.
To the touch Of his stockingod feet
the sand was warm and dry. His
cropping fingers confirmed that fact.
The tide was rising, and almost to its
verge the sand showed no trace Of
dampness. The sea stretched q level
expanse, broken here and there by dim
pling wavelets.
"I'n be hanged If know what to
make Of It," muttered Jarvis dazedly.
II couldn't have been dreaming, and
yet He looked at his watch. cts
certainly up to me or the tobacco I've
been smoking! Nine O'clock when
turned in, and now it's $50. Even
in these swift times they don't turn
storms off and on at that gait
Chagrined, he walked over to the
place under his balcony where the
waves had tossed the dead man for
brief instant before they reclaimed
him. Jarvis had watched it with his
| own eyes, and he had seen the follow
ing waves heap sand about a small
| dark object the man had left behind.
There should be little sand mound
here-and there was.
| The painter was too excited to re-
turn to his bed; therefore he went into
the cottage, found an old fashioned
lantern in which he stuck candle
end, took up coal shovel and went
back to the beach.
Here by the candles dim light he
grimly dug into the shallow heap Of
sand. 1t was fools business, he told
himself as he delved downward to
where the sand was soaking wet and
the water oozed up into little wells and
impeded his labor.
At last came rags and shreds Of
something that might have been an oil
skin coat, and afterward. deeply i'm
bedded In the sand. Jarvis found n
small water soaked box bound with
iron bands. This was treasure trove.
Jarvis fastened to the cottage and
with hammer and chisel pounded away
at the little box until its rotted sides
fell inward and the iron bands crum-
bled to rusty flakes.
Pitiful indeed was the little treasure
contained in the tiny chest-a sailors
keepsakes Bits Of coral and pretty
shells and stones, woman's lovely
face smiling from furnished frame.
a baby's first photograph, the mothers
loving inscription penned on the back;
few letters intimately tender from
wife to husband, Il copy Of will, a
few months wages tied In little Oilskin
sacks, the owners name on the inside
of memorandum bOok-James Petrol
master of the freighter Sea Nymph
that was all.
So the man who had been thrown on
the beach as revealed to Jarvis in the
vision-for such the painter believed
his strange adventure to be-must have
been the captain Of the Ill fated vessel
On the morrow he would inquire con
corning the wreck Of the Sea Nympf
and try to find the relatives of James
Petrol
After that Jarvis tumbled into bee
and went to sleep, wondering why hi
Of all men had been chosen to bring t
light the long buried box. He dreamed
about the curly headed baby, whose
charming smile pursued him through
his dreams.
YES" said the oldest cottager wheI
Jarvis guardedly made inquiries con
corning wrecks on the coast. 1T wal
as far back as 1888 that the Sci
Nymph went ashore Off here. She go
on the shoals, but the seas were ridin,
SO high she didn't stick. Back sh'
went, and they simply swallowed he
up, SO the story goes. Bits Of carg
floated ashore long afterward-one o
two bodies of seamen. That was all
Divers never found trace OF her. |
was the worst storm ever known o.
the coast. After that they built tn
breakwater and the lighthouse. A
that time there was an old fisherman
hut on the spot where your cottag
, now stands. Tradition has 1t that tn
!. old man lured the steamer to her ruiz
II he did 1t was small profit to hin
for the storm washed his hut into tn
:, sea, and he went with It. The ma
, who owns your cottage once found
copper canister filed with choic
= smoking tobacco buried in the san
near by. 1t pleased him to resurrect
and smoke It. He quit using 1t afte
awhile because. he claimed. 1t CAV
: him the nightmare-said the Sc
= Nymph went ashore every night In h