The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 180: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

882 now indeed as he stood in the full light of the glaring tropic noon with his fallen lower lip and drooling mouth. I think in that moment that even Morgan had his doubts, for he looked at the man and then threw him a dollar. He snapped it up as a dog seizes a bone and growled out a “Gracias, Senor Capitan.” “Dost thou know where there is treasure hidden?’ ”’ The man gave him a cunning look. “There is much hidden that shall not be revealed,” he answered. “Do not trifle with me, fellow. Thy life hangs on thy answer! Jenkins, take forty men of your crew and take him as your guide. Make him pilot you to the place where the ‘ blunt’ has been hidden and bring it back with you. Bring it back, I say, or you know what you can expect from me. ‘Here we are with four days lost to us through following up this old wives’ tale, and the Spanish. armadas only three days off at La Guayra, where they can head us off at ahy moment if word should have been sent to them of our plight. Be quick, man!”’ It was the first command that Jenkins had ever held, which may have accounted for the way he drove us. Oakes, being to all intents and pur- poses captain aboard the Black Prince, could not go with us; so Jenkins was selected, and it was a very determined party of forty men that rowed ashore: on that fifth day with the Spaniard to guide us, We marched out of the town and picked the best of our way behind our guide as he led us up the bed of the stream that supplied the water to the town. We crossed it above the walls and struck down again from the line of the hills to the low banks of the Jake. The hills had dwindled away now to a horrible waste of mangrove swamps, where mile after mile of interarching roots stretched their foul arms, dank with slime, to take fresh root in the fouler mud below. THE ARGOSY. Colonies of great purple crabs wove in and out among the roots, and here and there a tall white heron stood spectral-like among the mangrove stems. All day we tramped along, moving carefully across the mud or swinging ourselves, like so many monkeys, from root to root, till, as night was falling, we reached firm earth at the far side of the swamp and camped for the night. Tired and exhausted with the long march and the unwonted exertions, we gathered about the fires, seeking the lee of the blaze so that the smoke should drive away the pestilential mosquitoes that infested the wet lands. ‘“ See here, Pedro,” said Jenkins an- grily when the guide had been led up to the fire to be questioned, “do you know where this treasure is hidden? ” Si, senor.” ' “What is it? Gold or silver? Mint- ed pesos or bullion, or mayhap precious stones? What is it, and where is it hidden? ”’ “Gold,” he said—“ gold, sewor, and silver ; but I will not tell. Why should I? And colored stones such as no man ever saw before. I buried them, but not for you. No, no—I will never tell!” “ Oh, that is your song, is it? Very well! I will show you that you will tell, and be very glad for the chance of telling, too. You'll tell all that you know and something over for good measure. Tie him up, some of you men, and put a guard over him.” His teeth set in a determined way as he walked over to his fire and laid down in the midst of the thick, acrid smoke that enveloped him as if it were a blanket. With the first gleam of the murky, gray light that crept upon us through the swamp we were astir, and it did not take us long to wash down a few mouthfuls of the tainted bowcain that we had with some of the muddy water from the swamp, after which we took up our march again. conniclbools (E@)