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Show jj THE IMPOSTOB I; j Ey FRANK L. PACKARD i'iiO lC;lll'0' i'l?lf'lt:Jj-'H?,ll' VAC'ji;:;A'"l"l Wlf Vn'iOiO "n" -W W "iv- ?,'- VA" (Copyright.) ' self he wasn't lit to work his pas-i pas-i sage. He began to regret" that he had not. accepted MacKnighl's offer of money. After all he could have paid it back to the trader by mail sooner or later. But that was a vain regret ! He hadn't taken the money the thought that he would not be able to work his passage if necessary bad never entered en-tered his head. And now-, even suppose sup-pose he reached Hie ship, would they take, not only a penniless passenger but a sick one as well? lie hail no means of judging the time there in the forest, save that it grew hotter as the morning advanced, nor had he any idea how long it had been since the Malay had left him, when at last at the sound of voices he raised tip suddenly, supporting himself with his back against- the trunk of a tree. Came then the pad-pad of horses' hoofs, and the Malay, running, burst into sight aiound the bend of the patli a few- yards away, while a girl's laugh rang out and was instantly checked as she and a man riding beside be-side her also came into view. "Oh !" she cried. "There's someone 'here! That must, have been what the native meant. And and I think he's hurt. Quick, Mr. Molt !" She had slipped from her saddle and was running toward him a little figure in white, brown-haired, hrown-' hrown-' eyed, whose face was now very anxiously anx-iously puckered up in dismay and concern. Wallen wondered a little : vaguely who these people could be, where the Malay had found them and somehow he didn't like the man's face. "Hello !" exclaimed the man. "What's wrong? Hurt?" "No," said Wallen. a little weakly ; "done up, I guess, that's all. Nothing serious. I Could you tell me if that steamer that came into Pobi yesterday yes-terday is still there"? I overdid it a bit trying to get in from MacKnight's across the island in time to catch her." "MacKnight's !" echoed the girl quickly. "Why, that's where we're : going. Isn't it, Mr. Mott?" j "Yes," her companion answered, looking curiously at Wallen. Then to AVallen : "We met this native na-tive fellow on the road, but couldn't make out what he wanted. He was 1 Wallop's laugh died away, .and he 1 looked from one lo the other nnx- iotl-dy. : "I I don't understand, of course," he said. "Mut the point is, do you ! think your skipper will give me passage? pas-sage? 1 I didu't save anything from the Upolo. and I was figuring on offcr- ' ing lo work my way, but I'm afraid I'm hardly up to that for a spell." J "Could you ride a horse, d'ye think." ; inquired Mott with apparent irrelevancy, irrele-vancy, "if this Malay here and 1 held you on?" "Yes," said Wallen eagerly. "Yes; but the skipper " "Oh. 1 gnoses that'll he all right!" said Mott queerly. "As near as I can j figure it you fe the one on earth the. skipper wants to see." CHAPTER III. j Accident or Murder7 MacKnight's caustic estimate of the steamer's size had not been very wide of the mark. The Monleigh was certainly very small, and certainly a frowsy, unkempt and weatherbeaten little craft ; and her general appearance appear-ance bespoke her as one of those homeless, vagrant waifs of the ocean that knew 1,0 schedule that took the i crumbs of the world's commerce I where she could find them and was ! grateful for the crumbs. I Wallen had been afraid that morn-j morn-j ing that he was in for a relapse, bill I he had no fever now there was none of that disquieting giddiness in his head, and he smiled happily to himself him-self a few days at sea would put him back again in his old form. He sat up in his hunk as the ship's lie! I sounded from forward. Two bells five o'clock in the afternoon. He 1 got up, went over to the wash basin and plunged in his head. How had Helen MacKay she had told him her name on the way down . to Pobi come to be not only on a train) like the Monleigh but lo be here at all? lie hadn't seen any other women on board; but then he was spluttering deliciously in the water wa-ter he hadn't seen much of anything. any-thing. Helen MacKay had side-tracked even that thin-faced, queer-eyed skipper skip-per and insisted that he should go immediately, im-mediately, to bed. Wallon's thoughts began to run riot as he completed his toilet. The fliip, and everyone connected with it whom he had seen except Helen MacKay had 7'iniehow got him wrong. He hadn't liked iliat fellow Mott's face from the instant he had set eves on it in the forest. And his momentary interview with the skipper, despite the same effusive, attentions, had produced pro-duced the same intuitive distrust. They were still at anchor off the three traders' storehouses and veran-daed veran-daed bungalows that were dignified by the name of Pobi. What, after all, did it mean ? What was the Monleigh doing at Pobi? there was no sign of any cargo being handled. And, above all, how had they heard of him and the Upolo and what was their interest in him that would account for the sec-, ond otlicer being sent to cross the island to MacKnight's to question 11 supposed survivor of the bark about him? "Drink-House Sam of Singapore!" i the words unbidden came Hashing through his brain. AVallen whistled In a low, perturbed way under his breath. Could there he any connection? It seemed absurdly ab-surdly impossible! And yet what had happened was obviously not mere coincidence. "It's a bit queer whim you come to think- of it," he Hindered slowly. "I guess I'll hear what the skipper's got to say." . lie opened the door of his cabin and stepped out into what, was evidently the vessel's main saloon, down whose length ran a long mess table with five revolving chairs on eiiher side. There was no one in sight. Wallen crossed the saloon to (he doorway and paused to get his bearings. Directly Di-rectly in front of him a short com-pnniouway com-pnniouway led upward. He mounted this and found himself in a small box-like box-like smoking or lounging room. Here doors on cither side gave onto a boat-dock boat-dock that was fairly spacious for the 1 s;;;e of the hip. He stepped out onto the deck- Mind again paused lo survey his surroundings. sur-roundings. Forward from the smok- I ing room was a small bouse, very evidently of temporary const rnci ion his eyes rested on it speculatively for an instant, then be glanced quickly aloft. Wireless! He hadn't noticed that in coming a boa rd. j "The Monleigh's yours for two months in your father's fa-ther's place." j (TO BE CO.NTIXUKD.) A GIRL'S LAUGH! Synopsis Stacey Wallen, first mate of the bark Upolo, in the Java sea, is the sole survivor of the crew, all victims of yellow fever. Tins Wall. Chinese sailor, last man to die, tells Wallen he and five other Chinamen were sent aboard by "Drink-House Sam," notorious no-torious character of Singapore, to kill him. This recalls to Wallen an incident of his childhood which seems connected with the confession. confes-sion. While delirious, Wallen enters en-ters in the ship's log the fact of his death and abandons the vessel In a small boat. Wallen's boat drifts to the island of Arru and a Scottish trader there, MacKnight, cares for him. Learning that a ship is In port on the other side of the island, twenty miles away. Wallen, though unfit for the task, starts to reach it. CHAPTER II Continued. 3 He walked on steadily, without sense of fatigue, his mind abnormally active. And then, with a little shock of surprise, as the Malay made signs to halt and set about kindling a fire, he noticed for the first time that it had grown almost dark. And also, to his surprise, he noticed that where he had experienced no fatigue before, he was, as he sat down, suddenly grateful for the rest. He scowled a little over his dipper of tea that the Malay had prepared and rubbed his leg muscles vigorously. They twitched nervously as he put his weight upon his legs. That was bad ! His lips set grimly. Well, bad or not, they'd have to take him across the island before daybreak! They started on again. An hour went by, and he was obliged to rest aad after another start and many more after that, to rest again and again with alarming frequency. fre-quency. And, worse still, his progress when he was walking kept growing less and less. It was black in the tropical forest. He could see nothing, and he stumbled stum-bled constantly in the vines and creepers creep-ers that everywhere overgrew the path. He was at last forced to admit hat he was not making much more than a mile an hour, and twenty miles at a hjnn hour was he groaned. It was breaking day when VVt''.o . finally gave up gave up when will power, and the grit of the man that did not know defeat, no longer sufficed suf-ficed for the physical strength to go farther. The Malay, regarding him anxiously, anxious-ly, offered by signs to carry him on his back. Wallen, from where he had flung himself down upon the ground, half rose to accept the offer, then shook his head. It was no use attempting at-tempting that ; it was too far. He was bitterly convinced that he had accomplished little more than half the distance. But there must be some way out. He wasn't beaten yet. He had to catch that steamer. Suddenly he looked up. Yes, of course. He had been a fool that he had not thought of it hours ago when he had first begun to realize that he was playing out, instead of it now- when it might be too late, when the steamer might be already gone ! He couldn't speak the Malay tongue, but MacKnight would have told the man why they were crossing the island. He could send the Malay on ahead, and follow himself as fast as ho could. If he could write a message he might: even get them to send him help from Pobi. He felt in his pockets. Nothing! Well, the Malay was an intelligent fellow; fel-low; he would get word to the ship and a written message after all wouldn't make any difference it all depended on the ship's skipper. The skipper would wait, or he wouldn't, sfter hearing the Malay's story Just as readily as he would for a written message. He began to make signs, pointing to the other, then in the direction of Pobi, then to himself, and then to the ground, indicating that he would stay behind. "And hurry quick Pobi," Wallen ended anxiously. The Malay nodded. "Pobi quick," he repeated and started off at a run along the path. Wallen watched the man disappear, and after a little while started on again himself and then gave it up completely. He was down and out. and he was furiously angry with himself him-self for the state lie was in. There wasn't anything to do but wait. He might make a mile before the Malay pot back but what good was that mile ' One thing was certain, any further exertion would tiring serious consequences, conse-quences, if the serious consequences were not already an established fact. A tropical island was no health resort re-sort for a fever-shot body, and a relapse re-lapse of the slow fever that had followed fol-lowed his recovery from yellow jack would be he put it pithily in his 1 ;::ml now good night to Singapore and everything else. ! lie ir.ii'hi -.s well admit it to him- tX JSZ i iff? 'vlV i v tmi ; Half Rose to Accept the Offer, Then Shook His Head. ! i going toward the town, but turned and came hack with us, and kept running on ahead. You needn't worry about the steamer we're from her ourselves. our-selves. I'm second officer but, I say, you're too seedy to stand up there and talk !" Wallen was swaying unsteadily as he leaned against the tree. "I'm iili right," he said. "Just giddy for a moment. I'm I'm rather anxious anx-ious to make Ihe ship." "Well, there's no hurry now," Molt returned. "She won ) sail without us. Look here! You've come from MacKnight's. Mac-Knight's. you say. We beard at. Pobi that there was a survivor from the bark Upnlo there, and we were taking the ride over Miss MacKay and I to investigate. Is there any truth in the story?" I Wallen gasped. What interest could they have in the Upolo! j "A little," he said, with a faint ! smile. "Seeing that I'm the survivor." j "What!" ejaculated Mott. "The ! deuce you are! Well, then" excitedly excit-edly "can you tell us what became of Stacey -Wallen. who was the first mate : on her? Wallen laughed a little hysterically. "I am Stacey Wallen," he said. There was a cry of amazed excitement excite-ment from the girl. Mott, gazing in utter surprise at Wallen, tiited the vizor of his cap back and mopped mechanically me-chanically at. his forehead with n handkerchief. |