Arizona state miner., 1926-07-10

Long John stands your friend, gentle
men. Friend is the word, remember.
And the old saw says a friend in need
Is friend indeed"
Presently we rounded into the wind
and came to, and Flint pulled under
our lee, rowing slowly, with long, lei
surely strokes like a man who is
weary but intent upon finishing a diff
f1cult undertaking. Now that he was
so close we could see that the scarf
around his head was crusted with
blood. His coat and shirt were torn
to shreds, and his shoes and stock
ings gummed with mud.
A man heaved him a couple of lines,
and he knotted them carefully to bow
and stern before he began to climb
the cleats Of the side ladder, moving
stiff1y but with unerring precision. AS
his face lifted above the bulwarks the
men nearest to him gasped and trod
back upon the toes of those behind
them. Such a face I had never seen.
Twas not alone the terrible blue color
and the cOngested veins that bulged
redly under the skin, but a suggestion
of experiences beyond the pale Of Or
binary human understanding His
eyes glared savagely. His mouth was
fixed in grimace' of hatred. In his
tanned cheeks were riven lines of fear,
Of anger, of revenge, of cupidity, of
insensate ambition-aye, and Of re-
morse.
He dropped to the deck and peere6
watchfully around him.
"Well, here be-" he croaked. "Ho,
you Darby, fetch me bottle O. rum.
Yarely, lad!''
darby skipped away on his errand,
white-cheeked and shaking
Nobody spoke, aud Flint laughed
oh, dreadfully!
"Ye amt glad to welcome your skip
per back, eh? How'd We make out,
Bill?"
Bones had shouldered a path through
the clustering ranks, but even he was
speechless before Flint's CHASTITY figure
"We-we-we're all right" he slut.
tered finally.
Silver, only, seemed unimpressed.
"Ye were seven as went ashore,
cap'n," he said apologetically, "and
one TO return aboard
Flint laughed that dreadful laugh a
second time.
"Aye, there's six stayed ashore, Sill
yer; six tall fellows. Six, says you,
and seven's lucky. Aye, luckyI Main
lucky! And Allardyce says he's safe
wi six! Ho, no, no."
"Where-where-a they?" ques-
toned Bones.
ashore, I told We, Bill. All safe
ashore"
"Dead?" pressed Bones.
"Aye, dead as Harry Morgan2or
Avery"
Darby dived through the jam with
an open bottle of rum, and Flint
stretched out both arms and tossed
men right and left to make way for
the lad.
Rum" !" he exclaimed "Thats
what | need. Rum-and plenty of It'll"
He bent back his head, put the
bottle to his lips and drank-and
drank. You could hear the gurgle
of it as it trickled down his gullet
"Aaaa-aah! he breathed. "That
was rare stuff. Get me another,
Darby"
He tossed the bottle overheard, and
started to sing a stave of that savage
sea-song which was the chief delight
of the crew:
tom Avery died of a cutlas slash
Yo-ho-ho and bottle O. rum!
Mounseer Tessin felt the galleys' lash
Yo-ho-ho, and bottle O. rum!
But the treasure" spoke up Silver.
"What'd We do wi it, capn?"
Flint eyes him for as long as 'twould
take to count twenty. And l am
bound to say Silver met his eye un-
finchingly.
''Why it's safe, john" answered
Flint in the horribly soft tones he had
employed with Allardyce. "All tucked
where it'll stay safe"
"Aye, but where?" persisted Silver.
Flints blue, mottIed visage became
convulsed with a passion words can
not describe.
"Where?" he mouthed. "Aye, where?
Ask on, mani Or seek it, if We wish.
Aye, go ashore. Lay off those ropes,
he shouted to the men at the fails to
which his gig was hitched. There's
boat" he went on. There's tools
on the island. Ye can have food and
rum. Go ashore if ye like, and stay
any o. ye! Search for the treasure
till - opens wide for ye. But as
for the ship, she'll beat up for more,
by thunder"
He waited moment, but no man
accepted his challenge. Silver, in
deed, stumped deliberately out of the
crowd, with faraway look in his eyes
that were as bright and hard as
pair of polished buttons.
That's WE'LL" said Flint. "The
course is so'west by south, Bill. We're
for the Dead Mans Chest. All sail,
and a lookout in every tOp!'
DE- rrTN