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Show wflAvMLL PADMSi rJ&kli J?kX IrMh iuioBrimogifmLL bers, topped by ornate carvings, and having two companionways leading up, one of them crushed into splinters. The forward shutters were tightly closed, and the whole front appeared a solid mass of glittering ice, so obscured ob-scured by frozen particles of snow as to render any discovery of the door an impossibility. We began hacking at it with our knives, judging the opening would naturally be at the center, but the sheathing -of ice proved so thick and solid that we made little impression. impres-sion. "It will take us a week to cut our way in with these things," I said at last. "De Nova, I think I saw an ax frozen in at the left of the galley. Take a man with you and pry it out." It proved an odd-looking Instrument a meat-cleaver, I imagine but was sufficiently strong and heavy. Kelly swung it vigorously, cleaving off the ice in cakes, until we were finally able to trace the fitting of the door. Suddenly, Sud-denly, striking at the upper panel, he dislodged a considerable chunk, thus revealing half a dozen letters painted across the front. Dade pried off a few inches more with his knife-blade, and we stared up incredulously at the words: "Don't Lose Your Nerve, Man, You've Seen Dead Men Before." SYNOPSIS. The story opens with the introduction of .John .Stephens, adventurer, a Massachusetts Massa-chusetts man maroon -d hy authorities at Valparaiso, Chile. Being interested in milling opera: inns in Bolivia, he was denounced de-nounced by Chile as an insurrectionist and as a consequence was hiding. At his hotel his attention was attracted by an Knglishman and a young woman. Stephens rescued the young woman from a drunken otlieor. lie was thanked by her. Admiral of the Peruvian navy con-Vronted con-Vronted .Stephens, told him that war had been declared between Chile and Peru and offered him the otlioe of captain, lie desired that that night the TCsmoraUla, a Chilean vessel. should bo captured. Stephens accepted the commission. Stephens met a motley crew, to which lie was assigned. Tie gave them final Inst In-st ructions. They hoarded tile vessel. They successfully captured the vessel supposed to be the Esmeralda, through strategy. Capt. Stephens gave directions for the departure de-parture of the craft. Pie entered the cab-In cab-In and discovered t lie English woman and tier maid. Stephens quickly learned the wrong vessel bad been captured. Tt was T.ord Darlington's private yacht, the lord's wife and maid being aboard. Pie explained the situation to her ladyship. lady-ship. Then Eirst Mate Tuttle laid bare the plot, saying that the Sea Queen had been t alien in order to go to the Antarctic Antarc-tic circle. Tuttle explained that on a former voyage be bad learned that the Donna Tsnbel was lost in 3753. Pie had found It frozen in a huge case of ice on an island and contained much gold. Stephens consented to be the captain of the expedition. PTe told Lady Darlington. She was greatly arined, but expressed confidence in lrpi. The Sea Queen encountered a vessel in the fog. Stephens attempted to communicate. 'This caused a fierce struggle and be was overcome. Tuttle finally squaring the situation. sit-uation. Then the Sea Queen headed south again. Under Tuttle's guidance the vessel ves-sel made progress toward its goal. De Nova, the mate, told Stephens that he believed Tuttle. now acting as skipper, Insane because of his queer actions. Stephens was awakened by crashing of glass. Pie paw Tuttle in the grip of a spasm of religious mania and overcame him. The sailor upon regaining his senses was taken ill. Tuttle committed suicide by shooting. Upon vote of the crew-Stephens crew-Stephens assumed the leadership and the men decided to continue the treasure hunt, the islands being supposed to be only 200 miles distant. Tuttle was buried In the sea, Ladv Darlington pronouncing the service. Stephens awaking from sleep saw the ghost, supposed to have formed the basis for Tuttle's religious mania. Upon advice of Lady Darlington, Stephens started to probe the ghost. He came upon Lieut. Sanchez, the drunken drunk-en officer he had humbled in Chile. He found that at Sanchez' inspiration. Engineer En-gineer McKnigbt played "ghost" to scare the men into giving tip the quest. Stephens Steph-ens announced that the Sea Queen was at the spot where Tuttle's quest was supposed sup-posed to be. The crew was anxious to go on In further search. De Nova and Stephens Steph-ens conquered them in a fist fight. Lady Darlington thanked him. The Sea Queen started northward. She was wrecked in a fog. Stephens. De Nova, Lady Darlington and her maid being among those to set out in a life boat. Ten were rescued. Stephens saw only one chance in a thousand thou-sand for life. Lady Darlington confessed her love to Stephens and he did likewise. Lady Darlington told her life story: how she had been bartered for a title, her yearning for absent love. She revealed herself as the school chum of Stephens' j sister. She expressed a wish to die in the ' sea rather than face her former friends and go hack to the old life. A ship was ( Bighted. The craft proved to be a derelict. CHAPTER XXI11. Continued. Yet, little by little, my mind began to apprehend the truth, my reason to i grasp the details. Mist or reality, I there directly before us floated what appeared to be the outlines of a ship battered, wrecked, odd in form yet a ship, moving upright upon the surface of the water. Good God! what a mad dream of the past was represented yonder! yon-der! Those round, blunt bows, the broken bowsprit, heavy as a mast, forking straight upward; the great carven, shapeless figurehead beneath; the wide, elevated forecastle deck; the seemingly tremendous thickness of the bulwarks; the strange slope of deck and rail amidships; the immense remnant rem-nant of a foremast towering In splinters; splint-ers; the broad, square stern, even over-topping the height of the peaked forecastle. That was a grim thing to meet with in these waters. "Stand by, men!" I called, the tremble trem-ble still in my command. "If the thing yonder be wood and iron we'll board her." Not a voice responded, their bodies tense and motionless, every eye still on that dim, phantom gleam. With clenched , teeth I pressed the tiller hard down, and the bows of the longboat long-boat headed straight in. Suddenly De Nova leaped to his feet. "Ship ahoy!" he yelled, the note of fear sounding shrilly. In the intense silence I could plainly plain-ly hear the heavy breathing of the excited ex-cited men. "There will bo no use hailing," I said, strengthened hy the sound of my own voice. "If that he a vessel, her crew are dead a hundred years." "And by God, it is, sir!" ejaculated Johnson, who was on his knees in the now. "It's a real ship, all right. That's j(;e lhat glitters; she's sheeted in it from stnm to stern." I sw iyjuiyself then, every doubt of Hie real character of thia drear visitant visi-tant vanishing; my courage came back lu a rush. "Ay, ;i y . lads, Johnson has hit it ,.je;til. That's a ship for us, and now we'll what she looks like on deck. a j.' ri with your boat-hook, Jolin-Koni Jolin-Koni on lhat I'i'ft f K'"rf trailing from the' ftti ( liains, wlie-n I lay her alonx;-B,r alonx;-B,r Slril:': the wood if you ran, the crii;i--',': I:-! liliely to be rotten." ),. inis-icd it at. On- first attempt, (t,n book lipping on the l::c; but as I brought Hie longboat around onc& mores be NU':f:'Jodj'J 1" getting a grip upon something sufficiently firm and held on, the fellows staring up silently at the bulging side, and touching the thick sheathing of ice as though half demented. "Make fast. Break the ice out of that ring, Kelly, and pass a stout rope through it. Now furl the sail, the rest of you. Fend her off, Cole; that's all right, keep your oar there. Mr. De Nova, you will remain in charge of the boat. I'll see what she looks like aboard; Johnson, come along with nife.'' I picked my way forward into the bows and stood up, striving to obtain some kind of a grip on the forechains which would enable me to haul myself up. Everything I touched was ice, so thick as to render objects shapeless. "Give me a lift, Kelly; easy, now, until I get a handhold. There, that will do, my lad." It was a slippery, dangerous perch, the vessel plunging somewhat, but the upper ice was slightly powdered' with snow, yielding a little purchase, and I finally discovered a brace for my feet which enabled me to reach down and assist Johnson to scramble up beside rne. Fortunately the bulwarks were not so high proportionately as wide, and we succeeded in sliding over them, coming down rather heavily on the solid deck. Here the snow made walking possible, although underneath the ice was thick and smooth, compelling com-pelling caution. All forward was a terrible ter-rible raffle of wreckage, a jumbled mass of tangled spars, with the 'great topmast and all its hamper right where it had fallen, a portion of the port bulwark smashed fiat. A hummock hum-mock of ice rose like a great hill from abaft the butt of the foremast, which stuck up maybe 30 feet, clear over the forecastle deck, leaving everything shapeless and grotesque. Where the slope was steepest, the wind had swept away the snow leaving the ice beneath clear; and there, frozen completely in, like a painted picture, was tiie fully revealed body of a man. I never saw any sight more grewsome than that ice-shrouded figure; the arms outstretched, out-stretched, the short, black beard rendering ren-dering more ghastly the while, dead face. I gripped my hands onto Johnson's John-son's shoulder, and he was shaking like an aspen, his own face colorless in the moonshine. I wheeled him about savagely. "Don't lose your nerve, man. You've soon dead men before. Come, there's nothing to do here; we'll try how site U)o;s aft." He followed me like a dog, casting uneasy glances backward over his shoulder. The deck was clearer of raffle beyond the foremast, a great gap in the port-bulwarks amidships showing where the wreckage had probably been swept overboard. The mainmast had been ripped out, leaving leav-ing a great, ugly gash in the deck plank, and in falling had so smashed flat one corner of the cook's galley that we could look In through the jaggerl opening thus left. All the front per-lion per-lion was snow and Ice, but the further extremity appeared dry enough, revealing re-vealing a brick oven, a table Hcrewoi to the wall, and an overturned scuffle of coals littering the deck. It was not a desirable spot, yet would afford protection pro-tection from the frosty night wind, and be much better than the open boat. Besides, I realized how those others must feel 'down there, bobbing up and down against those ice-caked sides. "Johnson," I said, my eyes wandering wander-ing toward the dimly revealed front of the after-cabin, which appeared utterly utter-ly shapeless under its mantle. "We've got quite a job ahead of us to break through this wreckage. I'm for having hav-ing the rest of the crew up to help us. Climb over into the main-chains and cut out some steps with your , knife. We'll have them drop back there and unload. Then the women won't be obliged to see that dead man for'ard." He was some minutes at the task, and I occupied the time in kicking aside some of the litter in the galley and making the dreary interior a bit more decent, having the men pass up some spare blankets, and spreading them out on deck. Finally Kelly and the negro scrambled up, and between us we succeeded in lifting Lady Darlington Dar-lington and Celeste over the icy bulwarks. bul-warks. The latter clung sobbing to De Nova, but my lady gazed about her wonderingly, her eyes full of questions. ques-tions. Without speaking we stowed them away under shelter. ' "She is certainly a relic," I paused long enough to say, "one of the old-timers old-timers in these seas. From the look of her she must have been locked up in the ice south there for a century." "Do you expect to sail her northward?" north-ward?" "I hardly know yet what to expect; that remains to bo seen. She seems to ride the water stanchly enough and there is fully 30 feet of mast standing yonder. Anyhow, this deck at present pres-ent is better than an open boat." "But but it is all so ghastly, so ghost-like Celeste is fairly crazy from the. horror." "it is merely the effect of the moonlight moon-light glimmering on the ice; everything every-thing is ice wherever your eyes turn, lint you are safe enough here, and with daylight the ghostlincss of it will vanish." "Where are you going now?" "To break into the cabin; then we will have a decent place in which to stay perhaps a chance for a fire. It is not likely to prove a long job, and I will be back to you shortly. Don't let the night shadows frighten you so." She smiled back into my eyes brave-I brave-I ly enough, although I realized the effort ef-fort of will that it cost; and so I left her endeavoring to cheer the girl, who was sobbing wildly, with her face buried in her hands. The men joined me as I stepped williout, crunching the light snow under un-der their heavy boots, and slating uneasily un-easily about them ;is I hough I In; whole advonl tire was a dream. Lord! and no more could I shako off that same Impression as I surveyed the scene aft. A boat, bottom up, the planks smashed beyond repair, lay against tiie Klarboard rail. Tim al lot-cabin, built like a house, extended the entire width of the deck, a lumping affair, overhung with huue. projecting tim- |