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Show U THE SEA DEVIL if f trtHSsnSSJ? c By LOWELL THOMAS ILuckner and sis af hie mea atari for the Cook kluda la a pan boat kopiag to capture a voxel and return for Ikair cam-panioaa. cam-panioaa. CHAPTER XIII Continued 18 Everywhere on the Island were trees and fruits, coconuts, bananas, mangoes, man-goes, and oranges. On the streets of the village, with its thatched dots, were Soutb sea beauties who wore wreaths of flowers and hod dark, flash tag eves. The; gored with Interest on the foreign sportsmen, the story of whose cruise on s bet bad spread among the natives. We took aboard what provisions we needed snd set sail for AltutakL The weather turned miserable, by Joe. It rained overy day, those drenching tropical downpours. Our sailcloth covering was not tight enoogb to bold the water out The ses was heavy and continually washed Into tbe boat Often we bailed as many as two hundred and flf y pails so hour. Everything not stowed la the side tanks got wet tin... 4l l m m . t. it - pected It was s dodge to separate as Seemingly, the Norwegian's sasursnce had not fully allayed tbe mistrust of these uneasy Britons. Ktrchelss snd 1 made every excuse we could to keep together, but tbe hospitality was so pressing that we could not refuse soy longer without practically giving our selves away. "Even If we are apart," I said to Ktrchelss on the side, "we bave our pistols and band grenades, by Joe. We will keep our eyea open, and we csn take care of ourselves single-handed. single-handed. If anything looks wrong, we will fight our way to tbe boat." We dined pleasantly enough. The resident talked a lot, although be did not seem to be naturally s talkative kind. Be asked me mnny questions which I answered caution ily. A native na-tive servant brought him a note, snd be scribbled a note In return. After s few minutes, the servant brought him another message, and again be answered an-swered It This happened several times. "Important messages?" I asked. -Ob, no," be replied bsstlly, rtbey are from my friend Low. He wants to . a - il a - i. jaf. - thought there were so many Polynesians Polyne-sians lo the world. I bad never before stood In the fare of a mob. Bailors or soldiers would not nave made me so afraid. , j "Don't be a coward." I said to my-self. my-self. "On. by Jos, on." Klrchelss snd I ttsyed close together. to-gether. The resident led as through he mob. which was overawed by bis , presence. We were halfway to the boat when s native In Colonial uniform uni-form stepped op. He bsd seen service with tbe British la France, we were afterward told. "Shall I arrest them, suT be asked. "Arrest whstr I shouted. "Shut your trap. Why should a fool like yon try to srrest Norwegians?" Then 1 muttered to tbe resident: "If that fellow makes sny fuss, I'll shoot him dead." "Dont talk thst way." be replied nervously, and waved the native soldier sol-dier sway. The crowd followed as to the lending. lend-ing. ' A small rowboat picked ns op. "Too won't keep me with your tbe resident asked again. I assured him that we would not So we rowed over and climbed Into my arrange to have us sll take coffee at his bungalow." It was very queer. I was prepared, though, and thanked my stars for the pistol and band grenade In my pockets. I learned later that their scheme was, la fact, to question Ktrchelss snd toe separately. Tbe purpose of the notes was to srrange questions to be asked of ns. so that they might check up our separate answers to the same questions. These answers, It happened, hap-pened, had Jibed fairly well, although not well enough to disarm suspicion sltogetber. When tbe time for leaving came, the resident told me that If we would return re-turn on tbe following day, be would give ns the certificate we desired, certifying cer-tifying that In tbe course of our sporting sport-ing voyage we had called at tbe Island of AltutakL Tbe delay about the certificate was, of course, to detain de-tain os s day longer. Away from this unsatisfactory Interview, Inter-view, we encountered the Norwegian carpenter who Informed Ktrchelss that When the rain stopped for a while, the wsves snd spray kept things from drying. Ws were soaked to the skin snd never did get dry. Our blankets snd mattresses were dripping wet When we lay In tbe sodden bedding, we were freezing cold, snd could sleep scarcely at all. Often It was a relief to be called to go on watch. Then at least we could thresh our arms about and get warm. Cooking was almost Impossible now, snd we seldom ever got coffee anything like but Once we saw a waterspout forming right before our eyea A One, whirling drizzle close to tbe water attracted our eyea It revolved ever more rap-Idly, rap-Idly, seizing wider masses of water. In the sky was s little black thunder cloud extending downward In tbe shape of a funnel. The whirl of spray on tbe water ran op swiftly. Tbe cone of the thundercloud stretched down to meet IL Tbey came together and united. A roaring and sound of bursting, a tremendous suction of water, wa-ter, and sky and sea were connected boat Impelled less by bis own desire than by tbe attitude of the natives. "Here Is tbe log." Ktrchelss, with an Impassive face, banded him a log we bad taken from one of our captured ships. He ' perfunctorily turned the pages snd came npon a chronometric diary we kept Id the book. Above was stamped in fat type: KAISEHLICUB MARINE. The resident raised a tarpaulin, but dropped It quickly. He bad seen rifles. Be raised snother. There were nest rows of band grenades, as easy to pick up is apples. "Keep those covered," he exclaimed, as pale as ashes. "Well," I asked, "how do you And everything?" "Quite all right quite all right" He smiled a very acid smile. "Wont' yoo tell your people here that everything Is all right r I suggested. sug-gested. He turned to the crowd on tbe pier. "Everything is In order," he celled. "These gentlemen are Norwegian the natives believed we were tier-mnns. tier-mnns. The British bad been recruiting recruit-ing soldiery among them for service In France, and for the purpose of getting get-ting recruits had stirred them op with s bit of war fever. The Islanders, therefore, hoped that we were ene mtes so they could seize us. They planned to get our boat ashore snd capture It Dpon bearing of this, I ordered that two men be on watch all the time, ready to repel any attack. The following day provided os with plenty of thrills. When Klrchelss and t went to the resident's bouse, crowds of natives followed us. The resident greeted us with a worried expression but csme straight to the point "I shall have to examine your boat and pupers." be said sternly. "How sor said L "The natives think you are Germans. Ger-mans. I know you are not, but I must Inspect your boat to satisfy them." He vacillated between tbe desire of not letting us get sway and tbe fear of a fight by a whirling colnmn. Gyrating and swaying. It moved In our direction. Our boat lay In a coltn. Not a breath of air around us Will this wandering wander-ing giant strike us and break upon us, deluge and swamp us? Automatically Automat-ically Leudemnnn at the rudder tries to steer us. Without wind our boa' cannot move, much less steer. But the roaring monster collapses with s deafening clan. Its mass of water falls upon the sea, and from It a clr cular swell spreads out We rock uncomfortably snd thank heaven. Dur Ing our voyages among the Islands we narrowly escaped several similar spouts After three days we found ourselves steering our way through the maze of reefs, very beautiful but perilous, that extend out In front of the landing place at AltutakL Again there was no ship In sight, but again one might be scheduled to srrlve within some res sonnhle time That was our hope. A crowd of natives gathered to watcb us come In, also half a dozen white sportsmen, as they say." "And now the certificate," I reminded re-minded bim. He wrote a note Just as tbe resident at Altu had done. "Ton don't intend to take me with youl" he retreated. ! "No," I responded, "but ! should like to have your company until we can get some fruit and tobacco." I stood chatting with him on the pier while Ktrchelss went to procure the fruit and tobacco. Hadn't we better bet-ter take the Island and wait for a ablp Instead of sailing off! ' 1 debated tbe question with myself, and then decided de-cided we had better go. Tbe iast scene of this tittle drama was played as the resident and I shook hands and bade each other an apparently appar-ently cordial farewell. He was a decent de-cent fellow, even If he bad been suspicious, sus-picious, and I bad eaten an excellent dinner at his bouse. I was glad that we didn't have to humiliate blm be-, be-, fore tbe natives, a dreadful fate for ' an Englishman. Outside," the Polynesians were gnth erlng from all quarters. They mude a menacing, ogly-looklng mob. Left hand In pocket I attached a carbine hook to the fuse of the grenade. With that mob of heathens on the rampage, there was no use In trying to carry the deception any further. . ; "it Is true," I said to the resident, -we are Germans. But don't you tblrjH It would be better if we remained friends? We" are white men I am with you In front of these natives Act the part thai will Impress them Come and examine" our boat." "Very well." he replied. growing pale, "but yon won't tnlie me wlQi yoo?" I "No. upon my word, no." j When we stepped out on the porch, the blunders raised s bowl. I never As we hoisted anchor and raised sull, a cheer went up from the natives lined along the shore. Tbey were trying try-ing to make amends for having treated us so shabbily and for having taken na for Germans I But there at Altutakl I bad made the great mistake of our cruise. We should have captured that Island. Three diiys Inter a schooner arrived. We could have taken It rejoined our comrades, and continued our raids Instead, tbe resident told the officers the story of our visit The schooner sailed the next day and In a little while met a steamer to which It trans ferred the news about us. The steamer In turn radioed a warning to the whole South seas. So we were now In for s warm welrome. (TO BE CONTINUED.) men, among whom was the British resident. He was a tall, lanky fellow who wore glasses, and looked a per feet picture of President Wilson. We found tills resident to be full ot the same British suspicion. Unlike his colleague at Atlu. he was In no wise lost in tropical Indolence, but was active and shrewd. We saw that he entertained the liveliest doubts about ua Might we not be wandering Ger mans? Ot course, he could not ven-, lure any forcible measures lo Invest! gate our case, such as searching our boat, for If we really were Germans we would doubtless be armed to the teeth, and In that case where would he be? He had no force to match ours. We tried our level best to quiet bis suspicions by our oiThaud. natural behavior. We thought our siHirtiLg voyage explamition and our request for a certificate, such as we had got from tbe resident at Atlu. plausible enough. It was too bud that we could not use the other resident's cerlllk'ate. but In It were written our supposed Dutch names, and now we were Nor weglaus. Tbe resident began by saying to us that we would no doubt be delighted to meet a fellow countryman of ours This "countryman" turned out to be a Norwegian carpenter. We surmised at once that he had been instructed by the resident to talk with us anil see whether we were really Norwegluni My Norwegian was bad, but Klrchelss spoke the language like a native. I kept severely out of the way. and let Klrchelss bave a long, friendly talk wltb the carpenter. Klrchelss convinced con-vinced his man that he was ss Norse ss tbe Vlklnga The carpenter was delighted to meet a fellow country man so Jovial and, as Kircbelss represented, repre-sented, so weolthy. He promptly re- ; ported to the resident that we were the truest Norsemen alive and could lo no wise be Oermans. ; The resident wllb bis Inscrutable President Wilson face. Invited me to his house for dinner. I accepted. A British merchant named Low Invited my lieutenant to his bouse. We sus |