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Show OP THE SEA fPJP T11K STOKY Tltl'S PVR: The crew of a small intllng vessel In the Cnrtbbenn pick up Dick Jordan, mlrlft on a raft. Dick realizes that ho Is among men who are virtually pirates. They come upon a drifting schooner, with only two people aboard. They are the demented captain and his daughter, daugh-ter, Rose. Turn, the pirate captain, attempts at-tempts to take the schooner by force, but Is driven off by Rose, assisted by Dick. During the night Tucu rettirns nnd they take Dick and Rose prisoner. Tucu then begins searching the ship for the "treasure." Tucu finally leaves with nothing, ne takes Dick with him, but Dick escapes and swims back, to find Rose battling a black pirate. the Umbers of the hulk to splinters. Either that had to be removed or the Betty was doomed. But Rose's idea was to use the thing that menaced their, lives for saving the schooner. By cutting It loose from the side, and fastening It with tow lines, the wind and waves would convert It into a sea anchor. Dick attacked the wreckage nearest near-est him with his axe. "Make your lines fast first," she cried, intercepting him, "or we'll lose it." With three slack lines running from the mass of wreckage to the forward towing bltts, they were ready to cut away the rigging that held the battering ram in position. They hacked steadily at ropes and wire rigging, cutting in water sometimes some-times a foot deep. They were drenched to the skin, and nearly exhausted ex-hausted when all but a single line was severed. Rose raised her axe to cut this. Dick seeing her danger shouted to her, but she did not hear. The rope parted with a loud snap and writhing writh-ing and twisting like a sea serpent it struck up and caught the girl as if it had been the tentacle of an octopus. Dick saw her stagger under un-der the blow, fall to the deck, and ond case of mutiny aboard the Betty." His words recalled the other time when her authority had been ignored ig-nored and the crew deserted. She frowned and closed her eyes again. "You can Imprison me later," he went on, "but until the storm's over I'm captain, and my first order or-der Is that you keep In the cabin and not appear on deck again." "I can't do that," she replied, shaking her head. "There's too much to do." "Not for you. I can handle it." "Not alone " "Yes!" He pushed her gently back when she attempted to rise. "You'll have to stay here if I have to tie you," he added gently but firmly. "We're in no real danger now. The sea-anchor's holding her nose up In the wind and waves. If she hasn't sprung a leak we'll ride safely until morning." "If she's leaking we must man the pumps!" she exclaimed, attempting to rise again. "All right! Stay here until I find out. I'll report to you." Doubtfully and unwillingly she agreed to this. Dick made her comfortable, com-fortable, and then started up the companion to see how much water the ship carried in the hold. Ten minutes later when he re- turned she was sleeping, with one brown arm thrown across her breast, the other limply crooked above her head. The hair, disarranged disar-ranged by the storm, fell in tangled strands over her shoulders and neck. Unmindful of the shriek of the wind and tumultuous roar of the waves, he sat by her side, silently watching her comely face and youthful figure, his eyes glowing with yearning desire. He stretched forth a hand to touch her arm, to stroke her hair, to caress a cheek, to clasp a limp hand in his and press it to his lips; but he did not touch her, nor permit his fingers to come in contact with the bed or clothes. Instead he drew back slowly, as if actuated by some subtle force that was stronger than his newly awakening love brushing his eyes with a trembling hand. His face grew suddenly pale and drawn, adding add-ing years to his age. As a fugitive from justice, with a price on his head, he had no right to touch her no right to drag her into the net that entangled him. The wreck of the steamer had temporarily freed him, but Pettigrew would take up the search and run him down. He could not elude the law for long; it had hounded him persistently persistent-ly for two years, driving him from pillar to post, and, when he had felt the safest, found him buried in a small, obscure corner of South America, living under an assumed name, and started him back to answer an-swer for the crime he had never committed. He could never feel safe again! An unconscious groan escaped his lips, followed by a bitter laugh, the sound of it filling the narrow cabin and awakening the slumberer' Her eyes opened and stared at him in bewilderment. Then, with returning return-ing Intelligence, she smiled, and with an impulsive little gesture thrust both hands out to him. The gesture, simple and innocent, was the unconscious feminine invitation of love, and Dick, knowing she had betrayed her feelings, groaned inwardly in-wardly and stood in indecision, struggling with himself. First Hints of Love Come to Dick and Rose "You saved my life, Dick," she said simply. "Is there anything you want of me?" The atmosphere of the cabin grew hot and stifling to him, so that he breathed heavily; a giddy sensation swept over him; his hands trembled trem-bled with passion, and he moved swiftly toward her to seize what belonged be-longed to him. But he checked himself him-self in time, stopping abruptly at her side. He was so near he could have touched her, but he slowly folded fold-ed his arms, and forced a smile to his lips. "Your friendship, Rose, always," he said gently. "You'll give me that no matter what happens?" She gazed up at him in bewilderment, bewilder-ment, a hurt expression coming into her eyes, such as you see in a child's denied some precious wish. The hands slowly dropped to her side and the hps murmured so faintly that Lhe words were almost inaudible: inaudi-ble: "Yes always! How could you doubt It?" The Betty of New London proved worthy of her namesake if tradition be true that the original Betty was a staunch little craft who broke hearts galore and lived to see most of her loves married or buried at a good old age and when morning morn-ing dawned, with breaking clouds and a warm sun, she was still riding rid-ing on an even keel, with none of her timbers smashed or weakened. Forward the sea-anchor held, bobbing bob-bing up and down on the waves like a sodden mass of driftwood, with the tow lines slackening and jerking jerk-ing rhythmically as the schooner backed and lurched in its struggle to break loose from them. Neither Dick nor Rose had slept throughout the night; they had to keep constantly on watch. (TO BE CONTINUED) CHAPTER VII The shock of the explosion startled Dick so that his hands unconsciously relaxed their'grip and the big Carib rolled from him. He was so dazed that it took him some time to realize that Rose had come to his assistance at the critical moment, mo-ment, putting the Carib where he could commit no further deviltry, with a bullet through his brain. Captain Bedford had been knocked on the head and left for dead by the Caribs before they attacked Rose in the cabin. They found him hunched up in the scuppers, where the sea brine was threatening to finish what the blow on the head had failed to do. ' They carried him to the cabin and placed him on a bed, and, while Rose worked over him to restore him to consciousness, Dick quietly removed re-moved the dead bodies of the Caribs and dropped them Into the sea. With this unpleasant task finished he glanced at the sky before returning. return-ing. The schooner was laboring heavily in the sea, rolling and plunging plung-ing like an old bull walrus, every seam groaning under the strain. The gale was playing havoc with what was left of the sails and rigging. rig-ging. 1 "This means her finish," he muttered. mut-tered. "She can never ride through a second storm." He returned to the cabin where Rose had partly revived her father through the liberal use of his favorite favor-ite stimulant. He was far from being be-ing dead. It took more than a Carib's bludgeon to kill the doughty New England skipper, born and bred on the water, giving and receiving blows as a part of his daily life for half a century or more. ' Rose glanced up at his entrance and smiled. "He'll recover," she said simply. Dick nodded gravely, but did not return the smile. He was worried, and could not conceal the fact from her. "What're we going to do?" he asked. "The schooner is rocking and shaking like an old man with the ague. She'll never hold together until morning." "The Betty of New London," she replied slowly, a gleam of pride in her face, "was built In the days when ships were made to hold together to-gether and not fall apart in the first storm. Her keel's of hard white oak, and her ribs of the best hackmatack. hack-matack. She'll ride through this storm as she did the other." "Well pull through," he said, "but it's going to be a narrow squeeze. The wind's blowing great guns, and the seas are playing the devil with the wreckage using it as a ram to batter in the sides." "Yes, but we can stop that. Were you ever a sailor?" Dick shook his head. "Nothing but an amateur. I could sail a yacht, and maybe qualify for a second-rate seaman. That's about all." "Then I'll take command," she replied quietly. "You'll take orders from me?" "Aye! Aye! At your service. Captain Cap-tain Rose!" He touched his forehead in salute and clicked his heels in true military mili-tary form. Her face was very grave, not a flicker of a smile lighting it up. They Rig Up a Sea Anchor "It's going to be a hard night for both of us," she went on. "We can't raise any of the sails, and if we could the wind would blow them to tatters. But the schooner's wallowing wal-lowing broadside to the waves. We must stop that or we'll go under." "Quite right, Captain. But how are we going to do it? She won't obey her rudder with any sail." "No," she answered shortly. "But. there's that wreckage. It may save us yet. We must get axes and clear it away before it's too late." "Aye! Aye, Captain. But you mustn't risk your life in that work. Let me do it" She made no reply, but began pulling an oiled slicker over her shoulders, nodding to Dick to do the same. She selected two stout axes from a rack, and after handing one to him started for the companion. Dick started to protest. "This Isn't your work, Rose. Leave it to me. I'll follow orders." "Then do as I do," she replied curtly. Her plan was simple in explanation explana-tion but difficult of execution. The schuoner was wallowing loggily in the seas, half burled at times by the brine, but the crash of the wreckage wreck-age against the outboard was the most alarming thing. It threatened to smash the bulwarks and shiver Dick helped her Into the cabin where she fell exhausted on the bed. then with the rope twisted around her she was carried overboard as the released wreckage brought the line taut. One horrified glance, and he was after her, plunging recklessly into the. green brine. In his leap he caught the slack end of a short rope and clung to it. With his other hand he clutched her skirts. Fortunately the snake-like line that had wrapped itself around her waist unwound as quickly as it had coiled. Dick held her limp figure in one arm, and with the other fought to pull himself back on deck. The struggle lasted for only a few minutes, but to Dick it was an age before he finally got a hand on the rail and with the aid of a gray-back gray-back lifted Rose over it and rolled on deck. Exhausted by his supreme effort, he lay there, clasping the girl. Rose stirred first, coming to her senses with a little sigh. She was too dazed for a moraerij to understand under-stand the meaning of it all. Dick clasped her still tighter. Dick Trys His Hand At Nursing "What happened?" she breathed faintly. "Everything!" he laughed, recovering recov-ering his breath. "We cut the wreckage loose, and it's working beautifully. We're no longer wallowing wal-lowing like a grampus. The Betty don't deserve her name if she doesn't ride out the storm now." She sighed again from sheer physical phys-ical weariness. For the first time she seemed to be conscious of his arms around her. "Did did I faint?" she faltered. "No, that last line jerked you overboard. over-board. I got you just in time. In another minute we'd both been lost." She considered a moment in silence. si-lence. Then in a low voice that would not have reached him If her lips had not been close to his ears: "You you jumped overboard for me?" "I caught you before it was too late," he replied. Dick helped her into the cabin where she fell exhausted on the bed beside her father. While he hunted around for a stimulant, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a doze. She accepted the drink he applied to her lips, sipping it slowly, and under its stimulating effect the color col-or crept back into her cheeks. Dick stood before her, watching her with greedy eyes. The nearness of death had shaken him fully as much as her and he had difficulty in keeping back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. "You seem to be In command now," she said, smiling faintly when he ordered her to take another sip. "Yes." he laughed. "It's the sec- |