Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-10-12
PART I
The Old Buccaneer
The Sea-chest
CHAPTER "

l lost no time, or course, in telling
my mother all that l knew, and per
haps should have told her long be
fore, and we saw ourselves at once in
a difficult and dangerous position
Some OF the mans money-if he had
anyways certainly due to us, but
it was not likely that our captains
shipmates, above all the two speci-
mems seen by me-Black Dog and the
blind beggar-would be inclined to
give up their booty in payment of the
dead mans debts. The captains
order to mount at once and ride for
Doctor Livesey would have left my
mother alone and unprotected, which
was not to be thought of. Indeed,
it seemed impossible for either of us
to remain much longer in the house;
the fall of Goals in the kitchen CRATE
the very ticking of the clock, filled
us with alarm.
The neighborhOod, to our ears,
seemed haunted by approaching foot
steps; and what between the dead
body of the captain on the parlor
floor and the thought of that detest-
able blind beggar lowering near at
hand and ready to return, there were
moments when, as the saying goes,
l jumped in my skin for terror Some
thing must speedily be resolved up
on, and it occurred to us at last to
go forth together and seek help in
the neighboring hamlet. No sooner
said than Gone. Bare-headed as wei
were, we ran out at once in the gath
ering evening and the frosty fog.
The hamlet lay not many hundred
yards away, though out of view, on
the other side of the next cove, and
what greatly encouraged me, 1t was
in an opposite direction from that
whence the blind man had made |
his appearance, and whittier he had
presumably returned. We were not
many minutes on the road, though we
sometimes stopped to lay hold of each
other and hearken. But there was no
unusual sound-nothing but the low
wash of the ripple and the croaking
of the crows in the wood
1t was already candle-light when
we reached the hamlet, and 1 shall
never forget how much was cheered
to see the yellow shine in doors and
windows; but that. as it proved, was
the best of the help we were likely
to get in that quarter. For-you
would have thought men would have
been ashamed of themselves-no soul
would consent to return with us to
the Admiral Benbow. The more we
told of our troubles, the more-man,
woman, and child-they chung to the
shelter of their houses. The name !
of Captain Flint, though it was
strange to me, was well enough !
known to some there, and carried /
great weight of terror. Some of the
men who had been to field-work on I
the far side of the Admiral Benbow 9
besides, to have seen
several strangers on the road, and,
taking them to be smugglers, to have
bolted away; and one at least had y
seen a little lugger in what we called
kits Hole. For that matter, any
1ne who was a comrade of the cap
aims was enough to brighten them
o death. And the short and the long
1f the matter was, that while we
could get several who were willing :.
enough to ride to Doctor ivesey's
which lay in another direction, not .
me would help us to defend the inn.
They say cowardice is Infectious; :,
tut then argument is, on the other y
land, a great emboldener; and so u
When each had his say, my mother q
made them speech. She would not, "
he declared, lose money that be- u
onged to her fatherless boy. eff none
# the rest of you dare" she said, a
Jim and 1 dare. Back we will go,
he way we came, and small thanks II
o you big, hulking, chicken-hearted a
len! Well have that chest open, a.
{ we die for it. And I'll thank youI u
or that bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring ="
ack our lawful money in" =.
OF course 1 said 1 would go with ~
ly mother; and of course they all a.
ried out at our foolhardiness; but q
ven then not a man would go with
s. All they would do was to give -
lie a loaded pistol, lest we were at ~
icked; and to promise to have
orses ready saddled, in case we were u'
ursued on our return; while one
ID was to ride forward to the doc ~
IRIS in search of armed assistance. OF
My heart was beating fiercely sill
hen we two set forth in the cold br
light upon this dangerous venture. tn
full moon was beginning to rise ST
nd peered redly through the upper ne
lges of the fog, and this increased in
IT haste, for it was plain, before ly
e came forth again, that all would he
} bright as day, and our departure tn
rposed to the eyes of any watchers. I'M