| Show ihu r i Mtr tu ay j I 1 I 1 so W the th M etiny of the th Alba troi ky Wr FITMAN N A R IN THIC U 8 1 0 CHAPTER XI continued 13 slivers silvers was wa at first inclined to be disappointed at the mildness of the punishment meted out to his enemy the tarpaulin wm was removed from the sixteen foot cutter stepped on davits outside the 06 rail and the cook lifted with difficulty nad and dumped into it then the covering was replaced and the boat swu swung ng again over the rail 1 this to Is an interesting sort 0 of v game gaffie augustus bettington remarked and your part in it so far has been worth fifty dollars to you do you want to earn more Is each of them guys worth fifty bones metzger Is worth a hundred I 1 want them one at a time how can you get metzger here a pipe said saad augustus his eyes glistening hell what want to know where the cook Is ill say hes up here with the jane hes bes stuck on and that youve got the other all right said bettington A hundred dollars if you work it right slivers silvers found metzger sleeping it was easy to make enough noise to awaken him he ii sat at up tip with an oath and demanded that the cook be sent lc jr with something to eat slivers silvers sly smile angered him he seized the tha boys arm arin and spun him round what are abu you grinning for he cried the boy edged toward the door 1 I was just th chinkin inkin how cooks put one over on you after all while youve been slee sleep ln him and the boc doc has been showing the skirts a go good od time on deck with a bellow metzger drew diew his knife and rushed up the stairs in moments of rage such as these ho he cared nothing for caution ile he had been a tool fool to spare the handsome doctor so long the handsome doctor dropped the noose accurately over his neck and J choked him into submission and metzger gagged and bound was dropped by the cooks side a hundred and fifty said slivers silvers happily slivers silvers tell kenzle kenzie I 1 want to see him falm for a minute bettington ordered blinking the engineer came into the bright light do you suppose bettington began that when this cruise Is over ever get the chance to work on a craft like this again kenzle kenzie shook his head bead sadly he would end his days patching up marine junk he supposed this voyage was the purple patch in his gray life there would never be another listen to me bettington said ai 1 I think if my scheme Is successful that mrs radway will retain you per manent ly all I 1 want you bouto to do Is to keep steam up and join in no raid against me H 1 said kenzle kenzie easy what do 1 I want to join in any scrape scraps for they may make you think its nee i essary Is it a promise kenzle kenzie thrust out an oily olly paw bettington wrung it heartily of ill all the men on board he be thought kenzle kenzie alone had a face to be trusted bob had witnessed the two encounters and wanted to know what was coming was it possible that todd had 1 been wrong in his estimate of the doctor bettington would tell him nothing instead he changed the course of the vessel well run for new york he said eald we shall have favoring winds and it wont take much longer he felt falt certain that there would be no trouble with the gamblers for many hours by that time some new plan could be evolved tor for their overthrow ile he was rather concerned for or him kelt in the fight with sam he had been badly bruised and now the greit great exertion of lifting the two men into the boat agonized him when he if had ad sent ent slivers silvers below and cautioned him to report any new development he be stretched himself on the couch im going to try to get a little rest h he e told bob wake me it if necessary and let no one come on deck but slivers those men in the cutter cant get adrift bob forgot the perils which hedged him and his about in this newfound new found josof joy of guiding a big boat full steam ahead was indicated on the gauge and he be was heading for home crosby had told him that the only explanation er of the doctors change of heart it if it were genuine and borne out but by deeds aas was the hope of winning a pardon he had insisted that a double murderer would have little hesitation tn in adding another victim to his score it if it seemed necessary y but todd would not noi believe that orme 4 as he be called him always tn in speaking to mrs airs radway had bad repented they were bound tor for a foreign port and when they were no longer under the jurisdiction of the american flag anything could happen I 1 in his moments moments of depression prea sion crosby todd thought uneasily of what would happen to io him dr andrew orme had looked at him with an expression that did not speak of mercy I 1 I 1 todd experienced bitter moments of abick tire tb othera bothem guessed nothing he 1 had allowed himself to be fooled by graumann overt over the wireless and had lost the opportunity to send messages tha that t might have saved them it seemed necessary foi or the common good goodgo to refuse to listen to any of ura mrs Had ways speculations about the possibility lity that the doctor was their sin cerel friend mary alary made common cause with her fiance against bettington what a brave and steadfast child she was thought the elder woman here at the threshold of a new and fuller life she was likely to by death for her own part life held no more prospects and like mary she too was wai to be halted on the i threshold for fo r a few glorious moments she had been conscious of her destiny and now she knew they were only moments of self deception women had always envied her tor for beauty wealth and position none had ever envied her tor for her happiness happl ness happ happiness I 1 was broadly speaking the common lot she jhb had been given everything else there was no morbidity ay iy in dwelling on the fate that was wrapping enwrapping en her she could no not have lived so long and seen so BO much without being aware of bf the lawless lawlessness fies s of mens de desires she thought of metz gers rs burning eyes sam was gone bucher but her menace remained and perhaps this straT strange fid man whom slie she knew pow now to be andrew orme escaped convict and twice fi a murderer murder dr loved her in her heart adne was convinced of it never never would she let any human being know that she too had loved him a murderer I 1 A man for whom not even the most splendid of heroism could win pardon A man for ever without the pale those elements of lawlessness in the individuals of the crew which clements by his adroitness and the terror he inspired InspIre dt had contrived to keep in subjection were a not ot long to lie dormant already unaccustomed ease and freedom from duties had awakened in ment men to whom all honest work was abhorrent the desire tor for a continuance of these romantic conditions dit ions the tour four in the feie castle experienced much of the feeling that aladdin must have known knori when his lamp proved so obedient a servant it was with a certain timidity covered by an air of bravado that they first made demands on slivers silvers for food and drink they ordered he obeyed they sint sent him tor for roadways Rad ways famous cigars silvers brought a humidor filled with them mike alike suggested champagne I 1 the genie they had known as slivers delivered it to them hamner was chickenhearted chicken hearted he believed that his arrest at some time or other was certain and there were lifers in at least two of thov tho convict establishments to which he ha might be sent who had bad threatened to kill him and they would succeed ile he had been a trusty and he had been a stool pigeon alone of the men he had a profound distrust of bettington he thought the surgeon was going to try to help mrs radway and so save his skin two could play at thit that game if tie he so stirred up the three plastic men before him that they attacked metzger and pereira and killed them and he felt this would be the result he could be hurrying to the doctor with the news and implore him to mete out justice to the slayers it wasa was a pretty scheme and his expression annoyed graumann what are you grinning for tie lie snarled what makes you so d n happy 1 I 1 was think ln hamner returned how good and surprised them da goedd be if we went aft and turned lein cm out of the boss quarters and made them come here where they belong there they sit and wait till we get to union they speak tho the lingo we dont speak us into jail all before we know it you know what them central american prisons are nothing wont ever get us out we wont even know what were in for a a tack mike agreed 1 I 1 was in one in bahia and I 1 dont know yet why unless it was waa for throwing a bull buil off aff the dock if we had to shoot em said hamner wed say it was because they tried to get at the women folk I 1 mien listen good at home homec hes got gat a head bead on him mike alike said with genuine admiration that stuff gets over every time believe me brave seamen sa women and children first red mike basone wag one of those drunkards who after a sufficient amount of poison lose the more obvious marks mark S of intoxication where the other three slept he was kept kepi awake by the growing ferocity he felt toward metzger and Fer elra it was vas about seven when he roused his bis reluctant comrades fram their slumbers they awaked sober buts but savage it was not hard to bring them to io their last nights s mood of vengeance the bottles on the table helped them to aba that 1 it was d decided e ceded then and there to 1 hunt tor for tle the traitors every stateroom and storeroom was drawn blank the two tivo must be on the upper deck alth their crony the surgeon that would make three against four graumann Gr wits wag chosen to ask leave to speak with the autocratic navigator and while speaking locate the pissing missing men bettington listened to Grau manns story when he had given permission through slivers silvers for him to come on deck he entertained a profound mistrust of I 1 the man well 11 bettington said seeing him gazing about him what Is it 1 T I was wondering won dering if the cook coa was up here sir we aint aint liceri been him la in the galley nor mr metzger nel neither ther do they look to be here graumann glanced tow toward aril the wireless house it was their only possible hiding place bettington watched him sidle up to it are th they ey there the surgeon asked as if interested in their disappearance pe arance graumann Gi aumann book this asan as an invitation to investigate 1 I guess below he said touching hla his cap his news added to the wrath of the tricked four it was plain they could what makes you so D n happy only be jn in the fore part of the he ship immediately above the fori forecastle castle the men were now sitting there they are the st Inkin da goes said hamner eating and drinking with the women while anything Is good enough tor for us it if I 1 was as strong as you boys I 1 stand itt it no not for one minute just overhead they are a laug laughin laugh bin ln at the monkeys made of as we ought to break in graumann here lie he knows how to open any klester ever made it wont take him long to do the trick mike alike battered the table with hla his iron fists no by G d he shouted not noi the way I 1 work well batter the door down with bars of iron mike made his first sa jagd onslaught the noise in the quarters of the prisoner people was deafening mary clung to crosby she saw mrs mis radway take the auto matle during anier internals Inte vais nals of this battering they could hear the most horrible oaths hurled as they bell believed e ved at themselves alone to mrs radway it meant that the doctor had been as she had feared tricked into helplessness this was the end bettington on ow bearin g the nary jackei ran to th tha t bead of the companion the shouts of mike and his friends warned him 1 tf I grave gravee danger mike graumann and krause were trying i to i batter theli way ay to td the women nomen there was naother no other explanation possible stop bes he shouted hobt d his voice arrested them tor for a moment I 1 we want metzger and pereira I 1 they told ld him I 1 they are not luthere in ln there cried bet then where are they hiding graumann Sn snarled arlei I 1 the doctors doctora to answer promptly seemed direct proof that he be was lying 1 krause pulled out hla his revolver and took aim am at bettington shouting obscene abuse as he did so it was no moment for hesitation bettington cliot first krause spun round ra r a bullet had gone through the hand lb that at held the weapon another gun spat out and graumann fell shot through th the heart eheart bettington glanced round and saw saw Han haninkes Ha inners indes amok smoking ing barrel saved your life them dic 1315 4 said hamner heartily it was hambers Ham ners treachery which staggered hike alike and made him fallan fall an easy victim to arrest bettington slipped a clove hitch over his wrist mike was led to the chain locker ind and pushed in hamner although helas he was betraying joy at the result of the fray knew in his heart that until mike was was dead lie he was in hamner cursed his inaccuracy of alra aim he i had meant to kill mike a and nd by a jerky nervous pull donahe on the trigger had slain graumann graumann he could have managed but makel i 1 slivers silvers had brought kenzie up from his chis engines the boy had bad become panic stricken ken he could not cot understand how lt it was hamner had emerged with so stal stainless uless h a reputation hamner was engaged in the ane necessary bus business ineis of cleaning up no longer filled with visions of veng vengeance bance krause followed BettIn bettington gion to the doc tors tora room where his wound was dressed he did not venture to pro test when he was locked in i a small room things were going rather well for hamner but he still was ln some perplexity as to where metzger and pereira Ier elra might be thinking jt it over and bearing in rn mind il Ati andrew diew ormes justly earned reputation for violence what was was more likely than they had been done away with and dumped into in to the ocean hamner was evolving a story whereby he enacted the role of sir galahad and providence together lr in the end it would be seen that but bit for him the voyage would have finished in utter disaster he determined to attach himself to mrs It radway adway he had been formerly a specialist to in those hardluck hard luck stories whose success depended upon feminine sympathy CHAPTER XII the treachery of friends after the first amazing clamor was stilled and crosby todd had bad whispered some comforting phrases to mary two shots rang out then came krausel Kr auses yell of agony after that there was a silence of halt half an hour but the three waiting as they expected for death made no move more out of the silence came three stac cato double raps the signal by which the doctor wis was known dont open I 1 sald said todd hoarsely its a trick 1 I must know mrs radway said and unbolted the door bettington stood there he was pale and unsmiling im afraid you have been very much frightened lie he began im ilni sorry but athas it has turned out fortunate after atte atherall rall all I 1 control the boat at last and you are free to use the ahe upper deck when you want to toy do you mean the dreadful die adful danger has passed 1 he looked down at her and smiled just for a moment 1 I thInk so I 1 shall want todd up there ACO abonce na T todd 0 dd carte canie forward well dout dont go anywhere but on on dech and these quarters quarter of yours youra ibave I 1 hara 1 very good reasons Us lie bowed to mrs airs radway and went out whitis Wb itis happened I 1 bob cried eagerly I 1 wa when en lie he was rell relieved eved at theay kieel li eel murder marder and sudden death said bettington be able to see aee your your bister and your as esteemed friend todd beoo n ahvero ah here hero they come 1 velyn radway seemed |
