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Show I Ml mm HflflHBBLHHHHflKD jflBH dBmBm PQ illlWIrl liWMflflflflfl flflfli HflflHUflfli The Mystery Of Three By i I fHIO skipper, as ho paced the poop of the I gunboat, was mani- : festly in good humor, j One welcomed this exceptional mood, al- j though its novelty j was almost cmbar- I We were running a line of soundings, as we steered for Camel island, and I was helping him to fix at intervals the position of the ship. Freddy Pomphrey, our sub. had been dumped upon the island some days previously, to obtain certain angles still required from that "station.'' "sta-tion.'' The skipper paused in his walk to watch the heavy lead being drawn up to the boom-end by the rattling steam winch. "I shouldn't be surprised if the government gov-ernment gets defeated over this franchise fran-chise bill." he remarked graciously. I stared; then, recovering myself, hastened to agree w ith him. The skipper skip-per seldom unbent to discuss unprofessional unpro-fessional subjects This political utterance ut-terance was a manifestation of his exceptional ex-ceptional good humor. Like all commanders of his majesty's surveying ships, our skipper worked work-ed (and worked his officers) 16 hours daily, bolted his meals with reckless rapidity and resented the hours of darkness His zeal never Magged; his chronic irritability was due 'o overwork. over-work. Freddy Pomphrcy was the only assistant as-sistant surveyor of the Gulnare w ho resented the skipper's boundless energy. en-ergy. But Freddy was young and constitutionally con-stitutionally indolent He lacked that passionate ardor for the work w in b is the common heritage of our branch. Vet. oddly enough, the skipper liked him They had been thrown much together to-gether while Freddy was learning the mmm rudiments for it Is customary in our branch for the skipper to train the juniors. The skipper did not speak to me again, except professionally, until we arrived off Camel island. "If Pomphrey has got his angles, we can pick up the other officer today, and then make for port " He pulled a cord, and our syren. I w ailing like a lost soul, echoed among the rocks. Presently Pomphrey 's boat rounded a point and pulled toward to-ward us The skipper met him at the gangway. "Well, have you finished up?" he demanded de-manded eagerly. Evidently the reply was disappointing, for a moment later the skipper's voice was raised and a storm of angry reproaches burst from him. I The impassive sub, muttering excuses ex-cuses inaudible to me. held up a brace of rabbits, intended, I think, as a peace offering. The skipper seized them and hurled them overboard. Curiosity j drew me forward. The skipper, pale i with anger, turned to mo. "He hasn't taken the angles. He expects me to believe that Palm-Tree I point has been obscured by haze all these days. It's disgraceful waste of . time absolutely disgraceful." He turned again upon Pomphrey. "I I told you to watch for the clump of palms at sunrise and sunset. How ' dare you shoot rabbits?" The waves of the skipper's righteous anger beat without effect upon the impassive im-passive apprentice. In the brief intervals in-tervals of the storm, he would mildly j repeal that the haze (which nobody else had .'elected) had interfered with his task. But for the iron habit of I discipinc, the skipper would. I really think, have vented his anger by an as- sault. i At 'last the painful scene closed. : Pomphrey was ordered below, while I the skipper prepared to camp upon Hm BBBB the island himself with a view to obtaining ob-taining the missing angles. Within half an hour he was ready, and I fol-lowed fol-lowed him to the gangway , "Pick up the other camping parties and then return for me." be growled "Land Mr. Pomphrey at Palm Tree Point with his boat's crew and the heliograph " He plunged heavily inio his galley and shoved off. When I bad shaped our course for the point, I went below to snat h some ! breakfast and to give Pomphrey his or-1 or-1 ders. I explained to him that he was j required to flash with the heliograph in the exact bearing of Camel island, so as to assist the skipper to locate j the clump of palms. , "Xobody helped me with any llash-! llash-! ing," sighed Pomphrey. "How tan the i old man expect a fellow to see three i thin trees 15 miles away?" "In this clear atmosphere, my dear I Freddy, you could have got your angle, surely?" Pomphrey smiled 1 really believe j that he had wasted the precious clear-I clear-I ness of the early dawn over potting ' rabbits But I hesitated to give cx-I cx-I pression to the suspicion It was not I desirable that he should confide in me. or anybody, if guilty of such appalling negligence. I "The skipper couldn't be expected I to swallow your excuse," I said grave- ly. "He'll probably make out the palms quite easily Still, you must help him with the heliograph and flash frequently ' "Perhaps he won t see ihose palms nearly as soon as he expects," returned return-ed Pomphrey thoughtfully. "Well, 1 hope not, for vour sake." 1 said I. . I was thinking of Pomphrey's pros-' pros-' pects for promotion, which hung upon the skipper's reports Apart from his reallv scandalous Indolence, one could not help liking the lad. The skipper himself had w ished to recommend him for his second stripe Now. perhaps, this untimely rabbit shooting would blot the next report to Whitehall. Two hours' steaming bridged the distance dis-tance to Palm-Tree Point, and I landed land-ed Pomphrey before noon upon as desolate a spot as you would readily ! find on the China coast. A spur of barren rock jutted out from the ragged I shore line, and upon the flattened ' j shoulder of the promontory the clump I of palms stood conspicuous against a distant background of mountain range No village or habitation relieved the all-surrounding solitude. The foliage of the three palms formed the only splash of color in the prevailing diugl-ness diugl-ness of tho scene. The green heads of these palms had been faintly discernible through the clumsy telescope of our signalman before be-fore the Gulnare had traversed half I tho distance from Camel island; and lalei the slender stems had been made out, silhouetted against the sky line. Pomphrey was landed in a whaler pulled by five seamen, retaining the I boat and men with him He had persuaded per-suaded me to equip him with a bell- tent and rations for five days, for, said ; he "One never knows but a gale may-spring may-spring up and oblige the ship to run I for shelter." I applauded his forethought and let i him have the extra rations, but among . the stores which he crammed into his j boat were certain articles which ap- . i peared to me superfluous "You surely won't require that car-J car-J penier's saw"'" I bad remarked; "and j why lumber the boat with this coil of I new rope?" I His explanation had been untonvinc-I untonvinc-I ing as I afterwards recalled, but I was busy and let it pass. He needed 1 the saw to cut up firewood firewood! on that arid coast; and the ropo to stay the tent securely in the event of squally weather. I let it go at that. OU WM IBM being fully occupied as acting commander com-mander of tho ship I certainly do not blame myself for having accepted this unconvincing explanation ex-planation How, indeed, could one have expected a brother surveyor of plotting, too. And after all, I have no proof, even now. The suspicion which arose in my reluctant mind some days later remains re-mains in this hour merely suspicion The skipper did not share it. Ah, yes, that at least is perfectly clear. I try to believe that Pomphrey did expect to use that saw and the new rope In the ordinary course of camp life. It is recorded in his favor, moreover, more-over, that ho did flash with the heliograph. helio-graph. The skipper repeatedly saw the brilliant beam of reflected sunlight, sun-light, as he waited day after day upon the summit of Camel island. Yet and this is in part the cause of my unwelcome unwel-come suspicion the palms remained mysteriously, inexplicably invisible. That e vening. I remember, and again at dawn, there was no haze, but, on the contrary, pellucid clarity of the atmosphere at-mosphere which enabled one to verify many of our distant landmarks with the naked eye Haze, the arch enemy ene-my of the surveyor, was commonly due in those lattitudes to beat and lack of wind But during the ensuing four days and nights we enjoyed a light northeasterly north-easterly breeze and a moderate temperature tem-perature One figures the impatient skipper that zealous, choleric man standing day after day upon the summit sum-mit of his lonely island, peering vainly through the telescope of his theodolite in the direction of the three palms, the work of the survey arrested, as it appeared, ap-peared, by some wanton whim of the element. No sign of haze, and yet no trace of the palms. In those long days of waiting the skipper's impotent anger w as chast-1 I ened into rare humility. But I am glad that I did not witness the process for tho earlier stages must have been I dengerous to his subordinates. My information as to his moods is merely second hand, for I was engaged in collecting our scattered parties, and not until the third day of his chastening chasten-ing did I look upon the skipper's haggard hag-gard face "I was confoundedly hasty with young Pomphrey," be confessed; "I quite misjudged him." This was on the fourth morning. I had climbed the hill, and stood beside our indefatigable commander as the dawn began to break. His instrument, protected by a cloth from the night dew, was in Instant readiness for use should the fates relent. Up rose the tropical sun. melting the mists, revealing the mainland and 1 adjacent islands A wonderful sight, I hardly to be painted in words for the enlightment of those who sleep late in I cities Now. at the very moment of clear daylight, our eyes strained in the bearing of the long-hidden palms, and behold, they were visible With a cry of exultation, the skipper whipped the cover from his instrument and began to unlock the clamps Nothing remained but to pick up Pomphrey and his jnen a welcome task, quickly accomplished. Some instinct in-stinct must have told him that the missing angk-B had been obtained this, at least, was the skipper's theory for he came to meet us in his boat, instead of waiting the ship's arrival at the point. We were still three miles from the land when the whaler lowered low-ered her lug-sail and ran cleverly under un-der our lee. The skipper received Pomphrey very graciously, lost no instant in apologizing apologiz-ing for having doubted his zeal, and invited him to dinner. "Im really ashamed of myself. Mr. Pomphrey," I heard him say, "for hav ing slated you as I did at our last ft meeting I'm quite sure now that you did your best and kept a bright look- f out for the point." I "Pray don't mention it, sir," replied the sub affably. "A captain has a lot ! of worries, and one makes allow- f ances." $ The skipper laughed, and ordered me - to shape course for port. Before descending to the bridge from I the little circular platform that sur- rounds the standard compass, I ! chanced to look hack at the three f palms through my powerful binocu- lars. , Something had happened to the f trees. I wiped the lenses of my s glasses and looked again, carefully adjusting the focus. There was no t doubt about it, my eyes had not de- P ceived me The once brilliant and fc I I graceful foliage had withered to sap- g . less rags, which now hung limply f i, down, almost parallel with the three j, I trunks. K I was about to call the skipper's at- It I , tention to this remarkable phenome- S non when the sunlight glinted upon , R some bright object lying in the new- B I ly hoisted boat. It was the carpenter'! - I saw which Pomphrey had taken away wL" with him. &- I I looked back once more at the H' withered palms and a suspicion crosi- W. ed my mind a suspicion which my jF liking for Pamphrey compelled me to K- stifle. K Palm trees, like human beings, may, Ijff" perhaps, be liable to sudden death. I v try to believe so, but the theory haunts W&''" me that Pomphrey may have sawn the tops off and have spliced them into po- :. 6ition again after an interval of three K days. B I A monstrous theory, but It would S - explain the inability of the skipper to wL'' catch a glimpse of the three palmi during as many days of clear weather. H& |