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Show .1 flTMan To HfeTlMe I By J. ALLEN DUNN J 8 COPYRIGHT E0E3S MERRILL CO. rX'iXLa 'J - 0 "MEBBE A QUEEN!" Synopsis. Loitering, on the San Francisco water front, John Rai-ney, Rai-ney, newspaper reporter, la accosted accost-ed by a giant blind man, who aaka Rainey to lead him aboard the sealing schooner Karluk. In the cabin they find Captain Slmms and a man named Carlson. Simma recognizes rec-ognizes the blind man, calling him Jim Lund. Lund accuses Slmma of abandoning him. blind, on an Ice floe, and denounces him. Slmms deniea the charge, but Lund re- -- fuses to be pacihed. Ha declares his intention of accompanying the Karluk on its expedition north, where it la going in quest of a gold field which Lund has discovered. Peggy, Sirams' daughter, la aboard, and defends her father. Carlsen. who is a physician, as well aa first mate, drugs Rainey. Awaking from hia stupor, Rrtiney finds himself at sea. Carls Informs him he has been kidnad. He offers Rainey a share of the gold, and Rainey Is forced to declare himself satisfied. Lund gives him a brief account of a former expedition of the Karluk, tells htm he distrusts Carlson, and suggests a "partnership," Rainey - - to act as Lund's "eyes," Rainey - Is made second mate. Captain Simms is ill and the navigation is entirely in the hands of Carlsen. At the latter's suggestion a shooting shoot-ing match is staged and the seal - hunters exhaust their ammunition. Carlsen shows his skill with the pistol and Lund does some aston- ishing shooting "by sound." Bandy the shop's boy. Is swept overboard and is rescued by Rainey, who thus wins Peggy's admiration. The captain gets worse. Sandy tells how Carlsen Is stirring up trouble over the division of the gold. Carlsen Carl-sen drafts a gun on Rainey, who overpowers him. Tamada, the mys-, mys-, terlous Japanese cook, declares " himself neutral. Lund, his sight 4 restored, kills Carlsen. Captain &imms dies. The hunters attack Lund, who has taken charge of the Karluk. They are beaten after a fierce fight. CHAPTER X Continued. 10 Rainey was a little surprised at this show of thoughtfulness, but he did not remark on it. He was beginning to think pretty constantly .of late that he had underestimated Lund. The giant's hand dropped auto- matioally to the handle as If to assure himself of the door being fast. Suddenly Sud-denly It opened wide, a black pap, with only the gray eye of the porthole facing them. Lund had brought up the muzzle of his pistol to the height of a man's chest, but there was nothing noth-ing to oppose it. HIdin the d n fool ! What kir,d of a game is this? Come out o there." Something scuttJed on the floor of tbe room then darted swiftly out between be-tween the legs of Lund and Rainey, - on all fours, like a great dog. Cur- like, it sprawled on the floor with a white face and pop-eyes, with hands outstretched In pleading, knees drawn up in some ludicrous attempt at protection, pro-tection, calling shrilly. In the voice of Sandy : "Don't shoot, sir! Please don't shoot !" Lund reached down nnd jerked the roustabout to his feet, half strangling "Don't Shoot, Sir! Pieasj Don't Shco'!" lilin with his prip on the co'Jur tif rhr hul's shirt, nml tli:ns him into a clnir. "What wore you dln' In then'?" Simily ptilhoil convulsively, f.-elin-nt his senicsy thrn:it. whore an Aihun's apple was working tip and down. Speech was scared out of him. and he cmld only Ml his eyes at thorn. "You d d youne traitor!" said I. and. "I'll hae you keelhauled for this! Out with It. now. Who ser.t jo? Pemlui:?" "You've ?o; him fri:;liie!-e I half to death." intervened Uairey. Tixfj-prohahly Tixfj-prohahly scared him into di-lna tVs rirln't they. Sandyi" The hid Idle'ied. nnd fears of tf. pity rolled down his grimy cheeks. The relief of them seemed to nnstop-per nnstop-per his voice. That, and the tinder quality of Ralney's questioning. "Demlng! He said he'd cnt my hloorly heart out if I didn't do it. Him an' Deale. Lookit." He plucked aside the front of his almost buttonless shirt and worn un-derrest un-derrest and thotved them on his left breast the fcorlng where a sharp blade had marked an irregular circle on his skin. "Beale did that," he whined. "Demlng "Dem-lng said they'd finish the job if I come hack without 'em." "Without the shells?" "Yes, sir. Yes, Mr. Rainey. Oh. Gord, they'll kill me sure! Oh. my Gord !" His staring eyes and loose mouth, working in fear, made him look like a fresh-landed cod. "Yon ain't much use alive," said Lund. "Mebbe I ain't," returned the lad. with the desperation of a cornered rat, "But I got a right to live. And I've lived worse'n a dorg on this bloody schooner. I'm fair striped an'' bruised wi' boots an' knuckles an' ends o' rope, Td 'ave chucked myself over long ago If " "If what?" The lad turned sullen. "Never mind," he said, and glared almost defiantly at Lund. "Is that door shut?" the giant asked Rainey. "Some of 'em might be hangin' 'round." Rainey went to the corridor and closed and locked the entrance. en-trance. "Now then, you young devil." said Lund. "What they did to you for'ard ain't a marker on what I'll do to you If you don't speak up aa' answer when I talk. If what?" Sandy turned to Rainey. "They said they was goin' to give me some of the gold," he said. "They said all along I was to have the hat go 'round for me. I told you I was dragged up, but there's there's an old woman who was good to me. She's up ag'in it for fair. I told her I'd bring her back some dough an' if I can hang on an' git it I'll hang on. But they'll do me up. now, for keeps." Rainey heard Lund's chuckle ripen to a quiet laugh. "I'm d d If they ain't some guts to the herrin' after all." he said. "Hang-In' "Hang-In' on to take some dough hack to an old woman who ain't even his mother. Who'd have thought it? Look here, my lad. I was dragged up the same way, I was. An' I hung on. But you'll never git a cent out of that bunch. I don't know as they'! have enny to give you." His face hardened. "But you come through, an' I'll see you git somethln' for the old woman. An' yoreself. too. Wnat's more, you can stay aft an' wait on cabin. If they lay a finger on you. I'll lay a fist on them, an' worse." "You ain't kiddln' me?" "I don't kid. my lad. I don't wasre time that way." Sandy stood up. his face llchting. He began to empty his pockets, laying shells and shotgun cartridges upon the table. i "I couldn't begin to git hnrf of 'em," he said. "The rent's under the mattresses. mat-tresses. They said they on'y needed a few. I thought you was borh turned in. When von fnme out of the corridor corri-dor I wa scared nutty." Between the mattresses, as Lnnd had guossi-d. they found the rest of the shells, laid out in order.'y rows save where the lad's scrambling fingers fin-gers had d'srurhed them. Lund stripped off n j illow-cnse and dnnij-ed them In, together with those on the table. "You can bunk here." he told the grateful St ndy. "Now I'll have n few words with Demlng. Bottle andcom-pany. andcom-pany. Want to come along. Rainey?" Lnnd strode down the corridor, hag In one hand, his gun In the other. Rainey threw open the door of the hunte'-s' quarters and discovered them like a lot of consp'ra'nrs. Doming was in his hunk: also another nir.n. whose ribs Lund had cracked ivlieti he l ad kicked him a'on the dock out of Ids v ay. The bruised faces of the res: shoved their effects from the R-ht. As Lund entered, covering thorn with the gr.n. while he swtng down the heavy slip on ti e table with a clatter, clat-ter, their loo'ts chanL'ed from eager 'xt-ectation to consternation. "Cnutht with the goods i" said Lund. "Two tries at mutiny in one day, ray lads. You want to git it Into your bonehonds that I'm rutmin' this ship from now ,.n. I can sail it with-I with-I out ye and. by God, I'll set ti e bunch of ye ashore same's you figuered on doln' with me If you don't sit up an' ta!;e notice '. The rifles an' guns" he gl? need at ihe orderly display of weapons in racks on the wall "are too vallyhle to chncg over, but here co the shells, ev'ry last one of tl em. So that nips that little plan. Dealing." Deal-ing." He turned back the slip to display the contents. "Open a port, Rainey. an' heave the lot out." Kainey did so whPe the hunters gazed on In silent chagrin. "There's one thing more," said Lund, grinning at the'.n. "If enny .-!' yvu saw a nian htirtin' a i'.ol'. yott'd probably fe'ch him a wallop. But you don't think ennything of scarln' the life out of a half-baked kid an' mark-in' mark-in' up his hide like a patchwork quilt. Thet kid's stayln' aft after this. One of you monkey with him, an' youll do jest what he's bin doln', wish you was dead an' overboard." Ee turned on his heel end walked to the door. Rainey following. The girl kept below and seldom came out of her cr.hln, Tamada serving serv-ing her meals In there. Rainey could see Lund's resentment growing at this attitude that seemed to hlra normal enough, though it might present difficulty diffi-culty later if 'tersisted In. But the morning that they headed np through Sequam pass between the spouting reefs of Sequam and Amlla Islands, she came on deck and went forward to the bows, tr.klng in deep breaths of the bracing air and gazing north to the free expanse of Bering strait. Rainey left her alone, but Lund welcomed wel-comed her nt she came back aft, "Glad to see you on deck again. Miss Peggy." he said. 'Ton need sun and air to git you in shape again." "How far have we yet to go?" she asked. "A'most a thousan' miles to the strait proper," said Lund. "The Noroe-Unalaska Noroe-Unalaska steamer lane lies to the k y ' J "That's a Man's Life," Went on Lund. eael. Runs close to the Prlbilofs. three hundred miles north, with Hall an' St. Matthew three hundred further. Then comes St. Lawrence isle, plumb In the middle of the strait, with Siberia an' Alaska cloaln' in." Ee was keen to hold her In conversation, conver-sation, and she willing to listen, as- sentlng almost eagerly when he offered of-fered to point out their position on the chart, spread on the cabin table. Lnnd talked well, for all his limited and at times luridly Inclined vocabulary, vocabu-lary, whenever he talked of the sea and of his own adventures, stating them without brag, hut bringing up striking pictures of action, full of coJor and savor of life In the raw. From that time on Peggy Slmms came to the table and talked freely with Lnnd. more conservatively with Kainey. The girl. Rainey decided, was humoring hu-moring Lund, seeking to know how with her feminine methods she might control him. keep him within hounds. Her coidners. it seemed, she had cast aside as an expedient that might prove too provoking and worthless. And Ralney's val'intlon of her resources re-sources increased. She was handling her woman's weapons adm'rahiy, yet when he sometimes, at night, under the cabin lamp, saw the smohlerint: light glowing In Lund's agate eyes, he knew that she was playing a dangerous danger-ous game. "What d'ye fitirer on rioiti' with yore share, Rainey?" Lund asked him the night that they passed Nome. It was sTr.rmy weather in the strait, and the Karluk was snucced down under rrohie reefs, fiirhting her way north. The cabin was cozy, with n stove go-inn. go-inn. Peggy Slmms was busied with sime sewing, the canary and the plants gave the p'ace a domestic af-mospl af-mospl ere. and Lund, smoking comfortably, com-fortably, was eminently a: ease. "'Cordin' to the way the men fl tr-cered tr-cered It out." he went on. "though I reckon they're under the mark more'n over It. you'll have forty thousan' dollars. dol-lars. That's quite a windfall, though nothin' to M:ss Peggy, here, or me. for that matter. I s'rose you got It all spent already." "T don't know that I have." sab! Rainey. "Rut I think. If all goes we". I'll cot a placo up in the Coast Rantre in the redwoods hiking over tbe sea and write. Not newspaper stuff. buT what I've always wan'ed to. Stories Yams of adventure!" "Gobi" to write second-hand stuf' asked Lrmd. "Why don't you lfvi-what lfvi-what you write? I don't see h.-.r. yo're goin' to git under a man's skin by squattin' In a bungalow with a .lap servant, a porcelain bathtuh, an breakfast In bed. Why don't you travel an' see stuff as It Is? How in blazes are yon goin' to write adven- ture if you don't live It T j "Me. I'm goin' to git a schooner 1 bnilt accordln' to my own ideas. Have ! a kicker engine In It mebbe, an' go ; round the world. What's the use of llvln' on it an' not knowin' it by sight? Books and pictures are all right Id their way, I reckon, but while my riggln' holds up, I'm for travel. Mebbe ni rake a group of Islands down In the South seas after a bit an' make somethln' out of 'em. Not Jest copra an' pearl-shell, but cotton an' rubber." "A kLog and his kingdom," suggested suggest-ed the girl. "Aye, an' mebbe a queen to go with It" replied Lund, his eyes wide open In a look that made the girl flush and Rainey feel the hidden lssne that he feJt was bound to come, rising to the surface. "That's a man's life," went on Lund. "Travel's all right, but a man's got to do somethln', buck somethln', start somethln'. An' a red-blooded msn wants the right kind of a woman to play mate, Polish off his rough edges, mebbe. I'd rather be a rougb eastin' that conld stand filin' a bit, than smooth an' plated. An', when I find the right woman, one of my own breed, I'm goin' to tie to her an' her to me. 'Tm goin' to be rich. They've cleaned up the sands of Nome, but there's others'!! be found yit between Cape Hope an' Cape Barry. Meantime, Mean-time, we've got a placer of our own. With plenty of gold they ain't much limit to what a man can do. I've roughed it ail my life, an' I'm not lookln' for ease. It makes a man soft. Eut " He swept the figure of the girl In a pause that was eloquent of his line of thought She grew uneasy of it, but Lund maintained It until she raised her eyes from her work and challenged chal-lenged his. Rainey saw her breast heave, saw her struggle to hold the gaze, turn red, then pale. He thought her eyes showed fear, and then she stiffened. Almost unconsciously she raised her hand to where Rainey was sure she kept the little pistol, touched something as though to assure herself of Its presence, and went .on sewing. Lund chuckled, but shifted his eyes to Rainey. "Why don't you write up this v'yage? When It's all over? There's adventure for yon. an' we ain't ha'f through with It. An' romance, too, mebbe. We ain't developed much of a love-story as yit, but you never can teJl." He laughed, and Peggy Slmms got up quietly, folded her sewing, and , said "Good night" composedly before she went to her room. "How about It, Rainey?" quizzed Lund. "How about the love part of It? She's a beauty, an' she'll be an heiress. Ain't yon got enny red blood In yora veins? Don't you want her? You won't find many to hold a candle to her. Looks, built like a racln' yacht, smooth an' speedy. Smart, an rich Into the bargain. Why don't you make love to her?" Rainey felt the burning blood mounting to his face and brain. "1 am not In love with Miss Simms," he said. "If I was I should not try to make love to her under the circumstances. circum-stances. She's alone, and she's fatherless, father-less, I do not care to discuss her." "She's a woman." said Lund. "And yo're a d d prig! You'd like to bust me In the jaw. but you know I'm stronger. Yon've got some guts, Ka'ney, hilt yo're hidebound. You ain't got ha'f tbe git-up-an'-iro to ye that she has. She's a woman. I tell you. an' she's to he won. If you want her. why don't you stand up an' try to glf h'T 'stead of sittln' around like a sick cat whenever I happen to admire ad-mire 1 er looks? "I've seen you. I ain't blind enny longer, yon know. Sre's a woman an' I'm a man. I thought you was one. But you ain't. Yore Idea of tnakln' love Is to send 'he gal a box of candy an' walk pussy-footed an' write pi'-ms to her. You ward to write life an' I want to I've it. So does a gal like that. She's more my breed than yores, if she has got eddicadon. An' she's osh and blond. Same as I am. Yo're half sawdust. Yo're stuffed." lie went on i!cfk lnutrhlnz. lenvin Ramey rag'nc but helpless. Lund appeared ap-peared to think the situation obvious. Two men. t.nd a woman who was attractive at-tractive in many ways. The only woman wl.i.'e they were aboard the si-booner. thiTefore the more to h? de-s'red. de-s'red. admired by men cut off from I 'ho rest of the world. I "That's a pn'rol koat, Japa- (i rce, fcr a mlltionP' fi ! 'I (TO CE CONTINUED.) |