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.
