Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-09-29

paying WY Dill.
"In tie usual coinagef" ventured.
She gave me a long, whimsical
smIle-6nce more her fathers daugh-
ter.
"That, Tim afraid. was the trouble"
she answered; "for as laid my money
down on the counter l suddenly no
tlced that there was q person ut the
back OF the store"
"a person. interrupted.
eyes! Suppose we say = pock.
marked person. was It your"
"What a memory you have for Do
tails" / PARTED; "and them"
"Welll I took my change and man
aged to whisper a word to Sweeney
good friend. remember-and came
out. took short cut back. but the
person that had stood in the back Of
the store seemed to know the way
almost better than $50 well that he
got ahead Of me. He was walking Qui-
city this way and SO slowly that I had
at last to 0vertake him. He said moth
Ing, just watched me a. II interested
in the way ! was going-but. I'm
ashamed to say, he rather frightened
me-! And here / am"
swell, them" I said. Tets hurry
home and talk It over with the king"
The "king" as I had realized. was
practical romantic" and at once
took the matter seriously, leaving
as might have surprised some of those
who had only heard him talk-his con-
versational fantasies on tho theme to
come later.
Calypso. however. had the hrst
word.
II always told you. dad" she said
and the word dad" on the lips Of that
statuesQue girl--who always seemed
ready to take that inspired frame
work Of rags and bones and talking
music into her protecting arms
seemed quite the Quaintest Of para-
doxesA"I always told you. dad, what
would heppen, with your fairy tales Of
the doubloonl."
"Quite true, my dear" he answered,
''but isn't q fairy tale worth paying
for?-worth little trouble? And 70.
member, II you will allow me. two
things about fairy tales: there must
always be some evil fairy In them,
some dragon or such like; and there
is always happy ending. Now the
dragon enters at last-in the form of
Tobias; and we should be happy on
that very account. It shows that the
race of dragons Is not, as feared. ex-
tinct. And as for the happy ending,
we will arrange 1t, after lunch-for
which, by the way. you are somewhat
late"
After lunch the king" resumed, but
in brief and entirely practical vein:
Eve are about to be besieged," he
said. "The woods, probably, are al
ready thick with spies. For the mo-
ment we must suspend operations on
our Golconda"-his name for the ru-
ms that we were to excavate-"and,
as our present purpose-yours NO
less than ours, friend Ulysses-is
to confuse Tobias, my suggestion is
this that you walk with me Q mile
or two to e--aor'ard. There h IN
entertaining mangrove swamp should
like to show you, and also you can
give me your opinion of an idea Of
mine that you will understand all the
better when have taken you over the
ground"
So we walked beyond the pines.
down onto a long, interminable nat
land Of mari marshes and mangrove
trees-so like that In which Charlie
Webster had shot the snake and the
wild duck-that only Charlie could
have seen any difference.
"Now," said the "king," do you see
q sort Of river there, overgrown with
mangroves and palmettosi"
EYES," answered. almost
though it's so choked up it's almost
impossible to say"
"Well," said the 'king," "that's the
idea; you haven't forgotten those old
ruins we are going to explore. You
remember how choked up they ara
Well, this was tho covered waterway.
the secret creek. by which the pi-
1 rates-John Teach, or whoever 1t was;
perhaps John p. Tobias himself
used to land their loot. It's so over
grown nowadays that no one can find
the entrance but myself and friend
or two; do you understands
We walked Q little farther, and then
at length came to the bank Of the
creek the king" had indicated. This
we followed for half a mile or so,
till we heard the murmur Of the sea.
1--WE needn't go any farther" said
the "king." "It's the same all the
way along to the mouth-all over
grown as you see, all the way, right
out to the white water as they call
tt-which is four miles Of shoal sand
that is seldom deeper than two faith
oms, and which a Worcester IL liable to
blow dry for a week on end. Naturally
It's a hard place to find. and q hard
place to get ofl-and only two or
three persons besides Sweeney-all of
them our friends-know the way In.
Tobias may know Of it; but to know
it Is one thing, to and 1t Is another
matter. could hardly be sure Of 1t
myself-if were standing In from
the sea, with nothing but the long
palmetto.frInged coast line to 80 BY.
SNOW you SEQ it, brought you
here, because words"
Given yours. dear king" laughed
"a