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Show !y," he replied, In surprise. "It's tho north coast of Ami, -whore Mao Knight's station is where I was lirought ashore after I was picked up." Laynton snorted savagely, and picking pick-ing tip a pair of dividers indicated the position with exact precision. "To the nor'ad a hit. among those islands!" he snapped. "You know fast enough what I mean !" Wallen shook his head. "Don't you !" Laynton rasped. "Well, how about this'.'" He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and flattened it out on the chart. "They correspond, don't they? You dropped this out of your pocket. I had a Kanaka aboard then, who picked it up and gave it to me." He smiled at Wallen unpleasantly. "I haven't got that Kanaka now. lie disappeared. There's something damned queer about it and about those shots last night, wouldn't you say? D'ye think I'm a fool d'ye think ; I wouldn't slake my oath that mealy-j mealy-j mouthed Indian you brought aboard j with you didn't fire 'em? But I still j thought you were Wallen then, and I 1 was still for giving you all the rope you wanted. "Well, here's the latitude and longitude longi-tude on the paper and here's the position po-sition on the chart, and I guess in a general way we're pretty hot on the scent it's only the few details that j may be lacking when we get there that i I'm asking you to supply. What?" j It was a moment before Wallen i spoke. i The position given on that piece of paper had come, Gunga had said, direct di-rect from Ham Oulab Singh. There were many islands around Mac-Knight's Mac-Knight's station, and among them, evi- ! denlly enough now, Ham Gulab Singh ! had his hi if. ! "If you know what's good for you, you'll drop the bluff. I know blamed well what you're masquerading as Wallen for. As for the killing in j Singapore, I'm not worrying about it i one way or the other, it's no hunt of ; mine; but when young Wallen died on j the Up'olo you got a secret out of him, ! and that's where I come in. "You thought yon saw your chance j to get away from I'obi when Mott here, j or the girl, I don't know which, gave yon the lead to claim that you were Wallen by saying that they were look-: look-: ing for him-; and afterward, seeing it ' gave you tha run of this ship, you j stuck to it, and you'd have been a fool if you hadn't;! "Now, then, I put it to you, all we ask is our share. After that, we'll land you anywhere you say, or, if you like, you can have a berth aboard I'm ! getting kind of sick of standing watch CHAPTER VII Continued. 10 And then he was conscious that he was looking into the muzzle of Captain Cap-tain Laynton's revolver; and that Molt, too, the second officer, was there. '4K. "We were just going to send for you," observed Laynton in an ominously ominous-ly velvet voice. "Come in!" And then, as Wallen obeyed mechanically : "Well, my bucko, I guess your game is up? Nice work, that private business of yours ashore last night ! "They want you In Singapore for the murder at that sailors' boarding house, and I've told Miss MacKay here to tell 'em it'll give us a great deal of pleasure to put right back with you' For an instant, stunned, taken by surprise, he stared from one to the other and then, with understanding, came a cold, angry composure. It was as Gunga had said last night the devils of this Kara Gulab Singh were at work again. "There is some mistake," he said calmly enough. "Is there?" sneered Laynton. "What abortt you being so anxious to go to Singapore and getting ashore alone, and telling me to keep steam up and be ready to get away the minute you came back? What about those wharf-rats wharf-rats of yours? What about that blood you had on your clothes? They've got. you dead to rights ashore, and you might as well make a clean breast of It. I've just sent a couple of men to draw the fangs of that East Indian I myself, and n third officer wouldn't ! come noways amiss.1' j Wallen looked first at Laynton, then i at Mott, who was glowering and sullen-faced, then back at Laynton again, j "Look here1.'" he burst out, almost . insanely. "Either .you're crazy, or I ; am." "Oh, noT" retorted Captain Laynton easily. "Neither of us is I You .ain't willing to give up gracious like while you think there's a chance yon don't have to split the pot, that's all. Mebbe you think I'm binding? "Don't fool yourself! We made up our minds from aboiit the minute this hooker was chartered that there was j a lot more behind this search-for-a-son business. And now we're sure of i. 1 I'll take you into my cabin and show j you why In a minute. But first, (o let : you know I xoean business, you can ! take a look at my hand. ! "We wasn't saying anything till old j Wallen got killed, for whatever he was i after he was bound to lead us to along with him, eh? "Then he shuffled out, and there wasn't anything in his papers that was any good to its except that money "Do you mean," he asked abruptly, "that yon are going there?" "D'ye think there's any doubt about it?" returned Laynton caustically. "Then," said Wallen earnestly, " warn you, you're running the head of every one aboard this ship into a noose. If you want the truth of the whole business, it's this: Years back my father had trouble with a powerful power-ful native named Ram Gulab Singh, who was and is the head of many of the Malay pirates that infest these waters. The man swore revenge. The feud still exists. "It was to save me from a plot Barn Gulab Singh had hatched to murdei I me on the Upolo that my father char-! char-! tered you. Furthermore, there was no ! accident aboard here when my fathei died. It was this Kanaka, that you j say has disappeared, who murdered him the man who started this cock-and-bull story about treasure because he is in Ram Gulab Singh's pay, and that paper he gave you was to lure the ship into his master's claws if he was unsuccessful in doing away with mj father himself. "He did away with my father, bu( he still gave you the paper for the : same purpose, except, of course, that am substituted in my father's place." There was an incredulous sneer or the faces of the two men. "Sounds almost as fishy as yot) writing yourself down dead In thf log!" commented Laynton, with at ugly laugh. "Of course, you dou'l want us to go there, eh ! Well, that's all right, and thanks for the warning; but don't worry about us coming to any harm, though it does credit tc your heart ! We don't scare aboard this ship. Mebbe if there was the prospect of a bit of a scrap it wouldn't stand in our way none, either. Have you by any chance taken note of the crew?" A sort of savage anger came upon Wallen. "I grant you they look like cutthroats," cut-throats," he said evenly. "You're wrong !" rejoined Laynton with evil smoothness. "You ain't half looked at 'em, and you don't do 'era credit. Fallen angels are saints alongside along-side of 'em ; and there ain't one of 'em but has been aboard here with m for the matter of a good few years which proves that your yarn about the snake of yours in the shape of any j - firearms he may have. 1 don't know I whether yon picked up any weapons j ashore or not. Mott, have :a look and ! hand 'em over, if he has." I Mott, with a vicious grin, stepped forward, and, tinder cover of the captain's cap-tain's leveled revolver, took the automatic auto-matic from Wallen's pocket. "You're a rare bird, you are!"! grunted Laynton as he pocketed the! weapon. Wallen's eyes went again to Helen MacKay. Her head was still turned away, and she was tapping nervously with a pencil on a sheet of closely written writ-ten paper the message, presumably, that she had just received. "Who is the message from?" Wallen put the question to the girl, but she ignored it. "The authorities," Laynton answered an-swered curtly. "And while you're digging dig-ging around in your mind for a bluff on Ihe murder count, dig for something else as well, you dumued impostor! We know you now! A proper fool you were to try and palm yourself off as Wallen ashore last night. Johnson 'II be nearer your name than Wallen eh?" "Johnson ! What do you mean?" cried Wallen sharply. "What I say !" Laynton flung back. "What everybody in Singapore knows since the Upolo was picked up. It's all there in (he message. There were three white men on the Upolo; eh? Captain Mitchell; Wallen, the first mate, and Johnson, the second. "The bodies of two white men were found aboard the third unquestionably unquestion-ably left the bark, for one of Ihe boats was missing. That'll be you, right enough I But you forgot the log, my bucko ! Indicated the Position. that I turned over to kind of woo your confidence, if you get the idea! But we figured that what he knew the son would know, so mebbe you can figure out why we started to follow the Upolo's itinerary. "Well, we played in luck we found you. So long as we thought you were the son we let you have your head, just as we'd done with the old man. without trying to force your hand, because" be-cause" he grinned wickedly "we're a patient lot. "But now that I find we're birds of a feather, my lad, we ain't playing that game any more. "Now, then, we know you were on the Upolo with young Wallen, and what I want to know is what he told you before be died that started you going. You come across with that, and we'll play fair on the divvy; if you don't, you'll wisli to whatever saints you swear by that you were in j the hands of (he authorities answering ' for that throat-slitting jolt back in j Singapore, instead of in mine! That's a plain statement eh? Well, what ! d'ye say?" "I say that I'm Wallen." said Wallen ; steadily. "That I committed no tmir-der tmir-der in Singapore, and that (his treas- ; ure-hunt Idea is pure imagination." j Captain Laynton scowled. "You coax a mule first," he said significantly ; j "after that you shim h out of him. 1 However, I ain't through coaxing yet. : Come along to my cabin." They entered the captain's cabin; and Laynton, spreading out a chart on the locker, stabbed at it with his forefinger. fore-finger. "Anything familiar about that?" he grunted. Wallen leaned forward, "Certain- Kanaka and this 'ere friend of yours Ham What-d'ye-call-hiiu is another lie. " 'Tain't likely you've ever heard ol the Monleigh before, because we've got a superstition aboard here that keeping keep-ing the same name too long Is bad luck. "When we carry cargo it's because times are infernally poor and the picking pick-ing thin (he crew has got a preference prefer-ence for private pearl beds, or mebbe the opium trade, or I've even known 'em to horn in on a bit of black-birding by way of variety. We've been living under a kind of righteous restraint, Mr. Man, out of deference to who we thought you were, and I could see the crew was sort of chafing under it; but I guess you'll get a better idea of things from now on, and by ihe time we get down off Arru again you won't need to be told what to expect if you don'i come around to our way of thinking." think-ing." He turned suddenly and flipped tho little slip of paper to the second officer. offi-cer. "Mott. get away with you, and work up that course we've had enough pleasure cruising toward Sumatra!" And then it seemed that for the first time the full significance of the situation situa-tion dawned upon Wallen and it was as though a cold thing was at his heart. "Wait!" he cried hoarsely. "What I've told you is the truth. But if you're bent on your own destruction, then for God's sake get Miss MacKny off the ship first land her somewhere, anywhere." It was Mott who answered but wltt the locker between them. "Not by a d d sight!" he announced an-nounced with a leer. "I'll take care of the girl." (TO BE CONTINUED.) "Wallen evidently kept it, for the captain's death is recorded; and the last entry is in quite another hand which could only be Johnson's." Cap-lain Cap-lain Laynton's eyes narrowed. "Do you remember (hat last entry Johnson? John-son? 'Died today, S. Wallen, first mate.' " "Oh, my God, is that it!" Wallen cried out wildly. It had burst upon i him now in a flash. That was what (hey had meant in Drink-House Sam's last night! That was why they had called him an impostor there too! He turned to Helen MacKay. He was reaching out toward her, leaning toward her and then he drew slowly back. Could a woman's face be so pitilessly hard! She was standing up, for n n inslant her eyes swept him disdainfully and then she walked past him out onto the deck. And Mott laughed jecringly. White to the lips, his soul afire, Wallen Wal-len whirled upon the man but Layn-lon Layn-lon was between (hem in an instant. "Cut that out !" he snarled. "Mott. vou shut dial door! And you. Wallen or whatever you want to call yourself your-self you sit down!" He resumed his own scat, lingering his revolver with a sort of suggestive carelessness. "I got orders (here" he jerked his band toward the wireless (able "(o stick you in irons and put back to Singapore, and I told 'em I'd do it. but" he grinned suddenly and slipped his revolver back into his pocket "I ain't going to !" Wallen came bolt upright in his scat. "You mean you believe me, then?" he demanded quickly. "Now, you cut that out, too !" ordered or-dered Laynton threateningly, with an abrui.i return (o his former manner. |