Show OF THIL MV N V MARTYN L S ervice THE STORY ployd floid unwin and toward bettington take dinner with an n old collean col leffe leae chum alfred gibbons gibbon financial magnate maK nate unwin prof pro ducts is a written elde taken by th the three at college to help each other in adversity explaining th att he h n areda ad tj no inclan as agilia let nr ii to d ducat c al his hi ton n bob ob and daughter mary gibbons gibbon coffan at the th legality of at the plade pled irs but agree agar to make a pt place a c e for or the daughter in hi his orsan la a tion me alary unwin is in stenographer to a wealthy debauchee elgar elear nad atad way Calli nir at t gibbons bona as arran irod mary alary Is asked to betray her employers employ orB secrets cc rland and retura refuses badway plants plan an ocean boyage to recover from the affects ot of dissipation mary blary is I 1 to ira go a as secretary BOre tary her brother to her I 1 I 1 CHAPTER ill III continued 3 prove it he commanded draw mom something ething bettington hesitated for a moment ne ile was not a man who went the hotter better for being driven oat but it occurred to him that hero was a solitary who was waa men mentally trilly unbalanced he sketched in ft a few r ful strokes a portrait of the man standing there his gun balanced in the crook of his arm jonathan gibbs looked at it in sl all lence it la in good he abild deliberately whatever else you may be you are a draftsman 11 why should I 1 bo be anything than I 1 pretend t youve never seen been me before gialis demanded never bettington said a little irritably rit ably and I 1 shall pass pasa a contented existence if 11 I 1 never see you agal again n what mort eort of a maine fisherman herman na are you tou to behave like theall gibbs put down tits ills gun and as aunice a more friendly air ivo ive been threatened ho he said rather vaguely jye made enemies hereabout 1 I have to be careful I 1 was startled you certainly startled me said the other 1 I hoped to bo be ablo able to pass tho the night here and dry my clothes you surely can said jonathan gibbs ill boll the water landmake and make you some come coffee I 1 guess youre hungry it was after the meal that bettington asked him why should anyone threaten you hero berel I 1 jealousy said eald gibbs after a pause im not a sta state teof of maine man and I 1 dont mix with anyone arouni around they dont understand that plainly tho the man had something to conceal contie nl after nil ill bettington told himself it was none of his business lie ile sad bad often met queer ingrown characters ile he could not go out into the black night now BOW made doubly impassable by the deluge of rain gibbs nado up the fire by packing a huge armful of wood anto tn tolt it Dett bettington lington was awakened by the aroma of coffee gibbs was holding metting tons shoes up dried ns as boards ho he announced noun ced need ne ed to be greased before you yon can get into em am and your pants are torn pretty bad ill tend lend you an outfit and you can got get what you yoa want down to blackport Dlack Blach port the meas calm now and you enu can row across the lay buy in halt half an hour the summer sun bun had tanned bettington to a rich brown in his sea isen boots the only ones gibbs had to lend his failed faded blue sweater and khaki shim he be looked the sort of fishing type he be had often painted at the dock he took a ten tot row boat and set out to the village lie had bad gone perhaps half the distance when a fast motor boat overhauled him slackened speed as it passed and then swung round and waited in th the path he was wai taking there were two men in it one was a vastly broad cheated man with a trim sweater anil and white canvas trousers ile he had the tha look of a yacht sailor bailor the other who nho was steering the boat had bad no physical peculiarities other than that general air of follow ing the sect sea weve bad an accident said the broad cheated man and pointed to something at the bottom of the launch bettington clung to the side of t the lie drifting motor boat and stood up there on the bottom of the other craft was a man lying immobile and as the artist stooped over him the recumbent sailor bailor gaye a tremendous hat hal 11 rm rai jab which caught on the point of the law jaw the other two grabbed him as aa hla his head fell forward wart and hauled him on board where unconscious he took the place ot of hla hij nesa assailant llant who rose grinning the broad cheated man roan who was called sam clapped him on the back la in approval amdy 11 ho be cried crida sand and that rock prevents anyone seeing us from the hani but bent b ut ever the unco ancon n arloua form forin und arid neatly trussed it up op with rope the rhe hoks floss wit will be tickled to death over this stove in that rowboat one of you A man with a boat hook book smashed in some bottom boards and jonathan gibbs dinghy slowly title tilled with water then the launch put out of the boy bay post past the buoys and headed north for or bar harbor bettington had recovered from roin the knockout knock out within five minutes tie ile could see pe from the brightly polished and mahogany that he was in a yachts ya clita launch ila ha knew that the hum of the motor would make any call tor for help useless lie ile bad been neatly knocked out and was waa now to be expeditiously shanghaied shanghai ed it was incredible then the real meaning of 0 the tiling thing flashed on him filin lie he was mistaken for or jonathan gibbs rie he was rowing gibbs boat and wearing gibbs clothes with a two days growth of beard arid and a face burned with the sun he might easily pass for the fisherman this Is till nil a mistake he said addressing himself to sam you think im jonathan gibbs 1 I know d d well youre not said sara without animus the thing was inexplicable they knew him for himself and knowing it ft they were carrying him off bound with ropes to the open sea aea there was seemingly no sort of personal grudge in n this highhanded high handed matter the three men were carrying out orders listen bo said sam weve got orders not to say a thing to you till the floss boss sees seea you it wont do you no good asking why we did it or who we are we had to get you alive and unharmed and we did the best beat we kney knew how it was dark when the lights of bar harbor came in sight bettington wit was 8 carried tips up the grin gangway gway across a deck and then placed in a small cabin lighted with a single porthole sam untied antl cd the knots and watched the victim stretch his stiff and cramped limbs just a word of warning sam remarked you cant get 0 out t of that out porthole and you cant get out of this cabin if you did it help fiela you it if youre wise watt wait till the boss sends for you sam turned the keys in the door and left him prisoner As he examined tits dungeon he heard beard the throbbing of machinery from the porthole he could sea aeo the boat was moving ile iio pulled off the heavy heady sen sea boots of jonathan gibbs and lung himself on the berth in many adventures bettington had learned that fretting and turning fuming were handicaps that men in danger should not take upon n themselves set ves presently ho he fell asleep and was awakened by sam you it t worrying said sam grinning they tell me you always had your nerve with you you wont he be able to see the boss tonight hes halt hitting the pipe and its as much as a mans life Is worth to go in now I 1 no authority to let you out ou t till gives the word so ill bring you a bite to eat here sam waddled out bettington was puzzled auzy led by his apparent friendliness A As a physical specimen of it humanity u k sam am did not awaken confidence on his broad flat bat face were written lust hist and brute courage ile he would be a bad man to cross hut but why should he be regard howard bettington painter of seascapes sea and man of integrity teg rity with such an air of comradeship where are we bound fo tori rhe he asked ot of sam when a tray of food was kas brought in noo york said bald sam cant I 1 go on deck bettington us asked ked 1 I cant escape sam shook his head not hot till the boss gives the word who la Is the boss the captain the captain there was scorn in sams tone anicat 11 1 I no you mean the owner sams scorn acorn of the owner was just as emp emphatic hatle lie ile way may think hes the boss and capan hallett may think he Is but they dont know yet yell sam rose to go 0 just one bit of advice bo dont make a noise it if you yin do go to noo york gagged 0 0 bettington had not been gone on his errand to blackport a half hour when jonathan gibbs in his motor dory went out to hla his lobster pots ile he was returning when he taw caw a smaller boats boat its ila gunwales gunzales gun wales awash almost across his bow ile II 11 knew it instantly for his bis own investigation showed that some of the planking had been staved in ile ho supposed that one of the needle rocks must have dono done it it blamed himself for allowing tho the sti stranger ranger to cross the bay almost certain certain death would await any man dressed as had been in such buch currents as am these thes gibbs went to hla hia shuck with an uneasy the whole ept episode sole spelled publicity to him but he cheered himself with the hope that tits his guest might have been rescued in that case cage he would loov be bak at the shack aback hut but hy by midnight bettington did not return and ibbs went carefully through the things which were in the torn coat there wits wim a eold watch with the initials if 11 11 on it A wallet contained almost four our hundred di dallara llara there were no letters nut bit there wits a reference on a metrio memorandum of fit repairs to the skylight tit of a studio at a given address nod a receipt for the rental of it to to the flirt of the curre current tit year anil and there wits waa a bunch of keys kor for almost an hour fillina mitt aitt nio mo ti onless then he roso rose to hla his feel fee put a kettle on the oil ptole pr arca s antly shaved himself irefully carefully and trimmed tits hla hilr lie ile rushed ohp grease which bettington hail had applied to his so carefully into the len leather ther that it became at length flexible and he was ablin to put them on hasty repairs to the torn trousers and coat enabled hip to wear them with an iron which had been little used of lat late e he pressed them into of their former farmei shape dawn xua breaking break lm when jonathan gibbs now a new man bade farewell to the shack lie had inhabited for six ye years tirs none saw him as he made tits ills q further search revealed sugar and coffae way inland to westfield A sleepy ticket agent gave him a ticket to I 1 portland and forgot the occurrence instantly st in Il portland ortland he spent only a few hours new york received him with a thousand others at the grand central and he walked eight blocks down to a brown stone house opposite an armory Betting tons name was on a plate over a letter box A key on the bunch it and he drew out some mall mail and walked having met not ft a soul to the top of the house then after a moments pause he opened the studio door and found himself in a haven io so secure that he could hardly believe it had been attained so ao easily ills eyes brightened when he saw that the former occupant had cans of milk soup and fish in abundance there were at least two pounds of tea further search revealed sugar and coffeo coffee ile he could live for a week on what he found and never venture outside the door during the day he must be careful not to be seen out but at night new york was his own those who had bad known the dour suspicious auspicious fisherman would not have recognized in the alert housebreaker the same man jonathan gibbs was gone dead and burled buried and this too in a sense he did not know other fishermen had found his waterlogged rowboat and w when hen he was not seen in hla hia familiar haunts and had not dot called at the village store to exchange his eggs for groceries a search was made ills home was found unoccupied hla his chickens furnished plainly mainly jonathan gibbs had been drowned and his body swirled out to sea in ID the undertow at first the new york gibbs ventured out only at night within a short radius of tits his sanctuary there had bad been no mall 1 there had been no prying janitor ile he had almost four hundred dollars and almost four munt lis rent paid ile he felt assured tant was dead it wits on the third evening of ills hla occupancy that this calm and pleas optimism wits was swept away lie ile had gone to the subway entrance to buy liu au evening paper As he be stood on the steps before the front door reeling feeling for his latchkey he wits was con it a policeman pol keman across the street by tho the armory was looking at him although it was dark he felt with the certainty that the looked at him alone from the front windows of if hla his unlighted rooms he had an unobstructed view the officer was aoa now speaking peaking to a smaller man who seemed to be pointing directly at the windows through which jonathan gibbs gazed the coincidence was wag food tor for somber omber a thought As though concerting concerning conc erting some plot aimed at gibbs the two slowly crossed the street then his bell rang three times gibbs opened the door to the landing silently and listened ile he heard the front door open find and steps advance along the flagged passage then he be heard beard the footsteps begin the ascent softly he locked the door and stood it a few feet back from it to the knock he returned no answer ho looked about him wildly trapped Trapp edl 1 lie grinned gro nned after all these years to be caught I 1 fear roused him from inaction before long they would burst in the door the fire escape at the rear was his sole hope it was pitch dark but h he e d dared area risk no light or make the descent slowly ile he had gone but half a flight when he be trod upon a flower pot placed there in violation of all the cites ore fire ordinances ile he clutched about him wildly wl 11 adly and found only a piece of rotting rope for F or a moment it promised to stay hla his fall then he felt the old strands giving the paved yard to which he crashed was fifty feet below they had not been wrong in blackport who assumed that the man they called jonathan gibbs was dead CHAPTER IV an amazing adventure during the long hours houra bettington spent a prisoner lie he thought over and rejected as impractical several schemes scheme s for escape when all was said and done escape from his cabin to the larger prison of the ship dt at sea offered little betterment of ills his condition ile he pondered over oer sams command that he should be quiet this presupposed that there was some person or croup of persons unaware of hla his detention rut whether hether i a declaration of his presence would bring liberty was another ma matter ater the hours passed slowly it ii was dusk when they dropped anchor at the toot foot of fast east twenty fourth street when sam came in with his evening meal there was a safety razor outfit on the tray got to spruce up said sam owners coming aboard tomorrow morning the boss says tor for you to look like ready money bettington looked tit nt sam and won dered what made madd him so serene and nappy a it was a face on which had been graven the marks of violent enao emo alons ile he was no BO more than five feet eight inches in height but his chest was fully forty five fhe inches in girth A life of ease had some of his once steel muscles to fat but he was still enormously strong A flit flat and bulbous nose driven into his face by some tremendous impact conspired to make him repulsive essentially he be was of the sea there was the sailors roll in iii his walk A dangerous man in a physical combat bettington decided intellectually he was below the normal ile ie was cleanly shaved and the tha shirt he wore was |