The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1919-10-01

could scarcely answer for myself even
for / confess that she has filed me
with an overpowerlng curiosity"
$50 be II then" said the 'king;"
"and now to consider what our friend
here graphically speaks of as those
eyes In the woods"
The liking" then made determined
descent into the practical. The woods,
most probably. were full of eyes. In
plain prose, we were almost certainly
being watched. Unless-unless, in
deed, my bogus departure for Nassau
had fooled Tobias as we had hoped.
But, even so, with that lure of Ca
lypso's doubloon ever before him, Ii
was too probable that he would not
leave the neighborhood without some
further investigation-'an investiga-
tion." the liking" explained, switch
might well take the form of a mid
night raid; murdered in our beds, and
so FORTH"
That being so, being in fact almost
a certainty-the liking" spoke as
though he would be a much disap-
pointed man otherwise-we must look
to our garrison. After all, besides our
selves, we had but Samson and Ere
bus and their dark brethren of doubt
full courage, while Tobias probably
had command of a round dozen of
doughty desperadoes. On the whole,
perhaps, it might be best to avail
ourselves of the crew Of the Flamin-
go-"under cover of the dark" he re-
peated with smile.
While we had been talking Samson
had long since been on his way with
the word TO Sweeney to look out for
Webster, and as he had been admon-
ished TO hurry back 1t was scarcely
noon when he returned, bringing in
exchange a verbal message from
Sweeney.
"The pockmarked party" ran the
message as delivered by Samson, had
left the harbor in his sloop that morn
ing. Yes, sarI'
"Hal hal" laughed he "king," turn
ing to me. $50 two can play at that
game, says Henry p. Tobias, Jr. But
If we haven't fooled him let's make
sure that he hasn't fooled US. Well
bring up your crew all the same-what
do you think?"
under cover of the dark" / as
scented.
The "king's" instructions to me were
that I was not to show my nose out
side the house. / must regard myself
as q prisoner with the entire freedom
of his study-a large, airy room on
the second floor, well furnished with
all manner Of books, old prints.
strange fishes in glass cases, rods,
guns, pipe racks, curiosities Of every
kind from various parts of the world.
And then / came upon photograph
hanging over the writing desk-a tall,
Spanish-looking young woman Of re-
markable beauty. 1t needed but one
glance TO realize that here was Ca
lypso's mother, and as was natural /
stood a long time scanning the coun-
tenance that was so like the face
which, from my first sight Of 1t. had
seemed the loveliest in the world. This
was flower that had been the mother
of flower. 1t was face more print
tive In its beauty, a little less touched
with race than the one / loved, but
the same fearless natural nobility
was In ii, and the figure had the same
wild grace of pose, the same 1.-the
strength Of carriage.
Two or three days went by, but as
yet there was no news of either Char
lie Webster or Tobias. Nothing fur
Their had been heard of the latter in
the settlement, and a careful patrol
ling Of the neighborhood revealed no
signs of him. Either his sailing away
was a bona fide performance or he
was lying low In some other part of
the island-which of course would not
be a difficult thing for him to do, as
most of 1t was wilderness-and as,
also, there were one or two coves on
the deserted northern side where he
could easily bide his time. Between
that coast and us, however, lay some
ten miles of scrub and mangrove
swamps, and it was manifestly out
of the question to patrol them too.
There was nothing to do but watch
and walt.
At last there came message from
Charlie Webster, another Of his Caesa-
rian notes: "Sorry delays few days
longer. Any news?"
That seemed to decide the "king."
"What do you say, Ulysses" he
said, "if we begin digging tomorrow
There are ten OF us-with as many
guns, four revolvers and plenty of
machetes-not counting Calypso, who
Is an excellent shot herself"
agreed that nothing would please
me better-so an early hour the fol-
lowing morning found US with the
whole garrison--exceptinS Samson,
whom 1t had been thought wise to
leave ut home as a bodyguard for
Calypso-lined up at the old ruined
mansion with picks and shovels and
machetes, ready to commence opera
lions.