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Show i 11 THE IMPOSTOR III Ey FRANK L. PACKARD J Ink - - Iks cloud obscured the moon, and the riding lights of the vessel gleamed and twinkled brighter in the greater darkness, dark-ness, and until the moonlight struggled strug-gled forth again in a silver, waving path until there came a little splash in the distance, as though a fish had jumped. Then Wallen raised his head. At the sound Gunga too had stirred, for now he dipped his oars and rowed on toward the Monleigh. And then he spoke again : "Wash your hands, sahib," he said In low tones, "for they are red." At the gangway Gunga sent the boat adrift with a push toward the Mon-leigh's Mon-leigh's stern ; and Wallen, with the other behind him, mounted to the boat deck. There was no one on the bridge; and if there was an anchor-watch at all, the man was asleep, for they had come alongside unnoticed. In the doorway of the captain's cabin Wallen halted, with Gunga beside him. There were empty glasses on the locker lock-er and an empty bo'tle. Captain Layn-ton Layn-ton fully dresfied, was snoring in his bunk. He sat up with a start at Wal-len's Wal-len's second knock. (Copyright.) Gulab Singh was black with hate and revenge filled his soul. It is too long a story to tell now, sahib. Great wealth was his ; those in his pay were everywhere. every-where. "Twice he tried to bring worse than death upon the master by attacks upon your mother. And the second time, sahib" Gunga's hands around the oars tightened until the knuckles were as white knobs protruding from the swarthy skin "it was only by a miracle mir-acle that she was saved. But, sahib, it killed her, even if it were months afterward when your father had hidden hid-den her in the gray house the sahib knows, for she was with child then, and when you were born she died. "And then, sahib, the master stayed on there to protect you, as he had promised your mother he would do. But even there it was not further than the arm of Ham Gulab Singh could reach. Does the sahib remember the night as a child he crawled from bed and came down the stairs, and tnere was a man dead upon the floor?" "I remember," said Wallen in a voice he did not recognize as his own. "And then, Gunga?" "And then," said Gunga, "the young sahib went away; and the master had no longer any heart for anything but to stay on in the gray house. When next the master learned of you you were at sea, sahib; and after that he watched your comings and your goings always. "And all this time Ram Gulab Singh gave no sign. Then came the time that word readied the master that you had taken berth npon the Upolo, to trade among the islands of Ram Gulab Singh and upon the master mas-ter fell again the old fire, for he knew that it was the hand of Ram Gulab Singh that struck. "I sahib, he sent here immediately to spy upon them, and this I learned : Drink-House Sam, taking with him the Chinese of whom the sahib knows, was sent to Shanghai to wait the coming of the Tokamaru, the sahib's ship ; and there at the time the Upolo was in port. He bribed the man who was mate to leave the vessel, and also some of the crew, that there might be room for the men he had brought; and then, CHAPTER VI Continued. 9 "It is as the Kanaka said," Gunga nodded. "Sahib, a question : How did you know of those Chinamen and Drink-House Sam?" "One of them told me as ho was dying," Wallen replied, "because, I suppose, I had nursed him as best I could through the night" "Yes," Gunga nodded his head again. "But I will end first the Kanaka's tale so that the sahib will understand all else the better. The Kanaka had been a long time a member of the crew, long before the ship came to Honolulu. "It was in Honolulu that for much money he was hired by one of Ram Gulab Singh's agents to kill the master. mas-ter. "If he failed In that he was to stir up the crew to dream of the trens-ure-hunt, sahib, which, "with so strange a voyage as was theirs, would readily be believed, so that it might come about that the crew and officers would take things into their own hands, and would take the ship to the place Ram Gulab Singh had set down upon the paper, and where Ram Gulab Singh would lie in wait to. work his will upon the master and upon them all, sahib, for dead men tell no tales. But for that pper, sahib, it so fell out, he had no need until you, by Allah's will, came also to ths ship, as I have related. All this, sahib, I learned tonight while I lay hidden." "Go on !" urged Wallen tensely. "I begin to see a little. My father, Gunga Gun-ga and this Ram Gulab Singh?" "The young sahib is twenty-four," said Gunga. "It began two years before be-fore you were born. The master was a great merchant here, owning schooners schoon-ers by means of which he traded with the natives. Ram Gulab Singh was the native governor over a group of these islands. "He was very powerful, and his wealth was beyond reckoning. "Also, sahib, he was a murderer and a thief, whereby he had his wealth ; and he hid his face behind the British government, whom he deceived. Your father lost one schooner and then another an-other and many goods; and knowing in his heart that it was Rum Gnlnh "Hello!" he blinked. "Oh, you, Mr. Wallen! And" he blinked again at Gunga "who's this you've got here?" "My father's servant Gunga," Wallen Wal-len answered. "You remember, I asked you about him. Gunga, this is Captain Laynton." The East Indian salaamed gravely and profoundly and stepped respectfully respect-fully back out onto the deck, away from the cabin. Captain Laynton stared at Wallen. Then he rubbed his eyes and stared again. "My word !" he ejaculated. "Yon look as though you'd been in a bally fight." "Do I?" smiled Wallen. "A few wharf-rats, that's all, captain. We'll get under way now, if you're ready." "Aye, I'm ready," Laynton replied ; he was still staring, only more fixedly now at Wallen's clothes. Wallen, following the direction of the other's eyes, glanced down and his own eyes fixed on an ugly red smear across his pocket. He had forgotten for-gotten that ! It was when he had felt for a match. "Aye, I'm ready," said Laynton again. "I was sitting up for you. Reckon finding that chap was your business, eh? Well, I For God's sake, what's that?" It came sudden, quick as the crack of doom two revolver shots in rapid succession from without and then silence. Wallen whirled and rushed on deck, with Laynton stumbling madly behind him. There was no one in sight save Gunga, who came running to meet them from the rail though now from forward, the crew evidently aroused, came commotion. "What was it?" shouted Laynton excitedly. ex-citedly. "Who fired those shots?" "They seemed to come from thure, Captain Sahib," Gunga answered impassively im-passively and pointed forward. With an oath Captain Laynton jumped for the ladder and swung himself him-self down to the foredeck. Wallen's eyes met Gunga's. "Sahib," said Gunga softly, "shall a viper sting twice? I was watching in the boat, for I knew we were ahead of him. He. swims well, but once he splashed. It was Kanaka. He will swim no more, sahib." "It Is Too Long a Story to Tell Now, Sahib." Singh, he complained to the government. govern-ment. But because he could prove nothing, nothing was done, sahib ; only that it came to the ears of Ram Gulab Singh, and he mocked your father, my master, by messengers in private. "Sahib, my master was a brave man, and of great cunning. He loaded a schooner with such richness of goods that it was common talk ; but also, in secret, he placed abundance of arms upon the vessel ; and at night, as she sailed, he himself came aboard in the darkness with many men to join the crew, and of these I was one, sahib. "It came about as the master had foreseen. "He sailed to the islands where Ram Gulab Singh was; and Ram Gulab Singh, knowing that it was your father's fa-ther's schooner, and thinking it a rjrize of great value, fell into the snare. Sahib, he came upon us with four proas, and our men lay hidden below the decks, that they might not be seen until the pirates, led by Ram Gulab Singh himself, boarded us from the proas. "It was a fight, sahib, that I would to Allah I might see again before I die, for my arm is still strong and my blood is the blood of youth, and the years count not. They fought as reptiles rep-tiles fight who must either fight or die. But half escaped, and those by swimming swim-ming to the proas which, in their first onslaught, after all had come on board of us, we had cut adrift from the schooner's sides. j "Many times in the melee my mas- j ter tried to single out Ram Gulab i Singh, that they might meet face to ! face, but it was only at the last the master came upon the other as Ram Gulab Singh was climbing over the rail to escape, and his hand was on the rail, but before he had dropped into the water the master's cutlass had severed sev-ered three fingers from the hand of Ram Gulab Singh such, sahib, is the reading of the paper with the one-fingered hand. "Sahib, this time the government took heed, for we had prisoners who confessed ; but against these Ram Gulab Singh sent many to take the oath that he had been elsewhere at the 1 time. And so again there was not the full measure of proof, but my master pressed the matter and asked that an armed force be sent against Ram Gulab Gu-lab Singh. Sahib, if that had been done, all would have been well. "Instead, 1 he government deemed it wise to brinj -mly great dishonor upon Ram Gulab -jingh, and they stripped Ram Gulab Silngh of all rank and authority, au-thority, and for several years patrolled the waters of the island closely." ' Gunga paused. The muscles of his j face were twitching again and the i hard, flintlike gleam was back once more in the Coal-black eyes that always al-ways swept the water, that never looked at Wallen. "Sahib, it was because of your mother, moth-er, before you were born, that the master mas-ter left the East. The heart of Ram CHAPTER VII. The Wireless Message. Wallen stretched out his arms in a sort of glad relief as he came on deck next morning. He had breakfasted late and alone, because he had slept late but he had slept well, once he had got to bed. For the time being, if he wished and he did wish it he could be carefree care-free and laugh with pure happiness. Drink-House Sam no longer lived before be-fore him day and night, threatening, threaten-ing, sinister; the ship itself, with the Kanaka gone, was purged of its menace; men-ace; and he knew all now and the knowledge, concrete, definite, tangible, robbed the peril that still existed of that sense of impotent dread, which is the attribute of the mysterious and the unknown. How cloudless and blue the sky was ; and the fresh, clean breeze filled the lungs as with a magical elixir! Life was good ! He had paused just outside the lounging room, and now a crackle from the wireless house caught his ear. That accounted for no sight of her upon tho deck ! "Good morning, Miss MacKay!" he sung out cheerily as he hurried forward. for-ward. "Found some one to gossip with this morning? I " He was standing in the doorway of the wireless room now, and the words died on his lips. Brown eyes, staring out from a very white face brown eyes that seemed to hold a shudder of contempt and loathing met his and she turned away her head. (TO BE CONTINUED.) through the influence of others of Ram Gulab Singh's agents in higher quarters, quar-ters, the captain, who was an honest man, sahib, was led to induce you to i sail with him in the other's place. ' "But sahib, all this I did not learn at once; and meanwhile your father, knowing well what threatened, had stopped at Honolulu and chartered the Monleigh, as the sahib knows, to follow fol-low the Upolo in the hope that he might reach you in time before the work was done. "Sahib, there is but of the murder of Drink-House Sara to tell. Here in Singapore I have crept into the house j of the banker Loo, an eld and crafty j Chinese fox, who is the chief agent of Ram Gulab Singh. And it was there ' I learned of Drink-House Sam, who, though he was one of them, was hated ; by them because his demands for : money were ever insistent, and because, be-cause, sahib, with the years he knew too much to be refused. "And there to (hat house came the Kanaka tonight; and there, too, came! word that you had made trouble at : Drink-House Sam's. And, sahib, as ' wolves that feed upon themselves, and ! because it would seem that the guilt j would fall upon the stranger, upon you, : sahib, who had come and fought already al-ready with Drink-House Sam tonight, they went, sahib, and did even as you have seen. Would the sahib, too, have '. paid with blood for his father's blood? j "I meant to do that thing myself; ; but because I could not escape from 1 where I was hidden in the house until all were gone, I was too 'ate. Sahib, tl e ti le is told." ; No word came from Wallen. For a : long time he sat immovable while a |