Arizona state miner., 1926-07-17

OO you COulQ go IOr 10 UlS up IuC
treasure we just slowed away" snort
ed Flint "Not If know it -
"There amt been talk O. the island"
said Silver hastily. But what would
ye say to the BermoothesT
"Too many reefs to pile ourselves
on-Hamilton is a port O. call for the
kings ships"
'Them's the very words I said my
self" exclaimed Silver. And what
would ye say to Savannah, cap'n.
which same is quiet spot and has no
garrison, seein' as Georgy is the new
est o. all the colonies In Ameriky?"
Flint reached down to the deck be-
side him and lifted bottle of rum to
his mouth, going through the usual
performance Of draining it at one CO.
lossal gulp to the considerable admi-
ration of the crew.
"Aaa-aah," he muttered. wiping his
lips with the back of his hand. "Sa-
vannah, Ell? That might do. But
mind ye, men. I'll ha' 40 talk O. dis
baRdment there or elsewhere. We'll
stop by to clean up the fever and
water, and when that's done we'll
square OFF south and collect what's
comm to us on the Dead Mans Chest.
Em man o. my word"
Silver made quick assent
Fairly put. And the while we're
lying off Savannah the frfgates will
be a-wearin' themselves out on false
scents. 1t works both ways, cap'n."
It'll work my way" raped Flint.
He slid off the barrel, balanced diz-
zily for moment and walked into the
companionway under the poop
DARBY McGraw /" he called harshly.
''Ho, Darby. fetch aft the rum"
That night he had another of his
fits, declaring that Andrew Murray
was come aboard to slay him. He
chased Bones from the cabin, hanger
in hand, and was for setting upon the
watch on deck when Darby restrained
him with hottie of rum. asserting it
to contain Murray's hearts blood.
Flint tossed it off with howls of infer
nal glee and retired to snore on the
cabin floor, twitching and foaming at
the mouth in his slumber like one pos
sessed. The next day; as we rolled in
the oily swell under a torrid sun with
the pitch prickipg up In bubbles from
the seams, the fever laid its hot hand
upon him.
He babbled chfldishly Of his luck.
"Ye wouldn't break my luck, God!
Oh, Ye wouldn't! There never was
none like John Flint to rove the Sen,
John Flint as outwitted old Murrx1
and was the end Of him"
The droning voice would ramble on
day. and night, with intervals Of ex-
.hausted sleep. punctuated by awful,
explosive screams:
"Ho. DarbyI Darby McGraw!
Fetch aft the rum, Darbyw
And again:
"Pm a-burnin' in my CUTS, Darby.
Ye wouldn't leave me to burn. Fetch
me a noggin O. rumr'
Other times he would sing, and al
ways the one song that had been my
Introduction to his company:
Bellamy's hangin' all dried and brown
Ye-ho-he, and bottle o. rum
A-rattlin' his chains by Kingston
town
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle O. rum!
But words cannot describe the hor-
rors' of the week which succeeded.
For five days men died at the rate of
three day. Then the disease seemed
to diminish in virulence. and although
we had as many as seventy sick at
once, practically all survived AS a
rule, men who were stricken either
perished within twenty-four hours or
else made a slow recovery. Flint was
one of the few exceptions, and can
only suppose that in his case the ILL
ness resolved itself into a battle be-
twixt naturally sinewy frame and
the weaknesses developed by the
strong liquors with which it had been
saturated.
That we three and Darby were un-
touched / attribute as much as any
thing to the measures which Peter
took. He brewed a drastic purgative
of rum. molasses and gunpowder, and
he was inSistent that Darby should
procure large earthen crock to con-
tain boiled water which we kept in
Moira's sta1erOom. Bones, Silver. Pew
and those others of the crew who es-
capped the infection did SO simply be-
cause of their physical vigor, or per-
haps because they were so accustomed
to living In filth that the exaggerated
conditions aboard the Walrus might
not harm them.
A week from the day we steered
westward we sighted the mouth of
broad river, crossed bar at high tide
and bore upstream between low,
sandy shores overgrOwn with pine for
ests. On the verge of evening we
rounded a point of land and dropped
our anchor opposite a little iog-built
town perched on sandy bluff.
Peter and had seized the opportu-
nifty Of the semidarkness to escort
MOtr0 to the rail for view Of our
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