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.)
. .