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Show j This, I figured, was probably the berth of the first officer; the captain's room would naturally be the one farthest astern. The upright piano, with the high-backed high-backed cushioned chairs surrounding it, blocked my view aft, but on rounding round-ing these I observed a closed door, which apparently led into a room extending the entire width of the cabin. Never suspecting that it mighl be occupied, I grasped the brass knob, and stepped within. Instantly I came to a full stop, dazed by astonishment, my teeth clenched in quick effort at self-control. The entire scene burst in upon my consciousness with that first surprised survey the draped portholes opening out upon the gray fog-bank, the brass bed screwed to the deck, the chairs upholstered in green plush, the pr'.ished table with a vase of flowers topping it, the glistening glisten-ing front of a book-case in the corner, the tiger rug into which my feet sank. All these things I perceived, scarcely realzing that I did so, for my one true impression concentrated itseiJ upon the living occupants. There were two present. At a low dressing table, her back toward me, fronting a mirror, yet with eyes fastened upon an open Jjobk lying in her lap, sat a woman. The lowered head yielded me only an indistinct outline out-line of her features, yet the full throat and rounded cheek gave pledge oi both youth and beauty. Standing almost al-most directly behind her chair, with short, curly locks, crowned by a smart white cap, her hands busied amid hei mistresses' tresses, was a maid, petite, roguish, fluttering about like a humming hum-ming bird. The latter saw me at once, pausing in her work with eyes wide open in surprise, but the preoccupied mistress did not even glance up. She must have heard the sound of the door, however, for she spoke care lessly:. "I thought you were never coming What caused you to sail so suddenly?'1 These unexpected words, uttered sc naturally, served partially to arouse me from the dull torpor of surprise. 1 clenched my hands, wondering if was really awake, and stared back intc the frightened eyes' of the maid, whe appeared equally incapable of articulation. articula-tion. Suddenly she found voice. "It is not ze one, madame," she cried, shrinking hack. "Non, non; it is un homme etranger." "What is that you say, Celeste?'" and the other arose swiftly to hei feet, the open bk dropping to the floor as she turned to face me. Instantly In-stantly I recognized her, in spite oi the long hair trailing unconfined fat below her waist recognized her with a sudden leap upward of my heart into my thoat. There was no semblance oi fear, only undisguised amazement, in the dark gray eyes that met mine. "What what is the meaning of this strange intrusion? Are you a membei of the crew?" Instantly my cap came off, the thought occurring to me of what a rough figure I must be making in my soaked jacket, with the glistening peak of my cap shadowing my face. "No, madame;" and I bowed before her "I am not one of your crew. My my entrance here was entirely a mistake." She leaned forward, one white hand grasping the back of her chair, the expression ex-pression in her eyes changing as she read my face, perplexity merging into faint recollection. "I I do not quite comprehend," she confessed at last, changing her speech to a slightly broken Spanish. "You you are Senor Estovan?" "See Here, Mr. Tuttle, Kindly Explain What You Are Driving At." SYNOPSIS. The story opens with the Introduction of John Stephens, adventurer, a Massachusetts Massa-chusetts man marooned by authorities at Valparaiso, Chile. Being interested in mining operations 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 Englishman and a young woman. Stephens rescued the young woman from a drunken oflicer. He was thanked by her. Admiral of the Peruvian navy confronted con-fronted Stephens, told him that war had been declared between Chile and Peru and ottered him the office of captain. He desired that that night the Esmeralda, a Chilean vessel, should be captured. Stephens accepted the commission. Stephens met a motley crew, to which he was assigned. He gave them final instructions. in-structions. They boarded the 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, CHAPTER VII. In Which I Suspect Evil. Early dawn reached us in sodden gray, the sun a shapeless blob of dull red, with no vestige of its golden light forcing passage through those dense clouds of misty vapor closing us in as between curtained walls. The swell of the sea was not heavy, but the pervading gloom gave to the surrounding sur-rounding water a peculiarly sullen appearance, ap-pearance, through which we tore, reckless reck-less of accident, at full speed. A new hand was at the wheel, Johnson having hav-ing gone below an hour since, but I still clung to the bridge, my eyes heavy from peering forth into the fog-bank, fog-bank, my clothing sodden with the constant drip. Only a few of the men were visible, three or four grouped about the capstan cap-stan on the forecastle head, and as many more gathered along the lee side of the charthouse. Evidently regular reg-ular watches were already chosen, and a portion of the crew had been turned in for their trick below. Tuttle hifri-self, hifri-self, clad in wet, glistening oil-skins and looking gaunt and cadaverous, his chin-beard forking straight out over the high collar, was standing aft, beside be-side the fellow who still kept guard over the companion. I moved across to the starboard end of the bridge, and, when he glanced around, made signal for him to join me. "Not very much chance of any one overhauling us in this fog, Mr. Tuttle," I said, pleasantly. "It would be like hunting a needle in a haystack." " 'Tis as the Lord wills," he returned, re-turned, rather sourly. "Man proposes, but God disposes. The sun will lift that whole outfit inanother hour. How far do you figure we're off shore?" "Figure it for yourself. We're doing all of 1G knots, and have been for four hours at that speed. With another an-other to be added, even our smoke ought to be below the horizon. We've given them the slip all right, and from now on it's merely a question of steaming to keep ahead. I don't recall re-call anything in the Chilean navy that can overhaul us. What discoveries have you made below?" He turned his crafty, glitering eyes toward me, twisting the lump of tobacco tobac-co under his tongue. In some way, beneath be-neath the revealing daylight, I became even more distrustful of the man, ; more conscious of his hypocrisy. "Not a great deal," his mouth attempting at-tempting a grin; "except that we've got the crew caged. Everybody was ashore but the harbor watch." "Then you found the forecastle empty?" "Nothin' there but dunnage and bilge water; regular sea-parlor, sir." "And no officer on board?" I asked, scarcely believing it possible. "None, barring the engineer, so far as I know. The cabin was locked up uy your orders, so 1 let that alone." "And that, then, is all you have discovered, dis-covered, is it, Mr. Tuttle?" He shifted his long legs, but made-no made-no effort to turn and face me. "Well, I guess that's about the whole of it," he answered, slowly, as though deliberating over the choice of words. "Only I'm a bit puzzled about some things what don't look just right. We started out, as I understand it, to run off with a Chilean warship named the Esmeralda, a schooner-rigged schooner-rigged steam yacht. That was the contract, con-tract, wasn't it, sir?" I nodded, gravely, wondering what the man could pcinsihly Ik- driving lit "That was my understanding," his nasal tone becoming more pronounced j and disagreeable. "And Miii'iiiinw what we've got here looks just a bit odd. This here Is n schooner-rigged steam-yacht all right, an' I guess Hie tonnage isn't very far out r Hie Ks-Dieralda Ks-Dieralda class, hut we haven't found a blame Chilean on hoard two Swedes, ti iJulclimaii, two Kanakas, an' n uloomin' English engineer." "Well, wlial of that?" I broke in Impatiently. "You know as well as I to that the entire Chilean navy is tilled willi foreigners." "Sure," he coincided, with a swift, rpiosl ituilng glance toward mo; "that's all true enough, sir, but I never saw I whole crew of those beggars an' no rhllcnii bosnln' 'em. Hut Ihen Hint':) inly a ni l of II. Every one of llioiu mall bi. ; Is down Micro, an' the life- preservers hangin' in front of the cabin, have got the name Sea Queen painted on them. Dam' if it ain't, here, too, on this tarpaulin." I bent over the rail looking down at the lettering he pointed out, yet with no feeling of uneasiness. "Beyond doubt, that was the yacht's name before the Chilean government purchased her and renamed her Esmeralda Es-meralda for their service. She was bought from English parties, I've heard. Probably the new owners have found no opportunity to repaint the name." Tuttle drew forth a red bandanna and blew his nose, his voice more sullenly sul-lenly insolent as he resumed speech. "Glad ye take it so cool, an' maybe yer right. However, it looks dam' odd to me." I glanced aside at the wheelman apprehensively. ap-prehensively. The fellow was gazing straight ahead of him into the rapidly thinning fog. It was the manner of the mate more than his words that impressed im-pressed me. "See here, Mr. Tuttle," and I dropped my hand rather heavily on his sleeve, "kindly explain exactly ; -what you are driving at. Do you intend in-tend to insinuate that we have made a mistake in the dark, and run off will) the wrong vessel? Why, man, that is impossible. We are sailors, not landlubbers. Both of us have had chances to sec Hie Esmeralda, and you certainly knew where she was moored yesterday " "Well, when I come to think it over, I don't feel quite so everlastingly everlasting-ly sure about that. The mind o' man is mighty deceitful," he admitted, slowly. "You see, I never saw her any closer than maybe a mile, an' even then she was half hid behind other oth-er shippin' Of course I took notice of her outline an' rig, but I didn't pay much al.lenl.ion to details. To-night, we was ai' of us excited, an' colors don't show up much in 'ho dark! Now, her funnel is painted red, an' unless I'm a liar the Esmeralda's was black with a yaller stripe round the top. You see, Mr. Stephens, we kept in pretty close under cover ,11 yesterday, an' maybe they hauled the Esmeralda up lo the government docks, and run another an-other boat into her anchorage." I laughed aloud, not in the least Impressed Im-pressed with his argument. "A very likely story that (hi re were two vessels in that: harbor so near alike as lo deceive all of us." Me remained si ulihonily silent, evidently evi-dently unconvinced, plucking at his chin-beard. "There is a certain way of settling the mailer," I went on, decisively, "that Is, by an exa ni i na I ion of the papers pa-pers In I iie cabin. Take charge t he hri-igo, anil I'll run down anil clear up this affair beyond any I'urllier controversy. contro-versy. We may even have one of the i hiji's ollicers si owed away I here, !.li-i:;lr.K oil his late celebration. If there Is, he's due I'or a rude awakening. awaken-ing. Keep Hie yacht's head as she Is, and I'll be back directly." I win aware that, lie watched me closely as I descended the steps, but fell, little Interest In such surveillance. That. 'M could havo been guilty ,t so serious an error as he suggested was beyond possibility. Nevertheless the mere suspicion was irritating, leaving me filled with a vague unrest. It was quite true that I might have been deceived. de-ceived. I realized that, because I had enjoyed no opportunity to observe the Esmeralda in daylight, and no occasion lo study her lines with care at any time. To me she had appeared merely as an extremely graceful vessel, interesting in-teresting to the eye of a seaman. But Tuttle and his crew must have known the truth. If we were, indeed, on board the wrong vessel, it was from no innocent mistake of the darkness, but rather the result of deliberate plan, the full purpose of which was beyond my comprehension. I swore savagely under my breath, even as I laughed sarcastically at the vague suspicion, sus-picion, aroused largely, as I well realized, by my increasing dislike of the ex-whaleman. The wrong ship? Why, the very conception of such an accident was grotesque, ridiculous, beyond be-yond belief! It was the hallucination of a fool. One of the men assisted me to unbar the slide across the compan-ionway, compan-ionway, and, bidding him stand by ready for a hail, I started below, my fingers on the brass rail, my feet firm on the rubber-lined stairs. Those led into as handsome a sea-parlor sea-parlor as ever I remember gazing upon. Everything was effective and in elaborate lastc, evidencing an expenditure ex-penditure that made me stare about In amazement. So deeply did if impress mo that I remained there grasping the the rail, gazing about in surprise, hesitating hesi-tating to press my investigations further. fur-ther. Yet this feeling was but. momentary, mo-mentary, the very desertion and silence si-lence quickly convincing me that the cabin contained no occupants. The movement of the vi risel, the trampling of men on the deck, and the ceaseless noise of the screw were more noticeable notice-able hero than forward, and no seaman, sea-man, however overloaded with liquor he might have been the night before, could have slept undisturbed through the hubbub and changes of the past few hours. Inspired lo activily by this knowledge, knowl-edge, and eager to settle the identity of our prize, 1 began closer examination examina-tion of that Impressive- interior, although al-though not -u''rely relieved from the spell of Its royal magnificence. Six doors, three upon each side, opened off from the main cabin. The full-length full-length mirrors occupied Hie spaces between, be-tween, and the doors themselves were marvels of decoration and carving. Another, beiiealh the stairs, led directly di-rectly into the steward's pantry, and revealed, besides, a passageway lead-lug lead-lug forward, probably to Hie lazaret te amidships. The ol hers, as J tried their brass knobs, exhibited merely comfortable com-fortable si nlerooius, lilted up I'or ohl-i ohl-i -its' use; three contained two bunks ea li, the olhers only one. Knur of the boils hail In en careliilly made, but the remainder were in disorder, as though Millie lately occupied. Evoryl lung Impressed Im-pressed me as unusually clean and neat, evincing strict discipline. The only desk I noticed was a roll-tup af lair, securely locked, null with no 111-icr 111-icr of papers lying junywhero about. CHAPTER VIII. In Which I Begin Discovery. Stunned by this abrupt disclosure of the extremely dangerous predicament, predica-ment, wo were in, 1 found no immediate immedi-ate voice for reply, merely standing there as if petrified, staring at them both, cap In hand, grasping the edge of the door. Their laces swam before mo in the gray light streaming through the stern ports: the maid already al-ready attempting a smile, as though her fears had subsided. Hie mistress vi-'Wlng nie in wondering perplexity. She If was who first succeeded in breaking the embarrassing s.lenee. "But. senor, what does this all m -an? Why are you here on board the yacht ?" With strong effort at control 1 brought my senses together, desperately desperate-ly fronting the disagreeable situation, feeling myself scarcely less a victim than she. If all that 1 now dimly suspected sus-pected proved true, about us both worn being drawn the cords of treachery. "1 cannot explain, madame." I begun be-gun lamely enough. "At least not until 1 comprehend the situation better bet-ter myself than 1 do now. It to nil dark. I have ronscu lo believe a most serious mistake has been made- omit om-it will be very dllllcull to rectify, per-Imps per-Imps I could see more clearly If you would consent to answer a few quo Hon. May I ask them of eii'.'" ti'o UK i'0.'TIXIi;i.) |