Upset in the ocean - Silent Sally - part two

                             UPSET IN THE OCEAN - SILENT SALLY - PART TWO

Ten days passed. The mystery thickened. On Thursday two men were reported missing. On Friday the carpenter's assistant disappeared. On the night of Saturday a circumstance occurred which, slight as it was, gave me some clue as to what happening.

As I stood at the wheel about midnight, I saw the Captain approach in the darkness carrying the cabin boy by the hind leg. The lad was a bright little fellow, and I watched with some interest to see what the Captain would do to him. Arrived at the stern of the vessel, Captain Bilge looked cautiously around a moment and then dropped the boy into the sea.

Here then was the key to the mystery! The Captain was throwing the crew overboard. Next morning we met at breakfast as usual.

"Poor little Williams has fallen overboard,'said the Captain"

"Captain,'I said, greatly excited, 'You threw that boy ever board!"

"I did,' said Captain Bilge, grown suddenly quiet, 'I threw them all over and intend to throw the rest. Listen, Blowhard, you are young, ambitious, and trustworthy. I will confide in you."

Perfectly calm now, he stepped to a locker, rummaged in it a moment, and drew out a faded piece of yellow parchment, which he spread on the table. It was a map or chart. In the centre of it was a circle. In the middle of the circle was a small dot and a letter T, while at one side of the map was a letter N, and against it on the other side a letterS.

"What is this?'' I asked.

"Can you not guess?" queried Captain Bilge. 'It is a desert island.'

'Ah!' I rejoined with a sudden flash of intuition, 'and N is for North and S is for South.'

'Blowhard,' said the Captain, striking the table with such force as to cause a loaf of ship's bread to bounce up and down three or four times, 'you've struck it. That part of it had not yet occurred to me.'

'And the letter T?' I asked.

'The treasure, the buried treasure,' said the Captain, and turning the map over he read from the back of it-The point T indicates the spot where the treasure is buried under the sand, it consists of half a million Spanish dollars, and is buried in a brown leather dress suitcase.'

'And where is the island?' I inquired, mad with excitement.

'That I do not know,' said the Captain. 'I intend to sail up and down the parallels of latitude until I find it."

"And meantime?"

"Meantime, the first thing to do is to reduce the number of the crew so as to have fewer hands to divide among. Come, come, 'he added in a burst of frankness which made me love the man in spite of his shortcomings, 'will you join me in this? We'll throw them all over, keeping the cook to the last, dig up the treasure, and be rich for the rest of our lives.''

Reader, do you blame me if I said yes? I was young, ardent, ambitious, full of bright hopes and boyish enthusiasm.

"Captain Bilge,' I said, putting my hand in his, 'I am yours."..........

here...the original contents by www.sensualityface.com or www.fairyage.com / described with the help of STEPHEN BUTLER LEACOCK