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Show - Vv " - TTIE BEAVER COUNTY WEEKLY PRESS, BEAVER. UTAI1 THE IMPOSTOR By FRANK L. PACKAED - Ve " r" i'Vi""i': Hi'nt 1f ' ," ' 'o1 -- ' " In "Vn .V . Cepyrtcut t Hia face waa set now, hia Jaws' His plan waa simple! to choice this human devil Into subrulsv slon before the other could make a sound, to get his fingers first of all upon the ruffian's throat . He waa stealing Into the room, feeling before him. He touched the foot of the bed and guided himself along the side of It Stealthily, Inch by Inch, he crept toward the head of the bed, reached It. his hands shot forward, lunging swiftly with the body weight behind them, closed on the man's throat and the next Instant he was' staggering backward, a low cry of horror on his Hps.' His hands were wet wet with warm ' . blood! ; He could not see, but be knew It was blood. Unnerved, shaken to the soul, a panic upon him, he stood there for a moment, his mind In riot. Then, fightl, he took ing desperately for a match from his pocket and lighted It. He closed his eyes on the sight Some one ' had done the- - horrible work only top well the man's throat was only a gaping wound. The match In Wallen's fingers still burned on, forgotten. He must get out of here. Drink-Hous- e Sam's mouth was closed forever. He could have laughed aloud, hysterically, at the ghastly Irony of that He must get away unseen before what waa that? There was some one else In the room. Some one moved. The match, in Its dying flame, spurted up. A tall, gaunt form loomed before him. That o 'trf W rt"'i ' n "',- - , ENTER GUN OA. ' Syaopeis Stacey Wallaa, MM of the bark Upelo. la the Jay im, la the sole survivor I the crew, all victims ( ?ellew hvir, Ttei fih, CMncaa sailor, laat maa W 41a. telle Wallaa he and five ether Chiasms were sent -aboard by rink-House Ban." tortoua character of giarapore, to kUl him. TbJa recalls to Wallaa an incident ft his childhood which seems connacted with tha confM-sto- a. While delirious, Wallaa en- -. Ura i tha ship's lor the tact of hia death and abandons tha vessel Scottish trader there. MacKnisht, In a small boat Wallaa'a boat drifts to the Island of Amj and a caraa for him. Learning that a ehln la In port on the other aide of tha island, twenty miles away, W alien, thouth unfit for tha task, starts to reach It, but falls exhausted on the trail. There ha is found by a man and woman who are from the ship ha was trying to reach. Mott first mate, and Helen MacKay, a -D- patenter. They convey him to the vessel. The ship proves to be a smaH tramp staamer, the Monleifh, Captain Laynton. Laynton tells' Wallen the Teasel had been chartered by Wsllen's father to find him, the father knowing his son to be In crave danger because of a feud between tha elder Wallen and a notorious pirate. Ram Gulab Singh. ' Laynton also Informs him of the death of his long-standi- i ' father, explaining that tha fatality was believed to be an accident Wallen Instantly associates hia father's death with the Chinaman's conreaslon on tha Upolo. Ha takes over the charter of tha vessel and sails for Singapore. Helen MacKay explains that aha la on a visit to an aunt In Sumatra Wallen aftrees to take her there, Just touching at Singapore, where he Is determined to fathom the mystery of "Drink-Hous- e Barn's" enmity. While looking over his father's papers, which Laynton' had turned over to him, Wallen la startled by tha thrusting of a piece of paper beneath his cabin door. On the paper la traced a human hand from wheh all but tha forefinger had been hacked away. Ha recognised It as of sinister Import, connected with the death of his father. At Singapore Wallaa leaves tha ship, alone, and visits Drink-Hous- e Sam's determined to force from him an elucidation of tha mystery. Announcing himself aa Stacey Wallaa, 8am denounces him aa a liar and the crowd la tha attacks him. Wallen escapes, but waits utslda tha place, having made up his mind to have aa Interview alone hard-dampe- , face! Where had he seen that face? The match dropped from hia fingers. That face ! It seemed to be associated with dreams of long ago. And then voice spoke: "8ah!b, come quickly." And then he knew. It was Gunga. bar-roo- bar-roo- m - wHh ass CHAPTER But at the expiration of that time he was stealing along the opposite aide of the street in front of Drink-Hous- e Sam's again ; and, grateful now for the dlngtness of the surroundings and the absence of lights, slipped Into a narrow areaway, or more properly a space some three feet wide between two buildings facing Drink-Bous- e Sam's, and lay down upon the ground. Sam would By and by Drink-Hous- e go to bed, by and by that light m the barroom would go out, by and by the would be dispersed, and by hangers-o-n and by somewhere in that house he Sam alone. would get Drink-Hous- e Wallen lay there, his eyes on the barroom door across the street Occasionally someone straggled la, occasionally someone straggled out ; but It was many hours, while he grew stiff and cramped, before the place began to empty out before Drink-Hous- e Sam himself at the doorway was ejecting, with some force and more profanity, what appeared to be the last of his guests. , And then tha light In the barroom was extinguished. It was very late; hut precisely what time It was, Wallen did not know, only that he had lain there for an Interminable space. Well, be had waited so long lie could afford to wait still anSam other hour until Drink-noos- e and whoever else was In the place had got to bed and got to sleep. This time he would leave nothing to chance. A light . appeared suddenly In the end room on the veranda over the bar roomand Wallen's llpa parted In a twisted smile,. tuck again J . That was Drink-HoSam's room! The man, silhouetted against the light, was open-in- g the- teranda Tfloor; for air probably: "The roomobvlously then - bad two doors, for Marie had entered It from the Interior of the house. .Wallen smiled again. He would enter from the veranda. Luck was coming now In greater measure than he had dared to hope. . . The light In the room went out The minutes passed, a quarter of ao s and then hour, a half, Wnllen sat up, unlaced his boots and. tying them together with their strings, slung thcrn around his neck. Like a shadow, a little blacker than the surrounding blackness, he was across the street and quickly, agilely, silently, was swsrmtng up one of the ' veranda posts. He paused aa he reached the rail to listen the roll was old and It had creaked- a Jit tie, not loudly but who knew I 4t might have been heard. There was not a Bound. - He swung over onto ;he veranda and in a mo moved cautiously forward, ment be was at Marie's door. Again he listened. Nothing not a sound 1 Only darkness within, pitch blackness and he could sea noihlnr. , , three-quarter- - "They say aboard that it was an acci dent ; that father accidentally shot himself while be was cleaning an auto matic pistol." . Gunga's face was In the moonlight. and Wallen stared at it now and could bwk taae nis eyes away. .,' A whiteness" came upon the awartny features, the lips quivered tremulously like a child's ; and then it seemed to be another face, . distorted, an inhuman passion in the twitching muscles, the across tha lips parted and tight-drawas a beaat gums, showing the might show them as t crouches to ttprlng. And then thl. too, was gone, for the head was bowed over the oars, and Wallen could no longer see. Presently Gunga looked tip, but now his face was impassive. "It is fate, sahib," he said In a low, strange way. "Allah is rreat I bava loved the master many years, and now t am the servantof his son. Sahib, will you pay blood with bloodr Tou mean," s'atd Wallen, his own voice low, "that yoif, too, know It waa not an accident that It was murder! And that Drink-Hous- e Sam, though he waif miles away, had a hand In It, aid that was why you killed himf "Sahib," .said Gunga softly. "I did not kill the man ; I was too late!" "Tou didn't klllWmr WeUen cried. "Then who'' He leaned forward and gripped , the other's wrist fiercely. "Gunga, the time has come for me to know. Why was my father murdered, and by whom? Why did he live that strange life in that old gray, stone Sam set house? Why did Drink-Hous- e a crew of Chinese murderers loose upon meT And this" he held out the diagram of the human hand with lta missing fingers "what does this signify, and why was it slipped under the door of my "cabin last nightf In the moonlight Gunga's face was . working again, and his eyes, narrowed, seemed to be searching Intently the surface of the water around him. ' "Among the crew, sahib," be asked, "there is a Kanaka, tall man with great shoulders, and whose lip is scarred aa though It had been cut across T" "Tes!" The word was a sharp intake ofJWallen'Bjbreath. "Then it Is "true," "said Gungiu "Tonight he slipped away from. the ship and swam ashore; and It may be, for Allah is all powerful, that he will swim back again. I lay hidden, sahib, where I have lain hidden for many nights, and he came and told the story; and I, Gunga, listened unknown to him, and the light waa gone from my life, as he told 'how he had shot the master through the porthole and thrown the pistol and those . things to clean It with in upon the floor. "And be told of yon, sahib, and tha strange way yon came aboard the ship, and bow twice he had tried to kill yon, but fate had not willed It so. And at last, thinking that your death was sure, either by bis hand er by one in Singapore, and thinking to torture yon with fear he put the paper with tha hand upon It under your cabin door. "And other things he told aa well, sahib. , "Of how the captain and tha crew thought strangely of the voyage, of how, through him, they came to whisper among themselves that It was A treasure-hun- t ; and how, the day after you came aboard, before he knew the ship was' going to Singapore, that yon might not escape by going ashore at 'some port where they would not be waiting for you as they would at Singapore, that you might even be forced by the captain to stay on board, be pretended to have found a slip of papef With a certain latitude and longitude upon it which be made pretense you bad dropped from jour pocket ' "This .he carried to the captain, thinking that the captain would believe the treasure within bis reach "and search for It on his own account In spite of you, sahib, and so keep yon aboard, for the paper was the position Ram Gulab'Slngh had given the Kanaka, as he had also given the drawing of the hand hot the ciptaln only took the paper and ' bade him bold his tongue and " "Walt" said Wallen quickly. "It U certain, then, that Captain Laynton and the crew had nothing to do with my father's murder with Drink-Hous- e V V - i aT j 1V n tth T-- ? i ' r "TrMv j Great Britains is about - .. . J$. 25:ltjWl, debt to the : -- nevertheless la the largest, most pros-- t perous and most Important of them , all. Ita railroads, metropolitan cities and gricultural developments make it one of the chief islands of the Antilles. If Great Britain's price for all these ; islands were to be. fixed at the rate' per acrrpald for the' Danish West, Indies It would amount to about ' " the name might awaken memories of onions In the "minds . of some isn't strictly one of the Indies, but la often lta 300 islanda, classed with tbem. Jutting out of the sea nearly 600 miles off the Carollnaa, attract many visiMlfV tors from America. ' w The Bahamas 3,000 of them are $2,600,000,000. . Undoubtedly the Islanda belong geoalso welt known' to the winter resort to the American continent ' graphically flock who to' tourists Nassau, They 8 the United States to take For the aeveral decades the Brl-- : Florpast off from retch southeast to the the British West Indies In Mb. tor the most part .uninhabited, Ish possessions nave belonged to the Brit-! Great of part payment A" tn 's'and Interest centers In the United States economically, for. the' aln'a war debtT balk of their trade haa been with "That seems to be the main i winter. irade.There la ho other live America and only a .small part of It and lihood for the residents, 20,000 question which the London f lnswilulst- tvltt that ViAhAas AAiinlw National News Bays la now there la neither fertility nor rains or . Is no there ly choice. ana Sympathetica!-'! eat to wealth the cdnsldered helne sertouslv beauty produce t the the lyi wishes that f assuraiBgr lwutheTlrnlle on both sides of the'AtiahncTitraks-the.mbTcon- -; inhabltanta are Into to be taken num-; a ismous. are course there Of Beyond rorto Rico lie more Of Eng- aiders t Ion. there Is little doubt that ber of other questions, such land's possessions. Many of them are the islanders would vote tq Join them- - ; aa this, which ma be asked: selves to the United States. The exi Does the United States want the very, small. ' St Kltts and Nevis, of course, are historically famous in their ample of Porto Rico before their eyes, British West Indies? The latter waa the birth- where a poor people prospered with ' Is Great Britain willing to sell tbem association is too striking to pass i to the United States? place of Alexander Hamilton. Bar- American aid, ' unobserved. Moreover, of la the buda they realise the a on game preserve Can the two nationa agree that they are no longer the favoritea v: ; region... v price? Montserrat might be called distin- of England. The Indies under Britbth Answers to these questions will have freckled-fac- e rule are not particularly prosperous to be guesswork largely. It waa first guished for ita Probably the production of the is- rumored In diplomatic circles In Washnegroes with Irish names who f lands could be greatly stimulated unorthe ington in 1917, that the transfer was have even kept the brogue-oAmerican der one Dominica control, and with an Inla Irish settlers. considered. official, . iginal being Nothing creased market sort Sugar, cocoa and bahowever, has ever been made public. of the real beauty spots of the nanas are Medthat Nice of one the remind things and everybody wants. that he State of Lansing says Secretary " Strategically the position of tha know nothing about it iterranean and raise the question why Giving color to the possibility of the Americans should go to Europe when British West Indies is important. front transfer are two facts: One Is that this fairyland lies so near. Its only our viewpoint The 'purchase of. the , the United States hi apparently In the drawback Is the rain, that falls every Islands might be an extension of the market for . West Indian islands, as day, sometimes from a Hear blue sky, Monroe doctrine by which Uncle Sam shown by the purchase In 1917 of the and gives Dominica the name of one seta great atore,' And what a Job it would be to of the wettest spots on earth. On this Virgin Islands from Denmark for In this connection It is to be island live' the few remaining straighten out the various complicayellow Carlh, the ' warlike tions of these many islanda I There is kept In mind that the. Panama canal now a Joint resolution before congress Is located in this part of the world, people who fought the European setwhich fact may have something to do tlers through 300 years before being appointing a commission to report on conditions in the Virgin islanda. In with Uncle Sam'a apparent desire to almost exterminate!, invest In' islands off Its Atlantic apSt Lucia la important on the map tbe documents It is related that there urgent need for action. Danish ens, proach The other fact la that Great becauxe it la a coaling station for all Britain owes the United States about the Caribbean, The Inhabitants know tores, Danish laws, Danish methods of four billions, baa a national debt now no other employment than carrying Judicial procedure, are still In vogue in excesa of 1.000.000,000 and la ap fuel to the many ships that seek bar-the islands. There Is great need, parently finding ber West Indian la-- bor there. The Wand." rich in agri- - to Americanise them, .The land qoea .. lands more of a liability than an asset, j cultural possibilities, lies Idle beneath tlon needs serious attention. - The naThe British West Indies comprise !a tropic sun, for coaling paya well, tives own but 3 per cent of tbe land . the greater number f the strinrof j 'the hours of labor are short and in the of ihe Islands- .- The rest Is owped by pearlmSe' islands that Is flung like a j days between Jobs people take It easy, Danes or by those to whom the Gernecklace from Florida to South Amer- - j Barbados, where live an average of mans hsve transferred title. The ownlea, around that corner of the ocean 1.200 people to the square mile, is dia- - ers of the land will not lease It or sell To most of the Islands It All told, i ilhctly English This Is resulting In a condition known as the Caribbean. there are some four thousand of these Great Britain ;lsllttie more; than where the Inhabitants ofjthese Islands bits of land. Though not many more n stepmother, as discoverers " from have no part in the sale of the land than a hundred are populated, and j other countries reached them first and no chance to make a living out of most of the Islands are only great reefs ! But Barbados ia and always baa been agriculture The great necessity la tMowo un from a volcanic aea In some ' Encllsh. If Great Rritaln had. sentl- - some land law that' will enable the j!'-- uwntaL attachments to .any. of r day.-acquire landThe Aroerl- The British West Indies have a total ?d!an possession, they would tie her fesns, since their occupation, have done " lines ttf sanr-area"of lilOO' squareT)il1e " the Mates 'of alassachusetts "and Cort'i;renada "coiftpIeleTthe' string of Brit- '- j tation. V T- feel Islands 'of that of In Ciirlbhee the the j Ish islands The people nectlcut Thej have a population group. Two more lie beyond Trinidad and !thev have been neglected by the Unit- nearly 3.000.000. for the most part ue-- ! ' groes, but with a scattering of a few Ttago, parts 'of Sonth America that 'ed States; that when the American thousand whites and a curious mixture ; liped Into the sea and British pos-o- f flag went up In the Virgin Islands It session. In Trinidad are limitless sup-- should hnve been followed by Amer-Irn- n other peoples from all the world Sarar ; ' Javanese, Clilnese, Slartiene. ,nlles of 'asphalt 'and oil. Tobago ts a i laws, customs, and Ideals aa soon Indus, "It la certain, sahib," Gunga an' , , BudIhlsts land of. milk and honey, the favored h3 possible. Mahometans, ClirlMlan. swered. "Though, , too, there are Ht where Defoe may have set dowo ,iinl Cunfueiaiilsts. Some of the ixlands Congress Is without sufflclent Infor-iiintlstrange things about that ship but the are spnrsely settled, whlle'others srv RobliiHon Crusoe. to act In these matters," and Isle is for another time," , v Jninalra is the largest of the British there would be great benefit. In the more densely populated thiin any other "And this Ram Gulab Singh V WalIndies. It lies south of. Cuba, out of opinion of .the eonimlttee. In having a repliHi on earth except China. len questioned througti thin llpa. visit the Islands. the nialn'mn of Brltih' colonies, but I siuall commls-dofamous for Ita cllmnte Bermuda, Gunga's eyes were still searching the water around him in the same In" ' . tent, curious way. meaning was entirely overlooked.- - In filled with water and set near the "Have ratience,. sahlb," he said, Rrottlsh history golf can be traced "collector,' which consists of a com- "Time does not press now. It Is well Imek asTir as Though oTlierii con- nToliTgiuHs funnel with the Rtmttl "end " that you should know all before yon Tbe term "links" In connection with tend that It originated hundreds of closed. The funnel la fllted with a . to that time. go aboard. The ship is to ssll at once. mixture of crushed Ice and salt and golf Is of Scottish origin. It originally years prior nas used to designate a stretch of .land suspended In an upright ' position. -"Yes," said Wallen. Xloisture fronT'the" 'alr'fc'of the room covered with short grass and stubble Simple Perfume Making. At ftift thought It nilKh! scent an forms on It and unites w ith, the riunns', which lie between the high point of " (he coast and the water In parts of the I Impossible feat to collect the perfume Hons from the flowers. As the ntol Into the ture collects it runs off tho tip of tha Gunga tells of Ram Gulab Scottish seaboard. The first golf cours- of 'lowers after It has een'-e' simple-enougthese it'eeenm es were laid stretches, nlr, by a fuhncl Into a rcccptncle. If this Hquld out yet along Singh. , hence the name. When the sport ntotbixl that the Scientific American la mixed with au cqnul amount of pun . blosFrvht. alcohol, the perfunle tf the flowers 1 spread to other countries the; nnme describi-.BE CU.NIlM.i.U.1 (TO the orlglnnl soms are phi ceil In an uncovered bowl preserved indefinltelv. . Tllnks" .durg to If-bu- t y United btates is about 4 I -- s ' CHAPTER VI. .TIr. Vendetta.... Gunga l" Wallen whispered "Ton you did this. For hoarsely. God's aake, what doea It meant How did yon come here? Where did Jon come rromT 'Sahib, there Is no time to talk,' the other answered gravely. "There . Too, I Q (AS ':.'''.'; , - , "Sahib, There Is No Time for Talk.' Is much danger. Come quickly. We will go back to your ship." "Ton know about that the ship?" mumbled Waned." "How " "Sahib." almost plteously, "come, mere followed for wallen a space of time that he could neither estimate in duration nor of whose events In the Interval he could form any concrete whole. There were dark streets and darker byways, and always before him. wralthllke In his loose white garb, the turbaned figure of the East Indian; and then a boat from some dark cor ner of a Jetty and they were in It, and Gunga was rowing. . Ills mind had been ;n chaos; picturing again and again the fearsome sight In the glow of that burning match ; try Ing to span the ten years since he bad last seen this msn; striving fuillely but with a sort of maddening, Irre sponsible Insistence, to grapple with this and that question that came and Went In lightning succession; and al waya reverting to that blaek room, the sputtering match, and Drink-HousSum upon the bed again. And now they were far out In the harbor and the water was very stllL and under the moonlight It waa very black, and a little ahead he could see the Monlelghj and then Gunga lay upon hia oars and spoke. "Sablb, Is tt true whet they say Oiot.the,.piaRterJs..dead.r,-. The question In its abruptness. Its significance, came like a physical shock to Wallen; but, too, It rtrascd him, cleared his brsln of Its choollc obses- -' sinn, and brought him back, alert and to actualities and his Immediate surrounding-- . .'. "It Is true," he answered alowly. e ten, 0. pure-bloode- d, -- ? by-go- H . nn ; .WhyGolfUnks." . ; hlc?i-s,ente- t. ..... |