The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-08-29

DugaId Shaw Took Me in His Arms.
courage.
"And indeed that is a charge I'll not
allow---that / am so little of man as
TO let my counting be done for me.
No, no, it was my love compelling you
that made you speak the words you
did-the love of a selfish man who
should have thought only of shielding
you from the hardships of.such wan
dering, homeless life as mine.'
well, Heaven reward you for your
selfishness," ] said earnestly. 81 am
thankful you were not so noble as to
let me throw myself at your head in
vain. have been doing it for ever
so long, In fact. but 1t is such thick
Scotch head that dare say | made no
impression"
Sweet imp! You'll pay for that
oh, Virginia, if / had only something
to offer you ~
"Yol can offer me something that /
want very much, if you will. and at no
cost but your strong right arm"
''It is an arm which is at your serv-
Ice for life-but what am to do with
1t now? And indeed think il is very
well employed at this moment
"But it must be employed much
more strenuously," l remarked. NOV
ing little away, eff you are to get me
what I want Before you came, was
meditating possible ways of getting il
for myself | wanted il for melan-
'choly relie--a sort of mausoleum in
which all my hopes were buried. Now
its purpose is quite different; it is to
be my brides chest and hold the dowry
which / shall bring to one Dugald
Shaw"
You mean the chest-the chest that
held the Spanish doubloons-that lies
under the sand in the slOop?"
Exactly. And now / shall know
whether you are the true prince or
not, because he always succeeds in the
tasks he undertakes to win the prin-
cess
1t was low tide, such tide as had
all but lured me to my death in the
cave. One could go and come from
the beach along the rocks, without
climbing the steep path up the cliff.
IL was not long before Dugald was
back again with spade and pick. He
tore off the shrunken, sun-dried boards
from the cabin roof, and fell to work.
1t was not, after all, labor Of Her
cules. The cabin was small and the
chest large. / watched with the pride
of proprietorship the swift ease with
which the steel-sinewed arms of the
Scot made the caked sand fly. Then
the spade struck something which sent
back dull metallic sound through the
muf1ing sand.
i gave little shrek of excitement.
Hardly could have been more thrilled
IL had believed the chest still to con-
tain the treasure of which it had been
ravished. 1t was filed to its brass
bound lid with romance, if not with
gold.
AT length, kneeling before 1t,
raised with an effort the heavy lid.
Empty, of course-no more brown
bags. But oh, Dugald, had ever a girl
such wonderful brides chest as this?
Ooh r.
WhatS wrong
Nothing, only there is a crack In
the bottom, running all the way along
where it joins the side"
Warped bit, l suppose. No mat
ter. it can be easily repaired-crack?
| say, lassie, look here ~
Under the pressure of Dugald's fin
gers the floor of the chest was swing
Dc
tween 1t and the true bottom was a
/ space OF about three inches in depth.
1t seemed TO be filed with layer Of
! yellowed cottonwood.
For a long moment we held our
| breath. gazing at each other with eyes
| which asked the same question. Then
/ Dugald lifted a corner of the sheet OF
! cotton and plucked il away.
AT once all the kues of the rainbow
j seemed TO be flashing and sparkling
! before US. Rubies were there like
great drops of the blood that the chest
and it's treasure had wrung from the
hearts of men; sapphires. mirroring
/ the blue of the tropic sky; emeralds.
| green as the island verdure: pearls,
| white as the milk of the coeonuts and
softly luminous as the phosphorescent
foam which broke on the beach in the
darkness. And there were diamonds
] that caught CLEANS of all the others
beauty. and then Knocked them with q
matchleSs splendor.
There were nine heavy bracelets, all
jewel-set; twenty-three rings. eight OF
them for the hand of a man. Some OF
these rings contained the finest Of the
diamonds. except for three splendid
unset stones There were numbers OF
elaborate old-fashioned earrings, two
rOne-like chains of gold adorned with