| Show tae ahe 0 O mutiny muti a of the albatross tr oss IL I 1 THE STORY f ployd eloyd unwin and howard bettington take dinner with tin an old college chum Alfred Gibbons financial magnate unwin pro induces a written pledge taken by th the e three at college to help each ot other h s r in adversity explaining that he needs 0 o financial assistance to educate hisson hla eon bob and daughter mary gibbons scoffs cons at the legality of the pledge but agrees to make anike a place tor for the daughter in his organization mary tan aln Is stenographer to a wealthy debauchee elgar rad way calling nt gibbons office as arranged avry M ry to Is asked to betray her hee employers secrets a and d refuses radway plans an ocean voyage to recover from the effects of dissipation mary to la to so 90 as secretary hir her brother to accompany her Bett bettington lington j painting on the maine coast to Is and taken aboard a ves vessel sel his 1119 clothes are found by ga gabbs b bs fugitive from justice L CHAPTER IV continued 4 bob sauntered off feeling that he hid had come face to face with men more evil than he had bad ever known before on the deck above ill his s sister was he had been told he must not venture t there ibo above ie that deck was the wireless house in which he be was de deeply aply i interested he had seen a cheery young man in uniform who bad had been pointed boutas out as the wireless operator but between the two was a great gleat gulf fixed sparks was an officer perhaps bob had bad entered upon his new task with too greatman gre great atlan an enthusiasm i he found foun d himself called upon to do cert certain itin greasy and oily offices usually performed by engine room help metzger iger the chief engineer swore at him viciously when he be began to ask questions about the engines on the 06 whole he found himself for the ibe first jime alme in his life distinct distinctly li unpopular Barne barnegat gat light was in sight when sani sam at midnight came came into betting tons cabin the boss says gays yau you can see sed him bim now he crow led bettington betting ton followed him along a dim passage to the eiL extreme stern of the vessel here he be unlocked a door leading to a com companion wai way which ch brought him to a quarter deck I 1 at the after martof part of the yacht there were two big wicker chairs and a table sam motioned him bosit to sit down then he be knocked at ac a stateroom room door and was bidden to enter youre to go ln sam gald bald a abw few moments anter all ill watt wait here not surp san th tuat at a lafit I 1 emotion of ceic excitement and p perhaps rhani apprehension seized upon n the p inte as he be moved toward the door what manner of ruffian was he to conf and what was it that he had been predestined for A man who could hold a turbulent and ferocious brute like sam in thrall would probably be one of greater power and violence than he never bettington confessed as he be entered the stateroom had his pre judgments been more at fault this was nd no towering bully no disciple of the strong arm school of underworld aristocracy who looked at him apparently patently ly the man was of the same social class as himself the boss bosa was a little slender man delicate of feature and limb his face had bad that ivory pallor one associates with extreme old age and yet he dij did not seem to be an awold old man ne was smiling as bettington entered he smiled while be talked 1 I am afraid 11 said sald the boss after waving his guest to a seat that you ba have not enjoyed your voyage 1 I have not bettington returned 1 I may tell teM you youat at once that present I 1 resent the whole occurrence it hasteen has been one one outrage added to another that they had their origin in a mistake 1 I know very well but the deflect Is justi just the same andi and I 1 demand to be put ashore at dofice once we are provisioned for a year eald the boss calmly and most likely shall hall not touch any port toi or one month donth 11 1 I shall snapped the painter 1 I think not lot the other cor corrected erected gently 1 I expected you tomake to make these protests sam has told rn me of your attitude and I 1 admire it the wise man differs from a fool in knowing just when to try to make terms we ve are here to talk business look here bettington began 1 I explained to your first murderer out there that there had been some mistake of identities my name Is bettington ting ton I 1 am a painter of seascapes sea and my studio I 1 Is s on east thirty fourth street the voss took from asgail a small table a newyork new york paper did you have a plea pleasant sani funeral he asked suavely he passed the paper over the table and pointed out an obituary notice tucked away in an obscure spot bead it the boss bois commanded the paragraph ab was beaded weil Well Known marino marin a killed falls falla From Fire escape in dark Bettin bettington gion read an amazing description of his death burial and lifes work the chief witness at the in guest aias was floyd unwin and i beeri been amazed to see lis friend whom he thought to be out of town and climbed to his alg studio to call upon him i the rooms were were seemingly I 1 in n dark aara nesland nesi ness and none answered the knocks knock in the in morning orning the janitor had had als cov comred fired red the mutilated body in the floyd unwin find and he had jfred fled it ait it was was a lever ever idea den said baid the by WYNDHAM NAM IN thavil boss but atoo I 1 atoo read the papers papera in the idiom of of poker I 1 have called your blufe in almost aliu ost every case I 1 have had bad to do that to get my crew take sam for example sum sam under another dame was doing rather well bootlegging across the canadian line in rangely Ran fiely gely lie was on the way to become respected etwas it was necessary to remind him that lie he had broken from dannemora Dann emora I 1 was i compelled compel led to build up his real past I 1 hold it over him the boss waved his dp licate liar hand id airily it to Is a truism that knowl i edge is power I 1 have just told you by what methodi have hand had of what yon call my first murderer 11 but why put me in posses possession of it bettington demanded th at strikes me as a very unwise step because my dear andrew orme I 1 have just as st strong a h hold 0 id over you bettington made a gesture of despair the not thel ool of a crazed man but this sort of talk pointed to an egocentricity not far from megalomania he had the delusion of power boiver and andrew rew orme said bettington who Is i he be ill tell you the boss passed a box of cigars to the other andrew orme did very welt well at yale he was on his way to become a greab surgeon then he found within himself the curse of gaming he needed money he found he possessed the dangerous gift of copying signatures so he be forged and when helas he was discovered he killed the man who threatened to give him up to justice lie he had committed his bis murder in san Franc francisco francese lse and was sent to san quentin as a life prisoner he escaped and was absolutely lost from view that was almost ten years years rio ago I 1 found him by accident 1 I was in new england and needed water tor a boiling motor I 1 went to a fisher mans shack i there L I 1 found one jonathan gibbs disguised with a beard and clad in sheroll th the eroll rou h garb of a fisherman much the same picturesque costume as you bedr wear now T I 1 did not tell cenit him that I 1 knew him at that time I 1 tin had no possible use for him it was not until three years later that I 1 made u of my knowledge one thing was ras cleared alcare up at all events bettington had been shang hated because he was thought to be the fisherman whose clothe he wore he saw now bof how bow strangely fortune had deserted beneat here at sea he co comaj ad not prove himself tol to be the man i ire was X and the mysterious lous r death or a man like enough to himself to be identified by unwin all added to the difficulty of setting himself straight he remembered how gibbs had feared he had entered bis his rude rudes shack back for some inimical purpose and sam had bad let fall that gibbs had been I 1 shadowed and bettington recall recalled bd that gibbs had been much bhore more fearful in manner than any honest fisherman had the need to be undoubtedly gibbs was andrew ormel orme surgeon and forger and howard betting ton was dead and buried the anxiety that his face betrayed led the boss bos to think he had come toa to saner way of thinking 1 T I am offering you a far better way of living than ever you had in maine airline when we are through w with tb this trip you will have am e money plenty of it and can spend it it and your life in some southern port and if I 1 dont accept the Thes smile mUe of the other man grew irritating none kone knows of your being aboard but my men there are only three of the men who are not for me hal lett the captain his nephew who Is the wireless operator and a lad idd named unwin they can be eliminated so can you unwin so that was why he had seen his old friend come aboard it was his mechanically minded son who was among those of the crew presently to be eliminated d A mood of unusual caution took hold of Beit bettington ington As skillfully as possible he must lenra what was required of him and to what perils those on the slap ship were to be put hut but if you eliminated me he sald said easily you would put yourself to some inconvenience youve put my cards on the table without any aid of mine what about youe 5 our own cards the sensible man said the boss Is the adaptable one iam I 1 am glad you are seeing the wisdom of readjustment here are my cards andrew orme this thi s boat was chartered through my ail advice vice by elgar radway the he Is aboard now with his wife a noted beauty and a girl secretary this boy unwin of whom I 1 spoke li Is the secre brother Bett bettington inkton hoped the other did not see the slight start he gave when he be realized that miry mary unwin wa was s here he ered pow now that tha i she ille was roadways Rad ways private stenographer he thought of sam of me metzger tz gerand and those other ill III men who would be likely to make up sucha such a crew as this something lof of the horror ll 11 he could not conceal betrayed itself do not be alarmed said the boss this la is an expedition planned only for the possession of imo money 0 ey the women will be safe jong as ag 1 I rule role be sure of that what la Is the scheme Black blackmail mall something simpler and cleaner radway has come aboard as whim self almost belle believes ves wrest flihan he bag iv arduous tasks bea before aee him I 1 know and he lie realizes it now that lie has come aboard io to fall all himself with the rich food and alcohol his physicians have forbidden himfar him for 6 a year every year ja I 1 find he lias spent a month in this manner ail at the era enda of these trips he goes bick back ia to his office and corks like ilke ten nion but this year he has had hardening arteries ands and pl planned to be temperate that was why he be brought tits his wife and t the ile girl that wis was why he sentie sent me this heleg telegram ra in blie bo buss a showed bettington g the wire mary had sent to clements mir bir harbor he honestly intended to stay sober or moderate moderately ty so and wont he ne at dinner tonight hliras he was offen lyel ly drunk I 1 heard 1 ills I 1 I wife whisper slier after what wha ayou you promised d me elgar I 1 then you ou fire me a cupit here it explained the luxurious lumi rious stateroom in ID which the boss sat 1 I am riot not said the boss 1 I occupy an position f in a 1 sense a derogatory one it so suits me for our purposes alto to play theeart the part of the steward wondered why tie he feli felt a I 1 disinclination to ask ash this rafi roan who and what he was ile he realized ahai hat he was waa in the presence presen L e of af one from whom of evil and ul unusual usual 1 7 J r 1151 till ybia th 8 Pissed fa bo io e fiher I 1 1 powers were given oatt ile he was annoyed to admit it L with sam or br the rest of the ahe crew it was different they feared the knowledge might bring them it if they ahey forced him through dis obedience obedience to use it t to deather death or imprisonment but no man had bad such a hold over howard Beit bettington ington and yet he experienced ed uneasiness in the he presence of this small eternally smiling man whose neck he could wring with Ns his powerful grasp as easily as one might choke the life out of a fowl i what part arn am tito I 1 to play bettington asked for a time at any rate he mu must st seem to fall in with the others plans it may be e very little the boss said this Is how the matter stands radway can lifford afford to be away from his office forn for a months behas he has soar so arranged range d things thau that heis ne Is safeguarded for thai that time but to stay away longer would ruin him another r financier gibbons Is a da dangerous antagonist when th the atme ame comes will be offered tb the echol choice ce of gulnor ruin or a ransom of oue one million dollars he will bluster thre threaten aten and fight in the end he will rid do as I 1 have arranged but the captain and the others will be eliminated I 1 haye have taken every precaution I 1 shall seize the ship and dictate terms Bett lugton logton thought a moment all very well he cried but you cani cant ca carry try off into cap captivity an international figure like radway why mati man send gunboats gun boats out and every phlp we pass will be bd look ing for us theres no disguising a craft uke like ills tills there willbe no alarm letters will be prepared written in Rad ways s hand explaining that thai his health la Is benc berie flUng fiting slowly and that he will remain away away fr for a few weeks longer mrs airs radway will lvell write to her father the senator and the heal girl secretary will send portals to io heri hen parents they will disarm all suspicion how bettington demanded bluntly thre threaten aAn them with violence unless write the women women wont do it nor radway el either therl I 1 nevertheless they will be written for what purpose do you suppose andrew orme master forger was dragged from blackport maine the boss took papers from a drawer these he passed to bettington here are aire letters written by mrs radway and her husband study them closely you aie are coberth to berth in the next stateroom he led an adjoining cabin prom from it another i n ot her room was seen 1 that said the boss bois ili Is the ne doc tors office H he pointed to a parch ment on which the name Johnr job walte was inscribed bettington Bettini ion saw that walte waite had taken his degree of doctor of medicine in the tha university of penn sylvania syl vanla fifteen years yeara before you will be cenowa henceforth as doctor waite said the boss bois you will wil I 1 probably have very little to do but bui tt it sl was fortunate that radway required a physician asician otherwise abu would have had to become a crew brewi the real doctor walte over whom I 1 have some slight hold tent me this lind and some implements of the he trade drugs and the rest fest of it you will probably have to prescribe some seda li vestor radway fadwa i be ettington itt ington ikney aliew nothing of alne lie he quailed at theider the Idea of having to look after a really person your positional posit lon ionas as an officer I 1 bu ba entry to the main saloon the boss bosi went on you atil will ae be able to td gain the confidence i it if the wo report to me what aha t happens in the role 1 l have assumed I 1 hear much but ao rit ri t enough was elal to know that he would be in a position to watch over U wins girl lt ostive ls true she would not yet know his nnnie minie he supposed until he had decided what best to do jn in the face of dangers he had better keep up the masquerade the boss took his acan acquiescence les cence as aa 6 |
