Part 46 (1/2)

At one end was a seat, and there, propped up against the wall, was a skeleton in a sitting posture Around it was a belt with a sword attached The figure had partly twisted itself round, but its bead and shoulders were so propped up against the wall that it could not fall

Brandon advanced, filled with a thousand e down in front He lifted it There was a gold ring on the bony finger

He took it off In the di, the crest of his family--a Phoenix

It was his ancestor himself as before him

Here he had cal slowly down into the embrace of the waters Here he had taken his seat, cal of grim triumph that he could thus elude his foes This was the e that had drawn the descendant here

Such were the thoughts that passed through Brandon's er and turned away His ancestor had summoned him hither, and here he was Where was the treasure that was promised?

Brandon's iht filled his mind All around the cabin were little rooms, into each of which he looked The doors had all fallen away Yet he saw nothing in any of them

He stood for a moment in deep doubt Where could he look? Could he venture down into the dark hold and explore? How could he hope to find any thing there, auns and chains lay, perhaps all er time to find it than he had at first supposed Yet would he falter? No! Rather than give up he would pass years here, till he had dismembered the whole shi+p and strewn every particle of her piecemeal over the bottom of the sea Yet he had hoped to solve the whole n of any thing like treasure, he was for a while at a loss what to do

His ancestor had summoned him, and he had come Where was the treasure?

Where? Why could not that figure arise and show hihts, the result of exciteave rise to others that were cal than what he had at first ilishman when he took his seat there and chose to drown on that seat rather thanwhich est in his heart What was that? The one which had inspired the e, the desire to secure still ht His last act was to send the ht in his mind and carried it till he died?

The skeleton was at one end, supported by the wall Two posts projected on each side A heavy oaken chair stood there, which had once perhaps been fastened to the floor Brandon thought that he would first exa there

He took the skeleton in his arms reverently, and proceeded to lift it from the chair: He could not He looked more narrowly, and saw a chain which had been fastened around it and bound it to the chair

What was theof this? Had the crew mutinied, bound the captain, and run? Had the Spaniards seized the shi+p after all? Had they recovered the spoil, and punished in this way the plunderer of three galleons, by binding hi him down to the bottom of the sea?

The idea of the possibility of this made Brandon sick with anxiety

He pulled the chair away, put it on one side, and began to exa it There was nothing whatever perceptible The as on the side farthest from the stern, and al, knew that it was hollow behind He walked to the door which was on one side, and passed in behind this very wall There was nothing there It had once perhaps been used as part of the cabin He came back disconsolately, and stood on the very place where the chair had been

”Let me be calm,” he said to himself ”This enterprise is hopeless Yes, the Spaniards captured the shi+p, recovered the treasure, and drowned my ancestor Let me not be deceived Let me cast away hope, and search here without any idle expectation”

Suddenly as he thought he felt the floor gradually giving way beneath him He started, but before he could o the floor sank in, and he at once sank with it doard

Had it not been that the tube was of aainst any abrupt descent aht have ended Brandon's career forever As it was he only sank quickly, but without accident, until his breast was on a level with the cabin floor

In aon a trap-door which opened from the cabin floor into the hold of the shi+p

Over this trap-door old Ralph Brandon had seated and bound hiht await his descendant, and thus silently indicate to him the place where hehope and fear grew h all this day of days He stooped down to feel what it was that lay under his feet His hands grasped so, the very touch of which sent a thrill sharp and sudden through every fibre of his being

_They were ain overcoht be For the actual sight would realize hope or destroy it forever

Once rasped a bar in each hand and raised it up to the light