CHAPTER IX.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 112, 25 July 1885, Page 6

CHAPTER IX.

When Mr Nott had satisfied himself of Ren- i shaws departure, he coolly bolted the door at the head of the companion way, thus cutting off any communication with the lower deck. Taking a long rifle from tho rack above his berth, he carefully examined tho hammer and cap, and then cautiously let himself down through the forehatch to the deck below. After a desperato survey of the still intaot fastenings of the hatch over the forehold, he proceeded quietly to unloose them again with the aid of the tools that still lay there. When tho hatch was once more free he lifted it, and, withdrawing a few feet from the opening, sat himself down rifle in hand. A profound silence reigned throughout the lower deck. "Ye kin rize up out o* that," eaid Nott gently. Thero was a stealthy rustle below that seemed to approach the hatch, and then with a sulden bound the Lascar leaped on the deck. But at the same instant Nott covered him with hip rifle. A slight shade of disappointment and surprise had crossed the old man's face, and clouded his small, round eyes at the apparition of the Lascar, but his hand was npne the less firm upon the trigger as the frightened prisoner sank on his knees, with his hands clasped in the \ attitude of supplication for mercy. j 11 Ef you're thinkin' o' skippin' afore I've done with yer," said Nott with laboured J gentleness, " I oughter warn ye that it's my style to drop Injins at two hundred yards, and this deck ain't anywhere more'n fifty. It's an uncomfortable style, a nasty style— but it's my style. I thought I'd tell yer, so you could take it easy whero you air. Where's Ferrers ?" Even in the man's insane terror, his utter bewilderment at the question was evident. " Ferrers ?" he gasped ; " don't know him, I swear to God, boss." " P Yaps," eaid Nott with infinite cunning, "yer don't know the man ez kern into the loft from the alley last night— praps yer didn't see an airy Frenchman with a dyed moustache, eh ? I thought that would fetch ye !" he continued, as the man started at the evidence that his vision of last night was a living man, "PVaps you and him didn't break into this ship last night, jist to run off with my darter Ropey. Praps yer don't know Rosey, eh ? Praps yer don't know ez Ferrers wants to marry her, and hez been hangin 1 round yer ever since he leffc— eh ?" Scarcely believing the evidence of his senses that the old man whose treasure he had been trying to steal was utterly ignorant of his real offence, and yet uncertain of the penalty of the other crime of which ho was accused, the Lascar writhed his body and stammored vaguely, "Morcy ' Mercy !" * ( Well," said Nott, cautiously, "ez I reckon the hide of a dead Chinee nigger ain't any more vallyble than of a dead Injin, I don't care ef I let up on yer-seein' the cussedness ain't yours. But ef I let yer off this once you must take a message to Ferrers from me." " Let me off this time, boss, and 1 swear to God I will," said the Lascar, eagerly. "Ye ken say to Ferrors— lot me see " deliberated Nott, leaning on his rifle with cautious reflection. "Ye kin say to Ferrers like this—sez you, ' Ferrers,' sez you, ' the old man sez that afore you went away you sez to him, sez you, "I take my honour with me," sez you'— have you got that?' interrupted Nott, suddenly. " Yes, boss." "I take my honour with me,' sez you, repeated Nott slowly. "'Now.' eez you, 1 the old man sez, aez he— tell Ferrers, sez he, that his honour havin' run away agin, he sends it back to him, and ef he ever ketches it around after this, he'll shoot it on sight' Hey yer got that?" "Yes," stammered the bewildered captive. "Then git!" The Lascar sprang to his feet with the agility of a panther, leaped through the hatch above him, and disappeared over the bow of the ship with an unhesitating directness that showed that every avenue of escape had been already contemplated by him. Slipping lightly from the cutwater to the ground, he continued his flight, only stopping at the private office of Mr Sleight. When Mr Renshaw and Rosey Nott arrived on board the Pontiac that evening they were astonished to find the passage before the cabin completely occupied with trunks and boxes, and the bulk of their household goods apparently in the process of removal. Mr Nott, who was superintending the work of two Chinamen, betrayed not only no surprise at the appearance of the young people, but not the remotest recognition of their own bewilderment at his occupation. " Kalkilatin '," he remarked casually to his daughter, " you'd rather look arter your fixin's, Rosey. I've left 'em till the last. PVaps yer and Mr Renshaw wouldn't mind sittin' down on that locker until I've strapped this yer box." " But what does it all mean, father ?" said Rosey, taking the old man by the lapels of his pea-jacket, and slightly emphasizing her question. " What in the name of goodness are you doing ?" "Breakin' camp, Rosey dear"; breakin' camp jist ez we uster," replied Nott, with cheerful philosophy. "Kinder like ole times, ain't it? Lord, Rosey," he continued, stopping and following up the reminiscence, with the end of the rope in his hand as if it were a clue, " don't ye mind that day we started outer Livermore Pass, and seed the hull o' the Californy coaßt stretchin' yonder —eh ? But don't ye be , skeered, Rosey dear," he added quiokly, as if in recognition of the alarm expressed in her face. " I ain't turning ye outer house and home ; I've jist hired that 'ere Madrono Cottage from bhe Peters ontil we kin look round. j "But you're not leaving the ship, father?" continued Rosey, impetuously. ; "You haren't sold it to that man Sleight?"

Mr Nott rose and oaref ully Bhut the cabin door. Then drawing a large wallet from his pocket, he said: '« It's sing'lar ye should hey got the name right the first pop, ain't it, Eosey ? But it's Sleight, Bure enough, ■ all the time. This yer cheque," he added, producing a paper from the depths) of 'the wallet—" This yer cheque for 25,000 dollars is wot he paid for it only two hours ago." "But," said Renshaw, springing to his feet furiously, " you're duped, swindled, betrayed !" "Young man," said Nott, throwing a certain dignity into his habitual gesture of placing his hands on Renshaw s shoulders. "I bought this yer ship five years ago jist ez she stood for 8,000 dollars. Kalkilatin' wot she co3t me in repairs and taxes, and wot she brought me in since then accordin' to my figgerin', I don't call a clear profit of 15,000 dollars much of a swindle. "Tell him all," said Rosey, # quickly, more alarmod at Renshaw'a despairing face than at the news itself. " Tell him everything, Dick— Mr Renshaw >, it may not now bo too late." In a voice half choked with pas3ionate indignation, Renshaw hurriedly repeated the story of a hidden treasure and the plot to rescue it, prompted frequently by Rosey's tenacious memory and assisted by Rosey's deft and tactful explanations. But, to their surprise, the imperturbable countenance of A bnor Nott nover altered j a slight moisture of kindly paternal tolerance of their exravagance glistened in his little oyes, but nothing more. " Ef there was a part o' this ship, a plank, or bolt oz I don't know, %z I hevn't touched with my own hand, and looked into with my eyes, thar might be suthin' in that story. I don't let on to be a sailor like you, but ez I know the ship ez a boy knows his first hoss, oz a woman knows her first babby, I reckon thar ain't no treasure yer, onless it was brought into the Pontiac last night by thorn chaps." " But you are mad ! Sleight would not pay three times the value of the ship to-day if he were not positive ! And that positive knowledge was gained last night by the villain who broke into tho Pontiac— no doubt the Lascar." " Surely," said Nott, meditatively. " The Lascar 1 There's suthin' in that. That Lascar I fastened down in the hold last night unbeknownst to you, Mr Renshaw, and let him out again this morning ekally unbeknownst." "And you let him carry his information to Sloight— without a word !" said Renshaw, with a sickening sense of Nott's utter fatuity. "I sent him back with a message to the man he kern from," said Notfc, winking both his eyes at Renshaw significantly, and making signs behind his daughter's back. Rosey, consciou3 of her lover's irritation, and more eager to soothe his impatience than from any faith in her suggestion, interfered. "Why not examine the placo where ho was concealed ? Ho may have left some traces of his search." ; The two men looked at each other. " Seem' ez I have turned the Pontiac over to Sleight jist ez it stands, I don't know ez it's 'zactly on the square," said Nott, j doubtfully. " You've a right to know at least whatj you deliver to him," interrupted Renehaw, bruskly. " Bring a lantern." Followed by Rosey, Renshaw and Notfc hurriedly sought the lower deck and the open hatch of the forehold. Tho two men leaped down first with tho lantern, and then assisted Kosey to descend. Renshaw took a step forward and uttered a cry. The rays of the lantern fell on tbo ship's side. The Lascar had, during his forced seclusion, put back the boxes of treasure and replaced tho planking, yet not so carefully but that the quick eye of Renshaw had discovered it, The next moment he had stripped away tho planking again, and the hurriedly-restored box which the Lascar had found fell to the deck, scattering part of its ringing contents. Rosey turned pale : Renshaw's eyes flashed fire; only Abner Nott remained quiet and impassive. " Arc you satisfied you have been duped ?" said Kenshaw passionately. To their surprise Mr Nott stooped down, and picking up one of the coins, handed it gravely to Renshaw. " Would ye mind heftin' that 'ere coin in your hand— fcelin' it, bitin' it, scrapin' it with a knife, and kinder seoin' how it compares with other coins?" " What do you mean ? ' said Benshaw. " I mean that yer coin — that all the coins in this yer box, that all the coins in them other boxes -and there's forty on 'em— is all and every one of 'em counterfeits !" The piece dropped unconsciously from Renshaw'shand, and striking another that lay on tho deck, gave out a dull suspicious ring. "They waz counterfeits got up by them Dutch supercargo sharps for dcalin' with the Tnjins and cannibals and South Sea heathens ez bows down to wood and stone. It satisfied thorn ez well as them buttons ye put? in missionary boxes, I reckon, and 'eepting ez freight, don t cost nothin'. I found 'em tucked in tho ribs o' the old Pontiac when I bought her, and I nailed 'em up in thar lest they should fall into dishonest hands. Ifc's a lucky thing, Mr Renshaw, that they comes into the honest fingers of a square man like Sleight— ain't it ?" He turned his small, guileless eyes upon Renshaw with such child-like simplicity that][it checked tho hysterical laugh that was rising to the young man's lips. "But did anyono know of this but yourself?" I " I reckon not, I onco suspicioned that I old Cap'en Bowers, who was always foolin' round the hold yer, must hey noticed tho bulge in tho casin', but when he took to axin' questions I axed othere — ye know my style, Rosey? Come." He led the way grimly back to the cabin, the young people following ; but turning suddenly at the companion way he observed Renßhaw's arm around the waist of his daughter. He said nothing until they had reached the cabin, when he closed the door softly, and looking at them both gently, said with infinite cunning : "Ef it isn't too late, Rosey, ye kin toll this young man ez how I forgive him for havin' diskivered The Treasure of tho Pontiac." It was nearly eighteen months afterward that Mr Nott one morning entered the room of his son-in-law at Madrono Cottage. Drawing him aside, he said, with hi« old air of mystery, "Now ez Rosey's silin' and don't seem to be so eager to diskiver what's become of Mr Ferrers, I don't mind tellin' ye that over a year ago I heard he died suddenly in Sacramento. Thar was suthin' in the paper about his bein' a lunatic and claimin' to be a relation to somebody on the Pontiac, but likes ez not it's only the way those newspaper fellows got hold of the story of his wantin' to marry Rosey." Bret Harte.

The British Government has deoidedthat the railway plant now at Suakim be returned to London. Brain fever caused the third highest number of deaths from any one disease in Boston in a recent week, consumption being first and pneumonia second. Captain Morris telegraphed to Tauranga before the election that Mr Grace's return would-be fatal to railway ioterests. *