Pittston Gazette

              9 7 f | Oldest Newspaper in the Wvomin? Vallev PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY, PA., FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1899. SatablUhed 1850. I TOU XLIX No. 3». f A Weekly Local and Family Journal. j #1 00 a Year ; in Advance. s+vmrto'. otf turn Aaiffwe®s. within shot range. Ourifellows, as Jt always their wont, had set a cask of strong ale abroach in the waist and were feasting and making merry, foi fear lest the hap of w»r should take from them other opportunity of doing that same again. The don*, seeing thai his heels were too dull to/give us the slip, triced boarding nattings np to hi* lower yardarms, opened ilia ports and rati ont the gnns, and in',fine made al] ready for action. He was willing enongh to run had chance been Jfkven him to dc so, bnt now that he was cornered had no notion of yielding his' treasure with ont a battle. Bnt as this fell ont as wt had anticipated we wene in nowise dis mayed nor surprised, but cleared o.m pipes with a lond voiced drinking song, worked round to windward of him and held on to within musket range with out throwing a shot. had not been as good as his word I tain Golepepper's burly form appeared on the threshold. The recognition was mutual, and the two men exchanged a horny handshake. Then the observers saw that the captain was endeavoring to drag his acquaintance indoors, while the other offered a bashful but yielding resistance. "She is a sailor, sir," the captain went on; "rates as an A. B.; stands her watqh as well as any man and better than most. Mrs. Jelly a stewardess! Don't you dare to mention such an idea to her if you don't want to be annihilated. Mrs. Jelly is a—- Here she is, though, to speak-for herself," he broke off. doctor, "now that you've accepted one woman Miss Dolly will have a new argument against you, and a pretty strong one too. She'll expect you to reconsider your veto, you'll find." the undergraduate was moved to take tip the poker and commit a noisy assault upon the fire, "Yea." "For myself, I fell into the watei amid a shower of other solids, unhun by twice a miracle, and gained the snow, with some trouble, and there I was joined by five and twenty of my fellows, all with their hides more or less singed and dented. The remainder of the crew had gone skyward in pieces that nc surgeon, be he never so skillful, could join. 4 And thus Cain Laversba's name was ■written under that of Tom Jelly, and the ketch Eureka added another and surely the strangest specimen of all to her collection of nautical curios. No, Captain Colepepper was not proud of his crew. 1 I "But," said Dr. Tring, with difficulty controlling bis features sufficiently to allow himself to speak, "you've iiiia- "Yes, and why not?" put in the undergraduate quickly, and then, as he caught the doctor's eye fixed quizzingly upon him, he blushed furiously. The itinerant musician was a square built man, with an enormous black beard which covered nearly the whole of his face. He had lost one arm at the shoulder, and the left sleeve of his coat flapped loosely. He wore small gold rings in his ears and a high crowned hat of black felt was pulled down well on to his head. But the Captain, the doctor, the undergraduate, the two Jellys, the waiter and Cain Laversha made up only seven of a crew, and just now it was stated that there were eight. Who, then, was the other t Mra. Jelly appeared in the doorway and bestowed npon the captain a stiff, awkward bow, which seemed to hint that she was not much accustomed to snch feminine courtesies. She was a sqnat, broad hipped woman, with a snnb nose and a bristling chin and upper lip. Her visible dress consisted of a drab colored deer stalker cap, a stout double breasted pea jacket, a short blue serge skirt and a heavy pair of man's laced np boots. She had large brown hands and swung them at her side, sailor. fashion, with the fingers hooked inward, and her grizzled gray hair was cropped as short as a schoolboy's. Yet, in spite oi ner uncoutn exterior, no one wonld have been in danger of mistaking Mrs. Jelly for a man rigged out in female attire, for there was an indescribable something about her which wrote her "woman." Perhaps it was her eyes, for they were large and brown and had that look of soft appealing in them which is to be seen in a dog always, in a woman often, bnt in a man never. "Well, Henrietta," said the captain, "I suppose yon know that this is not an ordinary cruise?" "Yes, captain," said the woman. "Jelly and me beard all about it at the Admiral Blake, from them as bad been told by you yourself, and we settled to sign on, if you'd have ns." "Then you don't want to hear the details over again at first hand?" asked the doctor in some surprise. "No, sir, thankee," replied the woman. "I'd like to hear what the terms are to be, though. Seme said we were to have wages and others a share in the run." "It's shares, 'Enrietta," interposed Jelly. "Don't bother the gentleman. Let's get signed on and be trudging." Mrs. Jelly agreed by a nod, and, taking the paper which Captain Colepepper handed to her, added her name to the others. She wrote the signature in a firm, clear hand, and afterward added underneath it her husband's name also, and, having done so, she handed the paper across to Jelly for him to authenticate the document with his mark. "Now, Jelly, we'll tramp," said the woman shortly, and shouldered her husband's band organ. "8tay a minute," put in Dr. Tring, turning to the seaman. "That reminds me that you have not yet explained your possession of this horrible engine of torture." "That's easy answered, sir," replied Tom Jelly, with a grin. "You see. I was out of a berth for a bit, 'cause I wouldn't ship with no captain as refused to take 'Enrietta along, too, 'cause, as Cap'n Colepepper 'imself will tell you, we two alius does Bhip in company. So after we'd been idle for a month or so, she says, 'Jelly,' says she, ' 'ow far have you ever been from the aeacoast?' 'Matter of a few miles once or twice,' says I, 'but not often.' I was born in Bristol quay side, sir, and spend all my life in traipsing from port to port, or lying quiet in sailors' lodgings, close alongside it 'Then,' says she, 'supposing we takes a trip inshore by way of a change.' 'That 'n'dsuit Tom Jelly down to the ground, old lass,' ■ays I; 'only I don't see 'ow it's to be worked. The shotlocker is about empty as it is, and if we started for a cruise in unknown waters like them, we'd soon be finding ourselves 'ove beam ends on to a lee shore.' 'So we would, ye lubber,' says she. Them's the very words, sir; you know 'Enrietta's way, cap'n. 'So we would, ye lubber, if you'd got the managing of it. Yon've no more 'ead on you than a pint of bilge water 'as. Can't we buy one of them grinding organs,' says she, 'and work our passage' with thatf' Now I take it, gentlemen .all, there ain't many women clever enough to plan out a tower like that; blow me, if there is!" At the chorus of amused assent which the three auditors gave to this piece of brazen flattery Mrs. Jelly looked uncomfortable and muttered something which the others did not catch. "So yon steered inland, Tom," said the captain, with a laugh. "Did tbe organ keep you going?" "We lived and traveled like a dook and a dookess, cap'n, and see a sight of things and places. But I must say we did begin to tire of it terrible after a bit and to long for a sniff of sea air and a bite of salt junk. You know how it is, Cap'n Colepepper." "Yes, Tom," said the captain, with a bit of a sigh, "I understand. I feel that way myself sometimes. Well, we're going to smell the salt again in company, it seems, and I for one am heartily glad of it." "So be I, cap'n; so be I," said the man, "and so be 'Enrietta. Treasure or no treasure, we both of us feels proud to sail again under Cap'n Colepepper, and I says it for tbe two of us. And now, if the gentlemen'll excuse us, we'll be going. A word to the Admiral Blake will alius bring us within an hour or so, cap'n. Come on. missus!" He had shouldered bis organ while he spoke and was edging nervously toward the door. Mrs. Jelly followed him, and the strange couple bowed themselves out with all the awkwardness of bashful and uncouth courtesy. "Well, Colepepper," said the doctor, throwing himself into the captain's big armchair, "I don't think that even after a debauch of lobster salad and toasted cheese I could have dreamed of such a quaint couple of recruits as Nos. 2 and 8. The man was odd enough. But the woman! You seem to know her, though?" "Yes." said the captain. "Henrietta and I are old acquaintances. She sailed with me two years in the Hope and four in the Brothers Jone^." "As a woman?" queried the undergraduate."Lor' bless you, no! As a deckhand, and a rare good one she was, too—al- always ready for duty at sea, and nimble with her fingers, and always to be relied on ashore. She liked her jaunt now and then, did Henrietta, and would take a glass with the rest of them, but she never got drunk, to my knowing, and never ontstaid her leave. Jelly wasn't so reliable. He's a weakminded chap and a bit soft in his npper story, I often think, and sometimes he'd get led away and go on the mad rampage till his money was done. It was in one of those flings that he lost his arm, got .run over in the street at Montevideo and had the fin so badly crushed that they were obliged to amputate, and it was after that that Henrietta took him in charge. He, like the rest of na, thought her a man then. She was sailing under the name of Henry Vere and was as smart a seaman as ever wore breeches. But after the pair had been close chums for about a year she let out her secret and they got married. I had them both with me for other voyages afterward, bnt her sex was always known to all hands." "Then she discarded the breeches?" "No; served in her old rating, doctojy and rigged herself out man fashion as before." "Young man," said Dr. Tring enigmatically, "your two years at Oxford have not quite spoiled you." "But worse remains to tell, and surely gentlemen of fortune were nevei entreated so evilly. The port side of the galleon—that furthest from us—wat blown completely out, and she founder ed incontinently; foundered, I declare upon my manhood, before we could spoil her of anything; foundered without yielding us a solitary piece of eight, no" not a maravedi; foundered in 20C fathoms of water, in latitude"— CHAPTER III. THE EUREKA'8 CREW. It was Miss Dolly Colepepper. As Dr. Tring had prophesied that she would, she claimed to benefit by the precedent which had been set up by their acceptance of Mrs. Jelly; if one woman waa eligible, their arguments, she declared, fell to tba ground. And so they might do as they pleased about giving her permission, for she meant to gof At this declaration her father fumed, the doctor demurred argnmentatively, and Guthrie, with the .mistaken daring of inexperience, ventured to support he? application. She, in return, snubbed the undergraduate. laughed at the doctor and kissed her her, and that was the end of it. The opposition, though thoroughly disorganized, of course made a shaw of further resistance, but the young lady had her way, and perhaps, if the truth had been spoken, neither Jher father nor Dr. Tring was in his heart sorry that his authority was thus derided. And, as for the undergraduate, he was openly and shamelessly glad. After all. Captain Colepepper remarked jesaitically to the doctor, Henrietta was a woman, and, as Dolly said, she was accepted; so— And then the sailor had the grace to blnsh, for his ally was actually laughing at him. The ketch Eureka, with eight of a crew on board, was working her way down the Bristol channel with a fair wind and a strong ebb tide. She wat almost on an even keel, for the red wavelets of the great estuary had not enongh force in them to disturb the smoothness of her advance, and this was perhaps fortunate, for of the small crew of eight three at least were raw enongh landsmen to be thoroughly thankful for the respite from the tossing which was to come. CHAPTER I. THE YELLOW MANUSCRIPT. in deciding what he would have foi dinner, so utterly calm was his expres ■ion. It was a terribly anxious moment for the sailor, for on his friend's decision rested everything. Excellent seaman though he was, Captain Colepeppei knew well enough that without the other's assistance he could do nothing. He could fit out a ship, it is true, anc take her to the very spot where the galleon with all her precious freight had fonndered; that much he knew he could do, but that was not enodfeh. And for the rest be relied absolutely on the scientific skill of bis friend Dr. Tring. If Dr. Tring said "No," then the Spanish gold must stay where it was, and Captain Colepepper would spend his life in the sailing of ships and die at last a bumble merchant cap- "Come along, Tom, come along!" Captain Colepepper was saying in his cheery bawl. "You've no call to be shy. Never mind your rig out lad. Unship your torture box and stow it down here in the gangway and then come into my stateroom. Why conldn't yon have jnst knocked at the door and asked for me?" Two men sat and smoked in a small room in Shaftoe street, Bristol. It was •n nntidy room, and through tbe pungent incense of ship's plug, which one of them was smoking, there struggled another and more unpleasant odor, the musty spirituous smell of a badly kept anatomy museum. Hnman skulls and arm bonw littered tbe tables, monstrosities in wide mouthed bottles jostled other stuffed and moldy injnetxositieeon the shelves, and a couple at bloated serpents twined themselves into slifiy knots in a glass case in one corner. And where there were none of these things there were books—books everywhere—even in the corners of the deep armchair in which one of tbe men (be of the ship's ping) was sitting. Their sharp edges made dimples in the comfortable roundness of his figure, but be was excited, and if they hart him he did not seem to notiee it "The don had been burning powdei for a good half hour before our culverint and falconets hurtled back their mes sage. Indeed his great ordnance on both broadsides had been spitting away al one and the same time, so that we guessed at tbe confusion that was rag ing in his 'tween decks and took comfort therefrom mightily, remembering that one small ball driven home ie worth a dozen score of heavy ones which miss their bourne. Owing to thC closeness of our approach, the don't gunners could not well depress the muz zles of their pieces, by reason of the narrowness' of the gun ports; so- thai even the few shot whose direction wat true had too great elevation and wbis tied harmlessly over our mastheads 01 sang through tbe upper rigging, and save for a cheesehole pur 'hed in the main topsail and a lee fore topmast backstay shot in twain we were not i whit tbe worse for his pelting when al length we began our own. "Stop1" interrupted Dr. Tring sharp- The captain looked up from his reading. "We're just coming to the point," said he. "Why, you eee, gents all," said the man, with bashful hesitation, "I hardly liked. If tbere'd been a back door, it would have been all right. But I tacked about and ewuldn't find one, and it's hardly the place for the likes of me to come pounding at a big brass knocker when I wasn't expected, specially when I was wanting to ask a bit of a favor." "1 come about this yer," he said. "Exactly!" was the reply, bnt foi the present we will allow the precise latitude and longitude of the treasure tc remain a secret, or, better still, commit your bloodthirsty ancestor's figures tc memory, and I will do the same, and then you can destroy that part of the manuscript which contains them, and," added the doctor, laughingly, "even in your dreams remember that there may be listeners waiting to steal the secret, if you but whisper it." taken the case, my good man. We don't want a veterinary surgeon, find other medical assistance I am qualified to render myself. That word 'physical' in the advertisement meant—let me see—it meant that we want strong arms. We want sailors, in fact." Tbe smart looking officer who was pacing her deck and keeping a bright lookout at passing craft was another man from the cheery, burly Captain Colepepper of Shaftoe street, Bristol Tbe outward form was the same—the heavy thatch of eyebrow, the fringe of sandy beard sprouting from the throat, the neat blue clothes, the shiny boots; nothing was altered there save that in place of the felt hat of private life hia well brushed hair was covered by a "cheese cutter" cap, embellished with certain cabalistic symbols in gold lace. But the manner of the man inside the clothes was totally different. On shore he had been jovial, easy going, nonassertive; afloat he was grave, strict and a trifle imperious. There he had bowed to Dr. Tring in everything; here thert was small doubt as to which was commanding officer. Down below, it is .true, the captain unbent somewhat, but even in their flute-violin duets it was tbe doctor who took to playing accompaniments now. Captain Colepepper could not, even in his recreations, submit to playing second fiddle when he felt the planks of a ship under him. The doctor knew this and was content to follow the other's lead without ever venturing to encroach upon the air himself. The visitor slowly extended first one of his huge brown fists and then the other, examining each in turn, and then after another application of the yellow and red bandanna delivered himself as follows: "What! You don't mean to say that you've come here to volunteer for the enterprise, Tom Jelly, do you?" inquired the captain, with obvious amazement. "I thought you'd given up the sea for eood.'' At ,'hese words Captain Colepeppei sprang up, and, seizing the other's hand, wrung it hard for fully a minute, laughing hysterically all the time. It is, moreover, to be recorded that the doctor's leathern face was at last surprised into betraying an emotion; foi under that grip he winced with pa'in. "With permission," said Tom, with a grin, "I'd like to change my mind." "Then I'll come wi'ee ez zailor. I b« strong ez a draft heifer, an can pull a roap wi' man. Yes, zar, I'll come wi'ee ez zailor." He was a big man, red faced and heavy, and the hair growing in a close mat down over his wrists gave a sugge»*ion of bnrly outdoor strength strangely incongruous in such a room aa thR His drees, which was tbat of a captain in the merchant service, bore ont this appearance of incongrnity. "You're a good lad, Tom Jelly—a good lad 1" roared the captain delightedly: "Sit down and tell us why you didn't turn up before. Been thinking the matter over?" "I'm afraid," said the doctor, rather impatiently, "that our enterprise will not be anything in yonr line. Yon see, we're not going on the surface of the ocean only, but we intend to navigate our craft underneath it as welL" The visitor nodded gravely three or four times, receiving without the least trace of surprise this piece of information wtdch had startled so many before him. His countenance remained as impassively wooden as it had been before. "I doan' zee ez 'ow that matters, znr. I never bin on the water in ttiy life, zo I be just ez much at home underneath un ez I should be atop. I a wonderful man to. zettle down, zo they zay. A year come next Martinmas I went into Taunton for a fortnight an in four days the strangeness had worn off altogether. Think of that now, znr I" Miss Colepepper'! choking attack became acute again at this point and necessitated remedial measures on the part of Guthrie. "Having ran up into such short rangt before I gave the word to fire, we hackee him through and through with our verj first broadside, and the groans and yelli from his 'tween decks told us that w« had made commendable slaughter, but by this time the arquebnsiers in bit roundtops had steadied down to theii work and were browning my gun crewi somewhat too cavalierly. So I bade mj fellows load up with bar and chair shot, knock ont some of their quoine and have at the don's rigging for al! their skins were worth, which salute the galleon acknowledged by bowing tc us with his foremast head, which had been twice hit by a shot from my maic deck cnlverins. Ronndtop and sharpshooters, foreyard and the great bellying course with its gaudy painting came down by the run; the galleon slid np head to wind, in spite of her tirnoneer's every effort, and we had her al "You agree?" cried the captain, when his delight allowed him to become coherent. "Only just heard about it, cap'n," said the man, sitting on the extreme edge of thechair which Captain Colepepper pushed to him. "Me and 'Enrietta trudged into Bristol day afore yesterday and brought up at our old moorings. We went to the Admiral Blake for a chat and a smoke «8id a drop of ale in the evening and heard tell of bow you'd got a wonderful scheme on 'and for weighing the dollars from out of a craft which foundered after a fight with a pirate some years ago—how many they didn't seem to rightly know at the Admiral Blake. But everybody said it was a mad idea that nobody but a fool would believe in and that you and the doctor 'u'd never get a single soul to join you. Now, the doctor—no disrespect meant, sir—I didn't know, never having heard of him afore. But Cap'n Colepepper I'd sailed with, boy and man, nigh on five and twenty year, and I kncwed he was too good a seaman, in a manner of speaking, to put to sea in dirty weather without seeing a good chance of weathering it all safely. So, gentlemen all"— Tom lifted the glass of beer which the captain had handed him—"here's 'ealth and success." CHAPTER IV. A JUGGERNAUT OF THE OCEAN. The Eureka was rounding the island of Ushant and entering the bay of Biscay. So far wind and sea had both been on their best behavior, and the exhilaration which comes from the breathing of the strong, pure sea air had obviously laid its hold upon the two youngest members of the crew. Guthrie, with the ready hope of youth, had almost forgotten that less than a week ago he had walked by the seashore of Weston-super-Mare and had groaned aloud at the thought of the "shilling a day and pipeclay" which he had determined to face. Now his troubles were behind him, and before him he saw only hope and fortune. The Flat Holme light, which had beckoned him out westward, had been the true beacon after alL Presently be removed the pipe from hia month and, leaning forward, tapped the other man's knee with the stem. "Yes," wis the answer; "I do, We'll have a try for the Spaniards' gold, Colepepper." "Can we do it, doctor?" he asked anxiooaly. "The gold must be there; enough of it to make us both millionaires, most likely. The point is—can we lay onr hands on it f* "Hurrah!" shouted the captain. "I thought you would. We shall be millionaires, doctor!" "Or paupers, captain," said the doctor quietly. 1 At this question the other man roee from bis chair and walked over to the glass case where the serpents were. For tally five minutes be watched their alow, purposeless contortions without ■peaking. Then he returned to the table, reached for the tobacco jar and rolled himself a thin and very tight cigarette. Now, whether it was that Dr. Tring did not share his comrade's excitement or tbat bia leathery brown Caee was too thickly seared with deep, permanent lines to allow any passing •motion to affect his expression it is impossible to say, but the fact remains that even Captain Nicholas  per's sailor's eye was unable to read anything, whether of encouragement or the reverse, on the shriveled, chartlike lace of his friend. CHAPTER II. THE FIRST RF.CRI ITS. The captain spread the ycUow manu- The crew that Nicholas Colepepper and Dr. Tring got together for the expedition to raise the foundered galleon came about in this wise: That the ketch rig had been chosen for the Eureka was due to the special nature of the work which she would be called upon to da Captain Colepepper argned that a ketch, though in the matter of speed not be compared with a cutter of the same tonnage, was a better sea boat in heavy weather, and was, moreover, far handier for a small crew to work. One reason for this, he explained, was that the sail spread was more divided, and the main boom was in conseqfttnce much lighter and more manageable—no small advantage when the crew was small or unskillful. And of a truth the crew which Captain Colepepper had under him was, with the exception of the two Jellys and Dr. Tring (who knew something of everything, and therefore, of course, of seamanship), the veriest set of landlubbers that ever drove a respectable merchant skipper to desperation. script out on the table. tain. If Dr. Tring said "Yes," Captain Colepepper wonld cheerfully spend every penny he had in the world in fitting ont a vessel in which to make the ventnre and would be content to die in the end a pauper, if only be could first bave a fair shot at being a millionaire. First there was Alan Gntbrie, a young Oxford student, who had been "plucked" on his examinations, was heavily in debt and had lieen discarded by his father. On the day of his dismissal he was standing on the beach of Weston-super-Mare pondering on his future and reluctantly came to a decision to accept the qneen's shilling and go for a soldier. Before seeking the recruiting sergeant he resolved to have a bath. So pulling off his clothes he waded into the ocean, and when over his depth began to swim. As he swam a curious fancy took possession of him —that he had only to go on swimming and bis fortune wonld come open armed to meet him. Giving way to the fancy he swam on, but presently the water grew colder, and, turning, he noticed what a very ljjng way it seemed to the beach. He pulled on, but made no headway. His heart sank; he was being carried out to sea. Still he struggled, but at last, overcome, with a despairing cry, he fought the waters that were mastering him. "It's wonderful how some people can adapt themselves to circumstances," pronounced the doctor with perfect gravity. "Then you have thought this matter out thoroughly and ore quite certain you wish to joint" The farmer waited a minute or two to collect his thoughts. "I zeed un in the paper we get of Zatordays," he declared at length slowly, "night after our Alderney calved it were, an that most be zummat about a month agone now, zur. I showed un to Abel, an Abel 'ee zez, 'Cain, thou be a blamed vool.' Tarrible 'ard mout'ed man, be my brother Abel, zur." "Well," said the doctor, seeing that he paused for comment, "and so you worked it ont by yourself and decided to venturet" As for Miss Dolly, she had no troubles, and so, having nothing to forget, she could afford to enjoy the hftppiness of the moment. And this, to tell the truth, she did thoroughly. Meanwhile the suspense was slowly driving him frantic. Beads of perspiration were rolling unheeded down hie nose and dropping on to his beard. At last he conld stand the strain of inaction no longer, and, throwing himeeli back in the chair, began, utterly unconscious of what he was doing, tc whisper strange sailor oaths beneath' his breath. "After this I ran ahead and in a series of short tacks raked her witb alternate broadsides, to which she could hardly reply with a gun; for her bow chasers were masked by the rafile oi wreckage, and when any of her people sought to remove this they, too, were mown down by our incessant fire. And had the fates permitted me to carry on this game of long bowls, she must perforce have yielded unconditionally. our mercy. Dr. Tring, who was standing by the mainmast, smoking cigarettes in endless relays, watched the pair with an amused smile. The undergraduate was a complete novice in the matters of the sea, and so Miss Colepepper, who, as her father's pupil, could have given points to Mrs. Jelly herself in the knowledge of things nautical, was explaining the mysteries of "knots, bends and splices," and illustrating her lesson with deft manipulations of snndry pieces of rope end. Guthrie watched the nimble fingers admiringly and tried to copy, but his success was not overpowering, and when a particularly painstaking effort ended ignominiously in the production of a "granny," Miss" Colepepper did not take the trouble to conceal her scorn. Tbe doctor took a long pull at his cigarette, drew the smoke deep down The beer vanished into some aperture hidden among the thick jungle of black hair, and the glass was set down empty on the table. into his lungs and kept it there for These turgid mutterings had the effect of rousing Dr. Tring to speech: about half a minute; then he spoke, and • with each word tbe imprisoned smoke crept furtively in broken spurts from his mouth and went to join forces with the heavy clouds which tbe captain was blowing with impatient energy from his pipe. "Bntwben another half .dozen broadsides must have reduced her word wae passed that tbe powder had run completely out, for we had come into action with but a poorly stocked magazine, not having found opportunity to replenish it-of late. Forgetful of thin, we had been burning the precious grains with feverish haste, and the grinning little powder monkey who bronght me the tidings declared that there was not another tub left. " 'Tig truly vexatious v0fn an honest buccaneer finds himself in a strait like this, but there was no help for it. We could not get more powder by mere wishing, and we could not fire shot without it We had naught therefore but cold steel left to rely upon, but cold steel has laid many a Spaniard low at my hands (and will, please heaven, do the like to many more). So, trusting in that, I sang out, 'Up belml' and cried for boarders. "Have you got yonr respected ances tor's log wrth you?" be asked. "This is a very different sort of trip, Tom, from any other we've had together," observed Captain Colepepper. "Are you sure you know what it is yon are offering to join?" - For answer tbe captain produced tbe stained yellow sheets from his pocket and handed them across to his cotu- One, for example, whose only recommendation was that he did not funk when he waa told where the treasure lay. had been a German waiter, and, by bis own admission, a failure even at that. Hans Spiedernichel was what he called himself, and he enlisted almost on the moment of Bailing. He had been employed in a hotel at Bath, had heard the enterprise (which through Captain Colepepper's advertisement had come to be pretty well known) discussed among the customers, and being at the time out of conceit with the occupation of waiting had posted off to Bristol to see if he could get another berth. • "Captain Colepepper, sir, you ask me whether we can raise that Spanish gold (a whole shipload of it, if your story is true) from where it now lies, imbedded deep in tbe ooze of tbe Atlantic. I answer you thst I don't know." panion. "I know, cap'n, I know; they told me all about it at the Admiral Blake, but i sajs to them, I says: 'Therffain't a man in the merchant service that knows how to handle either square rig or fore and aft like Cap'n Nich'las Colepepper. At either seamanship or navigation show me the man that can beat him,' says I. 'I'll freely own,' I says, 'that he's learned his experience atop of the ocean and not inside it, but if he's made up his mind to try a trip below the waves, instead of above 'em, in the ord'nary way, as you tell me be has, then you may stake your shoes on it Cap'n Colepepper knows what he's about.' And that's just what I says to 'em, sir." ."Bead it to me again," said tbe doctor. "I want to get a clear grasp of all the details." The farmer nodded. A faint, a very faint, smile flickered about his large plain face and its hamlike coloring deepened a trifle in tint. "The whole of it t" Now, Dr. Tring and Captain Colepepper bud chartered a vessel to take theui where the treasure lay and had fitted it with various ingenious engines of Dr. Tring's invention for coping with the enormous difficulties of a dive which wotild be far bigger than anything any one had as yet dreamed cf, bat they had got no farther than Bideford before their crew, learning of the purpose of the expedition, mutinied to a man' and the order was given to 'bout ship for Brietcl, where the crew left in a body. Dr. Tring and Captain Colepepper, having cooled from their disappointment, were out for a row with fiddle and flute practicing duetB and beard Alan Guthrie's cry. Pulling in the direction from which it proceeded, they found bim about to sink and hauled him aboard unconscious. As soon as be came to himself and learned of their intended expedition they found no difficulty in enrolling him as their first recruit."No. Only where be tells about tbe plateship." The captain bad evidently expected "a more encouraging reply, and the vicious way in which he bit at his pipestem showed bow much he was disappointed.Tbe captain spread the yellow manuscript out on tbe table before bim and read as follows: "Me an Zaean Pierce. She was desprit set on it, was Zuean. It's her," be added, turning slowly round so as to face Dolly—"it's her I be keepin com p'ny wi'. She's book learnt is Zusan. an she zez, 'Cain, thee go an make fortan' an then come back an thou shall marry I fcr thee pains.' Tarrible clever wench is Znsan, miss—'er I keeps comp'ny wi'." "Doctor," she cried, throwing away tbe rope with a gesture of mock despair, f'come here. My pupil is no credit to ma I shall have to resign the poet of schoolmistress and hand him over to yon." "No," put in the culprit quickly, in low tones, "don't threaten to do that I'll be diligent." "From the log of Nicholas Colepepper, Esq., master cf the snow [brig] Lucky Venture. "You've thought over what I told you?" said he. "Yea I've thongbt it over." • • • "The night had been a thick one, and mayhap oar lookouts, being somewhat tired of their task, had not been overspry in their watch. Three weeks of peering through the weather for a Teasel that never heaves in eight dalls the fresh glances of any mariner's eye, and we had been lying hove to or standing on and off for the galleon for five days over that time. So when dawn sicklied over the waters, and the great ship was spied bowling along good five miles to windward, I was at first minded to shoot the fellow on the foreyard for keeping such lubberly watch, bnt remembering that we ehoald presently need all the hands we conld get I anointed him with a few shrewd blows from a calker's mallet, lying handy, and set the watch to trim and make sail, that we might get all the pace oat of oar tight little snow of which she was capable."Thursday, iij February, 1591 Cain Laversha, the other recruit, was quite a different sort of person, but from the point of view of effective seamanship likely to be even less usefnl than the self confident little "Pafarian.""And you don't think it can be done? Man, it's bound to be a million at least! And it's there, I tell you, just waiting for us to take it" "Ah I" said the doctor. "Woman at the bottom of it! Might have guessed that Well, I can't decide this matter all on my own responsibility. You stay here, Cain What's-your-name, while 1 go and discnss with my partner in the other room." Dolly answered him with a glance, but said nothing; for the doctor, who bad come up in obedience to ber summons, was standing close behind her. "I don't go oo far as to say that it can't be done," replied the doctor with some hesitation. "It may be, Colepeppar, it may be. Bat I don't like to commit myself nntil I'm sure." The captain had let bia pipe go out and his screwed up eyes were twinkling with pleasure under the heavy thatches of their brows. Dr. Tring, however, not being the recipient of the eulogy, had leisure .for criticism and kept looking rather pointedly at the new arrival's empty left sleeve, wondering to himself, perhaps, whether half a recruit was better than no recruit at -all. "We ran down alongside and threw our grapple. The Spanish gunners poured in a fierce fire to our deserted 'tween decks, but armed with pike, banger and boarding az we scaled their lofty upper works and hacked our way through the nettings inboard. Captain Colepepper had, as has already been said, put an advertisement into several papers asking for*volunteers, and, as it wae to a misreading of this advertisement that the enrolling of Cain Laversha was in the first instance due it had better be given in full: "Well, young people," said he, "enjoying yourselves, I see. Umphl No harm in that This yachting weather's very pleasant, isn't it, Guthrie? Feeling all right, I suppose?" "Rather!" answered the young man enthusiastically. "Why did I never go to sea before ? A sailor's life seems to be all pleasure." The farmer slowly nodded his large head, and then, when the doctor had gone, turned round again to Dolly. He did not speak. He only looked at her. But it was a most businesslike stare, "Oh, come, that's better I" exclaimed the captain with returning animation. "If yon say it's possible at all. that's enough for me. If Dr. Tring says a thing can be done, then Dr. Tring and Captain Colepepper between 'em will do It" "Flushed with victory and nerved with strength by thoughts of the golden hoard below, my fellows were not to bt resisted, and save for a party headed by the Spanish commandant—who re- A FOUNDERED GALLEON. Jelly noticed these glances and, turning to the doctor, said earnestly, "I've been at sea with Cap'n Colepepper, sir, since I lost my wing, and, though folks think there's only half of me left, some of 'em have found out I'm worth ten dead men yet." A Spanish plateahip, containing specie to the value of a million and a half sterling (£1,500,- 000), was sunk in action with an English vessel A. D. 1681. Her whereabouts is known, and it is proposed to regain the treasure. Assistance wanted, both pecuniary and physical. For further information apply in person between the hours of 11:80 a. m. and 6:80 p. m. at 108 Shaftoe street, Bristol. Then the captain's daughter, Dolly, took it into her head that she must go on the expedition, but met with a flat refnsalfrom her father. Both Dr. Tring and Alan Guthrie pleaded in her behalf, but the captain was obdurate, avowing that they must not be hampered with women. "No, not all, young man," answered Dr. Tring grimly. "There are such tilings as storms, you know, and," he added quietly, "every sailor isn't quite so lucky in his company as you seem to find yourself. And, talking of storms, I fancy by the look of the sunset that we're in for a stiffish blow tonight. The Eureka is dropping rather bigger courtesies to the waves than she did an hour ago. We shall have her shipping it green a bit presently, I expect. Isn't that so, Colepepper?" "tJmph!" said the doctor shortly. "A million of gold—or two millions, maybe," went on the other, mouthing the big numbers as though the very manMr of saying them would make them bigger. "We shall be able to do things with that." ' ' "That's a solid fact, doctor," commented the captain. Now, this advertisement had brought many applicants to 108 Shaftoe street, all of whom were quite ready to pick up the plums if lay ready to their hands on the pavement, but none of them (with the two exceptions of Laversha and the German waiter) had daring enough to make one of the bold party who meant to gather those plums by the simple method of going down to the place where they were growing. Schoolmasters, scavengers, clerks, sailors, men out at elbows and men with balances at their bankers one and all drew back in dismay when the details of the scheme were explained to them. The lower class applicants made no secret of their fright, while the more respectable ones—the schoolmasters and the literary failures, for instance—gen- generally endeavored to conceal their tremors by losing their tempers and saying rude things to the two promoters about the criminal madness of their scheme. This, however, is by the way. "The Spaniard's lookout was smart enough. His sail trimmers were hard at work when first we espied him, so be must have known of our presence before we knew of his. Now, it is the custom of the yearly plateship to sail only during the day and to remain bove to during the night hours, but this fellow must have been under weigh all through the darkness, having been advertised of our snow's presence, probably, aild so from this departure from cu«toin we judged that be feared us, and our lads took heart accordingly. "No doubt," said the doctor dryly. *"if we get it, bat it seems to me that If we try we're more likely to loae the little we have and oar lives. too, perhaps."One morning the captain, the doctor and the first recruit were sitting in the captain's room at Bristol, smoking and wondering where more men, reckless enough to embark with tbem, were to come from. An organ grinder had taken up his position in front of the window and was commencing to grind out "The Last Rose of Summer" at a pace so funereiil that the homely old tune sounded as though it were a dirge, and had the three men been fanciful tbey might have taken this dismal wail as an ominous commentary on the doctor's last words. It may be, perhaps, that some such thought did occur to Dr. Tring. Anyway, his distress was acute. "Which being so," continued the seaman, "I'd just like to sign on now for self and 'Enrietta." "For self and what?" roared Dr. Tring. "Self and 'Enrietta," repeated the man stolidly. "Yes," said the captain, who bad joined the group, "you're right, doctor. It will be a case of 'all hands shorten sail' in another half hour if I know anything of the signs of the weather. Well, we shall have a chance of seeing how the Eureka behaves hi a sea." "But the manuscript, doctor, the manuscriptJ" It's all down there as plain as the rule o' the road at sea." "Quite so," assented Captain Colepepper; "for himself and Henrietta. "Who was this Nicholas Colepepper, and where did you find his logT" "I found the log in a lumber chest down at our old farmhouse in Devonshire, and the Nicholas Colepepper who wrote it was an ancestor of mine I expect," added the captain meditatively, "I'm called after him in a way, as my name's Nicholas too. But, for the matter o' that, my grandfather's name was Nicholas. There always has been one in the family, yon see. " Captain Colepepper looked at the farmer. and his little pig's eyes wandered over her from hair to slipper. People always did seem to have a confoundedly rnde habit of staring at Miss Colepepper, tbonght Guthrie angrily; but, to tell the truth, she seemed rather to like it than otherwise. On this particular occasion, however, after she had been gazed at fixedly for five speechless minutes, she did have the good taste to blush, and, turning away, began to examine one of the doctor's skeletons. Observing this sign of grace in the lady, Quthrie suddenly realized that the ordeal had been really somewhat one, and so be concluded that time to draw the farmer into coi tion. "A chase to windward is always tedious work, but as we sailed better and faster on every point than the Spaniards, 'twas only a matter of time, and we could tell the hour to a nicety when we should be able to bring them into action. The thing that vexed some of my men was the disparity in numbers. We had been at sea, off and on, for two years, and had lost half our number through wounds, scurvy, calentures Hnd other sickness, and so could muster but a poor 88 all told, and many of them half disabled and brought scurvy rotten from their bunks by the rustle of preparation. The don was a 1,000 ton galleon newly out of port, with all her complement bale and sound, and with well nigh 500 men fit to carry arms. "Your watch all fit for duty, Colepepper, or has the tumbling found out the landsmen ?" c "You agreeT" cried the captain. treated beyond the break of the pooj and held the after castle in spite of ali our efforts to dislodge them—save, 1 say, for these few, the whole crew was beaten below, and we thought the ves sel our own. Bnt this pestilential hand ful kept etnbbornly at bay, and so, when, tiring at length of their resist ance, they called for a parley, we staid our arms for a moment, being willing to make a truce and grant them quarter. . The crew had been divided into watches immediately on getting clear of the crowded navigation of the Severn. The captain bad taken the starboard watch himself, and had under him the farmer, tb&German waiter and Qutbrie. Dr. Tring, who was officer of the port watcb, bad Jelly and bis wife —either of them, in the matter of srea- The man dawdled slowly throngk the "Rose," and then started another tune, and this time he elected to udd his own voice to the other torture: "And this Nicholas the First—what was heT" " 'Ere ha sheer 'ulk lies pore Tom Bow-ow ling. | "Pirate," replied the captain shortly. "He doesn't say, so himself, of course. Calls himself an honest buccaneer in bis log, but I expect pirate was about the real size of it." The darling of howtr cre-e-e-ew." "Oh, this is too much!" exclaimed the doctor and started for the door. Gain Laversha arrived one night after dinner, about a week after the enrollment of Tom Jelly and his wife. He entered the room and looked uncomprehendingly round him. Tbe doctor asked him to sit He did so, mopped his face for some time with a brown and yellow cotton pocket handkerchief, and then said, "Phew!" That was the first sound he had uttered, and apparently the exertion was too much for him, for the handkerchief was again called into active use, and it was some time before he felt sufficiently relieved to lay it across his round knees and proceed to business. When he did, he spoke with a strong Somersetshire accent: "Steady, doctor; listen a bit," said Captain Colepepper, getting up from bis chair and going toward the window. "This fellow's pipe seems familiar to me somehow or other. Hanged, thongh," he added after a scrutiny of the singer, "if I know where I can have seen the man himself before." Contlnued on page four. i cmel « itwae Ui. iversa- mSr & *«s x£l of the G)obe for I rheumatism! H NETOALCHA and rimilar Complaints. I •"he *nd prepared under the stringent an zo MEDICAL LAWS,^ by eminent physicians Uwae |W) DR. RICHTER'S (Ejk . 7.2 ANCHOR "ES3 fPAIN EXPEIXERl hat she B World rvnowned! Remarkablysuccessful! V D man. HOnl/ genuine with Trade Mark44 Anchor/' ■ 1 man- (|F fa Blchter -Co.. 2t5PearlSU, Sen lork. ■ a three 1 31 HIGHEST AWARDS. , ■ 13 Hraaeh Houses. Own Glassworks, fl ven her B Matitta bduwirMoM«»CtM"Dj stay a 'iwis a pics, so uHr« *•«»•D naaniWI '• t. GUIS, SO H.rtk Ua StrMt, assnrea j. h. hocck, 4i.rtkau.si. hard H\ pitts to is, pa. errand |2MfiiP^rtt r*_™, I DfL RICHTCR'S VJueen I «ANCHOR" STOMACHAL best fori ? him. T Stoma eh Complaints. I "Yes." said the doctor "The law was not so sqneamish in those days as it is now. 1 don't fancy yon need be afraid that yon are doing an injustice to vour ancestor's memory. Piracy was an eminently respectable calling in rae time of good Queen Bess." "But the knave commandant, aping an insolence that would have eat ill on his betters, mnst needs dictate terms tc us—to ns, who held his ship and hit shipmates' lives at our swords' mercy. 1 yield to pirates on no terms whatever,' quoth he. 'Get you gone, and your lives are spared,' quoth he, *oi stay and press your present advantage and I will rid the world of your thievish hands and minds forever, even at a large cost to myself and my following. And ye have not left my ship before thif minute glass bath drained its sand 1 swear to you on my honor as a caballerc that I will send yon and the Santa Catarina and myself and my crew skyward in one smoky shower. Beware, accursed English picaroon! A volcanc is underfoot I At this instant I turn the glass. If in a minute's time yon and your robber band have not made retreat, I fire my magazine,' qnoth he. They found him about to sink and hauled him aboard unconscious. That's all right, doctor, isn't it?" And then, seeing his friend's look of bewilderment, be burst into a roar of laughter. "Mr. Cain," he began—but v interrupted him with a wave of his bnge hands. "As we rose ber bull above the plain of ocean we saw it was pierced for ordnance innumerable, for pieces both great and small; bnt, though this was somewhat discomforting, feer lowness in th« water was such that fears were swamped as they rose to the surface, for ther« was rarely yellow ballast enough in bei holds to make ns all rich men for life, even supposing that none of ns wai killed, and as ont of onr small 83 a third, or perhaps a half, might lose the number of their mess during so hot an engagement as tbe one whereon wt were entering promised to be, there would be the greater share for the sur vivors. 8o all were eager for the cast ol fortune's dice box, which might bring them their death or might render them independent of mariner's trafficking foi tbe remainder of their natural lives. "Of course it was!" agreed Captain Colepepper excitedly. "And, don't you •ae, that's just what makes me so cockrare that the story is true!" The organ grinder was going steadily on: "Just Cain, if 'ee please, an said. "Abel, 'ee be maister now 'ee be the maister in our varm. " 'Is fftwm was hof the man-H-hest bea-u-tee, 'Is 'art was key-ind a-and sor-ur-or-oft. Faithful berlow Tom did 'is deu-u-te®, "I forgot," cried the captain, "that you haven't met Mrs. Jelly. Have you got her anywhere handy, Tom?" This was disconcerting, and now Miss Colepepper's turn to con. the rescue. She plunged, therefore the topic of chickens and the er difficulty of rearing them (a sub which she afterward confessed t knew nothing), and very soon si aged to work the farmer up intC an animated conversation. Befor minutes had passed he had g an invitation to come down ant month at the farmhouse and her that, though Abel was h mouthed man to most of his4pec knew what was due to bis bet' would behave as though it wen "Victoria herself who was visitin*. In fact, Cain almost became voluble which after events showed was a wonderful testimonial to Miss Dolly's powers.Dr. Tring nodded, and. toying absently with a human thigh bone which waa lying on the table, smoked for a little time in tbonghtfnl silence. Captain Colepepper meanwhile fidgeted incessantly in tbe big cbair, and with {ambling fingers cut another fill of ping and rammed it into bis pipe with so fnnch unnecessary violence that the pbining black clay was in imminent danger of breaking under the strain- All of which is merely an evidence that the captain's agitation was overpowering. for he loved his cutty, and would have grieved for a month if he had broken it. And now-ow 'e'a ga-aw-awn alorft. And now 'e'a gawn alor-or-or-oft, "Cruising on and off the end of the street, sir," replied the seaman promptly. "Strange!" muttered the captain. "I know the voice to a letter, but that thing can't be the man." "I come about this yer," he said, drawing a much doubled newspaper from a side pocket of his coat and unfolding it gingerly. Then, running his eye laboriously over the advertisement columns, he marked a certain spot with a broad black fringed thumb nail, and added, "This yer advertizment." "Give her a hail then and we'll introduce her to the ship's company." The second verse was being shouted at them, and the words were being driven into their ears with a force which made the window panes rattle. Tom Jelly rose bis chair, betook himself outside, and immediately afterward a leather lunged bail of " 'Enrietta, ahoy!" reverberated down the street and brought startled faces to the neighboring windows to learn what the horrible din, to which respectable Shaftoe street was quite unaccustomed, should jmrtend. The hail was echoed in shrill torn« from somewhere in the —"wor-ord depar-ar-ted, 'Is vlr-chewg wa-as so-o ra-a-a-are. Then, as though it had dawned upon bim that more explanation was needed, he drawled out: "I bain't able to gi' 'ee no pecun'ary azziztance. All the money's locked up i' the varm, an Abel 'e zez I bhaln't dra' out a thrippince of mun. Bnt I be a main good hand at phyzickin 'oases, an sheep, an beasts, an tbe like, zo I'll come ez that." '1b fr'en's was nia-any hand treu 'ar-ar-ted, 'Is 'Enriotta was key-ind and fair." "His speech was in Spanish, and but few of my lads nnderatood it. For myself, I never thought the fellow would be as good as bis threat, and so, unwilling to be worsted by mere bravado, ordered a couple of main deck culverint to be hauled in, loaded, slewed round and trained so as to sweep his defenses. 'Thou truculent braggart,' quoth I, 'down on thy marrow bones and sue foi quarter, or I blow tbee and thy handful of ironclads out through the stern port* and into the sea t' But scarce had the words left my beard when there came a roar from underfoot, the deck heaved, and we were all shot skyward together. "That settles it!" exclaimed Captain Colepepjier, rushing toward the door. "Tom Jelly was the only man who evei changed Poll to Henrietta in that line." "The don was ablaze with bannert and ancients [ensigns], and on tbe am pie belly of ber forecourse was depicted the head of St. Catherine, her patron ess, with all the gauds and embellish menta of the master painter's art. She was replete with carvings and gildings, with high fore and after castles, witb close quarters and with all the Spanish devices for naval fortification, and in good sooth she was as brave a ship at ever breasted Atlantic or lured honest Kngl'tK buccaneer to plunder. His action in filling his pipe was, however, apparently just as unconsciouf aa the doctor's in playing with the bone, for when he had done he did not light it, but laid it on the table, and. resting bis elbows on bis knee* and bis chin in his hands, leaned for- Ward and anxionsly watched his companion's face. His whole attitude betokened an excitement tbe suppression at which was actually painfuL "Well," said the doctor, "if the individual is a friend of yours, Colepepper, I hope yon'11 use your influence with him for our benefit. Mnch more of his melody will be mentally dangerous—to me at any rate, and even Guthrie looks ruffled." distance, and was followed presently by the appearance of Mrs. Jelly herself. ACTIVE SOLICITORS WANTED EVERY" where for "The Story of the Philippines," by Marat Halstead, commissioned by tne Oovernment as Official Historian to the War Department. The book was written in army camps at San Francisco, on the Pacific with Gen. Merritt, in the hospitals at Honolala, in Hong Kong, in the American trenches at Manila, in tne Insurant camps with Aguinaldo, on the deck of the Olympia with Dewey, and in the roar of batU tat the fall of Manila. Bonanza for agents. Brin ful of original pictures * en by governn ent photographers on the Drot. Large book. JjOV prices. Big profits. Freight paid! Credit jrtven. Drop all trashy unofficial war book*. Outfit free. Address, F. T. Bari bar, 8eo'y, Star Imuranoe Building, Chicago, Meanwhile Dr. Tring had taken advantage of the sailor's brief absence to hold a hurried colloqny with his friend. "Whatever are you driving at?" queried the doctor, completely puzzled. When Dr. Tring returned, he brought his partner with him. Captain Colepepper lookedfgt the farmer, said nothing for minnte, and then, tnrning to the doctor, remarked shortly in an undertone, "No sailor, doctor, and never will be; but he'll do to turn that crank of yours." "What on earth are you thinking of. Colepepper 1" he protested. "We The man stared heavily for a minute and then offered the paper which he still held marked with his thumb. "It zez physical 'ere, zur, in the advertizliient. I zeed un a month agone an been figurin of un ont ever zince. I'll But the captain had got outside by this time, and the suggestion remained unanswered. The other two, watching from the window, saw the organ gTinder turn round as soon as the door opened and trrin expansively the moment Can- don't want a stewardess." "A stewardess!" repeated the captain, with a roar of laughter. "Mrs. Jelly a stewardess? Wait till you see her!" however, betrayed I go wi" 'ee, znr." "Tbee lax bad 1 writ hqfoae wo caxq* "Beahxew me if the knave Spaniard The doctor looked puzzled. "Br the way. paid the At this unexpected reply, Miss Colenenner had a severe fit ot cbokin*. and •'Then you think we bad better accent tttejreutieman'9 offer!"