The Diamond Derelict Being the Record of a
Young Man Who Finally Won Out By Edward Marshall
(Copyright, ltK.3. All Klghts Reserved, by
V. U Marshall.)
CHAPTBH XXV.
The Generosity of Captain Sears.
When a Htlngy man gives somethln,' It's
gcncr'ly souicthln' thut he Aggers ain't
no urn to nobody ami he alius makes a
presentation sjieech. The Log Book vl
The Lrytldy.
HH progress from the Burpee
T homestead to thu dock was u cure
si mony, and such u one us would
'" J b unlikely to bo born out of ttio
t "VMhi? hearts of nny folk except Capo
Codders. Without planning or prearrango
ment, rejoicing ut thu good luck of tho
eld mun nt their head, they fell into a
strange lantern and torchllt procession and
tramped through the deep wind of the nar
row road toward l'rovlncetown. Soon aoino
one of them began a "Gospel Hymn."
Churches lungutHli on tho Capo, but tho
Moody and Sankey song go on forever.
Whether it wan through chance, or, per
haps', UxaiUHC in tho confUKcd mind of thu
woman who started the singing there was
an appropriateness In It, no ono knew, but
the song first started was "Thu Prodigal
Child."
Tho llro-searrcd hulk of tho Iydlu Bkol
feld had been tied up after tho menhadener
hud cu-tt off tho towing lines, at ono of
those great, decaying wharves, which now
how so melancholy at tho Capo's chief
ports. There had been days wlien ni.my
hundrid s;iilors had honied there, but the
memories of those times now seem llko
legends. Tho days when the rotting pier
which win tho goal for tho straggling
little bund which followed In tho captain's
wuko had been as busy as any on thin
coant or any other had long passed by, and
this night tho men with tho lanterns tip
toed on It cautiously.
Tho light of ninny lanterns showed tho
floating ruin of the ship beyond the rough
and broken platform. Tho shouts which
had risen from tho crowd wero mow sub
dui J. The Investigators declared that tho
dock, was iiito too shaky to risk much
weight upon It, and so tho captain's arm
chair was deposited lor the time In thci
uiidt.t of a chattering, good-natured group
upon tho solid earth, full thirty feet away
from the UlHuiantled ship ho loved bo well.
l'arton and Captain Bears were tho first
to board the l.ydtii uml muko u prullmtruiry
survey und InvebtlKution.
It wuu after Captain Bears and Pa r ton
had succeeded, with tho asslstanio of much
Shouted, advico from tho onlookers, in get
ting an Improvised gunKplank aocurely fixed
so that It bridged the three or four feet of
wutcr between the ship and tho pier, and
rested on a portion of tho vessel's rail that
was not too badly burned to make It a firm
support, that he yielded to tho American.
linpuLto to make a speech.
lie had been greatly Impressed by the
exhibition of popular delight over Captain
burgee's good fortune. It had angered
him a Uttie even, for he did not under
stand it, but his slow wits wero quick
enough to tell him that this ho must not
Show, People had Jeered blra and he knew
that be was unpopular. This hud long
worried him.
The remark that a dock lounger had
tnade Just as the Busy had begun the voy
age which end.nl when sho towed tho I.ydla
In had galled him deeply. The man had
called out, cheerfully:
"Hun v'yage. Cup. Hope ye'U have good
lurk this trip! Praps you'll run acrost
another flout in' co'pse this time, one that's
left a rich widder that can pay!"
There was an especial reason why ho sor
rowed over this trend of public thought at
this particular time. A government com
mission waa to be appointed to study Cape
Cod's sand dunes. Due native was to grace
lu councils at a salary of b'ffl for the ses
sion of six months. Captain Bears was be
ginning to get old and llfo on the menhaden-,
steamer was must laborious. He
wished to be that native.
He hid thought much of this the while
the recent voyage was In progress. And
after he picked up the l.ydla a great
thought came to him. Ho looked the
melancholy derelict over with some care
and decided that she was almost worthless.
Salvage for her rescue would be divided,
according to the law In such cases, smong
. his entire crew Of she was declared to be
worth anything at ell), end he would get
hut little, be reflected, at the beat. It oc
curred to him that therein lay his oppor
tunity to redeem his damaged reputation
for generosity and general decency. lh
other members of the crew were certain to
consent. The loss could not bo great, for
the derelict of tho Lydla was matctly
worth, he estimated, the coal It cost to
tow her In.
Thus where all the people were gathered,
thinking of nothing but the wreck and of
no one but the captain, was the time and
there the place to "spring" It.
"Captain Tltirgee," he said, leaning
against a wharf post and trying to make
his fnce tnke on an expression as near as
possible to geniality, "there's some hin
that I wont to say an' I'm a-goln' to sny
it. This here ftndln' of your ship a-dTlftln'
'round gives me Jest the chance that I've
be'n lookln' for. They Is them here on the
Capo that's spoke nn' thunk hnrd of me
In times gone pnst, because of things I
may have done. They was especial tad
rlous 8ears, wero at first quite speechless,
and then broke into a Jerky cheer. It was.
as It were, literally yanked out of them by
their surprise. It rose in spasms.
Captain Sears fluBhed by this spectacular
success, went on:
"After wo had picked her up and while
we was a -com In' Into port, we talked this
nvitter over. And, in order that there
couldn't be no mistake at all about it, I
made out a paper. We signed It and we
was glad to sign it. It transfers cur claims
to you, an' we don't reckon that you are
a-goln' to sue yourself for salvage. If
you'll Jest step for'ard here a little, Mis'
Hurgee, I'll hand the paper to you. I've
got It right here In my pocket."
Mrs. Hurgee stepped forward, and Cap
tain Sears did hand her the paper. She
took it to her husband. All she could say
face. If he reckoned there was much la
salvage on the Lyddy as there Is In sal'ry
on th' Job, he wouldn't be so gonh-darned
generous. When some folks asts ye to sail
In an take a bite out o' red apples, ye'U
be clever If ye makes a careful squint
for wo'm boles."
CHAPTER XXVI.
Asa In the Cars: f (he Lydla.
Ain't God clever? Ixiok at all th new
ways He finds of punlshin' th' wicked,
an' glvin' goodies to th' Rood! Don't they
mako our prisons an' our penalties, an
our presents an' prosperities seem Just
foolish ?-The lxg Hook of tho I.yddy.
No other means of shipwreck ever can
give a ship so desolate an appearance as
can fire. Tho stump of the India's main
mast still stood, but It gleamed no longer
with that rich yellow of its Norway pins
HIS im'riW HIS HRKATII IN QUICKLY WHEN UK SAW THAT THE EAKT1I WHICH HE KEMEMHEREI TO HA VIS
RUBBED OVt'K THE IAJU'S fciND WAS QUITE GONE.
feelln' over the fact that I ast the widder
Iiriscoe for the usual fee for pickln' up her
husband's co'pse. Now I think lover, I
see that I waa wrong to ask pay for the
filndlu' of Ned Briscoe dead, when he was
wo'thless llvin'. I'm sorry that I done It.
Now what I want to say Is this: There Is
times and there ain't times for askin' salv
age. I thought that the time when I found
Iiriscoe a-bobbln' 'round out there like a
cork loose from a boy's fish line waa the
time to do It. I know that now, when I've
found your ship a-floattn' Is the time not
to do It.
"Now, you folks know as well as I do
what claims for salvage me an' my men
might make ag'lnst this ship an' whatever
may be left In her. Well, we ain't goln' to
make no claim! That's all there Is to that.
An' me an' my men we're all consid'able
glad to say so. Ain't we, boys?"
The three members of his crew were
present and they manifested their approval
of what he aald In three awkward shame
faced ways although It is probable that
their generous sincerity waa at least as
great as was his own. The other people
oa the dock, amaaed at this) from the pent-
was, "Thank ye, Captain 8ears, thank
ye!" Hut the Hut that stole up to his
eyes trembling, a moment later testified
there' was much more which he thought
but could not say.
Captain 8ears unquestionably had the
people with him now. If he had stopped
there, he might have won back that pop
ularity which had passed with the Iiris
coe corpse salvage incident. But he con
tinued, saying:
"And now, feller rltlxena, I hope there
ain't none here as thinks hard o' me no
more. An' I hope that when my claims
Is properly presented to th' gov'ment, there
ain't none as will oppose my gltlin' on th'
Cape commission."
Mostly the simple minded folk there
present were properly impressed. Mostly
they felt that they had wrongedly Judged
hfm In the past, and that If. In order to
make up, they could help htm in the fu
ture, they would do It; but there was one
old, grizzled seadog, who spat tobacco
Juice and said:
"Yah! I thought there was a current
ruunln' that didn't show up oa th' sur-
whlch It had been the captain's pride ever
to keep shining over all of It The upper
end was charred and ugly. The mainmast
was entirely gone, and that part of the
deck in which it had been stepped was
also torn up and destroyed. A great hole
with charred edges where the explosion
had torn the planking up had given the
lire free chance to eat Its way and yawned
gloomily.
Fore and aft the ruin was much less
complete than It was amidships. The
rain had evidently started In liefore the
flames had had a chance to eat deep into
the solid timbers, and there were spots
around the edge of the Jagged rent there
In the deck which showed the fresh yellow
of the pine as It waa torn by the explosion,
where It had not been at all blackened by
the fire or smoke.
Tho entrance to the cabin eompanlonway
was charred, but held Its sharp edges.
The greater part of the exterior of th
deck houBe was not burned, although the
paint on It was faintly clouded by the
smoke, and. in some places, yellowed and
blistered. Parton remembered with a shud
der how Intense the heat had been and how
