| Show 1 4 i the Je Sallie t An Ady Voyage to the Se Set fl 4 4 t BY v VAN AN RENSSELAER D t til il I f CopyrIght by Fr d Van R B Day DayI DayAs DayAs I As n near r as I can make out from fromI I the details you have given me said 1 Captain Darrington applying a lighted match to his freshly replenished pipe 1 and for a amid the I cloud of which he ejected there Is about as much chance ot of our I finding the Jong lost derelict as there Is of the proverbial needle In the stack ot of hay The I records of the office have I repeatedly that earth I nor sky nor sea possesses a more er erratic erratic I or unstable quantity than the I wandering derelict of the south A At I lactic ocean I Ver Very true responded the captains I 1 whose personal I I instant evidence of what he I was vas a retired capitalist not yet et past pastI II the prime ot of life who hid the I portly ph plethoric pocketbook placid countenance and easy conscIence of the successful and not loth business man His dignity never I deserted him and yet et it was always that dignity whIch is frequently I mistaken fOr cordiality but which is isi i never really more than diplomacy I Very true be repeated after atter a mo mol l monts ments pause nevertheless facts are facts and the Information that I pus pas I ii t seas Is one that has frequently be been n I reestablished by those same official i hydrographic reports The did didi i t I exist up to a date not yet months II t old ld for she was at that time Ume sighted identified and report Prior to that timo she he had not been for almost a year which is ie circumstantial I ence that she may be presumed to tobe be in existence yet If she is In ex exIstence existence I believe that you can find her If you OU discover her the which ibe contains belongs to to YOU and the to me because I undertake to meet the entire ex pease of the expedition besides paying payIn you ou a competent salary alary for your our ser services services vices I understand wh why you rou hesitate when you ou have everything to gain and nothing to lo lose and where Men even the element or of personal danger need not be taken Into consideration for I cannot see that there i b an any in involved Involve volve 1 Of course I shall you ou on the voyage Richard Darrington swung himself out of the chair in which he had been half buried and striking a quarter quarterdeck quarterdeck deck attitude before his companion with his f feet t wide apart as If to resIst the lurching of a rolling shIp with hIs thumbs in the armholes of his waIst waIstcoat waistcoat coat and with his pipe held firmly be between between tween his white and even een teeth said deliberately but firmi firmly I 1 will vill tell teU you In one sentence why I hesitate It ItIs ItIs Is because you have not told me half haU the story When I was itt hi the na navy I Iah ah always lYs left port with sealed orders which I could not open until I was far farat farat at sea I am no longer In the navy and I wm will not again for you or any nian mun begin besin a voyage In that wa way If you are willing to tell me aU all there Is Isto Isto to tell teU I listen and doubtless ac accept the commission you offer me Un Unless I less you ou are arc willing to do so let us the subJect There are ethers Captain Darring Darrington ton might t not be so arbitrary saul said the capitalist coldly Then apply to them r responded Darrington As for me I wm will have j none or of it upon any other conditions than those I have named and the stern stem officer relaxed the at he had taken and reseated reseaLed him himself self in the chair For several moments tr lr Gregory I was silent His brows were knitted in deep thought and he drummed the i ends of his fingers against t one another i keeping time with a low tuneleSS whistling which esca escaped ed his lips lipsi i Very well he exclaimed wIth sud sudden sudden den impulse you shall have hae the stOry I as I know It Afterward lC If you will I JI I go to my house with me you shall see seethe the proofs profs of its verity nIl all this lion how ii ever with Ith the understanding that you OU 1 I U a accept the commission and we sail MIl wIthin the tho week or as soon as our ourI j I preparations can be completed I Ii Darrington made no reply and Greg Gregory i I ory accepting the silence as Implied I consent continued You are aware l Darrington I that until a little more than a year ago I was engaged In the South American trade an awl l you should know Ir if you do donot 1 not that my success In that business was due entirely to the enc ence that I possessed with the foremost I Imen men or of those revolutionary countries with Ith which I did business If there was wasa a concession to be obtained I could nI al alI nII I I ways secure it against ever every competitor tor Even the private affairs or of many or of the great men of those thos revolutionary countries frequently came caine under my personal care Such men as Blanco I Cr Crespo po Ezeta Acosta ot of otI Peru and others who were their can opponents and enemIes I me or left theIr fortunes In m toy for safe saCe keeping or when about to organize n ma fresh r revolutIon They knew by their own experience and by the experience ot of others before them that the trust would b be fulfilled It Is In such a mann manner r as this that I became possessed or of the knowledge or of the existence ot of the for tor fortune tune In gold ld that Is now floating aim alm almI aimi i I sly about the currents of the Atlantic ocean concealed in the thebold thebold bold of a waterlogged derelict and without a human save sae myself and you now that I ot of It aware ot of its existence lie He pau n 11 1 e fn somA coot com ment from his companion but there was none and presently he went on again It is not necessary that I should mention the names of those who ho were originally Interested In this fortune Suffice It to say that there is no person now alive who pOSSesses or who may possess any legal claIm to this amount In gold which is stored in ten different compartments or of the wandering dere derelict The compartments were prepared expressly for what the they now contain and was stowed in each one ot of them I have in Ia my possession a set of blue print tracings ot of the vessel showing where each or of the compart I Ij II I I 41 I I I II iT I f r I J f j I i i i I I f k r rI rIi I I I I i Ii Iii 1 i I i II 1 This Cat Will Follow With the Oth the Voice of Darrington Rang Bang Out in Stern Your Stations Every One of You ments m md is located and lion how they may be discovered d and made to disgorge their treasures t These blue prInts came into m y Possession in a perfectly natural way but were delayed in transmission nearly early n three years so that when I dId r them there remained no b of fUlfilling the trust that had hadeen been b een Imposed upon me and besides there here t was a saving clause among the documents d whIch bestowed the wealth absolutely a upon me In the event Qt o certain ertain c contingencIes happening Every one o ne of those contingencies had arisen before I received the documents and tracIngs t and in addition to that the vessel essel v which contained the treasure r rad had h ad never been spoken or heard from since ince s she started on her voyage to New York I sa say never heard from that is h not strictly true since a part or o f her crew were picked up and saved L by a tramp steamer bound for China These men the total wreck ol of their heir t vessel the loss of their officers and a nd halt half the crew and theIr own nar narrow narow row ow r escape from death It was with L great delight th that t I got trace of them and subsequently became becam co vInced i iI that hat t the treasure ship had gone to the thc I bottom Not very ery long Jong ago It happened by b accident that I 1 examined One une of the hydrographic reports and there ther I 5 Saw AW the name of this verY vessel as am describing one of the hundreds of dere h which are floating about the seas seam I as constant menaces to navigation You have thus far neglected to menU men ion tion t the name of this derelict inter interposed interposed posed n quietly but not with withoUt without oUt irony Be patient was the quick response for since I have chosen hosen to relate the th story I will tell teU it all She was called callec I the Sallie Johnson of Yarmouth When 1 she entered the South American port from whIch she saIled I laden aden l with gold but ostensibly with a m I cargo calgo of fruits and spices consigned to tomy is ismy my house or of which I was at that hat time tim m the head bead she had been purchased and an I fitted up for a treasure ship Her original officers and crew were m discharged well paid for their consent t to forego the shipping articles they had ha I signed The name of the m was a changed to La Palo Paloma ma and under that name she cleared I for New York although the of paInting her former name and port por t of hailIng was neglected and as a de dc derelict relict which she now is she chic Is known I by the nam which she bore when she shi C left the stocks and glided d down the tb a wayS at Yarmouth The United States State S hydrographic office records h her r as the tb Sallie Salle Johnson Does that satisfy Quite so Mr 11 Gregory Your Information mation seems to be exact It will ill however be difficult to locate her if Indeed she still floats When was it did you S say that she was J ed About six months ago gO Where was wan she at that time The capitalist took a memorandum from his pocket and after studying It for a moment read aloud as folio follows Derelict Sallie by Captain Graham of the steam steamer Seer Scorpion pion bound from to toLI LI Liverpool In the taU nd of a gale by east still raging at number five Sighted derelict about four bens bells In the morning Dee Dec 13 No ob observation observation except dead reckoning for three days Location ot of derelict probably abl ably 41 degrees derees 20 W long 28 degrees 15 minutes lat Plainly saw name SaBie Joh flOn Yarmouth as she pitched in the heavy seas DerelIct headed due west but owIng to the gale gaJe making almost to lee leeward ward Decks awash Hull thel buoyant It If gale continues in my opInion she he will make maire the Sara guam sea and disappear There cap lain tain you have a literal copy of the last report concerning her hel I have the hy by official tracings of her sup supposed supposed posed wanderings since she became a derelict during which time she has covered mIles mUes Over Overa a a course between the Sm sea on the west the neighborhood of If the tha Azores on the f lt 8 deg degrees 9 on the tho north and tie margin of the Saragossa sea on the south Some Somewhere Somewhere where withIn those thos boundaries r I be that we will fid fd her If she Is still afloat unless Indeed she has lost lort her herselt herself self among the weed weeds and debris ot of the Saragossa region And man he ex cx claimed leaping to hIs feet with ore than he had yet shown wo we must penetrate even there If need be to find her Humph said Captain Darrington complacently leaning back in his chair a volume of f smoke worthy of the funnel or of a Have you Idea what the Saragossa sea is liko Do you know how Impossible It is l 1 penetrate it or having ed It j to escape again aIn into the Ope sea sear If r your Same Salie Johnson has found eil ea tran trance there too a i price for tor ller er verance or I for tor that matter Once Involved in that labyrinth of at weeds and wrecks the theis there is only one exit for a and that is straight to the h coral b beds ds be beneath beneath neath It However slid ma th not entered there The Saragossa sea ni at though deadly in its emb embraces r ces repulses with the same power aggressions upon I its domaIn The same w weeds eds which entangle and hold e thing they grasp repulse with ob obstinacy the wrecks and derelIcts which wind and currents force that way A derelict m n erIng at the ill ot of wind and waves wilt nn glide Lar of mIles mUes alOng the th edges of that dreary place and n never ver enter there when one Is driven by the force or of a gale such as Captain describes end on n against it It Is s more than tham likely that the violence of the storm iris bas opened r in the weedy mass through which the wreck may be forced an and forever lost to hutnan I have hae no doubt that there are wrecks and derelicts in that mys mysterious r on now which have been afloat for tor cores or years e n and which may continue to float as many more I have no doubt that there are other fortunes there as great as this one which ha has excited your cupidity and mIne maine I sa say this Mr Gregory not to argue against the ex expedition we are t undertake but to impress pon n you the absolute futility of the search beyond the margin of that sea of at weeds should we ultimately decide that the Sallie Johnson n has fallen into its embrace I do not wholly agree with you Dar Darrington rington Mr Mm Greg Gregory ry replied after meditating for some time upon what the captain had just said I realize that my Ignorance concerning these matters is as profound as your knowl edge is complete Nevertheless I do donot not agree aree wIth you OU and my reaSOns are these First I have absolute confidence deuce dence in your ability as a sailor and as asan asan an executive officer and I have entire faith In your courage second I believe in my yacht which you know to be with th exception of the Interior d deco decorations co rations the sister ship tt to WIlliam K I Valiant She is fully stocked and stored in preparation for this cruise and she Is manned by a crew who almost without exception have been with me since she was launched She has a coal capacity for tor mlles miles which is almost unprecedented unprecedented dented In a vessel of her sIze and build but I sacrificed much to gratify that one whim She is strong and fleet and andis andIs is provided with duplicate and often otten with triplIcate parts to her machInery In addition to these vIrtues she posses poes possesses sea ses one which I believe will save her from the Saragossa sea should she be become become come involved in it ft I refer to an In Invention of t m my own which in a few words Is a hydraulic steering gear but which may also if occasion demands be utilized as a motive power as well With It I can force her through t the e evater water vater not more rapidlY than three or four knots per hour but it is a force oree I which seems Irresistible up to that i point It affords no Impedimenta such as propeller flanges rudders and steer steering steerIng ing gear to become entangled In YOUr Saragossa weeds but on the contrary assumes the utIlity or of both That Is why I db dread the Saragossa sea That is why I honestly believe that I Ican Ican can force ray my vessel through It from on one extremity to the other otherA otherS S A week later the private yacht or of Stephen Gregory flying the pennant of the New York yacht acht club was bound boundIng lag Ing through the muddy wat waters rs or of the gulf stream on her hazardous voyage Everything that could be done to sim simplify or lighten the task that her owner and Captain Darrington had under undertaken undertaken taken was accomplished The hydro hydrographic hydrographIc graphic office had provided them with every information It possessed and Dar Darrington rington in addition to studying charts and data and examinIng thoroughly the documents and tracings in the pos possession possession session of Gregory had imbibed all the enthusiasm of hIs owner concerning the vo voyage age and its results AlSO AisO with the thoroughness of an ex naval officer he hurl had exam bed and experimented with the hy apparatus of which the yacht I was Ws provided and he had convinced himself that Gregory had not overestimated I mated the possibilities ot of his invention lie He was satisfied that with he might venture at least a little way Into the maze |
