 Chapter 6 of the dealings of Captain Sharky and other stories of pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This liberal Vox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Joe DeNoya, Somerset, New Jersey. A pirate of the land, one crowded hour. The place was Eastmore and Tundbridge Road, not very far from the cross in hand, a lonely stretch with a heath running upon off your side. The time was half past eleven on a Sunday night in the late summer. A motor was passing slowly down the road. It was a long, lean Rolls Royce, running smoothly with a gentle purring of an engine. Through the two vivid circles cast by the electric headlights, the waving grass fringes and clumps of heather streamed swiftly like some golden synograph, leaving a blacker darkness behind and around them. One ruby red spot shown upon the road, but no number plate was visible within the dim ruddy halo of the tail lamp which cast it. The car was open and of a torus type, but even in that obscured light for the night it was moonless, an observer could hardly fail to have noticed a curious indefiniteness in its lines. As it slid into and across the broad stream of light from an open cottage door, the reason could be seen. The body was hung with a singular loose arrangement of brown hull. Even the long black bonnet was banded with some close drawn drapery. The solitary man who drove this curious car was broad and burly. He sat hunched up over his steering wheel, with a brim of a Tyrolene hat drawn over his eyes. The red end of a cigarette smoldered under the black shadow thrown by the headgear. A dark ulster of some freeze-dried material was turned up in the collar until it covered his ears. His neck was pushed forward with his rounded shoulders, and he seemed, as the car now slid noiselessly down the long sloping road, with the clutch disengaged and the engine running free, to be peering ahead of him through the darkness in search of some eagerly expected object. The distant toot of a mortar horn came faintly from some point far out of the south of him. On such a night at such a place, all traffic must be from south to north, when the current of London weekenders sweeps back from the watering place to the capital, from pleasure to duty. The man sat straight and listened intently. Yes, there it was again, and certainly to the south of him. His face was over the wheel with his eyes straight into the darkness, then suddenly he spat out his cigarette and gave a sharp intake of the breath. Far away down the road, two little yellow points had rounded a curve, shot upwards once more and then vanished again. The inert man in the draped car woke suddenly into intense life. From his pocket he pulled a mask of dark cloth which he fastened securely over his face, adjusting it carefully that his sight might be unimpeded. For an instant he uncovered in the subtle lean hand lantern, took a hasty glance at his own preparations and laid it beside a mouser pistol upon the seat alongside him. Then, twitching his hat down lower than ever, he released his clutch and slid downward his giggle lever. With a chuckle and a shutter, the long black machine sprang forward and shot with a soft sigh from her powerful engines down the sloping radiant. The driver stooped and switched off his electric headlights. Only a dim gray swath cut through the black heat indicating the line of his road. From in front there came presently a confused puffing and rattling and clanging as the oncoming car breasted the slope. It coughed and sputtered on a powerful old fashioned low gear, while its engine throbbed like a weary heart. The yellow glaring lights dipped for the last time into a switchback curve. When they reappeared over the crest, the two cars were within 30 yards of each other. The dark one darted across the road and barred the other's passage, while the warning, a sentiline lamp, was waving in the air. With a jarring of breaks, the noisy newcomer was brought to a halt. I say, cried an aggrieved voice, pun my soul, you know, we might have had an accident. Why that devil don't you keep your headlights on? I never saw you till nilvier burst my radiator design you. The sentiline lamp, held forward, discovered a very angry young man, blue eyed, yellow mustached, and floored, sitting alone at the wheel of an antiquated 12th horse, Wolsey. Suddenly the aggrieved look upon his flushed face changed to one of absolute bewilderment. The driver in a dark car had sprung out of the seat. A black, long-barreled, wicked-looking pistol was poked into the traveler's face. Behind the further sights of it was a circle of a black cloth, with two deadly eyes looking from as many slits. Hands up, said a quick stern voice. Hands up, or by the Lord, the young man was as brave as his neighbors, but his hands went up all the same. Get down, said his assailant, curtly. The young man stepped forth into the road, followed closely by the covering lantern and pistol. Once he made, as if he would drop his hands, but a short, stern word jerked him up again. I say, look here, this is rather out of date, ain't it? said the traveler. I expect you're joking. What? Your watch, said the man behind the Mauser pistol. You can't really mean it. Your watch, I say. Well, take it if you must. It's only plated anyhow. You're two centuries out in time, or a few thousand miles longitude. The bush is your mark, or America. You don't see him in the picture of a Sussex Road. Purse, said the man, there was something very compelling in his voice and methods. The purse was handed over. Any rings? Don't wear them. Stand there. Don't move. The highwayman passed his victim and threw open the bonnet of the woesley. His hand, with a pair of steel pliers, was thrust deep into the works. There was a snap of a parting wire. Hang it all. Don't crock my car! cried the traveler. He turned, but quick as a flash, the pistol was at his head once more. And even in that flash, whilst the robber whistled round from the broken circuit, something had caught the young man's eye which made him gasp and start. He opened his mouth as if about to shout some words, then with an evident effort he restrained himself. Get in, said the highwayman. The traveler climbed back to his seat. What's your name? Ronald Barker. What's yours? The masked man ignored the impertinence. Where do you live, he said. My cards are in my purse. Take one. The highwayman sprang into his car, the engine of which had hissed and whispered in a gentle accompaniment to the interview. With a clash, he threw back his side brake, flung in his gears, twirled the wheel hard around and cleared the motionless woesling. A minute later, he was gliding swiftly, with all his lights gleaming, some half-mile southward of the road. While Mr. Ronald Barker, a side lamp in his hand, was rummaging furiously amongst the odds and ends of his repair box for a strand of wire which would connect up his electricity and set him on his way once more. When he had placed a safe distance between himself and his victim, the adventurer eased up, took his booty from his pocket, replaced the watch, opened the purse and counted not the money. Seven shillings constituted a miserable spoil. The poor result of his efforts seemed to him use rather to annoy him, for he chuckled as he held the two half-crowns on a florin in the glare of his lantern. Then suddenly, his manner changed. He thrust the thin purse back into his pocket, released his brake, and shot onwards with the same tense bearing with which he had started upon his adventure. The lights of another car were coming down the road. On this occasion, the methods of the highwayman were less furtive. The lights had clearly given him confidence. With lights still blazing, he ran towards the newcomers and, halting in the middle of the road, summoned them to stop. From the point of view of the Estonians' travellers, the result was sufficiently impressive. They saw in the glare of their own headlights two glowing discs on the eye of the side of the long black muzzle snail in a high-powered car, and above the masked face and menacing figure of its solitary driver. In the golden circle thrown by the rover, there stood an elegant, open-topped 20-horse-humber with an undersized and very Estonian chauffeur blinking from under his peat cap. From behind the windscreen, the veil-bound hats and wandering faces of two very pretty women protruded, one upon either side, and a little crescendo of frightened squeaks announced the acute emotion of one of them. The other was cooler and more critical. Don't give it away, Hilda, she whispered. Do shut up, and don't be such a silly. It's birdie, or one of the boys playing it on us. No, no, it's the real thing, Flossie. It's a robber, sure enough. Oh, my goodness. Whatever shall we do? What an ad, cried the other. Oh, what a glorious ad. Too late now for the mornings, but they'll have it in every paper, sure. What's it going to cost, groaned the other? Oh, Flossie. Flossie, I'm sure I'm going to faint. Don't you think if we both screened together we could do some good? Isn't he too awful with that black thing over his face? Oh, dear, oh, dear. He's killing poor little elf. The proceedings of the robber were indeed somewhat alarming. Springing down from his car, he had pulled the chauffeur out of his seat by the scruff of his neck. The sight of the mouser had cut short any remonstrance, and under its compulsion the little man had pulled open the bonnet and extracted the sparking plugs. And thus secured the immobility of his capture, the masked man walked forward, lantern in hand, to the side of the car. He had laid aside the gruff sternness with which he had treated Mr. Ronald Barker, and his voice and manner were gentle, though determined. He even raised his hat as a prelude to his address. I'm sorry to inconvenience you, ladies, said he, and his voice he had got up several notes since the previous interview. May I ask who you are? Miss Hilda was beyond coherent speech. Miss Flossie was of a sterner mode. This is a pretty business, she said. What right have you to stop us on a public road? I should like to know. My time is short, said the robber and his sterner voice. I must ask you to answer my question. Tell him, Flossie, for God's sakes be nice to him, cried Hilda. Well, we're from the Gady Theatre, London, if you want to know, said the young lady. Perhaps you've heard of Miss Flossie Thornton and Miss Hilda Manoring. We've been playing a week at the Royal at Eastbourne, and took a Sunday off to ourselves. So now you know. I must ask for your ladies' purses and for your jewelry. Both ladies set up a shrill ex-potulations, but they found, as Mr. Robert Barker had done, that there was something quietly compelling in the man's methods. In a very few minutes they had handed over their purses and a pile of glittering rings, bangles, brooches, and chains was lying upon the front seat of the car. The diamonds glowed and shimmered like little electric points in the light of the lantern. He picked up the glittering tangle and waded in his hand. Anything you particularly value, he asked the ladies. But Miss Flossie was in no humor for concessions. Don't come, the clawed duval over us, said she. Take the lot or leave the lot. We don't want bits of our own given back to us. Except just Billy's necklace cried Hilda and snatched a little rope of pearls. The robber bowed and released his hold of it. Anything else? The valiant Flossie began suddenly to cry. Hilda did the same. The effect upon the robber was surprising. He threw the whole heap of jewelry into the nearest lap. There, there, take it, he said. It's trumpery stuff anyhow. It's worth something to you and nothing to me. Tears changed in a moment to smiles. You're welcome to the purses. The ad is worth ten times the money. But what a funny way of getting a living nowadays. Aren't you afraid of being caught? It's also wonderful like a scene from a comedy. It must be a tragedy, said the robber. Oh, I hope not. I'm sure I hope not, cried the two ladies of the drama. But the robber was in no mood for further conversation. Far away down the road, tiny points of light had appeared. Fresh business was coming to him and he must not mix his cases. Disengaging his machine, he raised his hat and slipped off to meet this new arrival. This fall seem is held to lead out of their derelict car, still palpitating from their adventure and watching the red gleam of the taillight till it merged into the darkness. This time there was every sign of a rich prize. Behind its four grand lambs, set in a broad frame of glittering brasswork, the magnificent sixty-horse Daimler breasted the slope with the low, deep, even snore which proclaimed its enormous laden strength. Like some rich laden, high-pooped Spanish galleon, she kept her course until the prowling craft ahead of her swept across her boughs and brought her to a sudden halt. An angry face, red, blotched and evil, shot out of the open window of the closed limousine. The robber was aware of a high, bald forehead, gross, pendulous cheeks, and two little crafty eyes which gleamed beneath creases of fat. Out of my way, sir! Out of my way this instant cried the rasping voice. Drive over him, herne. Get down and pull him off of the seat. The fellow's drunk. He's drunk, I say. Up to this point, the proceedings of the modern highwaymen might have passed as gentle. Somehow they turned it in the instant to savagery. The chauffeur, a burly, capable fellow, incited by that raucous voice behind him, sprang from the car and seized the advancing robber by the throat. The latter hit out with the butt end of his pistol, and the man dropped groaning on the ground. Stepping over his prostrate body, the adventurer pulled open the door, seized the stout occupant savagely by the ear, and dragged him, bellowing, on the highway. Then, very deliberately, he struck him twice across the face with his open hand. The blows rang out like pistol shots in the silence of the night. The fat traveler turned a gassy color and fell back half-senseless against the side of the limousine. The robber dragged open his coat, wrenched away the heavy gold-washed chain, and all that it held, poked out the great diamond pin that's sparrowed in the black satin tie, dragged off four rings, not one of which could have cost less than three figures, and finally tore from his inner pocket a bulky leather notebook. All this property he transferred to his own black overcoat, and added to it the man's pearl cufflinks, and even the golden stud which held his collar. He made sure that there was nothing else to take, the robber flashed his lantern upon the prostrate chauffeur, and satisfied himself that he was stunned and not dead. Then returning to the master, he proceeded very deliberately to tear all his clothes from his body with a ferocious energy which set his victim whimpering and writhing in imminent expectation of murder. Whatever the tormentor's intention may have been, it was very effectually frustrated. The sound made him turn his head, and there, no very great distance off, were the lights of a car coming swiftly from the north. Such a car must have already passed the wreckage with which his pirate had left behind him. He was following his trap with its deliberate purpose, and might be crammed with every country constable of the district. The adventurer had no time to lose. He darted from his bedraggled victim, sprang into his own seat, and with his foot on the accelerator shot swiftly off down the road. Some way down there was a narrow sideline, and into this the fugitive turned, cracking on his high speed and leaving a good five miles between him and any pursuer before he ventured to stop. Then, in a quiet corner, he counted over his booty of the evening. The paltry plunder of Mr. Donald Barker, the rather better furnished purses of the actresses which contained four pounds between them, and finally the gorgeous jewelry and well-filled notebook of the Pluto Crat upon the dimer. Five notes of fifty pounds, four of ten, fifteen sovereigns, and a number of valuable papers made up his most noble haul. It was clearly enough for one night's work. The adventurer replaced all his ill-gotten gains in his pocket, and, lighting a cigarette, set forth upon his way with the air of a man who has no further care upon his mind. It was on a Monday morning following upon this eventful evening that Sir Henry Haleworth, of Walcott Old Place, having finished his breakfast in a leisurely fashion, strolled down to his study with the intention of writing a few letters before setting forth to take his place upon the county bench. Sir Henry was a deputy lieutenant of the county. He was a baronet of ancient blood, he was a magistrate of ten years standing, and he was famous above all as the breeder of many a good horse and the most desperate rider in all of Weald County. A tall, upstanding man with a strong, clean-shaven face, heavy black eyebrows, and a square, resolute jaw, he was one whom it was better to call friend than foe. Though nearly fifty years of age, he bore no sign of having passed his youth, save that nature, and one of her freakish moods had planted one little feather of white hair above his right ear, making the rest of his thick black curls the darker by contrast. He was in a thoughtful mood this morning, for having lit his pipe, he sat at his desk with his blank note paper in front of him, lost in a deep reverie. Suddenly his thoughts were brought back to the present. From behind the laurels of the curving drive there came a low, clanking sound, which swelled into the clatter and jingle of an ancient car. Then from around the corner there swung an old-fashioned woesley with a fresh complexion yellow mustache young man at the wheel. Sir Henry sprang through his feet at the site and then sat down once more. He rose again as a minute later the footmen announced Mr. Ronald Barker. It was an early visit, but Barker was Sir Henry's intimate friend. As each was a fine shot, horsemen and billiard player, there was much in common between the two men, and the younger and poorer was in the habit of spending at least two evenings a week at Walcott Old Place. Therefore, Sir Henry advanced cordially with outstretched hand to welcome him. Here an early bird this morning said he, what's up, if you're going over to lose we can motor together. But the younger man's demeanor was peculiar and ungracious. He disregarded the hand which was held out to him, and he stood pulling on his own long mustache and staring with trouble, questioning eyes at the county magistrate. Well, what's the matter, asked the latter. Still the young man did not speak. He was clearly on the edge of an interview which he found it most difficult to open. His host grew impatient. You don't seem yourself this morning. What on earth is the matter? Anything upset you? Yes, said Ronald Barker with emphasis. What has? You have. Sir Henry smiled. Sit down, my dear fellow. If you have any grievance against me, let me hear it. Barker sat down. He seemed to be gathering himself for a reproach. When it did come it was like a bullet from a gun. Why didn't you rob me last night? The magistrate was a man of iron nerve. He showed neither surprise nor resentment. Not a muscle twitched upon his calm-set face. Why do you say that I robbed you last night? A big tall fellow in a motor car stopped me on the Mayfield Road. He poked a pistol in my face, took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, that man was you. The magistrate smiles. Am I the only big tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a motor car? Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls Royce when I see it? I, who spent half my life on a car and the other half under it. Who has a Rolls Royce around here except you? My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highway man as you describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How many hundred Rolls Royces are there in the south of England? No, it won't do, sir Henry. It won't do. Even your voice, though you sunk it a few notes, was familiar enough to me. But hang it, man, what did you do it for? That's what gets over me, that you should stick up me, one of your closest friends, a man that worked himself to the bone when you stood for the division. And all for the sake of a brumagant watch and a few shillings, is simply incredible. Simply incredible, repeated the magistrate with a smile. And then those poor actresses, poor little devils, who have to earn all they get. I followed you down the road, you see. That was a dirty trick if I ever heard one. The city shark was different. If a chap must go robbing, that sort of fellow is fair game. Put your friend, and then the girls? Well, I say again, I couldn't have believed it. Then why believe it? Because it is so. Well, you seem to have persuaded yourself to that effect. You don't seem to have much evidence to lay before anyone else. I could square to you in a police court. What put the lid on it was that when you were cutting my wire, and in infernal liberty it was, I saw the white tuft of you are sticking alpha behind your mask. For the first time, an acute observer might have seen some slight sign of emotion upon the face of the baronet. You seem to have a fairly vivid imagination, said he. His visitor flushed with anger. See here, hell-worthy, said he, opening his hand and showing a small, jagged triangle of black cloth. Do you see that? It was on the ground, near the car of the young women. You must have ripped it off as you jumped from your seat. Now set for that heavy black driving code of yours. If you don't ring the bell, I'll ring it myself, and we shall have it in. I'm going to see this thing through, and don't you make any mistake about that. The baronet's answer was a surprising one. He rose, passed Barker's chair, and, walking over to the door, he locked it in place to key in his pocket. You are going to see it through, said he. I'll lock you in until you do. Now we must have a straight talk, Barker, as man to man, and whether it ends in tragedy or not depends on you. He had half opened one of the drawers in the desk as he spoke. His visitor frowned in anger. You won't make matters any more by threatening me, Hilworthy. I'm going to do my duty, and you won't bluff me out of it. I have no wish to bluff you. When I spoke of a tragedy, I did not mean to you. What I meant was, there are some turns with which this affair cannot be allowed to take. I have neither kith nor kin, but there is the family honor, and some things are impossible. It is late to talk like that. Well, perhaps it is, but not too late. And now I have a great deal to say to you. First of all, you are quite right. It was I who held you up last night on the Mayfield Road. But why on earth? All right, let me tell it my own way. First I want you to look at these. You unlock the drawer and took out two small packages. These were to be posted in London tonight. This one is addressed to you, and I may as well hand it over to you at once. It contains your watch and your purse. So you see, by your cut wire, you have been none the worse for wear for your adventure. This other packet is addressed to the young ladies of the Gayety Theater, and their properties are enclosed. I hope I have convinced you that I intended full reparation in each case before you came to accuse me. Well, asked Barker. Well, we will now deal with Sir George Wilder, who is, as you may not know, the senior partner of Wilde and Gugendorf, the founders of the Ludgate Bank of infamous memory. This chauffeur is a case apart. You may take it from me upon my word of honor that I had plans for the chauffeur, but it is the master I want to speak of. You know that I am not a rich man myself. I expect all the county knows that. When Black Tulip lost a derby, I was hit hard, and other things as well. Then I had a legacy of a thousand. His Earned Frontal Bank was paying 7% on deposits. I knew Wilde. I saw him. I asked him if it was safe. He said it was. I paid it in, and within 48 hours the whole thing went to bits. It came out before the official receiver that Wilde had known for three months that nothing could save him, and yet he took all my cargo aboard his sinking vessel. He was all right, confound him. He had plenty besides, but I had lost all my money and no law can help me. Yet he had robbed me as clearly as one man could rob another. I saw him and he laughed in my face. Told me to stick to consoles, and that the lesson was cheap at the price. So I just swore that, by hook or by crook, I would get level with him. I knew his habits, for I had made it my business to do so. I knew that he came back from eSports on Sunday nights. I knew that he carried a good son with him in his pocketbook. Well, it's my pocketbook now. Do you mean to tell me that I am not morally justified in what I have done? By the Lord, I'd have left the Devil as bare as he'd left many a widow and orphan if I'd had the time. That's all very well, but what about me? What about the girls? Have some common sense, Barker. Do you suppose that I can go and stick up this one personal enemy of mine in escape detection? It was impossible. I was bound to make myself out to be just a common robber who had run up against him by accident. So I turned myself loose on the high road and took my chance. As the Devil would have it, the first man I met was yourself. I was afoul not to recognize the old iron monitor store of yours by the road made coming up the hill. When I saw you, I could hardly speak for laughing, but I was bound to carry it through. The same with the actresses. I'm afraid I gave myself away for I couldn't take their little flaw. But I had to keep up a show. Then came the man himself. There was no bluff about that. I was out to skin him, and I did. Now Barker, what do you think of it all? I had a pistol at your head last night, and by George, whether you believe it or not, you have one at mind this morning. The young man rose slowly, with a broad smile he wrung the magistrate by the hand. Don't do it again. It's too risky, said he. The swine would score heavily if you were taken. You're a good chap, Barker, said to magistrate. No, I won't do it again. Who's the fellow who talks of one crowded hour of glorious life? Why, George, it's too fascinating. I had a time of my life. Talk of fox-hunting. No, I'll never touch it again, for it might get a grip on me. The telephone rang sharply upon the table, and the baronet pulled the receiver to his ear. As he listened, he smiled at his companion. I'm rather late this morning, said he, and they are waiting for me to try some petty larcenies on the county bench. End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of the dealings of Captain Sharky and other stories of pirates by Sir Arthur and Conan Doyle. This Looper Fox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Joe DeNoya, Somerset, New Jersey. Part 2 Tales of Blue Water The Striped Chest What do you make of her, Allardyce? I asked. My second mate was standing beside me on the poop, with his short and thick legs a stretch, for the gale had left a considerable swell behind it, and our two quarter-boats nearly touched the water with every roll. He steadied his glass against the mizzen droughts, and he looked long and hard at this disconsolate stranger every time she came really up the crest of the roller, and hung balanced for a few seconds before swooping down upon the other side. She lay so low in the water that I can only catch an occasional glimpse of a pea-green line of bulwark. She was a brig, but her main mass had been snapped short off some 10 feet above the deck, and no effort seemed to have been made to cut away the wreckage, which floated sails and yards like a broken wing of coal upon the water beside her. The four mast was still standing, but the four top sail was flying loose, and the head sails were streaming out in long white pennants in front of her, never have I seen a vessel which appeared to have gone through rough re-handling. But we could not be surprised at that, for there had been times during the last three days when it was a question whether our own bark would ever see land again. For 36 hours we had kept her nose to it, and if the Mary Sinclair had not been as good a sea boat as ever left lost only of our gig and a part of our starboard bulwark. It did not astonish us, however, when the smother had cleared away to find that others had been less lucky, and that this butylated brig, staggering upon a blue sea and under a cloudless sky, had been left, like a blinded man after a lightning flash, to tell the terror which had passed. Allardyce, who was a slow and methodical scotchman, stared long and hard at the little craft, while our seamen lined the bulwarker, clustered upon the four shrouds, to have a look. In latitude twenty degrees and longitude ten degrees, which were about our bearings, one becomes a little curious as to whom one meets, for one has left the main lines of the Atlantic commerce to the north. For ten days we have been sailing over a solitary sea. She still looked, I'm thinking, said the second mate. I had come to the same conclusion, for I could see no signs of life upon her deck, and there was no answer to the friendly wavings from our seamen. The crewman had probably deserted his measured way, she may put her nose down and her tail up any minute, the waters lipping up to the edge of her rail. What's her flag, I asked. I'm trying to make out, it's got all twisted and tangled with the halyards. Yes, I've got it now, clear enough, it's the Brazilian flag, but it's wrong side up. She had hoisted a signal to stress them before her people abandoned her. Perhaps they had only just gone. I took the mate's glass and looked round over the tumultuous face of the deep blue Atlantic, still veined but nowhere could I see anything human beyond ourselves. There may be men living aboard, said I. There may be salvaged one of the second mate. Then we will run down upon her lee side and lie to. We were not more than a hundred yards from her when we swung our four deck back, and there we were, the bark and the break, ducking and bowing like two clowns at a dance. Drop one of the quarter boats, said I. Take four men, Mr. Alanized, and see what you can learn of her. I took a look for seven bells that struck, and it was but a few minutes off his watch. It would interest me to go myself to this abandoned vessel and see what there might be aboard of her. So with a word to Armstrong, I swung myself over the side, slipped down the falls, and it took my place in the sheets of the boat. It was but a little distance, but it took some time to traverse, and so heavy was the roll, that often when we were in the trough of the sea we could not see out of the bark which we had left or the break or the waves. But each passing billow heated us up into the warmth in the sunshine once more. At each of these moments as we hung upon the white-cap bridge between the two dark valleys, I caught a glimpse of the long pea green line and the nonnate formats of the bridge, and I steered so as to come round by her stern so that we might determine which was the best way of boarding her. As we passed her we saw the name Nosa Signora de Vitoria painted across her dripping counter. The witherside, said the second day, an instant later we had jumped from the bullwars which were hardly higher than our boat and found ourselves upon the deck of the abandoned vessel. Our first thought was to provide for our own safety in case, as seemed very probable, the vessel should settle down beneath our feet. With this object two of our men held onto the painter of the boat and fended her off from the vessel's side so that she might be ready in case we had to make a move to the vessel and our cargo. The deck was littered with wreckage and with hencoops in which the dead birds were washing about. The boats were gone with the exception of one, the bottom of which had been stove, and it was certain that the crew had abandoned the vessel. The cabin was in a deckhouse, one side of which had been beaten in by a heavy sea. Allardyce and I entered it and found the captainist's table as he had left it, his books and papers, all Spanish and Portuguese letters, and a few of the letters that he had found in. As likely as not he never kept one, said Allardyce. Things are pretty slack aboard a South American trader and they know to do more than they can to help. If there was one they must have been taken away with him in a boat. I should take a look at these books and papers, said I, asked the carpenter how much time we have. The vessel was full of water but in that case there's no danger in you're going below, Mr. Allardyce, said I. See what you can make of her and find out how much of her cargo may be saved. I'll look through the papers while you're gone. The bills of lading and some notes and letters which lay upon his desk, suffice to inform me that the Brazilian Brig, nosa senora de Vitoria had cleared from the Bahia a month before. The name of the captain was Tishara, but there was no record as to the number of the crew. She was bound for London and the glance of the bills of lading was sufficient to show me that they were not lucky to profit much in the way of salvage. Her cargo consisted of nuts, ginger, and wood, the latter in the shape of great logs and valuable tropical growths. It was these no doubt which had prevented the ill-fated vessel from going to the bottom, but they were of such a size as to make it impossible for us to extract them. Besides these there were a few fancy goods such as a number of ornamental birds for millinery purposes and a hundred cases of preserved fruits. And then as I turned over the pages I came upon a short note in English which arrested my attention. It is requested, said the note, that the various old Spanish and Indian curiosities which came out of the Santerran collection, which are consigned to Prottfoot and Newman of Oxford Street, London, should be put in some place where there will be no danger of these very valuable and unique articles being injured or tampered with. This applies most particularly to the treasure chest of Don Ramirez de Lyra, which on no account must be placed where anyone can get it. The treasure chest of Don Ramirez, unique and valuable articles. Here was the chance of salvage after all. I had risen to my feet with the paper in my hand when the scotch mate appeared in the doorway. I'm thinking all isn't quite as it should be aboard the ship, sir, said he. He was a hard-faced man, and yet I could see that he had been startled. What's the matter? Murder's the matter, sir. There's a man here with his brains beaten out. Killed in the storms that I? May be so, sir, but I'll be surprised you think so after you've seen him. Where is he then? This way, sir, here in the main deckhouse. There appeared to have been no accommodation below in the brig, for there was the afterhouse for the captain and another by the main hatchway by the cook's galley attached to it and a third in the forecastle for the men. There was to this middle one that the mate led me. As you entered the galley with his litter of tumble pots and dishes was upon the right and upon the left was a small room with two bunks for the officers. Then beyond there was a place about 12 feet square which was littered with flags and spare canvas. All around the walls were a number of packets done up in coarse cloth and carefully lashed to the whimper. At the other end was a great box, striped red and white, though the red was so faded and the white was so dirty that it was only where the light fell directly upon it that one could see the color in. The box was, by subsequent measurement, 4 feet 3 inches in length, 3 feet 2 inches in height, 3 feet across, considerably larger than the seamen's chest. But it was not the box that my eyes or my thoughts returned as I entered the storeroom. On the floor, lying across the litter of bunting, there was stretched a small dark man with a short curling beard. He lay as far as it was possible from the box with his feet towards it and his head away. A crimson patch was printed upon the white canvas on which his head was resting and the little red ribbons wreathed themselves around the swarthing neck and trailed away out to the floor. There was no sign of a wound that I could see and his face was as placid as that of a sleeping child. It was only when I stooped that I could perceive his injury and that it turned away with an exclamation of horror. He had been pole-axed apparently by some person standing behind him. A frightful blow had smashed into the top of his head and penetrated deeply into his brain. His face might well be placid, for death must have been absolutely instantaneous, and the position of the wound showed that he could never have seen the person who had inflicted it. Is that foul play or accident, Captain Barclay? asked the second maid to mirrorly. You're quite right, Mr. Allardyves. The man has been murdered, struck down from above by a sharpened heavy weapon. But who was he and why did they murder him? He was a common seamen, sir, so the maid. You can see that if you look at his fingers. He turned out his pockets as he spoke tobacco. Hello, look at this, said he. It was a large, open knife with a stiff spring blade, which he had picked up from the floor. The steel was shining and bright, so that we would not associate it with a crime. And yet the dead man had apparently held it in his hand when he was struck down, for it still lay within his grasp. It looks to me, sir, as if he knew he was in danger and kept his knife handy, said the maid. However, we can't help the poor beggar now. I can't make out these things that are lashed to the wall. They are old sacking. That's right, said I. They are the only things of value that we are likely to get from the cargo. Held the bark and told them to send the other corner boat to help us get all the stuff aboard. While he was away, I examined this curious plunder which had come into our possession. The curiosities were so wrapped up that I could only form general ideas to their nature. But the strike box stood in a good light where I could thoroughly examine it. On the lid, which was clamped in corner with metalwork, that was labeled to decipher as meaning the treasure chests of Don Ramirez de Lyra, Knight of the Order of St. James, Governor and Captain General of Terraferma, and of the province of Veracus. In one corner was the date 1606. On the other was a large white label, a poem which was written in English. You are earnestly requested upon no account to open this box. The same warning was repeated underneath in Spanish. As to the lock, it was a very complex and heavy one of engraved steel with a Latin model of steel. By the time I had finished this examination of the peculiar box, the other quarter boat with Mr. Armstrong, the first officer had come alongside, and we began to carry out and place in her the various curiosities which appeared to be the only objects with removing from the derelict ship. When she was full, I sent her back to the bark and then with the carpenter and one seaman, shifted the strike box which was the only thing left to our boat on the other end. As to the dead man, we left him where we found him. The mate had a theory that at the moment of the desertion of the ship, this fellow had started plundering, met the captain in an attempt to preserve discipline had struck him down with a hatchet or some other heavy weapon. It seemed more probable than any other explanation, yet it did not entirely satisfy me either. But the ocean is full of mysteries and we were content to leave the fate of the dead seaman of the Brazilian Brig to be added to the wreck of the Mary Sinclair and was carried by four seaman into the cabin where, between the table and the afterlockers there was just space for it to stand. There it remained during supper and after that meal the mates remained with me and discussed over a glass of grog the event of the day. Mr. Armstrong was a long, thin, vulture-like man and excellent seaman but famous for his nearness and cupidity. Our treasure trove had excited him to be divided. If the paper says that they were unique Mr. Barclay and they may be worth anything that you'd like to name. You wouldn't believe the sums that the rich collectors give. A thousand pounds is nothing to them. We'll have something to show for our voyage where I am mistaken. I don't think that said I as far as I can see they are not very different from any other South American curios. Well sir I've traded there for 14 voyages and I've never seen anything like that chest before. That's worth a pile of money just as it stands but it's so heavy I can't hold it inside it. Don't you think we ought to open it and see? If you break it open you will spoil it as lightly as not said the second mate. Armstrong squatted down in front of it with his head on one side and his long thin nose within a few inches of the lock. The wood is oak said he and has shrunk a little with age. If I had a chisel or a strong-bladed knife I could force the lock back without doing any damage at all. The mention of a strong-bladed knife made me think of the dead seaman upon the brick. I wonder if he could have been on the job when I'm perfectly certain that I could open the box. There's a screwdriver here and a locker. Just hold the lamp out of the ice and I'll have it done in the brace of shakes. Wait a bit said I for already with eyes which cleaned with curiosity and with avarice he was stooping over the lid. I don't see that there's any hurry over this matter. You've read that card which warns us not to open it. It may mean anything or it may mean nothing but somehow I feel inclined to obey it. After all whenever it is in it will keep and if it is valuable it will keep and if it is open in the owner's offices as in the cabinet of the Mary Sinclair. The first officer seemed bitterly disappointed at my decision. Surely sir you were not superstitious about it said he with a slight smear upon his thin lips. If it gets out of our hands and we don't see for ourselves what is inside we may be done out of our rights. Besides that's enough Mr. Armstrong said I abruptly you may have every confidence that you will get your rights added because a box is a treasure box is no reason that it has treasure inside it now. A good many folk have had a peep into it since the days of the old governor of Terraforma. Armstrong threw the screwdriver down upon the table and shrugged his shoulders just as you like said he for the rest of the evening although we spoke upon many subjects I noticed that his eyes were continually coming round with the same expression of curiosity and greed to the old strike box and now I come to the portion of the story The main cabin had the rooms of the officers around it but mine was the furthest away from it at the end of the little passage which led to the companion no regular watch was kept by me except in cases of emergency and the three mates divided the watches among them Armstrong had the middle watch which ends at four in the morning and he's a relief by allidice from my part I have always been one of the soundness of sleepers and it is rare for anything less than the hand upon my shoulder to arouse me in the early gray of the morning it was just past four by my chronometer when something caused me to sit up on my birth wide awake and with every nerve tingling there was a sound of some sort a crash with a human cry at the end of it which still jarred upon my ears I sat listening but all was now silent and yet it could not have been imagination that hideous cry for the echo that still rang in my head and it seemed at first I saw nothing unusual there in the cold gray light I made out the red cloth table the six rotating chairs the walnut lockers the swinging marometer and there at the end the big striped chest I was turning away with the intention of going upon a deck and asking the second maid if he had heard anything when my eyes fell suddenly about something with a projected from under the table it was the leg of a man a leg with a long sea boot upon it I stooped and there was a figure sprawling upon its face his arms thrown forward and his body twisted one glance told me it was Armstrong the first officer and the second that he was a dead man for a few moments I stood gasping then I rushed onto the deck called our disney my assistants and came back with him to the cabin together we pulled the unfortunate fellow from under the table as we looked at his dripping head the exchange glances I do not know which was the paler of the two the same as the Spanish sailor said I the very same God preserve us it's that infernal chest look at Armstrong's hand he held up the mate's right hand and there was a screwdriver which he had wished to use the night before he's been at the chest sir he knew that I was on deck and he was asleep he knelt down in front of it he pushed a lock back with that tool and something happened to him and he cried out so that you heard him I alertized I whispered what could have happened to him the second mate put his hand upon my sleeve and drew me into his cabin we can talk here sir and we don't know who may be listening goes in there what do you suppose is in that box I give you my word I have no idea well I can only find one theory which will fit all the facts look at the size of the box look at all the carving and metal work which may conceal any number of holes look at the weight of it it took four men to carry on the top of that remembered that two men have tried to open it and both have come to their end through it now sir what can it mean except one thing you mean there's a man in it of course there's a man in it you know how it is with these South men it can be president one week and hunted like a dog the next they are forever flying for their lives my idea is there's some fellow in hiding there who's armed and desperate and who will fight to the death before he's taken but is food and drink it's a roomy chest sir and he may have some provisions stowed away as to his drink he had a friend among the crew upon the brig who saw that he had what he needed you think then that the label asking people explaining the facts I had to confess that I had not the question is what are we to do I asked the man's a dangerous ruffian who sticks at nothing I'm thinking it wouldn't be bad to put a rope around the chest and tow it alongside for half an hour then we can open it at our ease or if we had just tied the box up and kept it from getting any water maybe that would do as well or the carpenter can put a coat of varnish over it and stop all the blow holes come out as a single man in the box if he's there I'll engage to fetch him out I went to my room and came back with my revolver in my hand now Alan I said I do you open the lock and I'll stand on guard for God's sake think what you're doing sir cried to me two men have lost their lives over it and the blood of one is not yet dry upon the carpet the more reason why we should revenge him well sir at least let me call the carpenter three are better than two and he's a good stout man he went off in search of him and I was left alone I don't think that I'm a nervous man but I kept the table between me and this solid old relic of Spanish Maine in the growing light of the morning the red and white stripping was beginning to appear and the curious scrolls and wreaths of metal and carving which showed the loving pains which cunning craftsman had expended upon it presently the carpenter and the mate came back together the former with a hammer in his hand it's a bad business this sir said he's shaking his head as he looked at the body of that alerdice picking up the screwdriver and setting his jaw like a man who needed to brace his courage I'll drive the lock back if you will both stand by if he rises let him have it on the head with your hammer carpenter shoot it once sir if he raises his hand now he had knelt down in front of the striped chest and passed the blade of the tool under the lid with a sharp snick the lock flew back stand by he yelled the mate and with a heave he threw open the massive top of the box as it swung up we all three sprang back I with my pistol level and the carpenter with a hammer above his head then as nothing happened we each took a step forward and peeped in the box was empty not quite empty either for in one corner was lying an old yellow candlestick elaborately engraved which appeared to be as old as the box itself its rich yellow tone and artistic shape was suggested that it was an object of value for the rest there was nothing more weighty or valuable than dust in the old striped treasure chest well I'm blessed cried alerdice staring blankly into it where does the weight come in then? look at the thickness of the size and look at the lid why it's five inches through and see that great metal spring across it that's for holding the lid up said the mate you see it won't lean back what's that German printing on the inside it means that it was made by Johann Rothstein of Augsburg in 1606 and a solid bit of work too but it doesn't throw much light on what is past does it captain Barclay the candlestick looks like gold we should have something for our troubles after all he leaned forward to grasp it and from that moment I have never doubted as to the reality of inspiration fur on the instant I called him by the collar and pulled him straight again it may have been some story of middle ages which has come back to my mind or it may have just been my eye that caught some red which was not that of rust upon the upper part of the lock but to him and to me it will always seem an inspiration so prompt and sudden was my action there's devilry here said I give me the crooked stick from the corner it was an ordinary walking cane with a hook to top I passed it over the candlestick and gave it a pull with a flash a row of polished steel fangs shut out from above the upper lip and the great striped chest snapped at us like a wild animal clang came the huge lid into his place and the glasses on the swinging rack sang and twinkled with the chalk the mate sat down on the edge of the table and shivered like a frightened horse you see if my life captain Barclay said he so this was the secret of the striped treasure chest of old Don Ramirez de Lyre and this was how he preserved his ill-gotten gains from the terra firma and the province of Veracus be the thief ever so cunning he cannot tell that golden candlestick from the other articles of value in the instant that he laid hand upon it a terrible spring was unloosed and a murderous silk spikes were driven into his brain while the shock of the blow sent the victim backwards and unable to chest to automatically close itself how many I wondered had fallen victim to the ingenuity of the mechanic of Augsburg and as I thought of the possible history of that grim striped chest my resolution was very quickly taken Carpenter bring three men and carry this on deck go and throw it overboard sir yes Mr. Alilise I'm not superstitious as a rule but there are some things which are more than a sailor can be called upon to stand no wonder that Brig made heavy weather Captain Barclay with such a thing on board the glass is dropping fast sir we're only just in time so we did not even wait for the three sailors but we carried it out the mate, the carpenter and I and we pushed it with our own hands over the bulwarks a white spout of water and it was gone there it lies the striped chest a thousand fathoms deep and if as they say the sea will some day be dry land I grieve for the man who finds that old box and tries to penetrate into its secret End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of the dealings of Captain Sharky and other stories of pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this liberal box recording is in the public domain recording by Joe DeNoya Somerset, New Jersey the captain of the pole star being an extract from the singular journal of John McAllister Ray student of medicine September 11th latitude 81 degrees 40 minutes north longitude 2 degrees east still lying too amid enormous ice fields the one which stretches away to the north of us and to which the ice anchor is attached cannot be smaller than the English county to the right and left unbroken sheets extend to the horizon this morning the mate reported that there were signs of pack ice to the southward should this form of sufficient thickness to borrow a return we shall be in a position of danger as the food I hear is already running so much short it is late in the season and the nights are beginning to reappear this morning I saw a star twinkling just over the four-yard the first since the beginning of May there is considerable discontent among the crew many of whom are anxious to get back home in time for the herring season which labor always commands a high price upon the scotch coast which is defined by selling countenances and black looks but I heard from the second mate this afternoon that they are contemplating sending a deputation to the captain to explain their grievance I am much doubt how he will receive it as he is a man of a fierce temper and very sensitive about anything approaching to an infringement in his rights I shall venture after dinner to say a few words to him upon the subject I have always found that he would tolerate from me what he would resent from any other member of the crew Amsterdam Island a rugged line of volcanic rocks intersected by white seams which represent glaciers it is curious to think that at the present moment there is probably no human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements in the south of Greenland but good 900 miles as the crow flies a captain takes a great responsibility upon himself when he risks his vessel under such circumstances no whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so advanced the period of the year 9 p.m. I have spoken to Captain Craig and though the result has been hardly satisfactory I am bound to say that he listened to what I had to say very quietly and very differentially when I finished he put on an air of iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his face and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin for some minutes at first I feared that I had seriously offended him but he dispelled the idea by sitting down again and putting his hands upon my arm with a gesture which almost amounted to a caress there was a depth of tenderness too in his wild dark eyes to be considered look here doctor he said I am sorry I ever took you I am indeed and I would give 50 pounds this minute to see you standing safe upon a dundee key it's hit or miss with me this time there are fish to the north of us how dare you shake your head sir when I tell you I saw them blowing from the mast head this is a sudden burst of fury though I was not conscious of having shown any signs of doubt two and twenty fish in as many minutes as I am a living man and not one under ten foot year do you think I can leave the country when there is one infertile strip of ice between me and my fortune if it came on to blow from the north tomorrow we could fill the ship and be away before the frost would catch us if it came on to blow from the south well I suppose the men are paid for risking their lives and as for myself it matters but little to me for I have more to bind me to the other world than you did you not yes I answered snapping the spring the locket which hung from my watch chain and holding up a little vignette of flora curse you he yelled springing out of his seat in his very beard bristling with passion what is your happiness to me what am I to do with her that you must dangle her photograph before my eyes I almost thought that he was about to strike me in the frenzy of his rage but with another implication he dashed a little bit but courtesy and kindness I can hear him pacing excitedly up and down overhead as I write these lines I should like to give a sketch of the character of this man but it seems presumptuous to attempt such a thing upon paper when the idea of my own mind is at best a vague and uncertain one several times I have thought I had grasped the clue which might explain it but only to be disappointed by his presenting himself in some new light which would upset all my conclusions it may be an attempt to leave some record of Captain Nicholas Craigie a man's outer case generally gives some indication of the soul within the captain is tall and well formed with dark handsome features and a curious way of twitching his limbs which may arise from nervousness or may be simply an outcome of his excessive energy his joll and whole cast of countenance is manly and resolute with the eyes and a distinctive feature of his face they are a very darkest hazel and if something else I have sometimes thought was more allied with horror than any other emotion generally the former predominated but on occasions and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined the look of fear would spread in deep until it imparted a new character to his whole countenance it is at these times that he is most subject to tempestuous fits of anger and it seemed to be aware of it for I have known him lock himself up so that no one might approach him until his dark hour has passed he sleeps badly at night but his cabin is some little distance from mine I could never distinguish the words which he said this is one phase of his character and the most disagreeable one it is only through my close association with him thrown together as we are day after day that I have observed it otherwise he is an agreeable companion well read and entertaining and as gallant a seamen has ever trod a deck shall not easily forget the way in which he handled the ship when we were caught by a gale and even hilarious as he was that night as he paced backwards and forward upon the bridge amid the flashing of lightning and howling of the wind he has told me several times the thought of death was a pleasant one to him which is a sad thing for a young man to say he cannot be much more than 30 those hair and mustaches are already slightly grizzled some great sorrow must have overtaken him and blighted his whole life perhaps I should be the same if I lost my flora God knows I think if it were not for her that I should care very little whether the wind blew from the north or the south tomorrow there I hear him come down the companion and he's locked himself up in his room which shows that he's still in an unamiable mood and so to bed as old Pepas would say for the candle is burning down we have to use them now since the nights are closing in and the steward has turned in and there are no hopes of another one September 12th calm, clear day and still lying in the same position what wind there is comes from the southeast but it is very slight captain is in a better humor and apologized to me at breakfast for his rudeness he still looks somewhat distraight, however and retains that wild look in his eyes which in the highlander would mean that he was fake at least so our chief engineer remarked to me and he has some reputation among the Celtic portion of our crew as a steer and expounder of omens it is strange that superstition should have attained such mastery over this hard-headed and practical race I could not have believed to what an extent it is carried had I not observed it for myself we have had a perfect understanding of this voyage until I had felt inclined to serve out rations of sedatives and nerotonics with a Saturday allowance of grog the first symptom of it was that shortly after leaving Shetland the men in the wheel used to complain that they heard plaintive cries and screams in the wake of the ship as if something were following it and were unable to overtake it this fiction had been kept up during a whole voyage and on dark nights at the beginning of the seal fishing it was only with great difficulty that meant I had been fetched out of bed several times to listen to it but I'd need to hardly say that I was never able to distinguish anything unnatural the men however are so absurdly positive upon the subject that is hopeless to argue with them I mentioned this matter to the captain once but to my surprise he took it very gravely and indeed appeared to be considerably disturbed by what I told him I should have thought that he at least would have been above such vulgar delusions all this leads me to the fact that Mr. Manson our second mate saw a ghost last night or at least says that he did which of course is the same thing it is quite refreshing to have some new topic of conversation after the eternal routine of bears and whales which has served us for many months Manson swears the ship is haunted and that he would not stay in her a day if he had any other place to go indeed the fellow is honestly frightened and I've had to give him some floral and bromide of magnet when I suggested that even having an extra glass the night before I was obliged to pacify him by keeping as grave account as possible during his story which he certainly narrated in a very straightforward and matter of fact way I was on the bridge he said about four bells in the middle watch just when the night was at its darkest there was a bit of moon but the clouds now I went forward and we both heard it sometimes like a bear and crying and sometimes like a wench and pain I've been 17 years to the county and I've never heard seal older young make a sound like that as we were standing there on the full castle head the moon came off behind the cloud and we both saw a sort of white figure moving across the ice field in the same direction that we had heard an aft of the rivals and McLeod and I went down on the pack thinking that maybe it might be a bear when we got on the ice I lost sight of McLeod and I pushed on in the direction where I could still hear the cries I followed them for a mile or maybe more and then running around a humic I came right onto the top of it standing and waiting for me seemingly I don't know what it was it wasn't a bear anyway it was tall and white and straight and if it wasn't a man or a woman I'll stake my run and pressure glad I was to find myself aboard I signed articles to do my duty by the ship and on the ship I'll stay but you don't catch me on that ice again after sundown that is his story given as far as I can in his own words I fancy what he saw must in spite of his denial have been a young bear wrecked upon its hind legs an attitude which they often assume when alarmed in the uncertain light this would bear resemblance to a human figure especially to a man whose nerves were already so much shaken whatever it may have been the occurrence is unfortunate and for has produced the most unpleasant effect upon the crew their looks are more sullen than before and their discontent more open the double grievance of being debarred from the herring fishing and of being detained in what they chose to call a haunted vessel may lead them to do something rash even the harpooners who are the oldest and steadiest among them are joining in the general agitation apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition things are looking rather more cheerful this forming to the south of us had partly cleared away and the water is so warm must lead me to believe that we are lying in one of those branches of the Gulfstream which run up between Greenland and Spitsenburg there are numerous small medusa and sealable ones about the ship with abundance of shrimps so that there is every possibility of fish being sighted indeed one of them was seen blowing about dinner time but in such a position that it was impossible for the boats to follow it September 13th had an interesting conversation with the chief mate of the voyage it seems that our captain is as great an enigma to the seaman and even to the owners of the vessel that he has been to me Mr Milner tells me that when the ship is paid off upon returning from a voyage Captain Craigie disappears and has not seen again until the approach of another season when he walks quietly into the office of the company and asks whether his services will be required he has no friend in Dundee nor does anyone pretend to be acquainted with his early history his position depends entirely upon the capacity of the mate before being entrusted with a separate command the unanimous opinion seems to be that he is a scotchman and that his name is an assumed one Mr Milner thinks that he has devoted himself to wailing simply for the reason that is the most dangerous occupation which he could select and that it courts death in every possible manner he mentions several instances of this one of which is rather curious if true it seems that on one occasion he did not put an appearance at the office and a substitute had to be selected in this place this was at a time of Russian and Turkish war when he turned up again next spring he had a puckered wound on the side of his neck which he used to endeavour to conceal his cravat whether the mate's inference that he had engaged in the war is true or not I cannot say it was certainly a strange coincidence the wind is veering around in an easterly direction but it is still very slight I think the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday as far as the eye can reach out on every side there is one wide expansive spotless white only broken by an occasional rift with a dark shadow to the south there is a narrow lane of blue water which is our sole means of escape and which is closing up every day the captain is taking a heavy responsibility upon himself I hear that the tank of potatoes has been finished and even the biscuits are running short but it preserves the same impassable countenance and spends the greater part of the day at the crow's nest sweeping the horizon with his glass his manner is very variable and he seems to avoid my society but there has been no repetition of the violence which he showed the other night my deliberate opinion is that we are commanded by a madman nothing else can account for the extraordinary vagaries of Captain Craig it is fortunate that I have kept this journal of our voyage as it will serve to justify us in case we have to put him under any sort of restraint a step which I can only consent to as a last resource Curiously enough it was as if he himself had suggested lunacy and not merely eccentricity as the secret of his strange conna he was standing upon the bridge about an hour ago peering as usual the majority of the men were below at their tee for the watches have not been regularly kept of late tired of walking out late against the bulwarks and admired the mellow glow cast by the sinking sun upon the great ice fields which surround us I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I was fallen by a horse voice of my elbow and starting round I found that Captain had descended and was standing by my side he was staring out over the ice with an expression in such horror surprise in spite of the cold great drops of perspiration were coursing down his forehead and he was evidently fearfully excited his limbs twitched like those of a man upon the verge of an epileptic fit and the lines of his mouth were drawn and hard look he gasped seizing me by the wrist but still keeping his eyes upon a distant ice and moving his head slowly in a horizontal direction as if following some object which was moving across the field of vision look there man there between the hummocks now coming out here you must see her there still flying from me by God flying from me and gone he uttered the last two words and whisper concentrated agony which shall never fade from my remembrance clinging to the rat lines he endeavored to climb up upon the top of the bullwars as if in the hope of obtaining a last glance at the departing object his strength was not equal to the attempt however and he staggered back against the saloon skylights where he leaned unconscious so lost no time in lending him down the companion and stretching him out upon one of the sofas of the cabin I then poured him out some brandy which I held to his lips and which had a wonderful effect upon him bringing the blood back into his white face and steadying his poor shaking limbs he raised himself up upon his elbows and looking round to see that we were alone he beckoned to me to come and sit beside him you saw it didn't you he asked still in the same subdued man no I saw nothing his head sank back against the cushions no he wouldn't without the glass he murmured he couldn't it was the glass that showed her to me and then the eyes of love the eyes of love I say doc don't let the steward in he'll think I'm mad just bolt the door will ya I rose and did what he commanded he lay quiet and asked for some more brandy you don't think I am do you doc he asked as I was putting the bottle back into the afterlocker tell me now as man to man do you think I am mad I think you have something on your mind which is exciting you and doing you a great deal of harm right there lad he cried his eyes sparkling from the effects of the brandy plenty on my mind mad in the court of law could you now it was curious to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his own sanity perhaps not I said but still I think you would be wise to get home as soon as you can and settle down for a quiet life for a while get home eh he muttered with a sneer upon his face one word for me and two for yourself lad settle down with flora pretty little flora are bad dreams signs of madness sometimes I answered first symptoms pains in the head noises in the ears flashes before the eyes delusions ah what about them he interrupted what would you call a delusion seeing a thing which is not there is a delusion but she was there he grown into himself she was there and rising he unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps to his own cabin where I have no doubt that he will remain until tomorrow morning his system seems to have received whatever it may have been that he imagined himself to have seen the man becomes a greater mystery every day though I fear that the solution which he has himself suggested is the correct one and that his reason is effective I did not think that a guilty conscience has anything to do with his behavior the idea is a popular one among the officers and I believe the crew but I have seen nothing to support it he is not the air of a guilty man but of one who has had terrible usage at the hands of fortune and who should be regarded as a martyr rather than a criminal the wind is veering down to the south tonight God help us if it blocks that narrow pass which is our only road to safety situated as we were on the edge of the main Arctic pack or the barrier as it is called by the whalers any wind from the north has the effect of shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape while wind from the south blows up all the loose ice behind us and hams us in between two packs God help us I say again September 14 Sunday and a day of rest my fears have been confirmed and a thin strip of blue water disappeared from the southward nothing but the great motionless ice fields around us but with their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles there is a deathly silence over all the wide expanse which is horrible no lapping of the waves now no crying of seagulls or stranding of sails but one deep universal silence in which the murmurs of the seaman and the creek of their boots upon the white shining deck seem discordant and out of place our only visitor was an Arctic fox a rare animal upon the pack enough upon the land he did not come near the ship however but after surveying us from a distance fled rapidly across the ice this was curious conduct as they generally know nothing of man and being of an inquisitive nature becomes so familiar that they are easily captured incredible as it may seem even this little incident produced a bad effect upon the crew ya un poor beastie kins mar ay and sees mar nor you nor me it was the comment of one of the leading harpooners and the others in his vein to attempt to argue in such pure all superstition they have made up their minds that there was a curse upon the ship and nothing will ever persuade them to the contrary the captain remained in his inclusion all day except for about half an hour in the afternoon when he came out upon the quarter deck I observed that he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the vision of yesterday had appeared and was quite prepared for another outburst but none such came he did not seem to see me although standing close beside him divine service as usual by the chief engineer it is a curious thing that in whaling vessels the church of England prayer book is always employed although there is never a member of the church among either officers or crew our men are either all Roman Catholics or Presbyterians the former predominating since the ritual is used which is for and to both neither can complain that the others preferred to them and they listen with all attention and devotion so that the system has something to recommend in a glorious sunset which made the great fields of ice look like a lake of blood I've never seen a finer and at the same time more weird effect wind is veering around if it will blow 24 hours from the north all will yet be well September 15 today is Flora's birthday dear lass it as well as she cannot see her boy as she used to call me showed up among the ice fields with a crazy captain and a few weeks provisions no doubt she scans the shipping list in the Scotsman every morning see if we are reported from Shetland I have to set an example to the men and look cheery and unconcern but God knows my heart is very heavy at times the thermometer is at 19 Fahrenheit today there is a little wind and what there is comes from an unfavorable order captain is in an excellent humor I think he imagines he has seen some other omen or vision for fellow during the night for he came into my room early in the morning and stooping down over my bunk whispered it wasn't a delusion doc after breakfast he asked me to find out how much food was left which the second mate and I proceeded to do it is even less than we had expected forward they have half a tank full of biscuits three barrels of salt meat and a very limited supply of coffee beans and sugar in the after hold and locker there are a good many luxuries such as tin salmon soups harry cop mutton et cetera but they will go a very short way among a crew of 50 men there are two barrels of flour in the storeroom all together there is about enough to keep the men on half rations for 18 or 20 days certainly not more when we reported the state of things to the captain he ordered all hands to be piped and addressed them for the quarter deck I never saw him to better advantage with his tall well knit figure and dark animated face he seemed a man born to command and he discussed the situation in a cool he said no doubt you think I brought you into this fix if it is a fix and maybe some of you feel bitter against me on account of it but you must remember that for many a season no ship that comes to the county has brought in as much oil money as the pole star and every one of you has had a share of it you can leave your wives behind you in comfort while other poor fellows come back to find our last is on the parish if you have to thank me for the one you have to thank me for the other and we may call it quits if we have won and failed we have no cost to cry about it if the worst comes to the worst we can make the land across the ice and lay in a stock of seals which will keep us alive until the spring it won't come to that though but you will see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are out at present every man must go on half rations share and share alike and no favor to any keep up your hearts and you will pull through as you pull through many a danger before these few simple words of his had a wonderful effect upon the crew his former unpopularity was forgotten and the old harpooner whom I have already mentioned for his superstition led off three cheers which were hardly joined in by all hands September 16th the Vin had weird round to the north during the night and the ice shows some symptoms of opening up a manner and good humor in spite of the short allowance upon which they had been placed steam is kept up in the engine room that there may be no delay should an opening for their escape present itself the captain is an exuberant experience though he still retains his wild this burst of cheerfulness puzzles me more than his former gloom I cannot understand it I think I mentioned in an early part of this journal that one of his oddities is that he never permits any person to enter his cabin but insist upon making his own bed such as it is and performing every other office himself to my surprise he handed me the key today and requested me to go down there and take the time by the chronometer while he measured the altitude of the sun at noon it is a bare little room containing a washing stand and a few books but little else in the way of luxury except some pictures on the wall the majority of these are some cheap oligographs but there was one water-colored sketch of the head of a young lady which arrested my attention it was evidently a portrait and not one of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors particularly affect no artist could have evolved from his own such a curious mixture of character and weakness the languid dreamy eyes with their dripping lashes and the broad low brow unruffled by thought or care contrasted the clean cut prominent jaw and the resolute set of the upper lip underneath it in one of the corners was written MB at 19 that anyone in the short space of 19 years of existence could develop such strength of will as was stamped upon her face seemed to me at the time to be well-nigh incredible she must have been an extraordinary woman her features have thrown such a glamour over me that though I had been a fleeting glance at them I could were I a draftsman reproduced them line for line upon this page of the journal I wonder what part she has played in our captain's life she has hung her picture at the end of his birth so that his eyes continually rest upon it were he a less reserved man I should make some remark upon the subject of the other things in his cabin there was nothing worth of mention uniform coats a camp stool small looking glass tobacco box numerous pipes including an oriental hookah which by the by gives some color to mr. mill's story about his participation in the war though the connection may seem rather a distant one at 8 p.m. captain just gone to bed after a long interesting conversation of general topics when he chooses could be a most fascinating companion being remarkably well read and having the power of expressing his opinion forcibly without appearing to be dogmatic I hate to have my intellectual toes trot upon he spoke upon the nature of the soul and sketched out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon the subject in a masterly manner he seems to have a leaning for metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras and I made some joking illusions the imposters of Slade upon which to my surprise he warned me most impressively against confusing the innocent with the guilty and argued that it would be as logical to bring Christianity as an error because Judas who professed that religion was a villain he shortly afterwards bathed me good night and retired to his room the wind is freshening up and blows steadily from the north the nights are as dark now as they are in England I hope tomorrow may set us free September 17th the bogey again thank heaven and I have strong nerves the superstition of these poor fellows and the circumstantial accounts which they give with the utmost earnestness and self-conviction would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways there are many versions of the matter but the sum total of them is that something uncanny has been flitting around the ship at night and that Sandy McDonald of Peterhead and Lang Peter Williamson of Shetland saw too and also did Mr. Mill on the bridge so having three witnesses they can have a better case of it than the second may did I spoke to Mill after breakfast and told him that he should be above such nonsense and then as an officer he ought to set the men in better example he shook his weather beaten head ominously but answered with the characters to caution maybe maybe not doctor he said I didn't have called a guest I cannot say I preen my faith in his sea bogels and alike though there's many that claim that they've seen that and were I'm no easy feared but maybe your own blood is a cold one if instead of spearing about it in daylight you were with me last night and seen in awful shape white and gruesome whilst here whilst there and a griten and kind and darkness like a bit lamby that lost his mother you would never be say ready to put a dune to old wives clavus then I'm thinking I saw it was hopeless to reason with him so contended myself with begging him as a personal favor to call me up the next time the specter appeared I request what she acceded with many ejaculations as I had hoped the white desert behind us had become broken by many thin streaks of water which intersected in all directions our latitude today was 80 degrees 52 minutes north which shows that there is a strong subtly drift upon the pack should the wind continue favorable it would break up as rapidly as it formed at present we can do nothing but smoke and wait and hope for the best I am rapidly becoming a fatalist when dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice a man could be insane in the Arabian deserts which gave the minds of the original followers of Muhammad their tendency to bow to Kismet these spectral alarms have had a very bad effect upon the captain I fear that I might excite his sensitive mind and endeavor to conceal the absurd story from him but unfortunately he overheard one of the men making an allusion to it and insisted upon being informed about it as I had expected it brought out all his latent lunacy in an exaggerated form I can hardly believe that this is the same man who discourse philosophy last night as a man and coolest judgment he is pacing backwards and forwards upon a quarter-deck like a caged tiger stepping now and again to throw out his hands in a yearning gesture and stare impatiently out over the ice he keeps up a continual murder to himself and once he called out but a little time love but a little time poor fellow it is sad to see a gallant seaman an accomplished gentleman reduces such a pass and to think that imagination and delusion can cow a mind was ever a man in such a position as I between a demented captain and a ghost-seeing mate I sometimes think I'm the only really sane man aboard the vessel except perhaps the second engineer who was a kind of ruminant and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools the ice is still opening rapidly and there's every probability of our being able to make a start tomorrow morning they will think I am eventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have befallen me 12 p.m I've been a good deal startle though I feel steadier now thanks to a stiff glass of brandy I am hardly myself yet however as this handwriting will testify the fact is that I have gone through a very strange experience and I'm beginning to doubt whether I was justified in branding everyone on board as madmen because they professed to have seen the things which did not seem reasonable to my understanding for sure I am a foal that's such a trifle unnerve me and yet coming as it does after all these alarms it has an additional significance for I cannot doubt whether Mr. Manson's story or that of the maid now that I have experienced that which I used formally to scoff at after all it was nothing very alarming a mere sound and that was all I cannot expect that anyone reading this if anyone should read it will sympathize with my feelings or realize the effect which it produced upon me at the time supper was over and I had gone on deck to have a quiet pipe before turning in the night was very dark so dark that standing under the quarter boat I was unable to see the officer upon the bridge I think I have already mentioned the extraordinary silence prevails in these frozen seas in other parts of the world be they ever so barren there is some slight vibration of the air some faint hum be it from the distant haunts of men or from the leaves of the trees or the wings of the bird or even the faint rustle of the grasses that cover the ground one may not actively perceive the sound and yet if it were withdrawn it would be missed it is only here in these arctic seas that stark unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself upon you in all its gruesome reality you find your timpan restraining to catch some little murmur and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental sound within the vessel in this state I was leaning against the bulwarks when there arose from the ice almost directly underneath me a cry sharpened shrill upon the silent air of the night beginning as it seemed to me at a note such a primadonna never reached and mounting from that ever higher and higher until it culminated in a long wail of agony which might have been the last cry of a lost soul the ghastly scream is still ringing in my ears grief unutterable grief seemed to be expressed in it and a great longing and yet through it all there was an occasional wild note of exaltation it shrilled out from close behind me yet as I glared into the darkness I could discern nothing I waited some little time but without hearing any repetition of the sound so I came below more shaken than I had ever been in my life before as I came down the companion I met Mr. Milne coming up to relieve the watch we had a doctor he said maybe that's old wives clavours too do you hear no scurling maybe that's a superstition what do you think go to know I was obliged to apologize to the honest fellow and acknowledge that I was as puzzled by it as he was perhaps tomorrow things may look different yet present I dearly heart right all that I think reading it again in days to come when I've shaken off these associations I might despise myself for having been so weak September 18th past a restless and uneasy night still haunted by a strange sound the captain does not look as if he has much repose either for his face is haggard and his eyes bloodshot I have not told him of my adventure last night nor shall I he's already restless and excited standing up sitting down and apparently utterly unable to keep still a fine lead appeared in the pack this morning as I have expected when we were able to cast off our ice anchor a steam about 12 miles in the west south westerly direction we were then brought to a halt by a great flow as massive as any which we had left behind us it bars our progress completely so we can do nothing but anchor again and wait until it breaks up which it will probably do within 24 hours if the wind holds several bladder nose seals were seen swimming in the water and one was shot an immense creature more than 11 feet long they are fierce pugnacious animals and are said to be more than a match for a bear fortunately they are slow and clumsy in their movements so there is little danger in attacking them upon the ice the captain evidently does not think we have seen the last of our troubles though why we should take such gloomy a view of the situation is more than I can found them since everyone else on board considers that we have had a miraculous escape and are sure now to reach the open sea I suppose you think it's alright now doctor he said as we sat together after dinner I hope so I answered we mustn't be too sure and yet no doubt you are right we'll all be in the arms where our true love is before long lad won't we mustn't be too sure we mustn't be too sure he sat silent a little swinging his leg thoughtfully backwards and forwards look here he continued it's a dangerous place this even at its best a treacherous dangerous place I have no men cut off very suddenly in a land like this a slip would do it sometimes a single slip and down you go through a crack and only a bubble in the green water to show where it was that you sang it's a queer thing he continued with a nervous laugh but all the years I've been in this country I feel not that I have anything to leave in particular but still when a man is exposed to danger he should have something arranged and ready don't you think certainly I answered wondering what on earth he was driving at it feels better for knowing it's all settled he went on now if anything should ever befall me I hope you will look after my things for me there's very little in the cabin but such as it is I should like it to be sold and the money divided in some proportion as the oil money among the crew the chronometer I wish you to keep of course all this is mere precaution but I thought it would take the opportunity of speaking to you about it I suppose I might rely upon you if there's any necessity most assuredly I answered and since you were taking this step I may as well you you he interrupted you're alright what the devil's to matter with you there I didn't need to be peppery but I don't like to hear a young fellow that has hardly begun life speculating about death go up on deck and get some fresh air into your lungs instead of talking nonsense in the cabin you need to do the same the more I think of this conversation of ours the less do I like it why should the man be settling his affairs at the very time when we seem to be emerging from all danger there must be some method to his madness can it be that he contemplates suicide I remember that upon one occasion he spoke in a deeply reverent manner of the heinousness of the crime of self-destruction I shall keep my eye upon him however and though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his cabin I shall at least make a point of remaining on deck Mr. Milne Poo Poo was my fears and said it's only the skipper's little way he himself takes a very rosy view of the situation according to him we shall be out of the ice by the day after tomorrow past Jan May in two days after that and sight Shetland in a little more than a week I hope he may not be too sanguine his opinions may be fairly balanced against the gloomy precautions of the cabin for he is an old and experienced seaman and weighs his words well before uttering them the long impending catastrophe has come at last I hardly know what to write about it the captain is gone he may come back to us alive but I fear me I fear me it is now seven o'clock of the morning of the 19th of September I spent the whole night traversing the great ice flow in front of us for the party of seaman in the hopes of coming upon some trace of him but in vain I shall try to give some account of the circumstances which attended upon his disappearance should anyone ever chance to read the words which I put down I trust that a sane and educated man am describing accurately what actually occurred before my very eyes my inferences are my own but I shall be answerable for the facts the captain remained in excellent spirits after the conversation which I have recorded he appeared to be nervous and impatient however frequently changing his position and moving his limbs in an aimless cork way which is characteristic of him at times in a quarter of an hour he went upon deck seven times only to descend after a few hurried paces I followed him each time which confirmed my resolution of not letting him out of my sight he seemed to observe the effect which his movements had produced for he endeavored by an overdone hilarity laughing boisterously at the very smallest of jokes to quiet my apprehensions after supper he went on to the poop once more and I with him the night was dark and very still save for the melancholy softening of the wind among the spars a thick cloud was coming up from the northwest and the ragged tentacles which he threw out in front of it were drifting across again and through a rift in the rack the captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards and at seeing me dogging him he came across and hinted that he thought I should be better below which I need hardly to say had the effect of strengthening my resolution to remain on deck I think he forgot about my presence after this for he stood silently leaning over the taff rail appearing out across the great desert of snow part of which lay in shadow while part glittered mistily in the moonlight several times I could see by his movements of which I could only catch the one word ready I confessed to having an eerie feeling creeping over me as I watched the loom of his tall figure through the darkness and noticed how completely he filled the idea of a man who was keeping a trist a trist with whom some vague perception began to dawn upon me as I pieced one fact with another but I was utterly unprepared for this sequel by the sudden intensity of his attitude I felt that he saw something I crept up behind him he was staring with an eager questioning gaze at what seemed to be a wreath of mist blown swiftly in line with the ship it was a dim neveless body devoid of shape sometimes more sometimes less apparent as the light fell upon it the moon was dimmed at its brilliance at the moment by a canopy of the thinnest cloud like the coating of an enemy coming less coming cried the skipper and a voice unfathomable tenderness and compassion like one who soothes a beloved one who had some favor what followed happened in an instant I had no power to interfere he gave one spring to the top of the bulwarks and another which took him out of the ice almost to the feet of the pale misty figure he held at his hands as if to clasp it and so ran into the darkness with outstretched arms and loving words I still stood rigid and motionless straining my eyes after his retreating form until his voice died away in the distance I never thought to see him again but at that moment the moon shone out brilliantly through a chink bright field of ice then I saw his dark figure already a very long way off running with prodigious speed across the frozen plain that was the last glimpse which we caught of him perhaps the last we ever shall a party was organized to follow him and I accompanied them but the men's hearts were not in the work and nothing was found another will be forming within a few hours I can hardly believe I have not been dreaming or suffering from some hideous nightmare as I write these down 7.30 p.m just returned dead beat and utterly tired out in the second unsuccessful search for the captain the flow is of enormous extent for though we have traversed at least 20 miles of its surface there have been no sign of it coming to an end the frost has been so severe of late that an overlying snow was frozen as hard as a granite otherwise we might have had the footsteps to guide us the crew were anxious that we should cast off and steam round the flow and so did the southward for the ice opened up during the night and the sea is visible upon the horizon taking our lives to no purpose by remaining when we have an opportunity to escape Mr. Millen and I have had the greatest difficulty in persuading them to wait until tomorrow night and have been compelled to promise that we will not under any circumstances delay a departure longer than that we propose therefore to take a few hours sleep then to start upon a final search September 20th evening I crossed the ice this morning with a party of men exploring the southern part of the flow we stopped for 10 or 12 miles without seeing a trace of any living thing except a single bird which flooded a great way over our heads and which by its flight it should have judged to have been a fountain the southern extremity of the ice field tapered away into a long narrow spit which projected out upon the sea when we came to the base of this promontory the men halted but I begged them to continue to the extreme end of it but we might have the satisfaction of knowing that no possible chance has been neglected we can hardly saw something in front of us and began to run we all got a glimpse of it and ran too at first it was only a vague darkness against the white ice but as we braced along together it took the shape of a man and eventually of the man whom we were in search he was lying face downwards upon a frozen bank many little crystals of ice and feathers of snow had drifted onto him as he lay and sparkled upon the dark and then once more in current sped rapidly away in the direction of the sea to my eyes is seen but a snow drift but many of my companions have heard that it started up in the shape of a woman stooped over the corpse and kissed it and then hurried away across the flow I have learned never to ridicule any man's opinion however strange it may seem sure it is the captain Nicholas Kregge had met with no painful end for there was a bright smile upon his blue pinched features and his hands were still outstretched as though grasping into the dim world that lies beyond the grave we buried him in the afternoon with the ship's ensign around him and the 32 pound shot at his feet I read the burial service which the rough sailors wept like children for there were many who owed much to his kind heart and who showed now the affection which his strange ways had repelled during his lifetime he went off the grading with a dull sullen splash and as I looked into the green water I saw him go down down down until he was but a flickering darkened then even that faded away and he was gone there he shall lie with his secret and his sorrows and his misery all still buried in his breast until that great day when the sea shall give up its dead Nicholas Kregge come out from among the ice with a smile upon his face and his stiffened arms outstretched in greeting I pray that his lot may be a happier one in that life than it has been in this I shall not continue my journal I rode to home lies plain and clear before us the events of the past will be some time before I get over the shock produced by recent events when I began this record of our voyage I little thought of how I should be compelled to finish it I am writing these final words in the lonely cabin but starting at times and fancying I heard the quick nervous steps of a dead man upon the deck above me I entered the cabin tonight as was my duty to make a list of his effects in order that they may be entered into the official log all was as had been upon my previous visit said the picture which I had described as having hung this frame as with a knife and was gone with this last link in the strange chain of evidence I closed my diary on the voyage of the pole star note by doctor John McAllister Ray Sr I have read over the strange events connected with the death of the captain of the pole star as narrated in the journal of my son that everything occurred exactly as he describes it I have the full confidence and indeed the most positive certainty for veracity still the story is on the face of it so vague and so improbable that I was long opposed to its publication within the last few days however I have had an independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light upon it I had run down to Edinburgh to attend the meeting of a British Medical Association where I chanced to come across Dr. P an old college jumble line now practicing at Saltish in Devonshire upon my telling him of this experience of my sons I own no surprise to give me a description of him which tallied remarkably well with that given in the journal except that he depicted him as a younger man according to his account he had been engaged to a young lady of singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast during his absence at sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror End of chapter 8 Chapter 9 of the dealings of Captain Sharky and other stories of pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this liberal box recording is in the public domain recording by Joe DeNoyer Somerset, New Jersey the fiend of the Cooperidge it was no easy matter to bring the game cock up to the island for the river had swept down so much silt that the banks extended for many miles out into the Atlantic the coast was hardly to be seen when the first white curl of the breakers warned us of our danger and from there onwards we made our way very carefully under mainsail and jib keeping the broken water well to the left as is indicated on the chart more than once her bottom touched the sand we were drawing something under six feet at the time but we had always way enough and luck enough to carry us through finally the water shoaled very rapidly but they had sent the canoe from the factory and the crew boy pilot brought us within 200 yards of the island here we dropped our anchor for the gestures on the Negro indicated that we cannot hope to get any farther the blue of the sea had changed to the brown of the river and even under the shelter of the island the current was singing and swirling around our boughs the stream appeared to be in spate for it was over the roots of the palm trees and everywhere upon its muddy, greasy surface we could see logs of wood and debris of all sorts which had been carried down by the flood when I had assured myself that we swung securely at our moorings I thought it best to begin watering at once for the place looked as if it were reeked with fever the heavy river with muddy, shining banks the bright poisonous green of the jungle the moist steam in the air they were all so many danger signals to one who could read them I sent the long boat off therefore with two large hogs heads which should be sufficient to last us until we made St. Paul de la Wanda for my own part I took the dinghy and rode for the island for I could see the Union Jack fluttering above the palms to mark the position of Armitage and Wilson's trading station when I cleared the grove I could see the place a long, low, whitewashed building with a deep veranda in front and an immense pile of palm oil barrels heaped upon either flank of it a row of surf boats and canoes lay along the beach and a single small jetty projected into the river two men in white suits with a red comrade once around their wastes were waiting upon the end of it to receive me one was a large portby fellow with a grayish beard the other was slender and tall with a pale pinched face which was half concealed by a great mushroom shaped hat very glad to see you said the letter cordially I am Walker the agent of Armitage and Wilson let me introduce Dr. Severall of the same company it is not often we see a private yacht in these parts she's the Gamecock I explained I'm owner and captain Meldrum is the name exploring he asked I'm a lipidopterist a butterfly catcher I've been doing the west coast from Senegal downwards good sport said the doctor turning a slow yellow shot eye upon me I have 40 cases full we came in here to water and also to see what you have in my line these introductions and explanations had filled up the time whilst my two crew boys were making the dingy fast then I walked down the jetty with one of my new acquaintances upon either side each playing with questions preventing no white man for months what do we do said the doctor when I had begun asking questions in my turn our business keeps us pretty busy and in our leisure time we talk politics yes by the special mercy of Providence Severall is a rank radical and I am a good stiff unionist and we talk home rule for two solid hours every evening and during Queenine Cocktail said the doctor we're both pretty well salted now but our normal temperature was about 103 last year I shouldn't as an impartial advisor recommend you to stay here very long unless you are collecting bacilli as well as butterflies the mouth of the Ogaway river will never develop into a health resort there is nothing finer than the way in which these outlying pickets of civilization distill a grim humor out of their desolate situation and turn not only a bold but a laughing face upon the chances which their lives may bring everywhere from Sierra Leone downwards I had found the same wreaking swamps the same isolated fever wreck communities and the same bad jokes there's something approaching to the divine power of a man to rise above his conditions and to use his mind for the purpose of mocking all the miseries of his body didn't we'll be ready in half an hour Captain Meldrum said to doctor Walker's gone in to see about it he's the housekeeper this week meanwhile if you like we'll stroll around and I'll show you the sights of the island the sun had already sunk beneath the line of palm trees and the great arch of the heaven above our head was like the inside of a huge shell shimmering with dainty pinks the napkin became intolerable upon the knees can imagine the blessed relief which the coolness of evenings brings along with it in this sweeter and purer air the doctor and I walked around the little island he pointing out the stores and explaining the routine of his work there's a certain romance about the place said he it adds to some remark of mine about the dullness of our lives we're living here just upon the edge of the great unknown up there the land of the great apes in this direction pointing to the southeast no one has been very far the land which is drained by this river is practically unknown to Europeans every log which is carried past us by the current has come from an undiscovered country I've often wished that I was a better botanist when I've seen the singular orchids and curious living plants which have been cast up on the eastern end of the island the place which the doctor indicated was a sloping little natural breakwater so that a small shallow bay was left between this was full of floating vegetation with a single huge splinter tree lying stranded in the middle of it the current rippling against its high black side these are all from up countries at the doctor they get caught in our little bay and then when some extra fresh it comes they are washed out again and carried out to sea what is the tree I asked oh some kind of teak I should imagine to see nothing of the palms just come in here will ya he led the way into a long building with an immense quantity of barrel staves and iron hoops littered about it this is our cooperidge said he we have the staves sent out in bundles and we put them together ourselves now you don't see anything particularly sinister about this building do you looked around at the high corrugated iron roof and white wooden walls and the earth and floor in one corner and yet there's something out of the common too you remark you see that bed while I intend to sleep there tonight I don't want a buck but I think it's a bit of a test for nerve why oh there have been some funny things going on you were talking about the monotony of our lives but I assure you that they are sometimes quite as exciting as we wish them to be you'd better come back to the house now for after sundown we begin to get the fever fog up from the marshes there you can see a white vapor writhing out from among the thick green underwood and crawling at us over the broad swirling surface of the brown river at the same time the air turned suddenly dank and cold there's the dinner gong said to doctor if this matter interests you I'll tell you about it afterwards it did interest me very much for there was something earnest and subdued in his manner as he stood in the empty cooperidge which appealed very forcibly to my imagination an expression which I would not describe as one of fear but rather of a man who was alert and on guard by the way said I as we return to the house you have shown me the huts of the good many of your native assistants but I've not seen any of the natives themselves they sleep in the hulk over yonder the doctor answered pointing over to one of the banks indeed I should not have thought in that case that they would need the huts oh they used the huts until quite recently we've put them in the hulk and nobody sleeps on the island except Walker and myself what frightened them I asked well that brings us back to the same story I suppose Walker has no objection to your hearing all about it I don't know why we should make any secret about it though it is certainly a pretty bad business he made no further allusion to it during the excellent dinner which had been prepared in my honor it appeared that no sooner had the little white top sail the game cock shown around the Cape Lopez that these kind fellows had begun to be too peculiar to the west coast and to boil their yams and sweet potatoes we sat down to as good a native dinner as one could wish served by a smart Sierra Leona waiting boy I was just remarking to myself that he at least had not shared in the general fright when having laid the dessert and wine on the table he raised his hand to his turban anything else I do Massa Walker he asked no I think they should be all right Musa my host answered the struggle between his fears and his duty upon the swarvy face of the African his skin had turned of a livid purplish tint which stands for pallor in a negro and his eyes look furtively about him no no Massa Walker he cried at last you better come to the Hulk with me sa look after you much better in the Hulk sa that won't do Musa white men don't run away from the post when they are placed again I saw he cried sa help me I can't do it if it was yesterday or if it was tomorrow but this is the third night sa and it's more than I can face Walker shrugged his shoulders off with you then said he when the mail boat comes you can get back to Sierra Leone for I'll have no servant who deserts me when I need a most I suppose this is all mystery to you or as the doctor told you Captain Meldrum I showed Captain you have a strong touch coming on you yes I've had the shivers all day and now my head is like a cannon ball I took ten grains of quinine and my ears are singing like a kettle but I want to sleep with you in the Coop Ridge tonight no no my dear trap I won't hear such a thing you must get to bed at once and I'm sure Meldrum will excuse you I shall sleep in the Coop Ridge and I promise I promise to you instinctively you'll remain in the Coop Ridge tonight until I get ready for any I suppose everyone around you they say if you just stay quiet and for that I am in the Coop Ridge tonight relaxed and taking you for your sleep take some key we have never been down together. I should have been sorry to be out of it tonight, for I have a little mystery to unravel. I told you that I intended to sleep in the Coopridge. Yes, you said so. When I said sleep, I meant watch, for there will be no sleep for me. We've had such a scare there that no native will stay after sundown, and I need to find out tonight what the cause of it may be. There's always been the custom for a native watchman to sleep in the Coopridge, to prevent the barrel hoops being stolen. Well, six days ago, the fellow who slept there disappeared. We've never seen a trace of him since. It was certainly singular for no canoe had been taken, and these waters are two-fold crocodiles for any man to swim to shore. What became of the fellow, or how he could have left the island, is a complete mystery. Walker and I were merely surprised, but the blacks were badly scared and queer voodoo tales began to get about amongst them. But the real stampede broke out three nights ago, when the new watchman in the Coopridge also disappeared. What became of him, I asked. Well, we not only don't know, but we can't even give a guess what would fit the facts. The nigger swears there is a fiend in the Coopridge who claims a man every third night. They wouldn't stay in the island, nothing could persuade them. Even Musa, who's a faithful boy enough, would, as you have seen him, leave his master in a fever rather than remain for the night. If we are to continue to run this place, we must reassure our niggers, and I don't know any better way of doing it than by putting in a night there myself. This is the third night, you see, so I suppose the thing is due. Whatever it may be. You have no clue, I asked. Was there no mark of violence, no bloodstain, no footprints, nothing to give you a hint as to what kind of danger you may have to meet? Absolutely nothing. The man was gone, and that was all. Last time it was Old Ali, who had been the wharf-tender here since the place was started. He was always as steady as a rock, and nothing but foul play would take him from his work. Well, said I, I really don't think this is a one-man job. Your friend is full of laudanum, and come what might, he could be of no assistance to you. You must let me stay and put in a night with you in the Coopridge. Well, now that's very good of you, Meldrum, you said he heartily, shaking my hand across the table. It's not a thing I should have ventured to propose, but asking a good deal of a casual visitor. But if you really mean it. Certainly I mean it. If you will excuse me a moment, I will hail the GameCock and let them know that they need not expect me. As we came back from the other end of the little jetty, we were both struck by the appearance of the night. A huge, blue-black pile of clouds had built itself up upon a landward side, and the wind came from it in little hot pants, which beat upon our faces like the draft from a blast furnace. Under the jetty, the river was swirling and hissing, tossing little white spurts of spray over the planking. Confound it, said Dr. Sevagal. We are likely to have a flood on top of all of our troubles. That rise in the river means heavy rain upcountry, and when it once begins, you never know how far it will go. We've had the island nearly covered before now. Well, we'll just go see that Walker is comfortable, and then if you like, we'll settle down in our quarters. The sick man was sunk in a profound slumber, and we left him with some crushed limes in the glass beside him, in case he should awake with the thirst of fever upon him. Then we made our way through the unnatural gloom thrown by that menacing cloud. The river had risen so high that the little bay which I had described at the end of the island had become almost obliterated through the submerging of the flanking peninsula. The great raft of driftwood, with the huge black tree in the middle, was swaying up and down the swollen current. That's one good thing a flood will do for us, said the doctor. It carries away all the vegetable stuff which he brought down on the east end of the island. It came down with the fresh it the other day, and here it will stay until the flood sweeps it out into the main stream. Well, here's our room, and here are some books, and here's my tobacco pouch, one we'll try and put in the night as best we may. By the light of our single lantern, the great lonely room looked very gaunt and dreary. Save for the piles of staves and heaps of hoops, there was absolutely nothing in it, with the exception of the mattress for the doctor which had been laid in the corner. We made a couple of seats and a table out of the staves, and settled down together for a long vigil. Severall had brought a revolver from me and was himself armed with a double-barrel shotgun. We loaded our weapons and laid them cocked within the reach of our hands. The little circle of light and the black shadows arching over us were so melancholy that he went off to the house and returned with two candles. One side of the coop which was pierced, however, by several open windows, and it was only by screening our lights behind the staves that we could prevent them from being extinguished. The doctor, who appeared to be a man of iron nerves, had settled down to a book, but I observed that every now and then he laid it upon his knees and took an earnest look all around him. From my part, although I tried once or twice to read, I found it impossible to concentrate my thoughts upon the book. They would always wander back to this great, empty, silent room and to the sinister mystery which overshadowed it. I racked my brains for some possible theory which would explain the disappearance of these two men. There was the black fact that they were gone and not the least tiddle of evidence as to why or wither. And here we are waiting in the same place, waiting without an idea as to what we were waiting for. I was right in saying that it is not a one-man job. It was trying enough as it was, but no force upon earth would have kept me there without a comrade. What an endless, tedious night it was. Outside we heard the lapping and gurgling of the great river and the softening of the rising wind. Within, save for our breathing, the turning of the doctor's pages and the high shrill pinging of an occasional mosquito, there was a heavy silence. Once my heart sprang into my mouth as several of his books suddenly fell to the ground and he sprang to his feet with his eyes on one of the windows. Did you see anything, Mildrum? No, did you? Well, I had a vague sense of movement outside that window. He caught up his gun and approached it. No, there's nothing to be seen, and yet it could have sworn that something passed slowly across it. A palm leaf, perhaps, said I, for the wind was growing stronger every instant. Very likely, said he, and settled down to his book again. But his eyes were forever darting little suspicious glances up at the window. I watched it also, but all was quiet outside. And then suddenly our thoughts were turned into a new direction by the bursting of the storm. A blinding flash was followed by a clap which shook the building. Again and again came the vivid white glare with thunder at the same instant, like the flash and roar of a monstrous piece of artillery. And then down came the tropical rain, crashing and rattling on the corrugated iron roofing of the Cooperage. The big hollow room boomed like a drum. From the darkness arose a strange mystery of noises, a gurgling, splashing, tinkling, bubbling, washing, dripping. Every liquid sound that nature can produce from the thrashing and swishing of the rain to the deep, steady boom of the river. Hour after hour the uproar grew louder and more sustained. My word, said Sivarol, we're going to have the father of all floods this time. Well, here's the dawn coming at last, and that is a blessing. We've about exploded to third night's superstition anyhow. A gray light was stealing through the room, and there was the day upon us in an instant. The rain had eased off, but the coffee-colored river was roaring past like a waterfall. Its power made me fear for the anchor of the Gamecock. I must get aboard, said I. If she drags, she'll never be able to beat up the river again. The island is as good as a breakwater, the doctor answered. I'll give you a cup of coffee if you'll come up to the house. I was chilled and miserable, so the suggestion was a welcome one. We left the ill-ohmen Cooperage with this mystery still unsolved, and we splashed our way up to the house. There's the spirit lamp, said Sivarol. If you would just put a light to it, I'll see how Walker feels this morning. He left me, but was back in an instant with a dreadful face. He's gone, he cried hoarsely. The word sent a thrill of horror through me. I stood with the lamp in my hand, glaring at him. Yes, he's gone, he repeated. Come and look. I followed him without a word, and the first thing I saw as I entered the bedroom was Walker himself lying huddled on his bed in a gray flannel sleeping suit, which I had helped to dress him the night before. Not dead, surely I gasped. The doctor was terribly agitated. His hands were shaking like leaves in the wind. He's been dead some hours. Was it fever? Fever, look at his foot. I glanced down and a cry of horror burst from my lips. One foot was not really dislocated, but was turned completely round in a most protest contortion. Good God, I cried. What could have done this? Several odd ladies hand upon the dead man's chest. Feel here, he whispered. I placed my hand at the same spot. There was no resistance. The body was absolutely soft and limp. It was like pressing a sawdust doll. The breastbone is gone, said several, on the same odd whisper. He's broken to bits. Thank God that he had to laud in them. You can see by his face that he died in his sleep. But who could have done this? I've had about as much as I can stand, said the doctor, wetting his forehead. I don't know that I'm a greater coward than my neighbors, but this gets beyond me. If you're going out to the Gamecock, come on, said I, and off we started. If we did not run, it was because each of us wished to keep up the last shadow of his self-respect before the other. It was dangerous in a light canoe on that swollen river, but we never paused to give the matter a thought. He bailing and I paddling, we kept her above water and gained the deck of the yacht. There, within two hundred yards of water between us and this cursed island, we felt that we were our own men once more. We'll go back in an hour or so, said he, but we need a little time to steady ourselves. I wouldn't have had the niggers see me as I was just now for a year's salary. I've told the steward to prepare breakfast. Then we shall go back, said I, but in God's name, Dr. Severall, what do you make of it? It beats me, beats me clean. I've heard of Voodoo Devil Tree, and I've laughed at it with the others. But that poor old Walker, a decent, God-fearing, 19th century, Primrose League Englishman, should go under like this without a whole bone in his body? It's given me a shake. I won't deny it. But look there, Meldrum. Is that hand of yours mad or drunk? Or what is it? Old Patterson, the oldest man of my crew, and as steady as the pyramids, have been stationed in the bowels with a boat hook to fend off the drifting logs, which came sweeping down at the current. Now he stood with crooked knees, glaring out in front of him with one forefinger stabbing furiously at the air. Look at it, he yelled. Look at it. At that same instant, we saw it. A huge black trunk was coming down the river. Its broad glistening back just laughed by the water. And in front of it, about three feet in front, marching upwards like the figurehead of a ship, there hung a dreadful face, swaying slowly from side to side. It was flattened, malignant, as large as a small beer barrel, and a faded fungoid color. But the net which supported it was modeled with dull yellow and black. As it flew past the gamecock in the swirl of the waters, I saw two immense coils rope out of some great hollow in the tree, and the villainous head rose suddenly to the height of eight or ten feet, looking with dull, skin-covered eyes at the yacht. An instant later the tree had shot past us and was plunging with its horrible passenger toward the Atlantic. What was it, I cried? It is our fiend of the cooperage, said Dr. Severall, and he had become in an instant the same bluff, self-confident man that he had been before. Yes, that is the devil who has been haunting our island. It is the great python of the Gaboon. I thought of the stories which I had heard all down the coast of the monstrous constrictors of the interior, of their periodical appetite, and of the murderous effects of their deadly squeeze. Then it all took shape in my mind. There had been a fresh hit the week before, and it brought down the huge hollow tree with its hideous occupant, who knows from what far distant tropical forest it may have come. It had been stranded on a little east bay of the island. The cooperage had been in the nearest house. Twice with the return of its appetite it had carried off the watchman. Last night it had doubtless come again, when Severall had thought he had saw something move at the window, but our lights had driven it away. It had rived onwards and had slain poor Walker in his sleep. Why did it not carry him off? I asked. The thunder and the lightning must have scared the brute away. There is your steward, Meldrum. The sooner we have breakfast and come back to the island, the better. For some of those niggers might think that we have been frightened. End of chapter 9