Show PIECES OF EIGHT BEINO BEING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF A TREASURE discovered IN THE BAHAMA ISLANDS IN THE YEAR 1905 NOW FIRST GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC by RICHARD LE GALLIENNE copyright by Double doubleday dayt page A company THE POCK MARKED MAN synopsis tho the man who tells this story call him tho the hero for or visiting his friend john saunders Bo british ottle lai la in nassau bahama islands charlie webster a local merchant completes tho the trio of 0 friends conversation upon burled buried pirate treasure saunders dera produces a written document purporting to be the deathbed death bed statement of henry P tobias a successful pirate made by him in 1859 it gives two spots whore where two millions and a halt of 0 treasure were burled buried by him and his companions the conversation ot of the three friends la is overheard by a stranger whose face Is deeply pitted by small pox 4 i CHAPTER ill III 2 I 1 charter the maggie Dar darling lingl As luck would have it the loss or rather the theft of henry P tobias narrative was not so serious as it nt fit first seemed tor for it fortunately chanced that thai john saunders had had it copied hut but tile the theft remained none the loss less mysterious however lea leading ing that mystery for later solution ol ution john saunders charlie webster and I 1 spent the next evening in a general and particular criticism of the he narrative itself there wore were several obvious objections to be made against its authenticity to start with tobias at the ill time of his deposition was an old man seventy five years old and it was more than probable that liis his experiences as a pirate would date from ills his early manhood they were hardly likely to have lave taken place ns as late as ills his fortieth year the narrative naring indeed suggested their tal taking ing ploce place much earlier and there would thus be a space of at least forty years between the burial of the treasure and his deathbed revelation it was natural to ask why during all those years did he not return ind and retrieve the treasure for himself various may have prevented him the inability from lack of means to make the journey or what not but certainly one would need to imagine circumstances of peculiar power that should be strong enough to keep it a man with so ho valuable a secret in ills his possession so many years from taking aIN of it for a long on while too the names given to the purported sites of the treasure caches puzzled us modern maps gie no sucu such places as dead mens shoes and short shrift island but at last in a map dating back to 1703 1763 we came upon one of the he two names so bo far the veracity then tom came up with my break fast ot tobias was supported dead mens shoes proved to be the old name tor for a certain cay some twenty miles long about a day and a lialis sail from nassau one of 0 the long string of coral islands now known as the asuma cays but of short shrift island we sought in vain for a trace all the same said 1 I the adventure calls me the adventure and that million and a halt half dollars and those dead mens alens shoes and I 1 intend to undertake it I 1 jim am not going to let your middle aged skepticism discourage me treasure or no treasure there will be the excitement of the quest and all the tun fun of the sea and some duck perhaps added charlie and some shark fishing tor for certain said jolin john 0 0 the next thing was to set about getting a boat and ji a crew after looking over murii much likely and uril unlikely licely craft we finally decided on 0 twe two masted schooner ot of trim trial but solid build the muggie darling 42 feet over all und 13 beam under twenty tons with an auxiliary gasoline engine of 24 horse power and an alleged speed of ten knots next the crew you will need a captain a cook an engineer and a deckhand dockhand deck dock hand said charlie and I 1 have the captain and tho the cook conk all ready for you that afternoon we rounded them all up including the engineer and the deckhand dockhand deck dock hand and we arranged to start weather permitting with the morning tide which set east at six on july 13 1903 1003 ships storey were the next nest detail and these including fifty gallons of gasoline over and above the tanks and three barrels of water being duly got aboard on the evell evening of july 12 all was ready tor for the start an evening which was naturally spent in a parting conclave in john saunders shugg snug why one important thing youve forgotten said charlie machetes lac hetes and spades and pickaxes pick axes and id take lake a few sticks ot of dynamite along with you too I 1 can let you have the lot well get gat them aboard tonight its a pity you have to give it away that its a treasure hunt sald said jolin john but then you cant keep the crew from knowing and a queer lot on the subject of treasure have some of the lest superstitions I 1 hope you wont have any trouble with them had any experience in handling biggers nig gers asked charlie not the least that makes we me wish I 1 were coming with you they are rum beggars awful cowards and just like a pack of children you know about sailing anyhow a good thing you can captain your own boat it if need be all to the good particularly it if you strike any dirty weather but let me give you one word of advice be kind of course with them but keep your distance aw the same and be careful about losing your temper you get more out of them by coaxing hard as it Is at times and by the way how bow would you like to take old sailor with you sailor was a great labrador retriever tri ever who at that moment turned up his big head with a devoted sigh from behind his masters chair rather I 1 said so sailor was thereupon enrolled as a further addition to the crew old tom the cook was first on hand next morning I 1 took to him at once A simple kindly old darky of uncle toms cabin type with faithfulness written all over him and a certain core cere sad wisdom in his old face fac e find tom a great cook said charlie patting the old man on the shoulder many a trip weve taken together after duck we tom right suh sub right said tile the old man inan ills his eyes twinkling with pleasure then came the captain capt jabez williams a younger man with an intelligent tell igent self respecting manner somewhat noncommittal businesslike evidently not particularly anxious as to whether he pleased or not but looting looking competent and civil enough nert came the engineer a young hulking bronze giant a splendid physical specimen but rather heavy and sullen and not over intelligent to look at the deckhand dockhand deck dock hand proved to be a slackly rather silly effeminate fellow suggesting idiocy but doubtless wiry and good enough for the purpose while they were vere busy getting up tho the anchor of the maggie darling I 1 went down into my cabin to arrange various odds and ends and presently came the captain touching his hat theres theras a party he be sald said outside here wants to know if t take ake him passenger to spanish wells were not taking passengers I 1 answered but I 1 will look him over A man was standing up in a rowboat leaning against the ships side zyoud do me a great f fa a or sir lie he began to say in a soft ingratiating Ingrati tIng voice I 1 looked at him with a recognition tion ite ile was my pockmarked pock marked markel friend who had made such an unpleasant lm impression pres slon on me at john saunders office lie ile was rather morn more gentlemanly on tle looking than lie he had seemed at the first view and I 1 saw that though he was a halfbreed the white blood predominated 1 I dont want to intrude lie he said I 1 but I 1 have urgent need ot of getting to spanish wells and theres no boat going that way for a week ive just missed the mall mail 1 I think of taking any passengers I 1 said 1 I know he be said 1 I know its a great favor I 1 ask lie spoke with ft certain cultivation of manner dut but I 1 am willing of cour course to pay anything you think well for my food and my poi passage I 1 waived that suggestion aside rind nal stood irresolutely looking at him blin with wit i no very hospitable expression in my eyes I 1 dare say but really my its taste tor for him was an unreasoning udice and charlie websters web phrase crime came tomy to my mind ills face id against the poor devill devil it certainly was then at last I 1 said surely not over graciously very well get aboard you can help work the boat and with that I 1 turned away to my cabin CHAPTER IV in which torn tom catches an enchanted fish and discourses of the dangers of treasure hunting the morning was a little overcast but a brisk northeast wind soon oon is set se t th the e clouds moving as it went humming in our sails and the sun coming out in its glory over the crystalline waters made a fine flashing world of it full of exhilaration and the very breath of youth and adventure very uplifting to the heart nassau looked very pretty la in t the he morning sunlight with its pink and white houses nestling among palm trees and the masts of its sponging schooners ners and soon we were abreast of the picturesque low lying fort fort montague that major bruce brace nearly two hundred years ago had such a time building as a protection against pirates entering from the east cast end of the harbor it looked like a veritable piece of the past and set the imagination dreaming of those old days of spanish balloons galleons gal loons leons and the black flag and brought my thoughts eagerly I 1 11 tom batom and you and L I 1 back to the object of my iny trip trig those doubloons doub loons and pieces of eight that lay in ill glittering heaps somewhere out in those island wildernesses wilder nesses thou then tom came up with my breakfast the old fellow stood by to serve me as I 1 ate with a pathetic touch of the old slavery days in his deferential half fatherly manner manlier dropping a quaint remark every now and again as when drawing my attention to the sun bursting through the clouds he said the poor mans blanket Is coming m out sail sah phrases in N which there 9 seemed coined a whole lot of pathos to me presently when breakfast was mas over and I 1 stood looting looking over the side into the incredibly clear water in which it seems hardly possible that a boat enn can go on floating suspended ns as she seems over gleaming gulfs of IJ quid liquid space down through which at ever every Y moment it seems she must dizzily fall As tom and I 1 gazed down lost in those rainbow deeps I 1 heard a voice at my elbow saying with peculiarly bic sickening keDing unction the wonderful works of god it was my unwelcome passenger who nho had bad silently edged up to where we stood I 1 looked at him with the question very clear in my eyes as to abat kind of disagreeable animal he wals precisely I 1 said and moved away I 1 had been trying to feel more kindly toward him wondering whether I 1 could summon up the decency to otter offer him a cigar but the wonderful works of god finished rae me I 1 hello captain I 1 sald presently pointing to some sails coining up till rapidly behind us this I 1 thought wed got the fastest boat in the harbor its the susan B sponger said tile the captain the captain was a man ot of f few ew words the susan B was a rakish loolen craft with a black hull bull and she certainly ce r could still sail no doubt it was pure imagination but I 1 did fancy that I 1 noticed our ciar pal passenger signal to them in a peculiar way I 1 confess that ills his presence was beginning to get on my nerves and was ready to get edgy at anything or nothing an irritated i 1 late ate ot of which I 1 pro presently gently tool took 01 out t on george the engineer gincer ea who did not belle belie ills his hulking appearance and ilo ho was vas forever letting tile the engine stop and taking forever to get it clug again one could almost have sworn tm lie did it on oil purpose pur vose I 1 my language was more forcible than clu classical had bad quite a piratical flavor 1 in fact and my friend of the wonderful works of god looked up with a deprea deprecating biting air its offet on george was nil except perhaps to further deepen ills his sulks and this I 1 did notice after a while that my remarks to george seemed to have sot set up a certain sympathetic acquaintance between him and my passenger tile the deck liand being apparently patently ly taken in as an humble third they sat fo ferard rard talking together find my passenger read to them on ono occasion from a piece of 1 paper that fluttered in the wind the captain was occupied with his helm and tile the thoughts lie he seem to feel the necessity of sharing a quiet poised probably stupid man for whom hom I 1 could not deny the respect we must always give to content however simple lie he was a sailor and I 1 dont know what better to say of a man so for companionship I 1 was thrown back upon tom I 1 felt too that he was my only friend on board and a vague feeling had come over me that within tile the next tow few hours I 1 might need a friend are arc we going too fast for fishing tom I 1 asked not too fast for a said tom so we put out lines and qt watched ell d the stretched strings and listened to thelea lie sea after a while awhile toms line grew taut and we hauled in a five foot ra look said tom as be pointed to a little writhing eel ilke shape about nine inches long ions attached to the belly of the barrac nilta A sucking bucking fish said tom good luck and he proceeded to turn over the poor creature creat nrc and cut from its his back immediately below ills his head a flat inch and a half of skin lined find stamped like a rubber sole the device by which lie he held on to the belly of the much as the circle of wet leather hold s the stone in a schoolboys sling now he be said when ho he had it clean and neat in hla his fingers we must harig hang this up and dry it in the northeast wind the wind la Is just right nor ao and there is no mascot like it specially ciLly wili when old tom hesitated with a slyly innocent smile in his eyes what Is it tom I 1 asked well sir I 1 meant to say that this particular part of a sucking fish properly dried in the northeast wind is a wonderful mascot when youre going after treasure who r said aid I 1 was going after treasure r I 1 asked arent you yon sahr sah replied tom asang your pardon lets talk taik it over later on when you yon bring me my dinner tom later cs as tom stood serving my coffee I 1 took it up with him blin again what was that you yon were saying about treasure tom I 1 asked well sar what I 1 meant was this that going after treasure is a dangerous business its not only the living youre to think of II 11 here ere tom threw a careful eye fo rard the crew yoa mean meant lie ile nodded but its the dead too the dead corar tom well sar there wets wa 3 never a buried treasure yet that claim its victim not one or two either six or e eight fg 0 of f th them em to t my knowledge and tits tire treasure just where tt it was for all that J dassay it sounds all foolishness but its trw true for all that some thing or ot herll come mark my word jest when they think got their hands on it a hu or a tidal wave or an earthquake and wolf weir the ghost laughs but the tre treasure stars there an all th thae same sam the ghost laughs I 1 asked flir ehe of course didt you know elvry cat ry treasure la Is guarded by a ghost iles hes got to keep watch there till the next jellow fellow comes along to relieve sentry duty so to speak he give it away bly no I 1 he be do that but the minute someone else la Is killed hilled coming looking for it then hes free and the new ghost has got to go on sitting there waiting for ever so ions on till sor someone neone else comes looking for it but what h has this sucking fish got to do with tt it and I 1 pointed to the red membrane already drag in toms land hand well the man who carries this in his pocket packet wont be the next nest ghost ho he |