Chums No. 785, Vol. XVI — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

srainge it was—none ia Hispaniola would” vcarken to the story of the plate ship lying --for the Boylers are not a dozen fea; » the island—and so would do nothing, efore they could do nought themselves, o anything a small vessel at least was ed, and the means wherewith to dive—and inly the Portygee had no money for this, the black was little less than a beggar. fore, at once they sang another son: ig directly very lowly, and saying, “ 1, they would take the Captain’s offer,” only d not the look on the face of Juan, the and i that moment determined to him Well, therefore, T have to say that all terms de, and we were ready to go out to the e bought a tender, and we meant when to our Little isle of old, where the second vy was, to make some canoes of some ex- nt cotton trees that were there, with which could go about, and see better when near reef down into the water, ; The negro Juan was to come, first as diver, t as on behalf of himself and Geronimo to » be- ell r W nex see we played fair, and he it was also to whom the Portygee confided the exact spot where he had seen the rail float up years ago, since he would not tell us, saying Fons would take us to the place. So we went away, being delayed, however, two days by the accursed Rintksetiny. who we thought at first had played us false—perhaps, indeed, found new employers who would pay him better. However, at last we saw him com- ing out in his periaga—and none too soon neither, since we meant to go without him next morning if he came not, and try our luck alone —and when he and his craft were gotten aboard, he excused himself by saying he had been haying a festa on shore and getting drunk with some of his friends. “Good,” says Phips when he heard this, “only, my black treasure, remember there is no drunkenness for you here. Because, you see,” he went on, “I’m Captain aboard this craft, and if anyone displeases me I let them understand it. So, if you want to keep your brains in your head and your ebony skin whole, rémember that. And now, bos’un,”’ says he, “‘pipe all hands on deck and loose sail for the reef.” CHAPTER X. “ The Wreck is Found. Anp now I have to write down what we found, only, as such long writing is even now difficult to me, I must do it in my own fashion. And that fashion is, that I can do nothing except by proceeding leisurely and describing each in- cident as it came about. Which I now again attempt. The soft wind carried us out past the Boylers the next day at noontide, and then, as we went by, we parted with our tender, the ship going on to our little isle of old, For ’twas here we meant to construct the cotton-wood canoes, to take in some of the island water—the sweetest I ever tasted, which caused us to take it from there—and to leave some stores. ; The tender which we left behind—though not very far, since the isle was but three leagues beyond the Bajo—was in charge of our master mate, as he was rated, an old King’s man like myself, and, like myself, sick of the King’s ser- vice. He was a good sailor and named Ayscough. His orders were to proceed to whatever point near that the African should suggest as the re- puted place where the carrack was shifted to; to anchor if possible, or, if not, to put out the floating anchors, and there to remain until we turned. But no matter what was perceived, on should it be the ecarrack herself at the tom, neither our own diver nor the Black was to be allowed to descend, especially not the rhen, having given these orders, we did re- n on our £8 two days, what time Phips ked as hard as any man in the ship with his hands, shaping and arranging of the 'on-wood canoes, inspiring "ey one with hia irs and cheering them on, What, however, ‘t cheer any of us, was a-finding that some » bodies of the mutineers of the isle had sind blown all off them where they were l on the beach, and that their skeletons lying white and bleached before us. a dreadful memorial of their wicked- s 50° wn ‘ Praryentte,” “a : fore ropes, hooks, and head-bladders, all care- dvds wrapped up and evidently for use in “Now,” says Phips, “this is not well. There is nought to dive for here but one thing—the Plate Ship- refore it seems to me orga one else has been about our office. Yet it is certain they have not been successful. Had they been we must have heard of it at Porto. What think you, Nick?” “That depends,” says I, “on which Provy- dence those who own the boat hail from. If ’tis that of the Bahamas, then ’tis very well, since ‘they are ours again since °66, and as King James takes his tenth of our find, we have the precedence of all, So ’tis if it’s that by Con- necticut, which is but a hamlet. But if ’tis that off Honduras, then ’tis bad, since ‘tis in- habited by buccaneers only, if inhabited at all; and, if them, we may have some trouble,” “Well, well,” says he, “we must see. Mean- while I incline to it hailing from the Bahamas. For look you, Nick, ‘Provydence’ is good “ THEIR SKELETONS WERE LYING WHITE AND BLEACHED BEFORE US.”" English and not Spanish, as most of the bue- eaneers are. And by the same token it may be the Provydence in our own American colonies. Moreover, the buccaneers as a rule put no markes in their crafts.” “Ftoyle,” says I, “is not English, though!” “Neither,” replies he, “is it Spanish. And,” with his fierce lion look upon his face, he went, on, ‘‘belong it either to English, French or Spanish colonist or to pirate, they shall not have our treasure while we are above water.” So, all being done, we went back to rejoin the tender. Now, when we got to her we heard that the Blackamoor had directed that she should pro- ceed to a spot immediately on the other, or eastern, side of tho reef, from which, we had previously fished, since there it was that the old man, Geronimo, had laid down that we should find the wreck. So Ayscough had taken her to this spot, namely, half a league away from the Boylers, and we found all pigtail made for a descent, Juan, the Buzo, being particularly keen to go down at once. But now we sum- moned our own diver—a straightforward, honest Englishman, whose name was Woods—to come and confer with us, and asked him what he thought. Then he told us that the soundin were good enough for @ descent, since the ‘brought up soft sand and limestone, bed. : showed a good bed. Ret sccue ey Am ee “Therefore,” says Phips, “you can reach the bottom, can you not?” DRO Sac “Tf not, sir,” says he, “I can at least dese ; so far as to see the bottom, and if then I find the wreck it shall go hard but that I big : down to her. My diving chest can sink ¢ gis: to forty feet, and with Mister Halley's new dress I am confident I can touch the bottom here.” aes ee “So be it,” says Phips, “and now about the Black. Here, you, sir,” then he calls ont to— Juan, who was even now peers, Beg 7 the gun- wale, peering down into the hot sea, “come here and tell us how you propose to reach the a easy, sir,” answered he; “I have “That ver Seth ‘ new peat assa Woods lend me, which I am — sure I manage bt 8 nicely. I go.down if the i Capitan wish me.” * aes SEN,” oye Phips, “Woods shall go down first. And since ’tis a calm morning, get you ready now, Woods.” At once the man did this, going forward to _ where he berthed in the ship, and returning pee a strange figure to behold, since now e was all enveloped in Mr. Halley’s new im- proved dress, all over cords for lowering and pipes for a-taking in the air. ‘ : “For,” says he, “I will try this, sir, now, and see how far I can go down.” You may be sure all watched him with eager- ness. For besides that we hoped he should find below what we sought, but few of us had ever seen this dress before, and were almost afraid of what might come to him, Yet, he assured ~ us, we need to have no fear; he had made many experiments and descents as trials at home in the sea and river Thames, and was confident of what he could do. : So, as calmly as if he were going down the stairs of a house, he bade the sailors lower over from the gangway, and descended by the lines he had arranged, and was gone beneath the sea, and in a few moments there was nought : but a few bubbles to mark the spot where he ca tae eg ‘ , resently we knew by a si agreed uj with om who held the hy that he reached the hed, and then by the paying oa : = — his pipes that he was moving about. rive l al @ ‘ JUIN