| Show I III I I I I The After House By Dy MARY ROBERTS RINEHART Copyright 1923 by Tho The McClure Newspaper Syndicate I I r I I i I Continued from yesterday All expectation of the watchman having now died we went forward on the port side to the approximate mate location of the cross This being in tho the neighborhood where Mao Iao had thought he saw something something some- some thing move we ve approached with extreme caution But nothing more ominous was discovered than th the Port lifeboat nothing more ghostly heard than tho the occasional creak with which it rocked in its ita davits Tho The lifeboat seemed to be Indicated indi Indi- by the cross It swung al almost almost almost al- al most shoulder high on McWhirter V We looked under and around it with a growing feeling that we had nad misread the significance of ot the crosses rosses or that the sinister record extended to a time before the she devil of the Turner line was dressed in white and turned In Into to a a. lady I was feeling underneath the boat with a sense of absurdity that l put Into words I Ionly Ionly Ionly only hope ho he said that tho the watchman does doe not wake waite up now and se see us Hed He'd be Justified in filling tilling us with lead or putting us In But I had discovered something Mac 1 I said someone has haa been at this boat within the last few tew minutes Wh Why Take your Our revolver and watch the deck One of ot the I hats What's that thaU One of ot the water barrels has been upset and the plug is out It ItIs ItIs Itis Is leaking into the tho the boat It Is leaking fast and theres there's only a gallon or so BO in the bottom Give me tho the light The contents of the tho boat re revealed revealed revealed re- re the truth of ot what 1 I I h had d said The boat was In n confusion Its cover had been thrown back and tins of ot biscuit bailers boat- boat hooks and extra rowlocks were jumbled together In confusion The lay on its side and its plug had been either knocked or drawn out McWhirter was for turning to inspect the tho boat but I ordered him sternly to watch the deck He was inclined to laugh at my caution caution caution cau cau- tion which he claimed was a quality In me he had not sus sus- He lIe lounged against the rail near me me and in In spite of ot his chaff chaft kept a keen enough lookout The bare cas of water were lashed amidships In the bow and stern were small airtight compartments compartments compartments com com- and In the stern was also a small locker from which the biscuit tins had been taken I was about to abandon my search when I saw something gleaming in the locker and reached in and drew it out It appeared to be an ordinary white sheet but Its Us presence there was curious I turned the light lighton I on it It It was covered with dark brown stains Even now nov the tho memory of that sheet turns me ill I shook it out and Mac at my roy exclamation came cameto I to me It was not a sheet at all that Is is not a whole one It was wasa a circular piece of white cloth on I which in bla black k were curious marks marks marks-a a six pointed star There were others others others-a a crescent a crude attempt to draw that might be either a dog or a I lamb and a cross ross From edge to edge It was smeared with blood I I Of what followed Just after both McWhirter l and I are vague There seemed to be bo simultaneously a yell of fury-from fury the rigging overhead overhead overhead over over- head and the crash of ot a falling body on the e deck near us Then we were closing with a kicking biting screaming thing that bore me to the ground extinguishing the little electric flash and that rising suddenly from under me had McWhirter l In the air and almost almot overboard before I caught him So dazed were we by the onslaught that the thing whatever thing whatever it was was could could have escaped and left us none the wiser But al although although although al- al though though- it eluded us In the darkness darkness darkness dark dark- ness it did not leave It was there whimpering to itself searchIng searching search search- ing for something the something the sheet As AsI I steadied Mac it passed me I caught at it Immediately the struggle began all over again But this time we had the advantage and kept it After a battle that seemed to last all night and that was actually fought all over that part of ot the deck we held the creature subdued and Mac getting a hand free struck a match It was Charlie Jones That after all is the story Jones was a madman a homicidal maniac of ot the worst type typo Always a madman the tho homicidal element of his disease was recurrent and of ot a a. curious nature Ho lie thought himself a priest of ot heaven appointed appointed appointed ap ap- ap- ap pointed to make ghastly sacrifices at certain signals from on high The Tho signals I am not sure of h hI he I turned taciturn after his capture I II I I I I I Jill and would not talk I am inclined to think that a shooting star perhaps perhaps per per- haps hap in a particular quarter of the tho heavens was his signal This is distinctly possible and is made mado pro probable able by the stars which ho lie had painted d with tar on his sacrificial 1 robe EXPLANATIONS The story of tho the early mo of August 12 will never nover Lv Li o fully tullY known But much of it in view of our knowledge we wo were able to re re- re construct Thus Jones ate his supper supper sup sup- per that night a n mild and well disposed disposed disposed dis dis- dis- dis posed Individual During the afternoon afternoon afternoon aft aft- I before he had read prayers for the soul of Schwartz in whose whoso departure he may mayor or may not have I had a part part part-I I am Inclined to think not Jonea Jones construing his mission as being one to remove the wicked and the oppressor and Schwartz hardly coming under either classification class class- lIe He was at the wheel from mIdnight midnight midnight mid mId- night until 4 in tho the morning on the night of the tho murders At certain hours we believe that he went wont forward forward forward for for- ward to the forecastle head and clad In his priestly robe performed such devotions as his disordered mind dictated It Is my idea that he looked at these times for a heavenly signal either a a. meteor or orsome orsome orsome some strange appearance of the heavens It was known that he was wasa a poor sleeper and spent much time at night wandering about Continued tomorrow |
