Newspapers / Forest City Courier (Forest … / Dec. 11, 1919, edition 1 / Page 6
Part of Forest City Courier (Forest City, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
PIECES OF EIGHT BEING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF A TREASURE DISCOVERED IN THE BAHAMA ISLANDS IN THE YEAR 1903. NOW FIRST GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC By RICHARD LE GALLIENNE Copyright by Doubleday, Page A Company CHAPTER Vll—Continued. —l4 But alas! they did not begin till some six feet above my head, and the way was sheer. How was I to reach the lowest rung? The rock was too sheer for me to cut steps in, as I had done farther back. I looked about me. Again the luck was with me. In one of the caves I had noticed some broken pieces of fallen rock. They were ter ribly heavy, but despair lent me strength, and after an hour or two's work, I had managed to roll several of them to the foot of the ladder, and —with an effort of which I would not have believed myself capable—had been able to build them one on top of another against the wall. So, I found myself able to grasp the lowest rung with my hands. Then, fastening the lantern round my neck with my neck tie, I prepared to mount. The climb was not difficult, once I had managed to get my feet on the first rung of the ladder, but there was always the chance that one of the rungs might have rusted loose with time, in which case, of course, it would have given way in my grasp, and I should have been precipitated back ward to certain death below. However, the man who had mortised them had done an honest piece of work, and they proved as firm as on the day they were placed there. Up and up I went, till I must have been forty feet above the floor, and, then, as I neared the foot, instead of com ing to a trap door, as I had conjec tured, I found that the ladder came to an end at the edge of a narrow ledge, running along the ceiling much as a clerestory runs near the roof of some old churches. On to this I managed to climb. It was barely a yard wide, and the impending roof did not permit of one's standing erect. It was a dizzy situation, and it seemed safest to crawl along on all fours, holding the lantern in front of me. Presently it brought me up sharp In a narrow recess. It had come to an end. Yes! but imagine my joy! it had come to an end at a low archway rudely cut in the rock. Deep set in the archway was a stout wooden door. My first thought was that I was trapped again, but, to my infinite sur prise and gratitude, it proved to be slightly ajar, and a vigorous push sent it grinding back on its hinges. What next? I wondered. At all events, I was no longer lost in the bowels of the earth; step by step, I was coming nearer to the frontiers of humanity. But I was certainly not prepared for what next met my eyes, as I pushed through the low doorway with my lantern, and looked around. Yes! Indeed, man had certainly been here, man, too, very purposeful and busi nesslike. I was in a sort of low nar row gallery, some forty feet long, to I Was in a Sort of Low, Narrow Gal lery, Some Forty Feet Long. which the arching rock made a crypt like ceiling. At ray first glance, I saw that there was another door at the far end similar to the one I had entered by; and on the left side of the gallery, built of rough stones from the low ceiling to the floor, was a series of compartments, each with locked wood en door. They were strong and grim looking, and might have been taken for prison cells, or family vaults, or possibly wine bins. The massive locks were red with rust, and there was plainly no possibility of opening them. On the other side of the gallery there was a litter of old chains, and some boards, probably left over from the doors. Yes, and there were two old flintlock guns, and several cut lasses, all eaten away with rust, also a rough seaman's chest open and fall ing to pieces. At the sight of that, a wild thought flashed through my brain. What if— Good God! What if this was John Teach's treasury—behind those grim doors. I threw myself with all my force against one and then the other. For the moment I forgot that my paramount business was to es cape. But I might as well have hurled myself against the solid rock. And, at .that moment, I noticed that the place was darker than it had been. My lan tern was going out. In a moment or two I should be in the pitch dark, and I had discovered that the door at the end of the gallery was as solid as the others. I was to be trapped, after all; and I pictured myself slowly dying there of hunger —the pangs of which I was already beginning to feel—and some one. years hence, finding me there, a moldering skeleton —some one who would break open those doors, uncover those gleaming hoards, and moralize on the irony of my end; condemned to die there of starvation, with the treas ure I had so long sought on the other side of those unyielding doors. Old Tom's words suddenly flashed over me, and I could feel my hair literally beginning to rise. "There never was a buried treasure yet that didn't claim its victim." Great God! —and I was to be the ghost, and keep guard in this terrible tomb till the next dead man came along to relieve me of my sentry duty! Frantically I turned up the wick of my lantern at the thought —but it was no use; it was plainly going out. I examined my match box; I had still a dozen or so matches left. And then my eye fell on that shattered chest. There were those boards, too. At all events I could build a fire and make torches of slivers of wood, so long as the wood lasted. And then I had an idea. Why not make the fire against the door at the end of the gallery, and so burn my way through. Bravo! My spirits rose at the thought, and I set to at once—split ting some small kindling with my knife. In a few minutes I had quite a sprightly little fire going at - the bot tom of the door; but I saw that I should have to be extravagant with my wood if the fire was to be effective. However, it was neck or nothing; so I piled on beams and boards till my fire roared like a furnace, and present ly I had the joy of seeing it begin to take hold of the door —which, after a short time, began to crackle and splut ter in a very cheering fashion. Whatever lay beyond, it was evi dent that I should soon be able to break my way through the obstacle, and, indeed, so it proved; for, present ly, I used one of the boards as a bat tering ram, and, to my inexpressible joy, it went crashing through, with a shower of sparks, and it was but the work of a few more minutes before the whole door fell flaming down, and I was able to leap through the doorway into the darkness on the other side. As I stood there, peering ahead, and holding aloft a burning stick —which proved, however, a poor substitute for my lantern—a wonderful sound smote my ears. I could not believe it, and my knees shook beneath me. It was the sound of the sea. Yes, it was no illusion. It was the sound that the sea makes singing and echoing through hollow caves —the sound I heard that night as I stood at the moonlit door of Calypso's cavern, and saw that vision which my heart nearly broke to remember. Calypso! Oh Calypso! where was she at this moment? Pray God that she was in deed safe, as her father had said. But I had to will her from my mind, to keep from going mad. And my poor torjli had gone out, having, however, given me light enough to see that the door which I had just burnt through let out onto a narrow platform on the side of a rock that went slanting down into a chasm of blackness, through which, as in a great shell, boomed that murmuring of the sea. It had a perilous ugly look, and it was plain that it would be fool hardy to attempt it at the moment without a light; and my fire was dying down. Besides, I was beginning to feel light-headed and worn out, part ly from lack of food, no doubt. As there was no food to be had, I recalled the old French proverb, "He eats who sleeps"—or something to that effect —and I determined to hus band my strength once more with a brief rest. However, as I turned to throw some more wood on my fire— preparing to indulge myself with a little campfire cheerfulness as I dozed off—my eyes fell once more on that grim line of locked doors; and my curiosity, and an idea, made me wake ful again. I had burned down one door—why not another? Why not, in deed? So I raked over my fire to the fam ily vault nearest to me, and presently had it roaring and licking against the stout door. It was, apparently, not so solid as the gallery door had been. At all events, it kindled more easily, and it was not long before I had the satis faction of battering that down too. As I did so, I caught sight of some thing In the interior that made me laugh aloud and behave generally like a madman. Of course, I didn't believe my eyes—but they persisted in de claring, nevertheless, that there In front of me was a great iron-bound THE COURIER, FOREST CITY, N. O- oaken chest, to begin with. It might not, of course, contain anything but bones—but it might—! The thing was too absurd. I must have fallen asleep —must be already dreaming! But no! I was laboring with all my strength to open it with one of those rusty cut lasses. It was a tough job, but my strength was as the strength of ten, for the old treasure-hunting lust was upon me, and I had forgotten every thing else in the world for the time. At last, with a great wooden groan, as though its heart were breaking at having to give up its secret at last, it crashed open. I fell on my knees as though I had been struck by lightning, for it was literally brimming over with silver and gold pieces—doubloons and pieces of eight; English and French coins, too —guineas and louis d'or: "all" —as Tobias' manuscript had said —"all good money." For a while I knelt over it, dazed and blinded, lost; then I slowly plunged my hands into it; and let the pieces pour and pour through them, literally bathing them in gold and sil ver, as I had read of misers doing. Then suddenly I broke out into an Irish jig—never having had any no tion of doing such a thing before. In fact I behaved as I have read of men doing, whom a sudden fortune has bereft of reason. For the time, at all events, I was a gibbering madman. Certainly, there was to be no sleep for me that night! But, in the full tide of my frenzy, I suddenly noticed some thing that brought me up sharp. Out beyond the doorway it was growing light. It was only a dim tremulous suffusion of it, indeed, but it was real daylight —oozing in from somewhere or other —the blessed, blessed, day light! God be praised! CHAPTER VIII. In Which I Understand the Feelings of a Ghost. So, I surmised, I had been under ground a whole day and two nights, and this was the morning of the sec ond day after Calypso's disappearance. What had been happening to her all this time! My flesh crept at the thought, and, with that daylight steal ing in like a living presence, and the sound and breath of the sea, my an guish returned a hundredfold. As I stood on the little rocky plat form outside the door through which I had burned my way, and looked down into the glimmering chasm beneath, and heard the fresh voice of the sea huskily rumbling and reverberating about hidden grottoes and channels, all that Calypso was to me came back with the keenness of a sword through my heart. Ah! there was my treasure —as I had known when my eyes first beheld her—compared with which that gold and silver in there, whose gleam had made me momentarily distraught, was but so much dust and ashes. Ardently as I had sought it, what was it compared to one glance of her eyes? What if in the same hour, I had lost my true treasure, and found the false? At the thought, that glittering heap became abhorrent to me, and, without looking back, I sought for some way by which I could descend. * As my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, I saw that there were some shallow steps cut diagonally in the rock, and down these I had soon made my way, to find myself in a roomy cor ridor, so much like that in which I had seen Calypso standing in the moonlight, that, for a moment, I dreamed it was the same, and started to run down it, thinking, indeed, that my troubles were over —that in another moment I would emerge through that enchanted door and face the sea. But alas! instead of a broad shining doorway, and open arms of freedom widespread for me to leap Into, I came at last to a mere long narrow slit — through which I could gaze as a man gazes through a prison window at the sky. The entrance had once been wide and free, but a mass of rock had fallen from above and blocked it up, leaving only a long crack through which the tides passed to and fro. I was still in my trap; it seemed more terrible than ever, now that I could see freedom so close, her very voice calling to me, singing the morn ing song of the sea. But in the caverns behind me, I heard another mocking song, and I felt a cold breath on my cheek, for death stood by my side a-grin. "The treasure!" he whispered, M I need you to guard that. The treasure you have risked all to win—the treas ure for which you have lost—your treasure! You cannot escape. Go back and count your gold. 'lt is all good money!' Ha! ha! 'it is all good money!'" The illusion seemed so real to me that I cried aloud "I will not die! I will not die!"—cried it so loud, that anyone in a passing boat might have heard me, and shuddered, wondering what poor ghost it was wailing among the rocks. But the fright had done me good, and I nerved myself for another effort. If only I could wriggle past that con traction in the middle, I should be safe. And if I stuck fast midway! Bat the more I measured the width with ray eye, the less the narrowing seemed to be. To be so slightly perceptible, it could hardly be enough to make much difference. Caution whispered that it might be enough to make the differ ence between life and death. But al ready my choice of those two august alternatives was so limited as hardly to be called a choice. On the one hand, I could worm my way back tlirough the caves and tunnels through which I had passed, and try my luck again at the other end. "With half a dozen matches ! n sneered a voice that sounded like To bias' —"Precisely" . . . and the hor ror of it was more than I dared face again anyway. So there was nothing for it but this aperture, hardly wider than one of those deep stone slits that stood for windows in a Norman castle. It was my last chance, and I meant to take it like a man. I stood for a moment nerving myself and taking deep breaths, as though I expected to take but few more. Then, my left arm extended, I entered side wise, and began to edge myself along. It was easy enough for a yard or two, "All Good Money." after which it was plain that it was beginning to narrow. Very slightly in deed, but still a little. However, I could still go on, and —I could still go back. I went on —more slowly it is true, yet still I progressed. But the rock was perceptibly closer to me. I had to struggle harder. I) was beginning to hug me —very gently—but it was be ginning. I paused to take nreath. I could not turn my head to look back, but I judged that I had ome over a third of the way. I was coming up to the waist that I had feared, but I could still go on —very slowly, scarce more than an Inch at every effort; yet every inch counted, and I had lots of time. My feet and head were free —which was the main thing. Another good push or two, and I should be at the waist —should know my fate. I gave the good push or two, and suddenly the arms of the rock were around me. Tight and close, this time, they hugged me. They held me fast, like a rude lover, and would not let me go. My knees and feet were fast, and the walls on each side pressed my cheeks. My head too was fast. I could not move an inch forward —and it was too late to go back! Panic swept over me. I felt that my hair must be turning white. Pres ently I ceased to struggle. But the rocks held me in their giant embrace. There was no need for me to do any thing. I could go on resting there— it was very comfortable—till — And then I felt something touching my feet, running away and then touch ing them again. O God! It was the incoming tide! It would— And then I prepared myself to die. I suppose I was light-headed, with the strain and the lack of food, for, after the first panic, I found myself dreamily, almost luxuriously, making pictures of how brave men had died in the past—brave women too. I fancied myself in one and another situation. But the picture that persisted was that of the Con ciergerie during the French revolu tion. Then the picture vanished, as I felt the swish of the tid« round my ankles. It would soon be up to my knees— It was up to my knees —it was creep ing past them—and it was making that hollow song in the caves behind me that had seemed so kind to me that very morning, the song it had made to Calypso . . . that far-off night under the moon. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Rooster Ate 486 Kernels. A storekeeper at Montgomery City has sprung a new one in the guessing game. He took a big rooster and, af ter letting him fast for a day, put him in his show window with a large pan of corn, the kernels of which had been counted. He offered a prize to the persons guessing nearest the number of grains the rooster would eat in 20 minutes. The rooster had a ravenous appetite and for five minutes it looked as if there would not be a single kernel left. But by the time the 20 minutes had elapsed he had curled up in a corner. He had succeeded in putting away 486 grains. A woman who3e guess was 488 got the prize.—Kansas Oit; Tim^s SJtMBERB FARMERS LINING UP Great Preparations Are Being Made to Avert Disaster Incident to the Near Approach of 801 l Weevil Bamberg.—George R. Briggs, county demonstration agent, is lining up the farmers of the county to fight the boll weevil next year. Some of the things that are being done: One tobacco warehouse has already been complet ed and another will be erected tefore next year's harvest. Three carloads of wire fencing has been ordered by the farmers of this county through the demonstration agent and three other cars by several large planters in and around Bam berg. Hogs and cattle will be raised on a large scale Seveia.l sweet potato houses will be erected soon to take caro of the sweet potato crop. It is probable that a large storage house will be erected In each of the towns of the county to take care of the potatoes that are to be marketed or for the use of those that have no storage houses of their own. The farmers of this section are go ing to try the co-operative plan of marketing their products and feel en couraged over the prospects, notwith standing the presence of the boll wee vil Washington.—Representative Mann sent in the nomination of Shuler Ruyck Antley, St. Matthews, for ap pointment from the Seventh congres sional district as a cadet of the United States military academy. Columbia. Mme. Clemenceau-Jac quemaire. daughter of the distinguish ed premier of France, who is now in the United States visiting the land of her birth, may visit Columbia as a guest of the Columbia chapter of th® Alliance Francais. Florence. —The Thanksgiving day pilgrimage of Omar temple to this city proved to be the biggest and best meeting the Shriners have ever held. In addition to the 2,500 noble 3 here 572 candidates crorsed the hot sands. The entire day wa? given over to fun and frivolty and to the satisfaction of the innerman. Columbia. —The supreme eourt dis missed the petition brought to the court by counsel for Mayor Tristam T. Hyde of Charleston for a writ of certiorari to compel the city Demo cratic executive committee to submit the records and other data in connec- tion with the recent action and the declaring of John P. Grace the nomi nee for mayor. Columbia. —Thanksgiving day was an enjoyable affair out at the Red Cross headquarters at Camp Jackson, both with the convalescent soldiers out there and with those who went out to have a good time with them. At 12 o'clock a real Thanksgiving dinner was served the boys and after that they gathered in the large living room of the Red Cross headquarters and had a regular good time. Lexington —The annual convention of the Fourth district lodge, Knights of Pythias, composed of the lodges of Richland, Lexington, Saluda, Edge field and Newberry counties, was held bere with lodge 134. At the conclu sion of the session the visiting dele gates were entertained at the Drafts hotel. The sessions of the lodge were presided over by J. F. Williams of Co lumbia, deputy grand chancellor, with C. B. Edwards of Columbia, secretary. Chester. —There never has been so much money in Chester county as there is this fall. The high price of cotton and the good crop is making practically everybody feel prosperous. According to the statements jus f is sued by the six banks of Chester coun ty the resources of these institutions total approximately $5,000,000. Two banks In the city are in the million and a quarter class. Columbia. —Major Thomas H. Peo ples returned to Columbia from Wash ington where he has been in service the last seven months. He received his honorable discharge October 27, at his request, that he might come home and resume his law practice Latest Ginning Report. Laurens.—According: to official re port from the census department at Washington, received by Charley Mc- Cravy, cotton census reporter for Laurens county, this county had gin ned 40.927 bales of cotton from this year's crop prior to November 14, as compared with 30,043 a year ago, showing an increase of more than 10,- 000 bales over the 1918 crop. How ever, it is not expected that the final reports will maintain this lead, as the crop is more nearly gathered now than at the same period last year. Breaking Real Estate Record. Greenville.—Real estate transac tions in business property involving aggregate valuations of approximately half a million dollars was completed here, breaking the record for one day's trading in Greenville. Among the most important of the transactions was the sale by the Southeastern Life Insurance company of its modern three story ofTice building at the cor ner of Broad at Main street, to J. W. Kirkpatrick manager of the Belk- Kirkpatrick store here for a consider l ' fctlon of approximately $175,000. IMPIOVED UffirOKM ihtemational STLNMFSOIOOL LESSON (By REV. P. B. FITZ WATER, D. D., Teacher of English Bible In the Bible Institute of Chicago.) I Copyright, 1919. Western Newspaper Un: n) LESSON FOR DECEMBER 14 AT THE TRIAL, CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. LESSON TEXTS—John 18:15-27; 20:1-10; 21: 15-19. GOLDEN TEXT— For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting li; e ._ John 3:16. Since the lessons of the quarter center tn the lives of Peter and John it will be well to include in the day's lesson the incidents in their lives from the trial of Jesus to his resurrection. This will en able us to use the committee's alternative lesson, "The Prince of Peace," for a Christmas lesson next Sunday. I. Peter Denies the Lord (18:15-13, 25-27). 1. Before the servant maid (vv. 15- 18). Peter's first blunder was to at tempt to follow Jesus at this time. Christ had told him that he could n.»t follow now (13:36). Presumptuous boldness oftentimes places one in an embarrassing position. In such casi-a compromise or cowardly denial usu ally follows. Wisdom as to our weak- n»s*es should move one to avoid un necessary trials. John, seeing Peter standing at the dov. introduced him to the house of the high priest. Here under the taunt of a Jewish maid lie openly denied his Lord. 2. Before the servant and officers (v. 25). Peter had not only vent urn! where it was not necessary, but wns wanning himself enemies' tire, Having quailed before the sarcastic impudence of a servant maid he open ly denied his relationship with the Lord when questioned by the officers and servants at whose tire he vvus wanning himself. -To have a clear and Independent testimony, one should !>«» separate from sinners (IT Cor. 6:14-ls). 3. Before the kinsman of Male (vv. 26, 27). This man had seen IN with Jesus in Gethsemane when Pt In his rashness smote off the ear Malchus (see verse 10). Hearing Per er's denial, this servant of the high priest put the question, "Did I not see thee in the garden with him?" When Peter uttered the third denial the cock crew, bringing to his attention the warning words of Jesus (Mark 14:72). This is an example of what a discip'e of Jesus may do In the hour of great temptation. 11. Jesus Commits His Mother ta John (19:25-27). Though suffering the indescribable anguish of the be tenderly re membered his grief-stricken mother and charged John to care for her. Mary had other sons who should have cared for her, but they were unbelievers till after Jesus' resurrection. He knew that his mother would have better care at the hands of the beloved disciples than at the hands of her own children who did not believe in and love Jesus. Love to Jesus is stronger than human affec tion. 111. Peter and John at Jesus' Tomb (20:1-10). When Mary came in breathless haste, announcing the fact of the empty tomb, Peter and John ran to investigate. When John came to the tomb he gazed into it, but when Peter came he went in. John with holy reverence hesitated to enter, but Peter through his Impul siveness entered at once. The difference does not lie in the fact that one loves more than the other, but In their differ ent temperaments. One should not expect the same behavior from all. This investigation was convincing (v. 8). IV. Peter's Restoration and Com mission (21:15-1S). Peter had thrice denied the Lord, so before he again entered the service he had thrice to confess his love for Jesus. In this commission to Peter is set forth the motive and nature of service which is i > '* nbent upon all Christian ministers and teachers. 1. His motive —love for Christ. Love is the supreme qualification for service for Christ; it is the very spring from which all activity flows. It is not learning and eloquence, but love that makes a pastor. (1) "Feed my lambs." The word for 'feed" as well as "lambs." signifies that the work here is that of nurturing the babes in Christ. (2) "Feed my sheep." The word here means to feed, guide, correct, and lea«l the maturer class of Christians. It carries with it not only the responsi bility of fe« i, but correction and discipline, i his be attempted with out love, failure will inevitably ensue (3) "Feed my sheep." This relates to the care of the aged Christians The word "feed" returns somewhat to the meaning in the first Instance where he says, "feed my lambs," so that the ministers' responsibility to care f*r the aged is equivalent to that of the young Will Punish Wrong. No fallacy can hide wrong, no sub terfuge cover it so shrewdly but that the All-Seeing One will discover and punish it. —Rivarol. Like Hewing Blocks With Razor. To endeavor to work upon the vul gar with fine sense is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.—Pope. Seek and Ye Shall Find. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shail find; knock, and It shall be ouened unto you.—Matt. 7:7.
Forest City Courier (Forest City, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 11, 1919, edition 1
6
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75