Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-12-07


All right" answered. 'Tu
bring you port, Mr.. Hands. But I'll
have to dig for it,"
With that / scuttled down the
companion with all the noise l could,
slipped of my shoes. ran quietly
along the spared gallery. mounted
the fOrecastle ladder and popped my
head out of the fore companion.
knew he would not expect to see me
there, yet / took every precaution
possible, and certainly the worst of
my suspicious proved too true.
He had risen from his position to
his hands and knees, and though
his leg obviously hurt him pretty
sharply when he moyed-for / could
hear him stifle a groan-yet it was
a good, rafting rate that he trailed
himself across the deck In half a
minute he had reached the port Soup
pers and picked out of coil of rope
a long knife. or rather a short dirk,
discOlOred to the hilt with blood.
He looked upon it for a moment,
thrusting forth his under jaw, tried
the point upon his hand and then
hastily cOncealing it in the bosom
of his jacket, trundled back again
into his old place against the bull
wark.
This was all that l required to-
know Israel could move about; he
was now armed, and if he had been
at so much trouble to get rid of me
it was plain that / was meant to be
the victim. What he would do after
ward ~ whether he would try to
rrrl nd I'll.
North Inlet to the camp among the
swamps, or whether he would fire
Long Tom, trusting that his own
comrades might come first to help
him, was, of course, more than II
could say.
Yet / felt sure that l could trust
him in one point, since in that our
interests jumped together and that
was in the disposition of the schoon-
er. We both desired to have her
stranded safely enough, in a shell
tered place, and so that, when the
time came. she could be got off again |
with as little labor and danger as
might be, and until that was done
considered that my life would GER
tainly be spared.
While l was thus turning the bust |
ness over in my mind | had not been |
die with my body. / had stolen back |
to the cabin, slipped once more in
to my shoes and laid my hand at
random on bottle of wine, and now
with this for an excuse, l made my
temperance on the deck. (
Hands lay as | had left him, all |
fallen together in a bundle, and |
with his eyelids lowered as though |
he were too weak to bear the light.
He looked up, however, at my COM
ng, knocked the neck off the bottle
ike a man who had done the same
hing often, and took a good swig,
with his favorite toast of Here's
uck!" Then he lay quiet for lit
lie, and then, pulling out a stick of
obacco, begged me to cut him a quid.
Cut me a junk o. that" says he,
for l haven't no knife, and hardly
strength enough, so be as 1 had. All,
lin, Jim, reckon I've missed stays!
tut me a guild ash likely be the last,
ad; for I'm for my long home, and
10 mistake"
Well" said /, 'Tll cut you some
obacco, but if / was you and thought
myself so badly, / would go to my
~ dgtAos AlhN Il 0uIAobldn man
"Why?" said he. Now you tell
ne why"
'Why?" l cried. You were asking
ne just now about the dead. You've
,roken your trust; you've lived in
in and lies and blood; there's a man
-ou killed lying at your feet this
and you ask me why! For
Aod's mercy, Mr.. Hands, that's why"
/ spoke with a little heat, think
ng of the bloody dirk he had hidden
n his pocket and designed, in his i'll
thoughts, to end me with He, for
lis part, took a great draught of
he wine and spoke with the most
solemnity.
For thirty year" he said, 1--WE
allied the seas and seen good and
ad, better and worse. fair weather /
nd foul, provisions running out,
hives going and what not. Well, h
OW l tell you, I never seen good
ONE O. goodness yet. Him as strikes
rst is my fancy; dead men don't /
lite; them's my views-amen, so be I
!. And now, you look here" he
dded, suddenly changing his tone, /
we've had about enough of this !
)olery. The tides made good enough 8
Y now, You just take my orders, /
ap'n Hawkins, and We'll sail slap
] and be done with it," d
All told, we had scarce two miles g
} run, but the navigation was deli a
ate, the entrance to this northern s
anchorage was not only narrow and I
loal, but lay east and west, so that j
ne schooner must be nicely handled g
} be got in. I think l was a good, l
rompt subaltern, and I am sure that t
.ands was an excellent pilot for we 4
'ent about and about, and lodged a
], shaving the banks, with GER b
Unity and a neatness that were a C
Ieasure to behold. b
Scarcely had we passed the head e
efore the land closed around u.s. p
he shores of North Inlet were as n
lickly wooded as those of the south a
m anchorage, but the space was s
niger and narrower, and more like,
hat in truth it was, the estuary of a
river. Right before us at the p
luther mend, we saw the wreck of r
Zip in the last stages Of dilapida- v
on. It had been a great vessel of p
Tree masts, but had lain so long J.
,pOsed to the injuries of the wealth y
that it was hung about with great b
ebs of dripping sea-weed, and on 81