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About Tillamook headlight. (Tillamook, Or.) 1888-1934 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1914)
9 J He acquainted her briefly with his fortune. But she seemed unable to echo his confidence or even to overcome the heaviness of her spirits when their cab. without misadventure, set them down at the wharf. Here, Alan had feared, was the cru cial point of danger—it the influence of the trey of hearts was to bring disaster upon them it would be here, in the hush and darkness of this de serted water front. And be bore him self most warily as he helped the girl from the car and to the .gangplank of 9 This time misguided consideration induced Barcus to let his crew sleep through the first afternoon watch blx belle were ringing when, in drowsy ap prehension that something had gone suddenly and radically wrong. Alan waked. He was on deck again almost before he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes, emerging abruptly from the half- light of the cabin to a dazzle of sun light that filled the cup of day »uh rarefied gold, even as he passed from conviction of security to realization of immediate and extraordinary peril. His first glance discovered the wheel deserted, the woman with back to h:m standing at the taffraU, Barcus—no where to be seen. The second con firmed his surmise that the Seaventure had come up into the wind, and now was yawing off wildly into the trough of a stiff if not heavy sea. A third showed him, to his amazement, the Gloucester fisherman — overhauled with such ease that morning and now, by rights, well down the northern hori zon—not two miles distant, and stand-, ing squarely for the smaller vessel. Bewildered, he darted to the girl's side, with a shout, demanding to know what was the matter. She turned to him a face he hardly recog nized—but still he didn't understand. The Inevitable inference seemed a thing unthinkable; his brain faltered when asked to credit it. Only when he saw her tearing frantically at the painter, striving to cast it off and with it the dory towing a hundred feet or so astern, and when another wonder ing glance had discovered the head and shoulders of Mr. Barcus rising over the stern of the dory as he strove to lift himeelf out of the water—only then did Alan begin to appreciate what had happened. Even so, it was with the feeling that all the world and himself as well had gone stark, raving mad, that he seized the girl and, despite her struggles, tore her away from the rail before she had succeeded in unknotting the painter. "Rose!” he cried stupidly. "Rose! What's the matter with you? Don’t you see what you're doing?" Defiance Inflamed her countenance and accents. “Can't you ever say any thing but ‘Rose! Rose! Rose!’ Is there no other name that means any thing to you? Can't you understand how intolerable it is to me? I love you no less than she—better than she sell of silence and shadows In New York, day after day, eating his heart out with impatience for the word that Forewarned. his vengeance had been consummate^ The thing was managed with an In- by the daughter whom be had inspired genulty that Alan termed devilish—it to execute it. was indisputably Machiavellian. An hour late, in dusk cf evening, The lovers had tome down from the tho train lumbered into Portland sta North in hot haste and the shadow of tion; and, heart in mouth. Alan helpeJ death Two days of steady traveling Rose from the steps, shouldered a way by canoe, by woods trail, by lake for her through the crowd, and almost steamer forty eight hours of fatigue lifted her into a taxicab. and strain eased by not one instant’s “Best hotel In town,” he demanded, relaxation from the high tension of "And be quick about it—for a double vigilance upon which their very lives tip.” depended — wore to a culmination He communicated his one desperate through this tedious afternoon on the scheme to the girl en route, receiving train from Moosehead- a trap of phys her Indorsement of it. So. having reg ical torment only made possible by istered for her and seen her safely to Alan’s luck in securing, through sheer the door of the best available room in accident, two parlor-car reservations the house within ready call of the pub turned back at the last moment be lic lobby and office, he washed up, I fore leaving Klneo station. gulped a hasty meal—which Rose had No matter—the longest afternoon declined to share, pleading fatigue— must have its evening: the pokiest of and hurried away into the night with trains comes the more surely to its only the negro driver of a public hack, destination; in another hour or two picked up haphazard at some distance they would be in Portland—free at from the hotel, for his guide. last to draw breath of ease in a land of law, order and sane living. CHAPTER X, As if in answer to this thought, the train slowed down with whistling, Fortuity. brakes to the last hill station, and as He wasted the better part of an the trucks groaned and moved anew, hour in fruitless and perhaps ill- a lout of a boy came galloping down advised inquiries; then his luck, such the aisle, brandishing two yellow en as it was, led him on suspicion down velopes and blatting like a stray calf: a poorly lighted wharf, at the ex Mista Lawr! Mista Lawr! Tel’- treme end of which he discovered a I gr. ir.s for Mista Lawr!” lonely young man perched atop a pile, Alan had been expecting at every hands in pockets, gaze turned to a station a prepaid reply to his wire for tide whereon, now black night had •reservations on the night express from fallen, pallid wraiths of yachts swung Portland to New York. I just visibly beneath uneasy rlding- But why two envelopes superscribed lights. i “Mr. A. Law, Kineo train southbound, "Pardon me,” Alan ventured, “but I Oakland Sta ?” perhaps you can help me out—’ He tore one open, unfolded the in “You've come to the wrong shop, my closure, and grunted disgust with its friend," the young man Interposed Lingered Watchfully on Deck. curt advice, opened the other and with morose civility; "I couldn't help caught his brdath sharply as he with anybody out of anything—the way I the 8eaventure. But nothing hap drew—part way only—-a playing card, am now.” pened; while Mr. Barcus was as good a trey of hearts. I “I’m sorry,” said Alan, "but I as hie word. Alan had barely set foot Thrusting it back quickly, he clapped thought possibly you might know on deck, following the girl, when the both envelopes together, tore them where I could find a seaworthy boat gangplank came aboard with a clatter, into a hundred fragments, and scat- to charter.” and the Seaventure swung away from tered them from the window, But The young man slipped emartly the wharf. the fiendish wind whisked one small down from his perch. “If you don’t Until the distance was too great for Bcrap back —and only one!—into the look sharp,” he said ominously, "you’ll even a flying leap Alan lingered watch lap of the woman be loved. charter the Seaventure " He waved fully on deck. Vainly he prayed that she might his hand toward a vessel moored At length, satisfied that all was well, be asleep. The silken lashes trembled alongside the wharf: “There she is, he returned to the cabin. on her cheeks and lifted slightly, dis and a better boat you won’t find any “All right," he nedded; "we’re clear closing the dark glimmer of question where—schooner-rigged, fifty feet over of that lot. apparently; nobodv but the ing eyos. And as she clipped the scrap all, twenty-five horsepower, motor aux of cardhoard between thumb and fore iliary. two staterooms—all ready for finger he bent forward and silently as long a coastwise cruise ae you care took it from her-one corner of the to take. Come aboard.” trey of hearts, but inevitably a corner He led briskly across the wharf, bearing the figure “3” above a heart. down a gangplank, then aft along the "The Pullman agent at Portland deck to a companionway, by which the wires no reservations available on any two men gained a comfortable and New York train in the next thirty-six •roomy cabin, bright with fresh white hours,” he said with lowered voice, enamel. “Couldn't we possibly catch the New Here the light of the cabin lamp re York boat tonight?" vealed to Alan's searching scrutiny a He shook a glum head, ‘■No—I person of sturdy build and Independent looked that up first. It leaves before carriage, with a roughly modeled, we get In.” I good-humored face, reddish hair, and She said, "Too bad.” abstractedly, steady though twinkling blue eyes. recloaed her eyes, and appisrently "Name, Barcus,” the young man in lapsed anew Into semi-somnolence— troduced himeelf cheerfully; “chris but without deceiving him who could tened Thomas. Nativity, American. well guess what poignant anxiety State of life, flat broke. That’s the gnawed at her heart. rub," he laughed, and shrugged, shame He could have ground his teeth in faced. "I found myself hard up this exasperation- the impish insolence of spring with this boat on my hands, that warning, timed so precisely to set sunk every cent I had—and then some their neTvee on edge at the very mo- — fitting out on an oral charter with a moneyed blighter in New York, who was to have met me here a fortnight since. He didn't—and here I am, in pawn to tho ship chandler, desperate enough for anything.” “How much do you owe?” "Upwards of a hundred«” “Say I advanced that amount—when can we sail?" The young man reflected briefly. “There’s something eo engagingly idi otic about this proceeding," he ob served wistfully. “I’ve got the strang est kind of a hunch it’s going to go through. Pay my bills, and we can be She Whips Out a Gun as Big as a Cannon, off Inside an hour. That is—” three of us aboard. Now you'd best ever dreamed of loving you—because He checked with an exclamation of dismay, chapfallen, "I may have some turn in. This is evidently to be your I hate you, too! What Is love that trouble scaring up a crew at short stateroom, thic one to port, and you'll is no more than love? Can't you un have a long night's sleep to make up derstand?" notice. I had two men engaged, but for what you've gone through—dear “Judith!” he cried in a voice of stu last week they got tired doing noth- est" pefaction. “But—Good Lord!—how ing tor nothing and left me flat.” I He drew nearer, dropping his voice did you get aboard? Where’s Rose?” "Then that's settled.” Alan said. “ "1 I • tenderly. And of a sudden, with a “Where you’ll not find her easily know boats; 1'11 be your crew—and the little low cry, the girl came into his again,” the woman angrily retorted. better satisfied to have nobody else arms and clung pasionately to him. “Trust me for that!” aboard.” “But you?” she murmured. “You, “What do you mean?” Illumination The eyes of Mr. Barcus clouded. need rest as much as I! What about came In a blinding flash, "See here, my headlong friend, what's you?" "Do you mean it was you—you whom I brought your little game, anyway? I don't "Oh, no I don't" he contended. "Be« aboard last night?” mind playing the fool on the high seas, cides 1'11 have plenty of time to rest “Who else?” but 1'11 be no party to a kidnaping up once we're fairly at sea. Barcus “You waylaid her there in the hotel, or—” • and I stand watch and watch, of “It's an elopement," Alan interrupt course. There's nothing for you to substituted yourself for her, deceived Ho Could Have Ground Hlo Teeth In me Into thinking you—!” ed on inspiration. "We've simply got Exasperation. do but be completely at your ease. "Of course,” she said simply. "Why to get clear of Portland by midnight." But—you must let me go.” not? When I saw her sleeping there— "You're on!” Barcus agreed prompt ment when they were congratulating Eyes half-closed, her head thrown themselves upon tho approach of a ly, his face clearing. “God only know s back, she seemed to suffer his kisa the mirror of myself, completely at my mercy—what else should I think why 1 believe you, but 1 do—and here's respite! rather than to respond, then turned, of than to take her place with the man my baud! ” The sheer Insanity of tho whole hastily away to her stateroom—leav« 1 loved? I knew you'd never know the damnable business—-I ing him staring with wonder at her CHAPTER XI. difference—at least 1 was fool enough The grim, wild absurdity of It! strangeness. for the moment to believe I could To think that this was America, thia By midnight the Seaventure was stand being loved by you in her name! Blue Water. the twentieth century, the apex of tho t spinning swiftly south-southeast, close It was only today, when I'd had time Anxiety ate like an acid at Alan's highest form of civilisation the world reefed to a snoring sou'weet wind to think, that I realized how impos had ever known—and still a man heart. If this shift to the sea might the fixed white eye of Portland head sibie that was!" bo thought a desperate venture, he could be hunted from pillar to post, light faat falling astern. was a weathered salt-water man and A sudden slap of the mainsail boom haunted with threats, harried with at- athwartships and a simultaneous cry tempts at assassination iu a hundred undismayed; nothlug would have been CHAPTER XII. from over the stern roused Alan from forms and that by a slip of a girl more to his liking than a brisk coast his consternation to fresh appreciation with the cunning of a madwoman, the wise cruise In an able boat—under Down the Cape, , of the emergency. With scant consld- heart of a thug, the face of a charm auspices less forbidding. At four o’clock, or shortly after, eratlon he hustled the woman to the But when he re-entered the hotel ing child the fate of the woman that Alan was awakened by boot-heels sat beside him. duplicating its every one surprising thing happened that puuaglng imperatively overhead, and j companionway and below, slammed Its gave him new heart — momentarily It doors and closed her In with the slid perfect feature so nearly that even he wenLon deck again, to stand both dog who loved the one could scarcely dis seemed almost as If his luck had watches-saw the sun lift up smiling ing hatch—all in a breath—then tinguish her from the other but by in turned. For. ae he paused by the desk over a world of tumbled blue water, sprang to the taffrall, just In time to stinct, Intuition, blind guesswork. . . , of the cashier to demand his bill, the crossed the wake of a Cunard liner In lend a helping band sorely wanted by He nodded heavy hearted confirma elewtor gate opened and Rose came bound for Boston, raised and over Mr. Barcus In his efforts to climb tion of a surmise slowly settling Into out eagerly to meet him with an eager hauled a graceful but businesalike fish aboard, after he had pulled the dory c nv let Ion In hie mind, that such cun air of hope that masked measurably erman (from Gloucester. Barcus up under the stern by Its painter. He came over the rail in a towering ning. such purpose and pertinacity the signs of fatigue. “I worried so I couldn't rest,“ •he opined when called to stand his trick I temper. could not possibly spring from a mind at eight) and mw It a mile or two "I hope you'll pardon the apparent well balanced, that the woman. Judith told him guardedly ae he drew her astern when—still aching with fatigue Trine, elater to the Hose he loved so aside; "so 1 arose and got ready, and —he was free to return to his berth impertinence." he suggested acidly, as soon as able to articulate coher well, was as mad as that monomaniac, watched from the window till I MW for another four-hour rest eat>— but may I Inquire if that her father, who Mt helplcM in hhi' you drive up.“ CHAPTER IX. I bloody minded vixen !s your blushing bride-to-be?" Alan shook a helpless head. The thing defied reasonable explanation. He made a feeble stagger at It with out much satisfaction either to him self or to the outraged Barcus. "No—it's all a damnable mistake! She’s her sister—I mean, the right girl's sister—and her precise double fooled me—not quite right In the head. I'm afraid." "You may well be afraid, you poor flat!" Mr. Barcus snapped. "D’you know what she did? Threw me over, board! Fact! Came on deck a while ago, sweet as peaches—and all of a sudden whips out a gun as big as a cannon, points it at my head and or ders me to luff into the wind. Before I could make sure I wasn’t dreaming, she had fired twice—in the air—a sig nal to that blessed fisherman astern there—at least, they answered with two toots of a power whietle and changed course to run up to us. Look , how she's gained already!” "But how did she happen to throw you overboard?” "Happen nothing!" Barcus snapped, getting to hie feet. "She did it a- purpose—flew at me like a wildcat, and before I knew what was up—I was slammed backwards over the rail.” "X can’t tell you how sorry I am,’*( Alan responded gravely. "There’s more to tell—but one thing to be done first.” “And that?” Mr. Barcus inquired suspiciously. i “To get rid of the lady,” Alan an nounced firmly. “Make that fisher man a present of the woman in the' case. You don’t mind parting with the dory in a good cause—if I pay for It?” “Take it for nothing,” Barcus! grumbled. "Cheap at the price!” He took Alan’s place, watching him with a sardonic eye as he drew tlfe tender in under the leeward quarter,! made it fast, and reopened the com-; panionway. As the girl came on deck with- cut other Invitation, in a sullen rage that only heightened her wonderful loveliness, Alan noted that her first; look was for him, of untempered ma-' lignity; her second, for Barcus, with; a curling lip; her third, astern, with,1 a glimmer of satisfaction as she rec-i ognized how well the fisherman had, drawn up on the Seaventure. “Friends of yours, I infer?” Alan; inquired civilly. Judith nodded. "Then it would Bave us some trouble —yourself included—if you’ll be good enough to step into the dory without a struggle.” Without a word, Judith stepped to the rail and, as Barcus luffed, swung herself overside into the dory. Immediately Alan cast off, and as the little boat sheered off, Barcus, with a sigh of relief, brought the Sea venture once more back upon her course. For some few minutes there was si-; !ence between the two men, while the; tender dropped swiftly astern, the woman plying a brisk pair of oars. I Then, suddenly elevating his nose,1 Barcus sniffed audibly. “Here,” he said sharply, “relieve me for a min ute, will you? I want to go forward and have a look at that motor.” In the time that he remained invis ible between decks the fisherman luffed, picked up the dory and Its occupant, and came round again in open chase of the Seaventure. When Barcus reappeared it was with a grave face. “The devil and the deep She,” he ob served obscurely, coming aft, "from all their works, good Lord deliver us!” “What’s the trouble now?” "Nothing much—only your playful little friend has been up to another of her light-hearted tricks. ... If you should happen to want a smoke or anything to eat when you go below, juBt find a mirror and kiss yourself good by before striking the match.' The drain-cocks of both fuel tanks have been opened, ar< there are up wards of a hundred and fifty gallons of highly explosive gasoline sloshing around in the bilge!” CHAPTER XIII. No Quarter. X es, yes," said Mr. Barcus lndul-i gently, breaking a long Bilence. "Very! interesting. Very interesting. Indeed. I ve seldom listened to a more enter taining life-history, my poor young friend. But I tell you candidly, as man to man, I don’t believe one word of It. Its all d----- n foolishness!” His voice took on a plaintive ac cent. “Particularly this!" he expos tulated. and waved an Indignant hand compassing their plight. The rest of your adventures are reasonable enough,” he said "they won my credullty-and I’m a native of Missouri. But this last chapter Is im possible. And that’s flat. It couldn’t happen—and has. And there, in a manner of speaking, we are!” Against the western horizon a long, low-lying strip of sand dunes reBted like a bar of purple cloud between the crimson afterglow of sunset In the sky and the ensanguined sea that mir rored It. The wind had gone down with the sun, leaving the 8eaventure becalmed —her motor long since inert for want ’ of Mel—In shoal water a mile or so, off the desolate and barren coast that Barcus, out of his abounding knowl edge of those waters, named Nauset Beach. Still another mile further off shore the so-called Gloucester fisherman rode, without motion, waters as still and glassy Through the gloaming, with the aid of glasses, figures might | be seen moving about her decks; and t as it grew still more dark Bhe lowered a small boat that theretofore had swung in davits. A little later a faint humming noiee drifted acrosB tho tide. "Power tender," the owner of the Seaventure interpreted. “Coming to call, I presume. Sociable lot. What I can’t make out is why they seem to think it necessary to tow our dory back. Uneasy conscience, maybe— what?” He lowered the binoculars and glanced inquiringly at his employer, who grunted his disgust, and said no more. "Don’t take it so hard, old top," Bar cus advised with a change of note from irony to sympathy. Then he rose and dived down the companionway, presently to reappear with a mega phone and a double-barreled shotgun. “No cutting-out parties in this ouh fit,” he explained, grinning amiably. “None of that old stuff, revised to suit your infatuated female friend—once aboard the lugger and the man is mine!” Stationing himself at the seaward rail, where hiB figure would show in sharp silhouette against the glowing sunset sky, he brandished the shot gun at arm’s length above his head, and bellowed stertorously through thé megaphone: “Keep off! Keep off! This means you! Come within gunshot and I’ll blow your fool heads off!” Putting aside the megaphone, he sat down again. “Not that I’d dare fire thie blunderbuss,” he confided, “with Flames Licked Out All Over ths Schooner. thia reek of gasoline; but just for moral effect. Phew-w! I’d give a dol lar for a breath of clean air; I’ve in haled so much gas in the last few hours I’m dry-cleaned down to my silly old toes!” Gaining no response from Alan, he observed critically: "Chatty little cus tomer, your are,” and resumed the binoculars. For thirty minutee nothing hap pened, other than that the sound of the fisherman's launch was stilled. It rested moveless in the waters, two figures mysteriously busy in the cock pit, the Seaventure’s dory trailing be hind it on a long painter. Gradually these details became blurred, and were blotted out by the ¡closing shadows. The afterglow in the west grew cool and faint. The crimson waters darkened, to mauve, to violet, to a translucent green, to blackness. Far up the coast two white eyes, peering over the horizon, stared steadfastly through the dark. “Chatham lights,” Barcus said they 'were. Abruptly he dropped the glasses and jumped up. “Hear that!” he cried. Now the humming of the motor was again audible and growing louder with every instant; and Alan, getting to his fee,. in turn, infected with the excite ment of Barcus, could just make out at some distance a dark shadow be neath the dim, spluttering glimmer of light, that moved swiftly and steadily toward the Seaventure. "What the devil!” he demanded, puzzled. "You uttered a mouthful when you said ‘devil’!” Barcus commented, grasping his arm and hurrying him to the landward side of the vessel. "Quick—kick off your shoes—get set for a mile-long swim! Devil's work, all right!” he panted, hastily divest ing himself of shoes and outer gar ments. “I couldn’t made out what they were up to till I saw them lash the wheel, light the fuse, start the motor, and take to the dory. They’ve made on grand little torpedo boat out of that tender—” He sprang upon the rail, steadying himself with a Btay. "Ready?” he asked. "Look sharp!” By way of answer, Alan joined him; the two had dived as one, entering the water with a single splash, and com ing to the surface a good ten yards from the Seaventure. For the next several seconds they were swimming frantically, and not until three hun dred feet or more separated them from the schooner did either dare pause for breath or a backward glance. Then the impact of the launch agaiust the Seaventure’s side rang out across the waters, and with a husky roar the launch blew up, spewing sky wards a widespread fan of flame. Over the Seaventure, as this flamed and died, pale fire seemed to hover like a tremendous pall of phosphorescence, a weird and ghastly glare that suddenly descended to the decks. There fol lowed a crackling noise, a sound as of the labored breathing of a giant; and bright flames, orange, crimson, violet and gold, licked out all over the schooner, from stem to stern, from deck to topmasts. It seemed several minute« that she burned In thiB wise—it was probably not so long—before her decks blew up and the flames «wept roaring to the sky. By the time Alan and Barcus. «wim- ming steadily, had gained a ahoal which permitted them footing in waist-deep waters, the Seaventure had burnen to the water's edge. (To be Continued.) . .
