Show PIECES I 1 EC E S OF 0 F EIG EIGHT H w if BEING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF A TREASURE discovered IN THE BAHAMA ISLANDS IN THE YEAR 1905 NOW NOVI FIRST GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC by RICHARD LE GALLIENNE copyright by doubleday lelay raire pago A Coin company pany JUST A synopsis the man who tells this story call him the hero for short Is visiting his friend john saunders official in nassau bahama islands charles webster a local merchant completes the trio of friends saunders cra produces a written document purporting to bo be the deathbed death bed statement ot of henry P tobias a successful pirate made mada by him in 1859 it gives two spots where here A two millions and a halt half of treasure were burled buried by him and his companions the conversation of the three friends Is overheard by a pock marked stranger the document disappears saunders dorB however has a copy the hero d determined ter treasure to seek the burled buried treasure charters a schooner the pock marked man la Is taken on as a passenger on the voyage somebody empties the gasoline tank the hero and the passenger clash the passenger leaving a manifesto bearing the signature henry P tobias jr the hero lands on dead men mens shores chores there Is a fight which Is followed by several funerals the hero finds a cave containing the skeletons of two pirates and a massive chest empty save tor for a few pieces of eight scattered on the bottom the hero returns to nassau and by good luck learns the location ot of short shrift island webster buys the yawl r flamingo Ja mingo and he and the hero sail for short shrift island As the alamir flamingo go leaves the wharf a young fell fellow w jack jumps ablord and to Is allowed to remain jack proves an interesting and my mysterious sterl passenger the adventurers kunt hunt ducks clucks on andros andrew island with an eye out tor for tobias CHAPTER IV continued besides I 1 had my wonderful young friend to whom I 1 grew daily more nt at inched I 1 found myself feeling drawn to 0 o him as I 1 can imagine a young father is drawn to a young soul son and sometimes I 1 seemed to see in Us ills eyes the suggestion of a confidence lie he was on en the edge of making we me a whimsical pondering expression as though wondering Nh whether ether lie he dare to tell me or cr not what Is it jack I 1 asked him i once when early in our ackva f j we had asked alro elfna il lance nee ahat list we were to call lilno hr e had answered with a juga oh call me jack jack harkaway that is my name when I 1 go on art adventures tell me your adventure names I 1 dont want your prosaic everyday every day names well I 1 had replied entering into the lads humor my friend here Is sir francis drake and 1 I well weli im sir henry morgan what la Is it jack I 1 repeated but he shook his head nol he replied III 1 I like you ever so go much and I 1 wish I 1 could but I 1 somebody alses secret again agal aill I 1 I 1 i besl and he added this time its mine too but some day perhaps who knows 1 ne ile broke off in boyish confusion all right dear jack I 1 said patting lis his shoulder take your own time were friends anyway that we are responded sided the lad with a fine glow I 1 be too hard on charne charlie tor for charlie had another object in his trip besides duck As a certain poet brutally puts it he had anticipated also the hunting of man in addition though it Is against the law of those britannic islands lie he had promised me a flamingo or two for decorative purposes however fla and tobias alike kept out of gunshot end and as the week grew toward its end charlie began to grow a little restive it looks he murmured one evening as wo we had completed our fourteenth meat meal of roast duck and were wen musing over our after duck cigars it looks las as it if I 1 am not going to have any use nse for this he had taken a paper from his bis pock 40 e t it was a warrant with which he had bad provided himself empowering him dim to arrest the eald bald henry 1 P to tins or the person passing under that name on two counts first that ol of seditious practices with intent to spread treason among his maje subjects arid and second that of willful murder on the high seas charlie put the warrant back into his pocket and gazed disgustedly across the creek where the loveliest of young moons was rising behind a frieze of the file homeless barbaric brush there was never such a place in the world 11 he asserted to hide in or got get lost in or to starve in I 1 have olten often thought that it would tanke make the most effective prison sa in the world the young moon rose and rose while charlie sat in the dusk of our shanty chanty like a meditative mountain buying not nohl drig ng the glowing end of his cigar occasionally hinting at the circumference cum ference of ills his face ill get him all the same he be said presently coming out of a sort of trance in which its as I 1 understood later inter his mind had been making a geographical survey of 0 our neighborhood going up and down every beek and corner on a radius of fifty miles so we sought so light our respective Alve ettive cots lut but I 1 had haa fcc Lc arcely begun to undress when a foolish accident for which I 1 was responsible happened sill an accident libat buat might have had serious con sequences and which as a matter ot of fact did have though not at the moment neglecting everything a man should do to his gun when he Is finished with it tor for the day I 1 had left two cartridges in it left the trigger on the hair brink of eternity and other enormities for which charlie presently and quite rightly abashed ms me with profanity in short my bl big k toe tripped over the beast as it stood carelessly against the wall of my cabin and as ag it fell I 1 received the contents in the fleshy part of my shoulder the explosion brought the whole crew out of their shanty in a state of gesticulating nature and as charlie growling like a bear was helping to bring first aid suddenly our young friend jack whose romantic youth preferred sleeping outside in a hammock slung between two palm trees put him aside 1 I know bettor better how to do this than you sir francis he said laughing lets have a look at your medicine chest and give me the lint quick so jack took charge and acted with such confidence and skill finally binding up my wound which was but a slight one that charlie stood by dumbfounded and with a curious s soft oft look in his face which I 1 understand till later then jack looked up for a moment and and caught charlies wondering look and it seemed to rue me that lie changed C olor color and looked frightened sir francis is jealous lie he said but ive finished now I 1 guess sleep all right after that dose I 1 gave you good night and he slipped away jack had proved himself a practiced surgeon and as he predicted I 1 slept well so well and so far into next nest 4 jack looked up for a moment and caught charlies wondering look morning that charlie at last had to waken me what do you think were bla big first words why what I 1 asked sitting up and acing wincing from my wounded shoulder our young friend has ski skipped aped in the night gone off on t that hat little sloop op that dropped in here yesterday afternoon I 1 guess ak you dont mean it v no doubt of it I 1 wonder whether youve auve had the same thought as I 1 had you know I 1 always said there was a mystery about that boy did dd you notice the way he bound your shoulder last night what of it did you ever soo sea a man bind a wound like that what do you mean 1 I mian mean simply that the mystery about our jack Har hallaway laway was just this jack harkaway was no boy fit at all but just a girl a brick of a daredevil girl I 1 CHAPTER V better than duck charlie websters discovery if discovery it was of jack narka Harka ways true sex seemed so far plausible in that it accounted not only for much that had seemed mysterious about him and his mariner manner but also though this I 1 did not mention to charlie it accounted for certain dim feelings of my own of which before I 1 had been scarcely conscious but we were not long left to continue oui our speculations being presently interrupted by the arrival of exciting news in the form of a note from father serapion Ser aplon father Sera note simply con his conjecture that it was tobias who had bought rum at Beh bearings rings pat P at and that he was probably pro baly some soine wt wi ire re in the network of creeps creeks an marl lagoons in our neighborhood charlie the news diews oer ill tell you what well do he said presently rm im going to leave you here and im going to charter the sponger out there turners sound has two outlets this find and goose river ten miles down the shore now it if tobias Is inside here he can only get out either down here or down goose river I 1 am going down in the sp sponger to the mouth of goose river to keep watch there and you must stay where you are and keep watch bore between beret the two of us a week will starve arve him out so it was settled find and presently charlie went along with two of ills his best guns and sailor in the rowboat and I 1 saw him no more for a week at tire ali e end of the week the wind was blowing strong from the west and the he tides ran high about noon we caught sight of triumphant soils sails making up the river it was charlie back again got him I 1 was all he said as he rowed ashore sailor was with him in the rowboat but I 1 noticed that he be was limping going on three legs besl 1 said charlie its lucky tor for tobias he only got sailors foot or by the living god id have stood my trial for manslaughter or whatever they call it soon be all right old man he said sailors wounded paw in ills his hand 11 soon be all right sailor wagged his tall vigorously to show that a gunshot through one of his legs was a mere nothing besl said charlie as we sat at lunch in the shack under the tamarind tree weve got gort him safe there under decks all right clial chained ned up like a buoy it if lie can get away ill believe in the devil wont you tell me about it I 1 asked raa ay ni 0 mer I 1 waited a couple of days at the mouth of goose river then I 1 got tired and left the sponger with the captain and two or three men while I 1 went up the river with bilth a couple of guns and sailor and a man to pole the skiff just tor for some duck shooting you know we lay low for two days on the marshes and the then sailor got sniffing the wind one morning as if there was something around he care much tor for tie ile grew more and more excited and at last bastas as we neared a certain mangrove copse to which all the time he had been pointing he barked two or three times and I 1 let him go poor old fellow As he told the story sailor who seemed to understand every word rubbed his big head bead against his masters hand ime he went into the mangroves man groves just as hed go after duck but hed hardly gone in when there were two shots and he came out limping making for me but by this I 1 was close up to the mangroves man groves myself and in another minute I 1 was inside and there was tobias his gun at his shoulder ile he had a pot at me but before he could try another I 1 knocked him down with my fire and well weve got him all right and now you can go after your treasure as soon as sou like ill take him over to nassau and you can fool around for the next nest mouth month or so of course well need you at the tri trial al but that wont come off for a couple of months meanwhile you can let lee me know where sou are in case I 1 should need to get hold of you all right old man I 1 said but I 1 wish you were coming along with me ive got all the treasure I 1 want laughed charlie send scud me word w where here you are as soon as you get a chance and good luck to you old chap and your doubloons doub loons and pieces of eight then he walked down to his rowboat and fooy lie wa aboard the sponger her sails ran up and they were off down stream poor tobias manacled mana cled somewhere between decks see you in nassau I 1 I 1 shouted right o |