OMAHA SUNDAY BEE, MARCH 31, 1907.
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"cuAM PKOPOcTED WE "EAT THE COOK"
Startled by Strange Voices, the Two Terrified Sea
men, Thinking the Place B3witched,vHastily
Rebury Find and Escape to the Sh;p. ,
Narrator Hopes Some Day to Return for Wealth and Holds in
His Possession Various Charts and Sketches Which
Go Far to Substantiate the Yarn.
From Description Island b Thought bj Many To Be That of Smaller
Trinidad, Which Was a Favorite Stronghold for Pirates
in the Days of the Spanisn Main.
AFTER fumbling In th depths of a
battered se& chest the old sailor
finally brought to light a soiled
plwe of paper, upon which was
roughly pencilled a seaman's chart.
"This," ' said he, "Is a map of
Mlssln' Link Island, wot 1 made at
th time, an' a pitcher by Dill, so If not h In'
else "11 do but a yarn about burled treas-!
vr I'll spin you one wot Is a yarn, an' lt
befell myself right her at this Identical
place where th' cross Is marked.
"We was down in th' 6ou' Atlantic, I
reckolec, an' owln' to a storm havlu'
blowed us out o' our course th' water had
run so low we was reduced to two table
spoonfuls a day per man. We could a stood
that fur a time, but t' make th' sltlatlon
more pleasant th' ship had been so worst
ed by th' gale she was almost at th' mercy
,' wind an' wave, an'arter tryln' fer three
days f keep her headed for Hlo Janeiro
we give up In despair an' let her drift,
truatln' to Providence, an' in th' meantime
perpartn' for another world.
"My mate. Bam, who wasn't overly
rugged, was th' tdrs to go off his head,
an' beln nacherly a thirsty chap th' way
be took on was snmethln' startlln' t' hear.
It was plain f rum th" start th' poor feller's
tnlnd was ramblln', fer nathln' would do
him but old Cap. Barnacle had a prlvlt
cask o fine clear Ice water hid som'ers
about th' wessle wot he was drlukln' of
o th' sly, an' f see Bam slip around with
a cunuln' eye n th' old man all the time
was enough t set youl nerves on edffe.
"About this tuns th' Chinese cookie, wot
was sufferln' as much as we was In his
own heathen way, broke out o' th' galley
all at once. Jibber In' to hlsself an' beattu'
a fry pan t
an' 6am, who had got out ih"Ulp's auger
an was burin' holes In tli' deck In th'
hope o' strlkln vein o' pink lemonade
wliU cherries In It, got a new ldy In his
' ii i' i 7 m r.ii f a&r
SXOJSD COULDNT DEo50JeifcL THE UDOK. THAT CAME OVEI TH
' OLO MAJJa? "FACE "
chest o' gold, sat Samuel. Yes," sir; he "Ths funny part of It was that treasure Have ha took it t be th' horrible Joke o
had been layln' right there In the shlftln'ia pair o' loonytlcks 'till his eye caught
wa throwln bandfuls o' th'glltterln' stuff
In th air Jlst t' hear It come Jlnglln
down over his bald head an' otherwise
behavln' like a feller wot was bereft o
his senses. I made haste t Jlne 8am, an'
as soon as I see th' stuff was real old
Rnanlnh treasure th' scene o' rejolcln' wot .covered from
follered beat th' one at th' spring.
"It wasn't long afore our Joy give way t
fear an' tremblln', howsomever, for all at
once a hoarse voice sung out frum th'
cliff: 'Ahoy I there, you lubbers!' It Bed;
'back to th' ship!'
"Well, sir, we was too scared t look be
hind us at first, but finally, summtn' up
all our courage, we turned 'round, ex
pectin' t' see th' ghost o' old Captlng
Kldd, mebby, but to our great relief it
was only poor Pol, wot th' sklpper'd sent
ashore t' stir us up about fetchln' tha
water.
"That scare put us on our guard, an'
kind o' savages might
not knowln' wot
Inhabit th' place, we begin t' lmmaglne
every rock an' bush concealed an' enemy,
an' when a tern or man-o'-war bird would
wheel down an scream over our shoulder
we'd purty near faint with fright.
sands where them old sea rovers burled
It three hundred years afore, like as not,
with narry a llvln' soul t' meddle till ms
an' Bam come along, an' then all o' a
sudden it seemed 'at if we didn't git her
th light o' day In a hurry
there'd soon be a crowd gether 'round t'
dispute our claim.
"Feelln" guilty that way, we lit in f
cover th chest, after first stufnn our
pockets full o' doubloons an' pieces o'
eight, an' then made off for th' boat as
fast as we could waddla with th' weight
o' th stuff.
"We knowed old Barnacle t' be one o'
th' greediest men that ever sailed th' sea,
an' our ldy was t' keep th secret dark
for th 'present an' come back later an'
git th' balance o' th' treasure. Plannln'
that way, we never thought ag'ln o' water
till th boat was hoisted' an' then th' way
th' old man an 'cookie pounced upon that
empty cask kind o" brought us to our
senses. .'
"Words H never descrlba'th expression
wot come over th' captlng's face when he
found the cask' empty; an' I'Jl alles be-
th' spuria o a string o' diamonds around
the Mlssln's neck, wot we hadn't noticed
before in th' excitement. Then ha sized
up our bulgln' pockets, an' th' cat was out
o' th' bag.
"Did we ever go back fer th rest o that
gold, you're askln'T ' Well, no; not exactly.
You see, everything's plain as daylight up
to th time where we come back with th
empty cask, but frum there em's a kind o
blank space I never been quite able t'
Agger out. Anyway, when I come to in
th' M'rene Horspltal th' young doo sed
we'd been picked up by a passln' ship In
ad'lerlouscondlahun an' th' story o' treas
ure was probably only 'magtnatlon.
"I don't go much on doctors, but there
was Sara with a entirely different yarn,
an when th' captlng come for'ard with an
other story that didn't gibe with Bill's
or mine either, I had f kind o' give In
for th' time beln', but I got th' papers
here, an' if I'm ever in them latlchudes
ag'ln I'll find out which one o' us was
dream In' or my name ain't William Bumps,
A. B., an' you can lay to that."
bead. Yes, sir; he come over to me rsry
serlousllke an' proposed that we eat th
cook. You see, he argyed that if th' pagan
hadn't fed us so much salt horse we
wouldn't a drunk up all th' water, which
sounded fair, an' It wasn't no more'n right,
be sed, t' have a little genolne Chinese
chop suey fer a change o' diet.
"Matters had corns to this pass when
Mlssln' (we called him' Mlssln' fer short)
sighted th' island I got marked down here.
which we arterward named Mlssln' Link's
Island in honor o' th' dlsooveror, for as
th' rest o us had long sines abandoned
th' watch if it hadn't been for that faith-j
ful critter we'd a probably drifted by our
only chance o' salwatlon Ithout ever
lookln' over th' side.
"You can't imagine how th' sight o' land
put new heart in us, an' In less time than
It takes t' tell about it we'd lowered a
boat, an', tumblln' In with an empty cask,
was pullln' fer that chunk o' terrlflrma
with might' an main. Th' captlng, beln' a
cautious man an' havln' a mortal dread'
o' canny blea, perf erred f remain on board,
agtfreeln' t' stand on an' off with th' ship
till we returned with th' water.
"It was only a small Island, as we could
see, mostly rock an' fringed with cocoa
palms, but surrounded by Jagged coral
reefs that kept up a high surf even when
th' weather was calm.
"As soon as we could beach th' boat you'd
better think we started on a mad search
for water, payln' no attention to plslnous
reptiles or th' thousands o'
that went srraniblln
that cold puddle was about th' puniest
bit of patera! scenery that ever busted
upon th' view o' two poor, famished ship
mates, an th' way we danced an' shouted
an' sung atween drinks soon had all th'
gulls an man-o'-war birds on th' Island" in
a clamor. Yes, sir; I think even th' old
man must a heard us frum th ship by
th' way he run in as close as he oould an'
stared at us through th' glass, hla tongue
hangln' out with thirst all th' time.
"As soon as we'd wet our whistles suf
ficient I told Bum an' Mlssln' Link t' hurry
down an' fetch th' cask while I stood over
th' spring f maka sure it didn't up an'
wanlsh- You see, we wasn't Just ourselfs
yet an' not dead sure our good fort-nuns
was true. Bam hung back some at th' My
o" leavln' the piece, but arter takln' two
oi three big swigs f satisfy his rulnd It
was th' genolne article th' two o' 'era set
out fer th' beach.
"Well, sir, tbey hadn't been gone three
minutes, an' I was Jlst stoopln' over fer
another sup, when I was so startled by a
series o' blood curdlln' yells an' whoops
that th' next thing I knew I'd gone beam
end Into th' spring an' was takln' a fresh
water bath.
"I made sure poor Sara had been taken
land crabs 'by some o' them canny bles wot frequently
off Into th' but-hes i ketches sn' eats sallormen, but as th' hub
like th' rattle o' dry bones.! bub continued I made out a sound like
was enough t' make your larfln', and then I knew my old mate had
with a noise
Vghl They
flesh crep, was them land crabs, but i gone plumb daft.
scare th' thirst devils away, i you bet we didn't atop t' exainln' the'l "Th prospect o' beln' left alone on that
species none till ws struck signs o' fresh Island, with a madman was not a cheerln
water, wot led up a little gully to a Due
cool spring.
"Bay, I want t'
stats right hers that
one, an' you can lmmaglne my change o"
feellu s upon peekln around th cliff, for
right there on th' sand. In front o' a big
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