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Show .'r.o'-"''''W?HllliM-M A i v I busy wilh their war. and the man who owned the yacht being dead " "You you mean Lord Darlington?" Darling-ton?" "Yes; that is what came here to tell you about. I have been waiting until you were strong enough to hear the story. I thought you were the one who ought to tell her." He paused doubtfully. "I understand . she is Lady Darlington?" "Yes," I answered, my voice trembling trem-bling in my eagerness to comprehend fully. "But are you sure her husband is dead?" "Regarding that fact there is no possible doubt, Mr. Stephens. We were in port at .Valparaiso barely three hours, but long enough to hear a brief account of the affair. It seems Lord Darlington had in some way quarreled with or insulted a Chilean naval officer. This officer being on duty in the grounds of the presidente the night of the ' declaration of war, the two met, again and renewed their quarrel. The officer was drunk and abusive, and his lordship drew a revolver. re-volver. They were separated at that time by the guard, but an hour later the Englishman was found beside the fountain of the inner court dead from a knife-thrust in his back. His. murderer mur-derer disappeared instantly and most mysteriously." "My God!" I exclaimed, dazed with the information. "It must "have been Sanchez!" "It must have been Sanchez," Mars-den Mars-den repeated, soberly. "He was fleeing flee-ing from the crime when he ran into your party. It was his own haunting conscience that put the idea of the ghosts Kelly tells about into his head. You will tell her the story?" "Yes," I said, not venturing to look into his face, realizing that he understood. under-stood. I sat there, it seemed for hours, endeavoring en-deavoring to muster up courage for my task as I watched, far in the distance, dis-tance, the darkening outlines of Cape Flores. At last I went slowly down the companionway into the cabin. Slowly and falteringly at first, bul gaining control of my voice as I proceeded, pro-ceeded, I told her all, marking the pallor of her cheek, the horror in hei eyes. For another age I sat silent, gazing across the deserted cabin out through an open port, afraid to disturb dis-turb the motionless woman beside me. Finally my fingers, almost unconsciously, uncon-sciously, crept across the rail of the settee until they touched her own. "Doris," I whispered, pleadingly, confused by her silence, "is it possible that you already knew this?" She did not raise her bowed head, but I felt the soft pressure of hei hand. "Yes, Jack, I I knew," she acknowledged, ac-knowledged, doubtfully. "Sanchez told me in the boat when he felt himself to be dying. It was then 1 came back and took you in my arms. But I couldn't I ell you I could not tell you. I felt that if we were saved you must learn it from other lips than mine." "But, now we both know." She lifted her eyes suddenly, eyes misty with tears, and I realized the truth forever. THE KND. SYNOPSIS. The story opons 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 Knlishman and a young woman. Stephens rescued the youri woman from a drunken officer. He was thanked by her. Admiral of the Peruvian navy con fronted Stephens, told him that war had been declared between Chile and Peru and offered him the office of caplain. He desired that that niftht 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. Thev boarded the vessel. They successfully captured the vessel supposed to be the Esmeralda, through st ratify. Oapt. Stephens gave directions for the rie- riarture of the craft. He entered the cab-n cab-n and discovered the English woman and her maid. Stephens ciuick.'y learned tlie wrong vessel had been captured. It was Lord Darlington's private ya hi, the lord's wife and maid being aboard, lie explained the situation to tier ladyship. lady-ship. Then First Mate Tuttle laid bare the plot, saying that the Sea Queen had been taken in order to go to the Antarctic, Antarc-tic, circle. Tuttle explained that on a former voyage he had learned that the Donna Isabel was lost in 175:!. He 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. He told Lady Darlington. She was greatly alarmed, hut expressed confidence in him. The Sea Queen encountered a vessel in the fog. Stephens attempted to communicate. This caused a fierce struggle and he was overcome. Tuttle finally squaring the situation. sit-uation. Then the Sea Queen headed south again. Under Tuttle's guidance the 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. He 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 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. Lady 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 McKnight played "ghost" to scare the men into giving up the quest. Stephens Steph-ens announced that the Sea Queen was at the spot w-here 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. Eady 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' sister. She expressed a wish to die in the sea rather than face her former friends and go back to the old life. A ship was sighted. The craft proved to be a derelict. They boarded her. She was frozen tight wdth hundreds of years of Ice. The vessel ves-sel was the Donna Isabel, lost in 1753, 126 years previous. The frozen .bodies of the former crew were removed. They read the log of the Isabel, which told how the Spaniards had died from cold, one by one. Lady Darlington sang to prevent the men from becoming moody. The crew commenced the hunt for treasure. They found the iron chest, said to contain a part of 3.000.000 pesos, firmly imbedded In Ice. Lady Darlington expressed the belief that it would never benefit the men, for she said the Donna Isabel would never reach port. The men got a lust for gold. Stephens quelled it by whipping one. The Donna Isabel showed Indications of sinking. sink-ing. They prepared to depart with what treasure had been found. The next morning morn-ing they departed. Stephens went back to try to rescue Cole, a gold-crazed negro, who was hunting treasure In the hold. Stephens plunged into the icy sea a moment mo-ment before the Donna Isabel sank. His mutes rescued him, the negro being lost. Exposure made nearly everyone but Lady Darlington and Stephens Insane. Her love for hlrn kept him buoyed up through the terrible days and nights at sea In the open boat. One sailor jumped overboard, his pockets laden with gold. Sanchez broke his leg. Stephens' mind became blank. Two days later they were rescued res-cued by a steamer. For three days Stephens hovered between life and death. Aroused to consciousness and finally health. v, "But Now We Both Know." you up so. It wasn't hunger or cold, but just the loneliness an' strain." I 'looked away from him, out through the open port at the gray vista of sea. "That was it, Mr. Marsden," I said, my voice shaking to the memory of it. "It was the hell of the great ocean it broke our hearts." I As the El Cid sped on her way up the Patagonian coast my strength came rapidly back, and I soon found my way on deck, where, wrapped against the chill of the wind, I passed much time talking with Doris, seeing De Nova and Kelly now and then. Celeste was often with us, her eyes roguish as ever, but her face thin and white. Once, when we chanced to be left alone together, I undertook to question the girl. "What is the matter between you and De Nova, Celeste? Have you two fallen out?" She .tossed her head, flashing her eyes at me. "I not know we ever fall in," she said, pouting prettily. "He ver' nice for a sailor, but w'y do I want a sailor? sail-or? I want ze sea no more ever." "Yes, but De Nova can quit the sea." "Non, non!" she cried, shaking her head roguishly, "I have a very good time wiz Mons. De Nova! he talk nice, he make love nice but it is all over now." "You mean you are going back to Europe?" She shrugged her shoulders, ber teeth gleaming. "Oui, monsieur; I go wiz madam 16 . "Yes." "When?" There was a long pause, in which I heard her rapid breathing. "They they tell me I can get passage pas-sage on an English vessel, the Albatross, Al-batross, within a few days after we reach Buenos Ayres." Her hand tightened on mine, and she dropped to her knees, her face buried in the coverlet. I fought the devil in me like a man, my hands clenched, my teeth set fiercely, fierce-ly, but it was a while before I could control my voice sufficiently for reply. re-ply. She did not lift her head, and as I continued to gaze at her my heart throbbed with a' love which became sacrifice. "Doris," I managed to whisper at last, "whatever you believe to be right I will think right also. Only let me be alone for a little while just a little while, until I can fight this out and conquer." She lifted her head, her hand on my hair, her gray eyes looking frankly into mine. "I I thank you. Jack," she smiled tremblingly. The next moment I was alone. While I was sitting up and partially dressed that evening, Marsden, the chief mate, came in and told me briefly brief-ly the story of our rescue. "We were considerably to the west of our course," he said, gravely, "because "be-cause we. had met headwinds and a heavy sea all the way down the coast. It was just at daybreak when we sighted your boat in longitude 78 de- CHAPTER XXX. Continued. j "What Vessel Is this?" j "The El Cid, Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres ft coast-trader." t "And the others? Do they live?'' "All but Sanchez; he died the night after our rescue. Kelly is half crazed yet, but they think he will get over it. De Nova was very badly frozen, but Celeste was out on deck yesterday." I lay there looking at her, striving valiantly to put all these horrors away, and to face the present and the future. My handclasp tightened, for I could no longer keep back the one question which trembled on my lips. "Hut you, Doris, you! Do you still mean what you said yonder? Are we only saved to lose each other? Have you heard? Do you know any-' any-' ' thing of him?" The red blood flooded the pale cheeks,' the long lashes veiling the gray eyes. "Oh, not now; don't speak of that now." "Hut 1 must, I cannot wait in suspense," sus-pense," I insisted, lifting myself on the pillow. "You have heard tell me." 'I I have been a coward," she faltered. fal-tered. "I I have not asked; I have not even told my name to those on beard. I was afraid the knowledge mighi place all under arrest; besides I 1 wanted to nurse you." I looked at her, my heart failing, my voice trembling as I spoke. "Hut but are you goiug to England?" London, to Paree; zare I have plaisir." "But Pe Nova? How does he take it?" "Pah! he get over it; 1 know ze sailor. See, monsieur; w'at I tell you?" I glanced aft in the direction she pointed. Within the companion stood the debonair mate, his little black mustaches curled jauntily upward, his teeth merrily glistening, as he smiled down upon a rosy-cheeked damsel, whom I recognized as the stewardess. My companion patted her little foot on the deck. "Pah! did I not tell you, monsieur? I know ze sailor." She swept away with the swift movement of a bird, and I turned my face about to perceive Marsden standing stand-ing silently beside me. He drew up a deck chair and sat down at my side. 1:1s grave face and manner led me to :--;'eak first. "I have been wondering." I said, slowly, "whether you intend to report us as soon as you make land. Xo doubt you heard the story of the Sea Queen at. Valparaiso, and have already guessed us to be the survivors of the crew of that yacht." "Why, yes." stroking his beard: "we have no doubt as to that. We know little of the affair of the Sea Queen beyond what your man Kelly has told us. as we were up the north coast at the time. However. I do not tl;ink there will be anything gained by reporting re-porting your rescue immediately, for no one can care particularly about your arrest except possibly a British i ufficer or such. The Chileans are stiV. grees west and latitude 53 degrees, 17 minutes south, I've been knocking about at Sea for 20 years, Mr. Stephens, Ste-phens, but I never saw a more pitiful sight .than that, longboat presented when we got Up alongside. The jib held, but the mainsail was in tatters, and for a minute or two I didn't think there was a living soul aboard. There was a man forward lashed down with ropes, dead; a man and a woman were wrapped up in blankets amidships, leaning against .each other, their eyes closed. Close up to the stern another woman was lying with her arms about your neck and hiding your face." "Doris, with her arms about me!" I thought. How well 1 knew the desperation desper-ation that could lead her to the embrace em-brace she had ever refused me! Marsden Mars-den went on: "A big fellow held to the tiller as if he was froze I here, hut he'd dropped down until his head hung dangling as the boat rocked. There wasn't one of them took any notice of us until we were fairly alongside. Then this big sailor lifted his head and stared dull-eyed dull-eyed like he thought he saw a vision, and when I spoke to him the woman that had her arms about you staggered stag-gered to her knees and began to cry. Good Lord, sir, but it made my heart ache, and I never saw so much misery in any human face before. Well, we fell to, and got you all on the EI Cid. hoisted the whole outfit over the rail, and," barring the dead man, I reckon you're all good for a spell of life yet." "They told you our story?" "Yes most of it. anyway; and 1 j understand all right what it was did |