Show rw r ta ar r ty t i 1 T r r u f z CE TSO r t y BEING EXCITING PERSONAL f MARTIN oaf the WILLIAM LE 1 t copyright 1308 by W G chapman cop right in great britain and the united states by V m le queue queux THE JOLLY ROVERS met n quite a casual ray I 1 was lounging after dinner in the read ing room of the heral tage that very chic bo tel which baa ot late the paria and the as the rendezvous ot the elite it was the evening ot eve two years ago and as Is well known with christmas eve commences the season at the sign of the seven sins the hotel had only been opened a few days and the only other occupant of the reading room was a solitary looking man a round shouldered rath er haggard looking old fellow about 0 with pointed grey beard and his trained upwards he was an entire stranger to me but his shab alness caused me some surprise for i those who frequent the hermitage are always smart good he exclaimed good in english when ha had thoroughly inspected me in that man ner which sometimes becomes a habit with the elderly dy the way the day of the jf montet the twenty fourth I 1 responded christmas eve I 1 vo played hero regularly tor 15 years and have never lost he an i simply me full in the face his black piercing eyes never lost I 1 I 1 echoed pricking up J my ears why that s impossible with such chances against you ahl I 1 see you don t believe me he exclaimed with a hard dry laugh I 1 tell you J can win every time I 1 alay im open to bet i ou a thousand pounds upon it it like me to prove what I 1 say come into the ca alno tomorrow to morrow and taking from his pocket a well worn leather wallet he drew from it a bundle ot french bank notes adding these are my usual stakes for christmas day franca tho name archibald grant was printed upon the card he handed me and before we parted I 1 had accepted his invitation to go with him and wit ness his luck at the tables the morning was sunny balmy and cloudless my gray faced friend sauntered along paused at the last center table in the roulette room and watched the ball fall upon the number 27 which Is f red and then glancing at the revola ing wheel and noticing that the next f square to that wherein the ball was lying was the number 13 black he carelessly took from his pocket six thousand franc notes and bending over with his lean claw like band placed them on the black the wheel was again revolved the croupier launched the ball which a few minutes later fell with a click black gained and my friend won the 9 maximum of francs or pounds the s confidence he al lowed his original stake to remain and once more the invitation to play arose above all other sounds again the wheel revolved and again he won E next moment a dozen other notes some gold plaques and a few five f franc pieces were showered upon his stakes for the crowd of excited play ers witnessing his luck were eager to follow bis fortune again the wheel was spun and the same wearied voice a moment later cried that the number 16 had won and aso tho red therefore the sum of 12 francs was handed to my gray faced companion amid quite a chorus of jhb well he asked with a cynical as he raised hla glass have I 1 convinced you of my power of win nang of course I 1 responded dut may you not logo it all again like so many others do ah he smiled I 1 see you are not et convinced well tonight you shall have further proof with a sudden grunt bo twisted some notes together tossed them upon the black and won the croupier y counted them and bild out the maximum at that moment one of tho players who lost roso and him a chair which he took and iben settled down to play staking each abo daxl mum around that table the crowd grew larger as soon as it was an bounced that high pla was in ress and at each spin of tho wheel my strange friend placed his notes un hesitatingly staking the maximum al ways and scarcely ever tailing to gain the respectable maximum of francs time after time he played until more than an hour bad passed and his winnings grew eo great that his pock r ata could bold no more the ball fell and he still won whereupon the brou pier turned to the chef de partle after swiftly counting the money before him and in an instant the eager crowd divined the truth archibald grant had broken the bank so strangely fascinating was this remarkable old man s companionship that I 1 felt constrained to accept hla invitation and we went down the steps together into the brightly lit place where many people were stroll ing about and the band was still play ing before the gay cafe we did not enter hla hotel as I 1 expected but kept on down the steep bill to la conda mine until I 1 wondered where we were to eat our meal the moon was hid den by a bank of cloud and as we descended the hill the great steep for tress rock of monaco looming up in the darkness across the bay was aglow with its rows of while in the little harbor the mast head lights of one or two yachts looked like fireflies fire flies in the distance the deep toned note of the clock on the palace of monaco struck 11 and at last having passed the baths my friend stopped at the steps leading to the water and said here we arel I 1 glanced down in surprise and then saw in the gloom a boat waiting manned by four smart sailors who sa without a word I 1 stepped in followed by my companion and a moment later the dip of the oars sounded and we sped swiftly across the bay to a huge magnificent walte acht the only light showing being the one at the roast head which gleamed white like a miniature search light first well see how much weve relieved the malson de blanc of this I 1 time he said inviting me to a seat and then taking handful after handful of thousand franc notes from the pock ets of his shabby clothes he plied them together on the long table after wards counting them an operation in which I 1 assisted seven hundred and fifty two thou sand francs he observed when he had concluded just 3 more than jast christmas really my dear sir I 1 cried you ought to consider yourself fortunate last christmas I 1 won from the infernal tricot tripot he observed in a strange croaking voice and opening a box he took out some great packets of french banknotes bank notes adding and here they are then you never touch your win engst I 1 exclaimed amazed tor I 1 had that in the tiny cabin was an enormous store of wealth never I 1 be answered you see that row of boxes each with the date of a year upon them all my winnings are there you spend a good deal of our time yachting I 1 suppose 9 I 1 said yes he answered I 1 ve sailed a good many seas in the garbino I 1 run either into or here into monaco each december cruise from the constant to gib through the spring and run up as far as tho north cape in june but you must be hungry and he touched the electric button suspended over the table whereupon there appeared the ugliest and most gigantic negro that I 1 have ever set eyes upon grant chatted affably as we fed and when I 1 referred to the gruesome decor athons of his saloon he merely laughed saying its a whim of mine when I 1 bought this vessel I 1 her inside out the cigar he had given me was un commonly strong As a rule I 1 smoked cigarettes but this havana had a sub tie flavor which I 1 liked therefore I 1 consumed it until in the smoke clouds all seemed to become misty and hindls and I 1 saw before me the strange rather grotesque looking face of my affable friend tho millionaire and behind him the black and silver hang ings the gruesome emblems of death the face seemed slowly to assume a hideous repulsive expression with its thin lips parted in a grin of alon at the mysterious fascination which that pair of dark eyes exercised over me there wis a tightness about my chest and I 1 held my breath feel ing that I 1 must rouse myself I 1 fought against the curious nauseating drowse ness which crept over me and tried to announce my departure but my jaws seemed fixed my tongue refused to articulate and with the sound of strange voices n my ears a sudden blank tell upon me and I 1 knew no more how long I 1 remained unconscious of things about me I 1 know not I 1 rose unsteadily shook myself and staggered upstairs to the deck the vessel was of larger proportions than I 1 had believed trim and well kept the brasses shining la the sunlight the deck freshly washed down and the ropes coiled evenly ready for use A fresh breeze was blowing from the yellow funnel came a huge column of black curling smoke which lay out behind in a long straight line as we headed at full speed leaving a track of white foam on the blue sunlit waters I 1 glanced round in abject sur prise for no land was in sight we were far out at sea for a vessel of that size the crew I 1 found was an unusually large one and at first I 1 could not understand what work was in progress but very soon the startling truth was evident from below a number ot quick firing guns were being brought up and swift ly fixed in position while the tore and aft serviceable looking Norden felts were already mounted their long black muzzles pointing out I 1 am not altogether a landsman and a eingle glance told me that the gar alno was something more than a pleas ure yacht for on peering over the sade I 1 saw she was steel built and armored ahat do you mean I 1 asked a north countryman only that you 11 see a bit ot fun before you ve done that e all you ve been asleep this three days a for it das I 1 gasped then where are we at sea the man answered vaguely and then went on with his work of helping to fix a revolving gun carriage while I 1 ascended to tho bridge and aried to obtain some explanation of tha captain but he was a neapolitan and answered my questions with such an ingeniously bad of italian that I 1 failed to understand him r r j is ae a through the vessel from end to end I 1 went exploring every part but failed to obtain information from anybody the crew were certainly the roost all lal looking set of men I 1 had ever encountered and comprised dark skinned greeks lascara lascars turks in tact tho very scum of mediterranean boits delow forward were about 30 ugly faced scoundrels idling some playing dominges dominoes dom inoes others smoking all keeping up a polyglot chatter but strangely enough as I 1 entered I 1 heard one man exclaim in cockney english tre canies conies the boss ala t he a snip pandering on I 1 met a man in of bleers uniform and inquired of him inhere the owner was but he shrugged his shoulders and replied in french that he supposed he was still in monte carlo I 1 glanced at the ship s boats and saw that the name upon them had been freschl painted out and the word cagnes substituted in the three days of my unconsciousness the yacht had been transformed into a vessel of war armed to the teeth with every appliance of modern warfare and we were apparently bent on some mysterious offensive expedition why the affable archibald grant had gone ashore leaving me on board was an enigma and my surprise was con increased when halt an hour later on passing through the saloon with the funereal hannings hangings hang ings I 1 came to the door of the strong loom and found it ajar upon the floor were the tin boxes which bad contained the monte carlo FOUGHT AGAINST THE CURIOUS nauseating drowsiness WHICH CREPT OVER ME winnings open and empty everything had been removed for two ahola days we lay at an chor in a natural harbor with a lookout look out vigilantly kept and to air my requests to land the captain merely shook hta head while in answer to any inquiries of bird he laughed easing this Is morocco if you went aihara here among the alffa your life would n t be worth we shall call to ax arow or the next day so with that I 1 events acx lous and puzzled there seemed to be 1 conspiracy of silence on board for I 1 could discover nothing about noon on the following day as I 1 was eating my lunch ho propeller suddenly commenced to revolve and rushing up I 1 found re were slowly creeping out ot the creek it was misty the sei a gray blue and as I 1 stood on deck watching and we got clear ot the coast I 1 suddenly saw a good sized merchant steamer at a little distance from us its the furness liner from liverpool for constantinople I 1 IP owr yap beard bird explain to a look ing companion ana almost before the words bad left his mouth there was a bright flash a report which caused the vessel to tremble and one of our bow sent a shot full at the vessel we were overhauling already the cica at their posts with a precision that would haie done credit to any vesba in the there was a baue for a moment then the liner ran up her led ensign while we at the same time showed the french til color again the gun boomed forth and agila and again but the steamer did not slacken speed or seek to parley she kept on her way as if contemptuous of our attack in a quarter of an hour however we had drawn up at close range and our strong lunged skipper in an entirely new uniform using a long string of foreign oaths shouted to his crew to open fire instant the vessel shook from stem to stern as time after time our guns spat forth their fire and deadly hall upon the inoffensive steamer while our maxim on the port bow rat tied out its withering rain of bullets sweeping the deck of the liner and tearing the canvas awnings to rib bons suddenly one of our well direct ed shells carried away part of the tore funnel of the liner and a moment later another entering amidships ex plodded and must have wrecked part of the machinery for the steamer at once slowed down and stopped what do you mean by this cried the angry captain of the liner gestle from his bridge when we drew up within speaking distance consider yourself a prize m bleur answered our black bearded captain in french but you re french and we are eng aish hear more of this my fine friend Ican you blanked foreigners can t fire on the british flag for nothing how many days haye you been out sax from liverpool came the an awer from the liner then you 11 perhaps be surprised to hear that war was declared by france against england three das ago answered our captain grimly therefore you II 11 just haul your flag down and send a prize crew aboard the captain of the liner seemed dumfounded dum founded by this startling an no and no further resistance was offered although we could see what panic we had created among the passengers our boats were lowered and after a long and excited parley yv y v the men we sent to the steamer koweil back with nine large iron bound bul lion cases locked and sealed bravo cried our captain excited ly when he saw them then there was no mistake the boats were at once swung up and axt moment the electric rang out ting ting ting and wo moved off leaving the dla abbed steamer ling helpless as a log I 1 stood by while the men broke open the cases on deck and was amazed to see that they were filled full of english sovereigns v this Is I 1 remarked ex to the captain well mister call it by that name heeln that you re boss 0 this bloomin ln tub observed the black bearded skipper who until then had affected utter ignorance of either french or I 1 boss of this ship what do you acan I 1 gasped the guv nor sold er to you la monte cirlo dlan t he E told us you were a bit mad like and now it s aulta plain from the time you woke up after that bust 0 champagne you ve gone about afke a chinaman wot s ad his pigtail cut off I 1 don t understand you I 1 said you are captain of this vessel and ought to know who your owner Is W hy you are of course you aavo 60 quid for the boat the receipt s in m cabin the old un told me to give it to you when you woke up in obedience to my demand ha brought it and handed it to me it was written on a sheet 0 note paper head S Y garbino and stated that I 1 had bought the vessel tor and was signed archibald grant who Is this man grantt I 1 demanded amazed at finding myself owner of this piratical craft 13 was our boss and a darned good boss too the captain replied we ve ad a lot of tun around cape juby |