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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1904)
Young Man Who Finally Won, Out By Edward Marshall (Copyright, 1903, All Rights Reserved, by K. I Marshall.) chapter ix. It ain't alius tho one with the patent looks that turns out to t the sfest sea chest. The lAjg Hook of tha Lyddy. I t2SFLE the somewhat natural ner I I vousiness which I'nrton felt an h diamonds from his bolt und stuff thrm Into his pockets, prepara tory to hiding them from the possibly larcenous Illinois of tho mate, there was distinct worry about Captain Burgee. Even While he was In Ills little stateroom, en gaged In this Interesting labor, a vis-ion of the old sailor's pnlneil, drawn face rope before, him and troubled him. There had been something almost uncanny In Its ex pression of sternly combated agony. His half prediction that the mate would be In command of the I.ydln Bkolfeld before she reached her Boston wharf was not a pleasant prophecy. Even aside from the fact that Parton had learned to feel a real affection for the old man, and was greatly distressed to think that physical misfortune threatened him, he had cmse for regret In the fact that, us the captain bail aid, if anything happened to him the mate would be In command of the ship. He put the plugs which the captain had made for him In one of his outsldn Jacket pockets, together with some rumpled-up bits of newspaper, which he thought he might need for packing. Just as he emerged from the cabin compnnlonway the mate appeared at tho head of It to go down, and I'nrton stood aside to let him PURS. As Parton walked aft the captain tipped him one of his prodigious winks, and Inti mated to him In dumb show that every thing had been arranged. Parton turned and walked .forward toward the open hatch, and the captain walked with him, so that the solitary excursion of the passen ger should not seem strange to the man at the wheel, By the time they had reached the hatch they wore hidden from him by masts and canvas, and the captain had so distributed the other members of the crew that Parton could descend Into the hold without being seen by uny of them. The work of secreting the Jewels took only a few moments. There was a narrow gangway running aft letwecn two piles of the timbers, closely braced and shored so as to hold them firm (n rase of heavy seas. Over these braces Parton clambered quickly until he reached the second pile of the timbers. He used his light very sparingly, only flashing It from beneath hla Jacket after he felt certain that he was In a posi tion where It could not be seen even by a person leaning over the hatchway and looking down. The space between the second and tha third piles of timbers was scarcely wider than was necessary for hla cramped pas sage, and wsa greatly encumbered by brac ing rods and beams; but It was this very narrowness which made him choose, It. Ho selected the log which was to form his novel aaf.'ly deposit box In a way Which be thought of at that very moment, and he laughed to himself as he decided on It. At random be touched a log and, feel ing of Its smooth, square end, found the small hole for the test which was designed to reveal the work of dishonest dealers If they had done any. Having fully In vestigated this hole with bis fingers and found It was In all respects suitable for Ms purpose, he did not take It; but took the third one from It, counting toward the outer planking of the ship. Ho had with him a bit of wire something like four feet In length. This he thrust Into the hole, finding Ha depth to be about three feet. This was deep enough, and he thrust his precious packages In. one by one. until they had all disappeared Into tha log. With a stick which formed part of his equipment, he poked them in as fur as he could, and then he gently hammered the plug which the captain hud whittled out for him after them. The old man had evidently calculated Its sixe with great care, for It went In with Just enough un willingness to make him feel certain that It would take a definite effort to bring it out, and that It could not be dislodged by any ordinary accidental circumstance. Than there came the necessity of mark ing the log for Identification. First, he vary carefully determined its location in the pile by ojHint. and made elaborate awl-f about U la bis memorandum book. which, afterwards, he tucked Into his pockpt with much greater care than had ever been bestowed upon the little volume before during the whole of its existence. Hut he waa not satisfied with this mere memorandum. Many things, he reflected, might happen to that. He might lose the book, for Instance. To mark the log it self wis, as the captain had said, a most necessary precaution. Ho solved the problem by taking from his pocket his key ring, and selecting a flat, steel key, with numerous eccentric notches along Its edge. He held this agalnet the end of the log, and hit It two or three smart blows with his little hammer, wait ing before he struck, each time, tin t II the ship was groaning with the strain of the sea, as all wooden vessels will. Then he flashed his light upon the log's end, and saw that there was a very distinct impres sion of the key there. He smiled a little as he saw lt The key had been the one with which he had opened the safety de posit box In Tendon the day on which he hnd taken tho belt with Its precious burden the Americas. The sun glittered prettily on the ever-moving sea, and Purton felt exhilarated and elated, lie was convinced that he had escaped another danger. He was more convinced of It thnn before, after he had gone below. The mate was sitting at the cabin table busy with some papers and nodded rather surlily when Parton en tered. Parton eat down at the table after he had left his incumbrances In his little cabin, which hn could do without being seen by the other. Parton parstd over the rlgar box. The mate knocked off the evi dently distasteful clerical work and looked up with a bad counterfeit of a good-natured smile. Ho took the cigar and got up and brought some whisky and water. wh!ch Just ns they began to drink the captain thrust his face through the skylight. He made some noise in doing so and attracted the attention of both men. He did not speak or call to either of them, but there was a strange and frightened look about his face which made Parton start, almost In terror. The captain's eyes were fixed on him and the forefinger of one of his there was something In the old man's face that kept him from doing so. It was easy to see that he wan ulready ashamed of having called him from the cabin. lie seemed to be embarrassed by tho thought that he had shown unmanly weakness and wished to atone for It in some way to wlall to bo more than unusually Jolly and light hearted as a penance for the moment or two of almost tragic apprehension which had shown on his face. "Yes, sir," said the captain from bis scat upon the stanchion. "I wasn't in no particular hurry for you to come up, but I thought that you might want to Bee how the patent log works." In substantiation of this he held out what he had In his hand. It was a brass con trivance which looked like a small model of the propeller of a ship, with, above It, a small brass cylinder with a hand like that of a watch and a series of figures In a circle on a dial enclosed under glass on it. Parton could scarcely believe that tha anxiety of the captain for him to como oa PARTON THRUST HIS PRECIOUS PACKAGES INTO THE HOLES ONE BY ONh out of it Thus, for the second time, It became the guardian of his treasure. Ha believed that no one would bo likely to observe so small a blemish. He made assurance of this doubly sure by rubbing over the Impression some of the earth which rlur.g to the end of one of the other logs. All of the log ends were more or less smeared with dried mud, and the presence of this particular soiled spot on this es pecial log end could not possibly attract attention to It. After he had completed his task he ex amined Its result with some care, and waa well satisfied that he had hidden his Jewels in such a way that the mate would be una ble to find them. Iuck or the captain favored him, .for no member of the crew was near at hard when he emerged from the hatch to the deck, and. Indeed, he saw no man until he reached the waist of the ship, where sev eral of the men were working with paint pot, brush and considerable profane pro test. As he passed them he noticed that the sea was rising, and a dash of salt water drenched him. Here again was good luck. If such things occurred often it would be necessary to batten down the hatches. Hud it been necessary to do so before it might have tcen difficult to arrange it so that he could have entered or emerged from the hatch without making a good deal of trouble and attracting much atten tion. The weather, although freshening, was till delightful. The Kydht drove along uankingly. with every inch of her square canvas pulling with bellies bulging toward knotted hands beckoned to him to come on deck. Then tho head withdrew and Parton started to go toward the companlonway. "You and the captain appear to be mighty good friends," commented the mute. "Guess he'll need all his friends after this Voyage Is ended. He won't bo able to get cargoes after this, I'm afraid. The old man's queer sometimes, these days. It's lucky for him that he owns this old hooker. I don't believe he'd find many owners will ing to trust him with their ships." Parton hurried away and the mate turnel back to the papers on the table. CHAPTER X. Sii'kness don't knock and ask if you're busy; it just conies aboard and mikes itself to home. i'he Ixig Book of The lvyddy. As Parton reached the deck the captain looked at him with an expression which Bhowed a combination of qulxzlcal anxiety and acute pain. "I ain't a feelln' very well," he said. "I ain't a fuelin' so John Qulncy Adams well as I might. That's why I ast you to coma on deck. I wanted you to go aft with me." He grinned in what Parton thought was a strained way and stopped what he knew would be a flow of sympathetic words with a wavo of his band. It trembled u-rt it passed through the air. "Yes," the captain continued, "I wanted you to como aft with me and see bow the patent log works." He did not go to the after rail, for which he had evidently started, but sit down somewhat suddenly oa a stanchion. Parton wanted to Inquiaa about him ailment, but deck had been due wholly to a desire to have him observe the workings of the patent log; but made no comment for fear that he might worry the old man by so doing. The captain, however, did not seem to bo especially anxious to test the speed of the Lydia at once, but sat for some time on the stanchion. It occurred onco or twice to Parton that this was as much because of physical weakness as anything else, and he watched him closely. The color had slowly como back to his cheeks and hla hands, which had been somewhat tremu lous, were steady again. Suddenly the captain lurched forward toward him they were at the after rail and Parton put out hla arms barely in time to prevent him from falling to the deck. This time there was no offer on the captain's part to take Parton's solicitude 111. He grasped the young man's arms at first, and then went close to the rail and gripped it with both hands. Again and again he passed his hands across his upper face, always letting the fingers linger In a hard pressure Just above the right eye. "By John Qulncy Adams!" he said, with a strange, wandering look In bis eyes. "By John Qulncy Adams that'B the funniest feelln'!" "What Is It, captain 7" asked Partonf anxiously. "Oh, I guess It ain't much," said the captain. "Seems like a kind of concen trated an' glorified essence o' some o til' worst phases of seasickness. You know how dlssy you was when yon waa seasick T Wall, multiply that by ten a&" carry one.