CAPTAIN SHEEN, Adventurer.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 217, 10 September 1904, Page 14

CAPTAIN SHEEN, Adventurer.

By CHARLES OWEN.

An Historical Romance of New Zealand.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. CHAPTERS' 1. AND 11. This striking and enthralling story of adventure and treasure trove opens at the Knplish home of til ehero, Caspar Mirrlmy. a lad of l'J, in the year VHU. Caspar's father died fighting nobly at Waterloo, bnt his uncle Konaid, a disreputable character, has disappeared Tor some years. On the evening when readers are introduced to the hero he turns up very ill, and asks for shelter for his brother Jim's sake. On account of his evil character this is somewhat unwilliiigly given by Caspar's mother, and he settles down as a permanent inmate of the little household. He is obviously a sailor. tanned by the tropics, and with the furrows of crime and evil passions stamped on ills face. Of a surly and reticent disposition, he spends most of his time drinking at the village tavern, and once, under the influence of liquor, he displays to Caspar, under pledge of secrecy, a highly-polished and very beautiful greenstone mere. The sight of this relic seems to recall some memories, aud he nearly murders Caspar, drunkenly believing him to be an old Maori enemy. He talks disconnectedly when drunk of his adventures and a companion in crime, Captain Sheen—more evil than himself —but it is net until the night of his death that, under solemn oath not to tell oveu his mother, the old sea-dog reveals the rac-t that on the coast of >iew Zealand he and Captain Sheen know of a wreck containing sunken treasure to the amount of many hundreds of thousands of pounds, lie hands over the map showing the locality, and ■ wears Caspar to obtain half shares from Captain Sheen ir he turns up. CHAPTERS 111. AND IV. Captain Sheen turns up ami demands the hox containing the mere and the map showing the position of the wreck containing the gold." Caspar refuses to give It up save on sharing conditions io the adventure. After some fencing Captain Sheen agrees to this, and the two proceed to the inn to seal tho bargain over a glass of rum. ' Caspar is nut used to spirits, and. having got him partially under the inunence of liqnor, Sheen mesmerises the boy and makes him swear that he Is his slave body and soul, and must involuntarily do everything he asks or orders. Havinc entirely enslaved the boy's will ho sends him off to his homo, and remains steadfastly examining the map.

criAPTER v. Captain Sheen and Caspar arrive In Bristol. Their obje<t is to by fair means or foul obtain and provision a ship to <:arry them to New Zealand. For this purpose they fall on Martin Conlished. v wealthy merchant, who ;it first refuses to see them, but ou a hint being given of certain transactions in the year 1798, he agrees, and tempted by greed of gold and fear of Sheen's knowledge of bis past, promises to lit ont the ship and to accompany the adventure in person. He is a decrepit old miser, but declares he is strong enough to stand the voyage, and look after his own lDter»!St. Sheen is commissioned 'to purfhase a bng and provision her. which he does uuder the assumed name of Tomlonson. CHAPTER VI. Everything is iv readiness for the departure wheu, within one or two days of sailing, Shei-n, walkiug with Caspar, meets in the street an honest looking sea captain, who seems vastly astonished to see him. The men do not speak, but the encounter has obviously dreadfully scared Sheen, who becomes wildly anxious lo sail, and alters the date of departure to tliat afternoon, declaring that If Coulished Is not there to the hour, he. will sail without him. Subsequently Caspar meets the honest looking sailor, who (urns out to be a Captain Spferinc. who denonnrc* Sheon as a dnstnrdlr criminal who has wronged him. and who he intends to bring to justice. Though hf pleads with Caspar to retreat from roinpauionsbi]) with so wirked a roan, the lad refuses. riumately the ship Is got off. only just in time to avoid Spet?--Ing and the King's officers, who arrive joet too late to cfTeel an arrest. - - CHAPTER VII. When the first few days of strangeness had worn off the voyage became full of the greatest interest tv mc. Calm for the most part, with fair winds and clear skies, our progress, though not rapid, was steady and unbroken: e-ach day carrying us nearer our destination. Sheen was schoolmaster as well as captain, spending a good deal of his spare time in teaching mc the Maori language. The little knowledge I gained proved of inestimable benefit, giving mc a great advantage over Coulished. 1 learnt much about the brig and a sailor's life from my own observation, being determined to take my share of the work. The great, unfathomable mystery of the sea entered into my soul as I kept watch on deck through the silent hours of the night, with the sentinel stars above, and below Ihe moving

Coulished we seldom saw except at meals, when ho generally ate in silence. At night he was :i restless sleeper, often waking us, appealing in his dreams for help, and crying out like a frightened child. At breakfast the next morning Sheen would twit him with cowardice: hot words would ensue and vain recriminations, but it was noticeable that the secret of the " Frolic' , was always carefully guarded. The slightest hint of it at once called forth from Sheen a sharp reproof. Coulished spent the long days

'"forrad," making familiar with the men who. in spite of all his attentions, regarded him with scorn, and paid him back with cold and distant manners. He was essentially a man incapable of winning their respect or of inspiring in them the least degree of fear. In consequence of the evident disfavour in which he was held by the crew, one morning he ventured to approach Sheen with a question.

"Dan," he inquired hesitatingly, this brig mine or yours ?"

There was a deliberate pause before the Captain replied.

"One-third of it, Martin," he said in a tone of unusual candour.

'"I want my third to touch at Port Jackson," answered Coulished, with subtle insinuation.

'"Indeed!" said the Captain coldly. "I have important business there Dan." pleaded Coulished.

/'Got friends there among the exiles?" sneered Sheen. "Take my advice, Martin. Forget "em! It's a family of no reputation that's exiled at Port Jackson, and although you might claim relationship to more than one member of it so far as crime's concerned. I wouldn't be too ambitious if I were you. Time enough!'' he added meanirtgh". Coulished's yellow face paled, but. he showed no temper. Being an accomplished sailor he knew our latitude and longitude as well as Sheen or Morgan did. Realising that under present conditions Port Jackson would be passed in a week at the outside, he was making a last and desperate effort to gain his ends.

"It would make little difference to the expedition to call at Port Jackson.. Dan,"' he urged warmly. '$t might make a bigger difference than you or I bargain for," answered the Captain, dwelling on his words. At any rate I don't intend to make that a port of call, so that's settled, Martin."

The Captain closed the discussion by rising quickly, and stamped up the com-panion-way to the deck, whither I followed him directly I had finished breakfast, Coulished eyeing mc furtively. Coulished looked on mc as the Captain's tool,and did not divulge any of his plans to mc. So far as that goes I was one of the only two people on board he had aevcr approached

with his confidences, a reticence which dated from the first night we -were at sea.

The rest of the day following this stormy breakfast he spent with the mate, a circumstance the Captain, laughing triumphantly, drew my attention to.

"His last throw. Caspar," he said. "Poor fool! The last throw of the loaded dice. Morgan'U blab all that he's said to him in less than half-an-hour.. and if it"s what I think it is I'll give the treacherous skunk a lesson he won't forget. He's on a Jee shore, that's what he is."

The captain's eyes gleamed a threat from dark pent-house brows, and bis voice trembled with rage. After this he soldom, under any pretext, missed an opportunity of bullying Coulished.

"Plot and counterplot," he continued indignantly: "he couldn't live without it. Well, he laughs loudest who laughs last, and by God I reckon I'll do that! You're a better-hearted lad, Caspar, but if you stick to mc I'll make a man of you. You lay by and keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, that's all."

With this insufficient explanation the Captain left mc. There was a storm brewing in more senses than one. Down in the west lay «i low bank of clouds, and every now and then the sea was ruffled by a rapidly growing breeze. The wind began to lash the sea into foam; with every sail close hauled the brig pitched heavily. By nightfall this had increased to a gale. Despite the fury of the elements, a brightness down on the horizon prophesied that it was likeJy to prove only a passing squall.

We spoke little during our evening meal, and when it was over I left the cabin again for the deck, less from any sense of fear than from a pleasurable pride iv the tight little craft that was bearing us over the heaving sea, in the teeth of the storm. The Captain and Coulished remained below.

The night was wild and chill. Scudding clouds raced each other across the darkening sky; the stars were hid, and there was no moon; the rigging creaked as the gusts of wind strained at the sails, and the wake of the plunging ship gleamed with whirling masses of phosphorescent foam. Nothing was heard save the howling of the tempest. For upwards of half-an-hour the strange scene held mc spellbound. At length, thinking of turning in, I made the companion-way with difficulty, owing to the pitching of the vessel, when a cry reached my ears. Fearing from its note of terror something was amiss I dashed below.

There was Sheen, sitting at the tabic, a levelled pistol at full-cock in his uplifted liand. determination stamped on every feature, with Coultshed cowering back in his seat in utter helplessness, livid with abject fear and trembling all over. Even as I rushed towards them. I fully expected the Captain lo pnll the trigger—to see the flash of fhe pistol: to see his shivering victim roll from his seat a lifeless heap; and high above the voices of the ■stonu — above the creaking timbers of the ship, to hear the piercing death cry. '■Sheen!'" I cried. The Captain looked round at the sound of my voice, but did not lower the weapon. Coulished sai staring like one stupefied, chained to the spot, with drawn face, and eyes" starring from his head. The Captain showed m> sign of flurry.

"Hallo, Caspar!" he said, coolly. "Come and sit down!"

He motioned mc to a seat beside him and once more turned his attention to the weapon in his hand. Never had a man a rainier resolution, never such a callousness to the seriousness of murder. 'Tut down that pistol. Captain Sheen!' 3 I demanded, with all the force I could muster. Taking his eyes off Coulished for a. moment, he turned to mc. I noticed there was a smile on his face, half surprise and half amusement. "Are you commander here?" he said,, with no resentment in his voice. "It's all up; I've run him down; I'm going to turn h broadside on and I mean to sink him.*' "Oh, no you don't/' I answ-ered tirnily. Sheen raised his eyebrows. "Another damned mutineer," he grumbled. ''There can hardly be a question of mutiny among partners." I urged, using the only argument that came into my mind. '•Oh, can't there?" he asked, with the simplicity of a man vrho was learning an interesting "but unknown fact. "What about the one who's Captain and has the safety of the ship upon his shoulders during a voyage? Doesn't he rule partners just as he does hands before the mast? Even the owner of a ship has to acknowledge the Captain cock of the walk. That's as good sea law as you'll meet with in a day's sail." Ho looked at mc with quizzical triumph in his eye?. "Perhaps," I said, for what other reply was possible: "still you are hardly justified in shooting a man in cold blood, yourself being both judge and jury. Put the pistol down, I say, before I call for help.' . Being in such a mood, it was a wonder he dii not turn the weapon against mc. He playfully poked the barrel end in Coulished's white face, finding a cruel joy in the poor fellow's utter misery and distress. "If you move a muscle, Caspar, that moment I make shark's meat of him," he exclaimed. Then he began slowly circling the muzzle round Coulished's face, making it pitiful to see the wretched man's eyes roll as they followed its motion.

' '"Look at him!" sneered Sheen. '"The man that would raise a mutiny on my ship; a brave leader, he! A leader for bumboat women, not for men . Try to bribe my mate, would you, you swab? Try to bribe my men—try to get the windward side of mc? Go to hell with you! Do you think I can't see through your little scheme. Rope mc would you. eh. and rob mc of my share by going on the treasure-hunt alone? You lily-livered skunk! Why the blazes didn't I plug you?" .

He clicked the trigger after every sentence, which only intensified the agony of suspense.

So withering was the Captain's rage that Coulished hung his head in silence. The tension was telling on mc. and as I stood almost within reach of the menacing pistol, I thought for one mad moment of springing forward and grasping the Captain's arm. Then I remembered what sort of a man I had to deal with, and that such an action would be the signal for him to fire. What could I do? There was no way of saving the wretched Coulished except by strategy..

Prbmpted by the gravity of the situation, I ventured to appeal to his reason, of which for the time his passion had bereft himi

'"Why sit the ghost of murder on the threshold of our enterprise?" I pleaded.

"Why do you make so much of this dog's life V he . growled back; "lie wouldn't care a hang about taking yours if it suited him."

''Very likely," I said, agreeing, with him as the best policy under the circumstances, '""but that makes no difference. Don't stain our path to fortune with even guilty blood. It would only serve to make it more slippery than it is already. And there's a fullej harvest to reap before his day is ended."

Sheen chuckled quietly to himself, an evidence that my suggestions carried some weight. He did not, however, lay the pistol down, or for that matter even lower the hammer.

'•Do you think so, Caspar?" he asked. "But," with a laugh, ''dead men tell no tales and the fire of Hell's hot."

Coulished suffered the keenest agony of suspense; his eyes were fixed with a strained intentness on the murderous weapon which at any moment might speed the death-dealing bvllet home; his bony fingers gripped the edge of the table as he leaned forward, as though attracted by some invisible magnet to his doom. Opposite his, Sheen's face, with a mocking smiie playing over it, formed a strong contrast. His hold on the pistol never yet for one moment relaxed.

"If lie's so much to be despised," I said, "why trouble yourself whether he lives or dies."

Sheen continued to cover Coulished with the pistol, taking no notice of my question.

'To do him justice I ought to have shot him years ago," he growled.

The uncertainty of his manner was such that at any moment, I feared he might carry out his deadly purpose.

"For God's sake, Dan," cried Coulished, speaking for the first time in a voice of pitiful entreaty, "have mercy!"

■''Mercy!" mimicked Sheen. "Have mercy! You flint-hearted wretch," lie ■went on. •'•How dare you speak of mercy? Did you ever show it when mercy was in your hands and would have cost you nothing , . Xo! Never! 'Dead men lei] no tales'! What about that devil's phrase of yours? Dead men ! There's a bigger reckoning to lie paid. You closed your ears to the erv of the woman and child!"

"Damn you!" he cried suddenly. "I'll let you off this time, but you can take that to remind you of my leniency."

He threw the pistol full-cock as it was, straight at Coulished. It struck him in the mouth; the shock loosened the trigger; there was a flash, and the bullet smashed into the side of the cabin just above my bunk. Coulished was yelling with fear and pain, blood streamed from his mouth and Sheen sat in hi£ chair beaming with brutal and fiendish glee. For some moments he indulged his revengeful vein; then, jumping to his feet, went on deck, whither I followed him, first giving Coulished a stiff glass of grog and helping him into his bunk.

The storm had passed; the patch of lkrht visible earlier on Ihe horizon had spread itself over the sky; and once more the stars shone dimly overhead. A filmy vapour hung about the brig; the sea heaved with a long slow swell.

'•There"£ something brewing, Caspar."' said the Captain, with a nod to windward, as I reached him where he stood in the bows. '"There's wind or calm, near, but I don't know which. Calm, I fancy, perhaps a fog." I was somewhat relieved at tue eheeriness of the Captain's tone after the bother we had had below. He proved to be right, for sure enough when we woke in the morning the brig lay becalmed with drooping sails, enwrapped in the heavy gloom of a mist •which soaked her from masthead to waterline. The deck was wet and slippery, and as for seeing, the keenest eye could not perceive a thing a ship's length away. The sailors stood in groups upon the deck, the moisture hanging in beads on their rough guernseys. We lay idly rocking, the water gently lapping against the brig's sides and there was no hope of further progress until the breeze should come. (To be continued daily.)