Show by richard Ric liard le ile gallienne Galli emie S being the authentic narrative of a ala pen treasure discovered in the bahama 0 JU islands in the year 1003 1903 now first given to the public B by doubleday pace company CHAPTER IV continued 12 we go any farther said the king its the same all the way along to the mouth all overgrown as you see a all I 1 I 1 the way right out to the white w water ater as they call it which Is four miles of shoal sand that Is seldom deeper than two fathoms find and which a noe easter Is liable to blow dry for a week on end naturally its a hard place to find and a hard place placa to get off I 1 and only two or three persons besides sweeney all of them our friends know the way in tobias may know of it but to know it Is one thing to find it Is another matter I 1 could hardly be sure of it myself it if I 1 were standing in from the sea with nothing but the long palmetto fringed coast line to go by now you see it I 1 brought you here because words P even yours dear king I 1 laughed could not explain what I suggest for forus us to do you tire are interested in tobias tobias Is interested I 1 in you I 1 am interested in you both and calypso and I 1 have a treasure to guard 1 I have still a treasure to seek I 1 said halt half to myself now to be practical we can assume that tobias is on the watch I 1 do dont nt mean that hes around here just now tor for before we left I 1 spoke to samson and erebus and they will pass he e word to 0 o four men blacker than themselves therefore we can assume hat this square mile or so is tor for the moment iio mont to ourselves but beyond our nc nce e you vou may rely that tobias and nis myrmidons is that the word he asked with a concession to his natural foolishness lare are there so lie he vent ent on 1 I want you to go I 1 down to your boat tomorrow morning mor n to say goodby to the com commandant mandan t tile the parson and the postmaster to lin ciul I 1 up your sail and head for nassau iball a I 1 in on sweeney on the way buy an extra box bos of cartridges and say dieu dicu et ct mon darolt it is our password he fiill understand but if he explain in your own way that you come from me and that we rely upon bilm to look out for our interest then lead head straight for nassau but about eight or anywhere around twilight turn about and hend head well well map it out on the chart at home anywhere up to eight miles along the coast till you come to a light low down right on the edge of the water As soon as you see it drop anchor then wait till morning the very beginning of dawn As soon as you can see land look out tor for samson within a hundred yards of you fill all the land will look alike to you only make the captain head straight for samson and just as you think you are going to run ashore well you will see CHAPTER V old friends next morning I 1 did as the king had ad told me to do the whole program was carried out just as he had planned 1 I 1 ann ed it I 1 made my goodbys goodbyes in the settlement as we had arranged not forgetting to say dieu et nion mon droit to sweeney and watching with some humorous intent how lie he would take it ile he tool took it quietly as a wan man in a signal box bos takes a signal with about as much emotion and nith alth just the same necessary serious seriousness nes tell the boss he said of course he meant the king that we are looking after hini him Nothing lil 11 slip through here if we can help it good luck I 1 so I 1 went down to the boat to old tom once more and the rest of our little crew who had long since exhausted the attractions of their life ashore and were wera glad as I 1 was to hillst up the john 13 sail down in my cabin I 1 looked over some mall that had been waiting for me ine at the post office amongst it was a crisp characteristic word from charlie webster lor for whom hom the gun will ever be mightier than the pen tobias escaped just heard he Is if on your island watch out will follow in a aday day or two I 1 came out on deck about sunset we were running along with all our sails drawing like a dream I 1 looked buck back at tile the captain proud and quiet ind happy there at the helm and nod aed a smile to him which he returned with a flash of his teeth lie he loved ills his boat he asked nothing better belter than to watch her just as she was doing ana the other boys seemed quiet and happy too lying along the sides of the house ready for the order but meanwhile ll 11 e content to wok ak up at the great sa sails and down again at the sea we were a ship and a ships crew all at peace with ono one another and contented coa tented with ourselves our rushing and singing and spraying through tile he water aft we were all friends sea and sails bad crew together I 1 help thinking that a mutiny would be hard to arcange under such tl a combination of tom was forward pi alling a I 1 rove rope for all our experiences lo 10 I 1 r mer he never implied that lie he was anything more than the ships cook with the privilege of waiting upon me in the cabin at my meals cut but of course he knew that I 1 bad quite another valuation of him and as our eyes met I 1 beckoned to him to draw closer to me tom I 1 said 1 I have found my treasure you dont say so sar 11 quite true tom I 1 continued you shall see my treasure tomorrow beann meanwhile bile read this note tom was so much to me that I 1 wanted him to know all about the details of the enterprise ter prise we shared together and in which he risked his life no less than I 1 risked mine tom took out his spectacles from some recess of hla his trousers and applied lips aps himself to charlie websters webster s no koteas note teas as though it had been the bible lie ile read it as slowly indeed as if it had been sanskrit Sans crit and then folded it mid and handed it back to me without a word but Buti there was quite a young smile in his old eyes the wonderful works of god lie he said presently 1 I guess sar we shall soon be able to ask him what he meant by that expression soon the long dark shore loomed ahead of us I 1 had reckoned it out about right but the captain announced that we were in shoal water how many feet I 1 asked and a bey threw out the lead sixteen and a half he said go ahead I 1 called out do you want to go aground asked the captain for answer I 1 pushed him aside and took the alie wheel I 1 had caught the smallest glimmer like a night light floating on the water drop the anchor I 1 called the light ligh t inshore was clear and near bear at hand about one hundred yards way away and there was the big murmur and nd commotion of the long breakers over ivar the dancing shoals the tide was running out very fast and the white sand coming ever nearer to our eyes in n the moonlight and light there here was keeping white and steady with the thought of my treasure and the he king so near by it was hard to 0 o resist the temptation to plunge in and follow my heart ashore but I 1 managed to control the boyish impulse and presently we were all snug and some of us snoring below decks rocked in the long swells of the shoal water that gleamed like an animated moonstone under the stars old sailor curled up at my feet just like old times I 1 woke just as dawn was waking ado 0 0 very still and windless for the threatening had changed its mind and the world was as quiet as though there a human being in it ap ai the light grew grev I 1 scanned the shee 0 o see whether I 1 could detect he anti nee of the hidden creek but I 1 hough I 1 swept it up and down again and again it continued to justify the kings boast there was no sign of an opening anywhere nothing but a straight line of brush with mandrop the he A anchor I 1 cried groves here and there stepping down in their fantastic way late into the water and yet we were but a hundred yards from the shore certainly blackbeard if the haunt had really been ahls hal ball known his business tor for an enemy could have sought him all day along this coast and found no clue to ills his hiding place but presently as my eyes kept on seeking a figure rose talland black near the waters edge a little to our left nud shot up a long arm by way of signal etwas it was samson and evidently the mouth of the creek was right there in front of us lus under our very noses so to say and yet it was impossible to make it out Ilo however wever fit at this signal T up tile the still sleeping crew and aad presently we had the he anchors up find and the engine started at the slowest possible speed the tide was beginning to run in so we ve needed very little way on us I 1 pointed out samson to the captain and following the hi kings instructions told him to steer straight tor for the negra negro samson stood there and called all right sar keep right on see your way in a minute and sure enough when we were barely fifty feet away from the shore and there seemed nothing for it but to run dead aground low down through the floating pan mangrove jn angrove grove branches we caught sight of a narrow gleam starting inland and in another moment or op two our decks were swept with foliage as the flamingo rustled in like a bird to cover through an opening in the bushes barely twice her beam and there before us snaking through gh the brush was a lane laae of water which immediately began to broaden between palm palmetto etto f ringed fringed banks and was evidently deep enough for a much larger vessel plenty of water sar hallooed hallowed hallo oed samson from the bank grinning a huge welcome keep going a after me and he be started trotting along the creek side samson went trotting along the twisting banks banki we cautiously feeling our way after him for something like a quarter of a mile and then coming round a sudden bend the creek opened out into a sort of basin on the left bank stood two large palmetto shanties samson indicated that there was our anchorage and then 11 as 3 we were almost alongside of them the cheery lial hallios halloos loos of a well known voice hailed us it was the ting king and as I 1 answered his welcome the morning suddenly sang for me for there too was calypso at his side the water ran so deep at the creeks side that we a were able 6 to moor the flamingo right up against the bank and when I 1 had jumped ashore and greeted my friends and the king had exec executed a brief characteristic fantasia on the manifest advantages of having a hidden pirates creek in the family he unfolded his plans or rather that portion of them that was necessary at the moment CHAPTER VI an old enemy charlie websters laconic note was naturally our chief topic over breakfast tobias escaped just heard he Is on your island watch out will follow in a day or two the king read it out when I 1 handed him tile the note across the table your friend writes like a true man of action he added like caesar and also the electric telegraph we ve must send word to sweeney to be on the lookout for him I 1 will send samson the redoubtable with a message to him this morning meanwhile we will smoke and think then tor for the next hour the king thought aloud alond while calypso and I 1 sat and listened occasionally throwing in a pa parenthesis of comment or suggestion it was evident we all agreed that calypso had been right it had been tobias and none other whose evil eye had sent her so breathless back to me waiting in the shadow of the woods and it was the same evil eye that had bad fallen vulture like on her golden doubloon exposed oil oa sweeneys counter it was clear that there were such coins on the island in possession then when lie he had watched calypso on her way home and without any doubt been the spectator of our meeting at the edge of the wood though we had bad been unable bocatch to catch sight of him there would of course be a suspicion in his mind that my quest might at least be approaching success and that his ancestral millions might be almost in my hands that there might be some other treasure on the he island with which neither therbe he nor his grandfather had any concern would not occur to him nor would it be likely to trouble lim if it did sly my presence was enough to prove that the treasure was his for was it adt no t his treasure that I 1 was after logic irrefutable ilow how was he to know that all the treasure so far discovered was that modest hoard unearthed as I 1 heard in tile the garden the present whereabouts of which was known only to calypso the king had interrupted himself at this point of argument by the way calypso where Is it lie he asked unexpectedly to the sudden confusion of both of us eslit it time you revealed your mysterious alad dins cave at the word care en re the submerged rose in calypsos cheeks almost came to the surface of their beautiful olive cavel she countered manfully who said it was a cave it was merely a figure of speech which lf it I 1 may say so my dear might apply with equal fitness say to a silk stocking and calypso laughed though another tide of rose bolor no dw da not that ell tur r never mind where it is it Is perfectly safe I 1 assure you but are you yon sure my I 1 dear beart it be safer after all here in the house how can you be certain that no one but yourself will accidee accidentally discover it 1 I am absolutely taltA that no one will she answered with an emphasis on the last three words which sent a thrill through me for I 1 knew that it was meant tor for me of course dad she added if you insist you shall have it but seriously I 1 think it is safer where it Is and it if I 1 were 0 1 it ame you revealed your mysterious gladdins Alad dins cave to fetch it how can I 1 be sure that no one she paused with a meaning which I 1 ot of course understood alto tobias for instance would see me going and follow me to be sure to be sure said the king what do ou think friend ulysses 1 I think it more than likely that she might be followed I 1 answered and I 1 quite agree with miss calypso I 1 certainly advise hex her to visit her treasure just now with the woods probably full of eyes in fact I 1 added smiling frankly at her 1 I could scarcely answer tor for myself even tor for I 1 confess that she has filled me with an overpowering curiosity so be it then said the king and now to consider what our friend here graphically speaks ot of as those eyes in a the ie woo woods s the king then made a determined descent into the practical the woods most probably were full of eyes in plain prose we were almost certainly being watched unless unless indeed my bogus departure tor for nassau had fooled tobias as we had hoped but even so with that lure of ca lypson doubloon ever before him it was too probable that he would not leave the neighborhood without some further investing invest investigation ig gation an investigation the king explained which mi raight lit well take the form of a midnight raid murdered in our beds and so forth fort h that being so being in fact almost a certainty the ung king spoke as though lie he would be a much disappointed man otherwise we must look to our garrison after all besides ourselves we had but samson and erebus and their lark dark brethren of doubtful courage while tobias probably had command of a round dozen of doughty desperadoes on the whole perhaps it might be best to avail ours ourselves elvei of the crew of the flamingo under cover of the dark he repeated with a smile while we had bad been talking samson had long since been on his way with the word to sweeney to look out for webster and as he had been admonished to hurry back it was scarcely noon when he returned bringing in exchange a verbal message from sweeney the pockmarked pock marked party ran the message as delivered by samson had left the harbor in his sloop that morning yes sar sari ila iia hat ha laughed he king turning to me IS si two can play at that game says rienzy P tobias jr but if we fooled him lets make sure hure that lie fooled us well bring up your crew all the same what do you think I 1 under cover of the dark I 1 assented |