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Show ! " or tc Bonnie YLir II il l ttLJiV ICI IDCHEf LThorofcHoftbeS' l f&, li f Barton 0ortlcc- Rtocarnatod Horo I I Ir" Pk1 I ml ww nil I mrm ll ImIl lm1 lrm 11 1 :- 5 I of Strange Adventures, as Related Wl 1 WW 1 1 . 9 fl I Iwll I W lUP 1 ill VyrKM, J909, by V G. Chapman- - Igp SI by John Pare, American Journalist Msaa WW Mi Y 7 Wn i H W 1 v iftiBHi Miaal Copyright in Great Britain. g $ I BLACKBEARD'S CACHE Rl : r5 i 4 ,2 f 4- Btirlon Cortice, a young New J- h 4 v Englandcr. of Scotch-Irish de- ; l . scent, gifted with nn altogether i j . uncommon mentality, possesses a 41' v the unusunl and uncanny power -J- i ; .J- of vividly recalling under certain - s' i conditions, njcmorlcs of his Ego r fj passed In former reincarnations. " 1 . centuries .apart, including many lil A strange adventures by flood anil 1 5 ; 4 field, some of them connected with ! I 4 long-forgotten treasure hoardK, -j- ' . 4 concerning which, by vlrture of -b . J. Ids strange gift- he Is able to In- -j- l ; j stance definite dates and exact lo- S : : calltlcs. At the time of pie bo- H .J. ginning of these narratives Cortlco -I- ' 4 happens to bo stranded In Lon- ! Ef don, practically penniless, al- ! 4 though potentially he has millions ! r in sight. He is reaching out for . 4- a man of means and of Integrity -j-4- who will evince sufficient faith -i- - in his iucer story to advance the -r by -J- necessary capital for a critical and J7 -r actual test. Such an "'angel" (X -r turns up In the person of Lord -I- 7 4' Wcsbury Wayne, marquis of -J- ? 4 HcarsdaJc. a. young peer of great S( .J- wealth, who Is passionately fond A-i'i A-i'i of bizarre undertakings. Ketta i-t i-t 4 Cortlco. Barton's sister, a sur- -I ft passingly beautiful girl, who Is de- 4 I r pendent upon him, believes In her -r 'N,- 4. brother to the uttermost, having v 5 I I 4 made records of certain stories -J-! , .5. which fall from his lips during 4-t 4-t , , his trance obsessions. The first -i-V; 4 adventure the recovery of the lost 4 3; 4 treasure of King John Is so sue 4 I I 1 -j- cessful that the adventurers urge 4 -i 1 4 Barton Cortlce to follow up his 4 i i - 4- marvelous clues. Accordingly he 4 3 , 4-- locales a prehistoric gold mine In 4 1 ' 4. the Peruvian Andes, and then 4 i'c , 4 traces some old family jewels 4 fl; 4 which had been hidden In France 4- 4 during the. French revolution. The 4 4 fourth adventure deals with mom-. 4-i 4-i 1 orles of Barton's previous life ns 4-j 4-j - 4 e of a notorious baud of pirates 4 ! ; 4-- in the Spanish Main. 4 I "hike. Sltalcespoare 's cliaractor nl- I j luded to in the Seven Aces of Man. l . in mv time I have played many and l i r diverse parts," reminiseuntl y remarked ; t Barton Cortice one winter's night at ! p' Kanyliain castle. J , Outside it was blowing a hurricane " right off the Xortli sea, the easterly ' : gale sending sheets of blinding rain I ' across the moor, while the howling of the wind in the tops of the great oaks and elms and the vicious lashing of the windows by the streaming tor- F rents reminded one irresistibly of the ; ocean in torment. ' Perhaps that was Ihe reason why his thoughts liaflced backward to a par- Eticulnr episode in his former pilgrim-ages pilgrim-ages on earth which must have been passed almost entirely at sea for I had noticed that certain present surround-ings surround-ings wero vory apt to conjure up vivid memories, like ghosts out of the misty 1 "And of all parts 1 ever played, ft Harton went on whimsically, "the only w one of which 1 am honestly ashamed , K is when I followed the bloody and mur- 1 mji eilcss trade of a )iratc, plundering slims murdering whole orews, sending 'jOk men to walk the plank, keelhauling , others and mishandling women." "But you reallv never did those dreadful thittgs.r' protested Lady H Blanche, properly scandalized. ' "Oh, yes. I did." laughed Cortiee. "Then why don't you do them now ! or similar wickednesses?" she inquired 1 ' with heightened color. "Purely a matter of environment. I suppose, he replied, choosing a fresh ' cigarette, fo'r wc were all in Scars-; Scars-; dale's den, which was Liberty hall when i f it came to smoking. 1 "Why isn't old Jack here, picking pockets tliiB very moment, or his lord-l lord-l ship cheating at cards?" ' "Oh, L say, realty, now " broke in Wayne, to whom any suggestion of l personal obliquity was always especially especial-ly repugnant. "What's the answer?'-' 1 inquired, laying down my magazine, "seeing that my name has been dragged into the dia" cuesion." ' "Largely because of your environment," environ-ment," answered Cortice, sticking to ! his guns, "and also partl3' due, no j r" doubt, to your bringing up. You've ' bcun taught that certain things are !) wrong, therefore you don 't do them. L lake it that J sailed under the black ting by force of circumstances, not knowing any better." "And you renlly romcmber your life then?' queried Lady jilanclie Peering. Peer-ing. "Most, vividly," affirmed Cortice; "likewise mv death!" "Uow dreadful!" she shivered. "Oh, I don't know," Wnyno put in; "Lots of people drenm that I hoy are dead, you know. I met a man once- " "Mine whs no dream Jn the sense you mean," Cortice replTcd, "but an actual occurrence. Some of these daj's I'm going to vimt my grave." "Mr. Cortice, if you don't sLop saying say-ing such horrid things 30 u '11 drive rue away!" The pretty widow spoke almost tearfully. tear-fully. Jt required more than a mere feminine aversion for the weird and M ghostlike to account for her solicitude. VOL i hnd already detected more than a Ym passing interest in the young Anion'-JM Anion'-JM can by S'carsdale 's sister, and I had f even overheard her berating his lord-i? lord-i? ship for "encouraging Mr. Cortice in his foolishness." At which her brother j, laughed tolerantly, patting her on the I shoulder mil making some teasing rejoinder re-joinder as they moved away. ' ''Forgive me, Lady Binnche," exclaimed ex-claimed Cortice. penitently. "Sometimes "Some-times these recollections come over me so strongl3'. and Hcem so ordinary, that I forgot others may not regard them in tho same light. But T was not romancing ro-mancing pray believe that." Sho flashed him a grateful look, and resuinod her scat bv tho fire, tr . "Don't be silly, Binnche," said Lord Wayne. "What can it really matter now 7 1 Biipposo we've all been through j queer experiences somo time, somewhere; some-where; the only difference ih that Cor-1 Cor-1 tice remembers his, while we ordinary mortals don 't. So far as I can make t out, these former existences never in-j in-j . fhionro the prosent." ' Barton nodded assent. "Yon sue, I.adj- Blanche," ho said, "it's entirely impersonal now; you feel as though you were talking with another fellow, f though all the timo there is a sub-, sub-, conscious realization thai it was actually actual-ly yourself," "Well, got on with tho story," sug- gcsled Scarsdalo,' assurod that Barton's Bar-ton's first romnrk had been prompted , by some apocial rcminiKcence. "If tho ladies objoct. " said Barton, ' teiitativoly. including Jtctta. although i' of course he knew t hut she was already acquainted with the particular episode in mind. i(jf. "Please go on. Mr. Cortice," urged ft Lady Blanclie. "I'm really greatly in-W in-W tveHtod, mid I won't bo foolish' any If" ' more," if' Thui urj-ed, Barton lit a fr.ali Rcimi 1 Victoria, turned his chair from the light and began the story of Blackboard's Cacho Outside the" gale roared up the wide chimney. It. was a fitting set ting for a tale of the sea reminding one of telling ghost stories in a graveyard. grave-yard. "During the seventeenth and eighteenth eigh-teenth centuries," Cortice began he was a born story-teller, by the way "the world's commerce in the North Atlantic, as far south as the Brazils and as far north as New England, was ravaged by a merciless succession of pirate ship's and fleets, commanded and manned by a set of men never equaled for ruthless ferocity and cruel rapacity. Ships of every nation were attacked even king's ships Some of these pirate c.'int.'iiiis, likx' Kidd and Hawkins, began as more or less reputable or legalized privateers, and nfterward look up the trade 0 sheer piracy, flying tho .lolly Roger and carrying havoc wherever thev pushed their keels. Others, like Teach and England, were never anything any-thing else but bloody buccaneers, arid of them all John Teach, surnained 'Blackbeard,' was the worst. "Mainly, these genrlemen rovers, as they styled themselves, sailed the Spanish Span-ish Main, making their headquarters and their rendezvous among tho nests of islands nnd oays in the Caribbean from whence they sailed forth to at-tnck at-tnck the richly freighted merchant ships trading to arid from England and Europe. Eu-rope. Some of them accumulated vast individual fortunes and died rich men' others squandered what, they got so easily, as did their crews. Sometimes a pirate ship or its captain accumulated so much treasure that it became neces-sury neces-sury to find a hiding place for the loot on shore. " Ilcnco scarcely any spot on tho Atlantic coast, from Nassau to Mon-tnuk, Mon-tnuk, is withouL its legend of buried pirate gold. Some of these hoards were recovered in later years, as was the ense with Kidd's treasure-hides on Gardiner's Gar-diner's island and on Pot Tloek in tho Thimbles. "Blackbeard. besides being one of the most successful of these sen rob-bors. rob-bors. was also cruel and treachoroiiK to the last degree, and over and over again proved the falseness of the saying say-ing that there's honor among thieves. Ho never scrupled to rob his own crews, and took especial caro lo conceal con-ceal his ill-gotten wealth. "A favorite practice was to make a lauding on some lonely shore, dig a trench or pit, bury the treasure nionc', plate, specie, and jewels take "the compass bearings of the spot I by sonic prominent landmark, then sail awaj', expecting to return at a later duie aim divide or rescue the spoil. Undoubtedly ninny of Ibeso pirate hoards were thus recovered by tho rascals who buried them; oftentimes often-times they were not, and I fancy I know of ouc cache that has been forgotten." for-gotten." "Gad; T thought we'd come lo it at. Inst!" exclaimed Lord "Wayne, slapping slap-ping his thigh, excited as' any boy reading "Treasure Island" for the first lime. "Curiously enough," resumed Cortice, Cor-tice, reflectively, "this particular adventure ad-venture is Iho" only one among my recollections connected with my native na-tive land. Teach was an Englishman, but his crews wero made up of cutthroats cut-throats from every nationality. My ancestors, at tho time of which T am sneaking, had been settled in Massachusetts Massa-chusetts for over a century, and when T look bnck at n-solf as one of Blackboard's Black-board's crow 1 seem to have been colonial born. But it does not necessarily neces-sarily follow, you know. "If it will make you think any hotter hot-ter of me, Lady Blanche," ho continued, contin-ued, "let us suppose that 1 was not 11 pirate or a cutthroat from choice, but was captured out of soine peaceful merchant ship, my life being spared on condition that T joined tho buccaneers. buc-caneers. Does that sound any bet tor?" He Uioknd at her hnlf-b.mtcr-ingly, but 1 guessed the rogue really valued the widow's good opinion. "Woll, howeor that may have been," our reformed pirate went on, "I can see myself n full-fledged member mem-ber of Blackbead "s crew, clad in the woolen frock, the high boots, the slouch hat, and the colored sash affected af-fected b3' such gentry. 1 seem to have been some sort of a petty officer probably a bo's'u for besides the small arsenal of pistols, dagger aud cutlass stuck in 1 my sash T can distinctly dis-tinctly recollect a big silver whistle around my neck. The life in general is a blur of varied pictures, bul one incident stands out as though branded brand-ed on my memory in characters of flame. "We had been cruising capturing, burning and plundering vessels off the Carolinas, acquiring much valuable valu-able loot. Our ship sprung a leak, and Blackboard found it necessary to run in sonic whore and careen. So wo made for Pamlico sound, and in one of the innumerable creeks of the mainland main-land we began to strip the ship of her guns, stores, and the plunder under hatches, preparatory to beaching and careening her. "For genoral safely the chests of money and other precious valuables were slung into the longboat, tnkcu I ashore and buried. This was often I flnun :i I "snirli times, in nrritmf tlio in terests of all on board, and a guard set. 1 remember being ordered into the boat alongside to receive the chests as thev were lowered over the bulwarks. Then Blackboard and another an-other man embarked, tho former Inking Ink-ing tho tiller while 1 and my male rowed. "When wc wore out of sight of tho ship and those left on board, the captain cap-tain stccr'od us into a narrow creek bordered by waving sedge islands. Up this wc rowed for about half a mile, the banks growing higher and the ground on either hnud firmer. Suddenly Sud-denly tho creek came lo an abrupt end in a little pond or bay. At the far side was a flat-topped rock, a few inches above the tide, forming a sort of natural pier or tiuay. "Wo moored the boal alongside, my male and I lifting tho chests one by one and sotting them on the stone. Then, by Blackboard's orders, wo gol the mattocks and spades we had brought along with us and proceeded to dig a trench in the soft sandy soil on the landward side of the rock, which measured perhaps two rods either wny. When tlio hole was finished wo dragged the treasure chests to the brink and lowered them in. "I was in the act of stooping over to seize one of the shovels when I heard a loud report close to 1113- ear. Tho next instant there came a second report; 1 felt n heavy crashing shock as I hough mv whole body hnd flown to pieces and 1 remember no more!" "By Jove!" exclaimed Wayne, "old Blackboard did for you both!" "Precisely," assented Cortice. "When the chests wore safely in tho trench ho shot us one after t.iio other, tumbled our bodies on top of the chests, then filled in the earth and weut buck to the ship, tellni; soiiif cock-and-bull stov about our disappearance, disap-pearance, or maybe carrying off the double murder with a" high hand Meantime, he was the only man aboard who knew where the treasure was planted, which was whaL the ras cal had schemed for. I've read somewhere' some-where' that England did thai same trick on an island in the West Indies." In-dies." "Do you suppose Blackboard ever wont back after the chests?" inquired Scarsdalo. "That's what I'd like to find out." was the answer. ' " It's an oven chance, but if he did not the cache 111113' have been accidentally discovered during the two centuries that have elapsed.' "It ought to be easy to locate the spot with such a landmark as thai flat-topped rock," ventured Lord Wayne. ''Let me tell you that Pamlico sound's a mighty big body of water," 1 put in. "Unless you're pretty .certain .cer-tain what port you 're going to explore vou '11 need as much time as the United States a coast survey." "I'm familiar with the gcograpln thereabouts," answered Barton. "I believe wo entered Ihe sound by way of Ocracoke inlet, and a radius of a very few miles on the adjacent mainland main-land should include Ihe little crook we're after. The region is very thinly thin-ly settled even now that's a point 111 our favor." "How far would it bo from Palm Beach?" inquired Kcttn. "About I.iiirt3'-six hours b3" water less than that by rail," said Wny no. "I'd love to see Palm Beach f" exclaimed ex-claimed Lad3' Blanche. "Fancy the difference just now!" and she snivered as an extra severe gust of wind howled in the chimney. "Well, let's go!" exclaimed his lordship, lord-ship, who needed very little encouragement encourage-ment to start off anywhere. "We'd better take the regular .steamer to New York, but I 'II have the yacht meet us at Fortress Mouroo with the car, and we'll be in time for the races at Or-niond Or-niond Beach if P.arton doesn't shod loo many tears 011 his own grave by the way! ' ' "Wayne, 1 think vou 're horrid!" exclaimed ex-claimed Ludy Blanche. Wc were all such hardened and seasoned sea-soned globe-trotters by this time that our individual preparations were soon made. We. caught the Thursday boal from Southampton, and a week later, in n hlizzardly January morning, sailed up the ice choked waters of New York harbor, Chicago and Boston are bad enough in a blizzard but Manhattan is simplj' unendurable. So wo shook Ihe snow thereof from our feet, and in 2-1 hours wore in another nnd more balmly climate. Lassie stoanied bravely into tho Roads two days later, and wo wore all glad lo resume our comfortable quarters on hoard. Then we took a local pilot, and bv various devious channels chan-nels made for the landlocked walers of Pamlico sound, the weather growing more springlike and balmy wmi evoi thrust of our tw in screws. As chronicler of these adonturcs 1 should like lo score nnother dramatic finish, telling the reader, how wo found Blackboard s Cache and dug up several iron-bound oaken chests filled to the brim with Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight, with sparkling rings, bracelets and necklaces, a- few jeweled crucifixes and sundry ingots of gold and silver. But truth comes bctore all else, nnd while wc missed the treasure either because others had been there before us, or Teach had himself recovered tho spoil, or, as is more probable, it had sunk out: of sight in quicksand, we certainly cer-tainly saw the place where the chests had been buried and where the bloodthirsty blood-thirsty old sea-scavenger had murdered the two men of his crew in cold blood. And Cortice as certainly stood by the side of his own grave but if he shed any tears thereon you couldn't uotice them , , Going down the sound wo led our pi lot to talk of the old pirates and their doings. We were then nearmg Ocracoke inlet, where we proposed lo anchor for the night. . , , "All around these parts.'- said he, "used to bo a regular hornet's nest, of them fellers. They'd run in here to careen and carouse between whiles." r m , ,. "Did vou ever hear of Teach him they used to call Blackbeard?" ' I asked. "That's the man I've been trying to I think of!" exclaimed the pilot. "I can show vou a place they call Black-beard's Black-beard's Rock to this day, an' there used to be a yarn floating around that there was buried treasure close by. When I was a boy wo kids used lo go off in th' woods and other likely spots prospectin'. But we never dug up so much ns a rusty knife, to say nofhin' of silver dollars. "Bul there's a pretty stiff yarn about Blackboard's Rock. Seems that the old thief really did bury some chests of gold an' silver right, along side, an' my fnthcr ustcr tell how-parties how-parties d dig all around it. But they never got nothin'. 'cause the hol'd always al-ways fill up with water f.ister'n they could pump it out! My old dad claimod there was quicksand all along that crik, so if Cap'u Teach over hid anything there it must soon have sunk out 0' sight. t . Well, iust to satisfy our curiosity, wo induced the ancient mariner to row us over to Blackboard's Rock in the morning. Sure enough, there was the sedgo-bordcrcd sedgo-bordcrcd crook running up into Ihe firmer rncadow-land. ending in a little natural basin. There, loo, was the big flat-toppod rock. We stepped on ils surface, and walked to the landward end, where there was not sandy ground, but an expanse of quiol wate'r. for the tide was at flood. "Looks different yel it's the same, " murmured Cortice. Then, pointing a few feet shoreward, he said in our cars: t "That s about where wc stood when Blackbeard fired those two shots!" "Oh, well," said Scarsdale, as we wore rowed back to the yacht, "3011 can't strike the bull's-eye" every shot! Onlj one miss in four is a pretty good average and ma3'be the stuff is there after all whorc.no one could get it." Wf'- "Well, J'm glad J saw the plnce once SvJL more," Bfiid Cortice, looking back up the creek and around on either hand, "It isn't every man who can 333- he E; has stood over his own grave! " vfc& All of which was Greek lo our old VkiL pilot. l&ja "Guess we'd better see if we can't 'SS pick up some mone" at Ormond Beach RJ races." said his lordship with a grin gsw and lighting a cigarette. "Better luck .next time, old man!" (Next week "The Balmano Succea- f-. sion.") k'A H " J |