Show aa eel ER all installment NT THIRTEEN ile THE STORY SO FAR karen waterton waterson who has come to Ilono honolulu lulu to press her claims to the island estate of alagoa learns that she Is not an heiress at all as her grandfather garrett waterson Is still alive and on his way nay to the island she and tonga dick or richard wayne a member of the wayne family which has been in control of the property since her grandfathers disappearance find and they are in love and decide to leave the island of alagoa together out to sea they discover that lilua a native house girl has stowed away aboard ship karen accuses dick of making love to the native girl and they quarrel angered dick orders the ship to return to alagoa on the way back lilua is found seriously hurt with a knife wound dick questions the chinese mess boy regarding the incident now continue with the story cm ahas anyone gone out of here the galley dick asked no sir this girl has been hurt stabbed cL you stay here with her do anything you can for her until I 1 get back the face of the chinese was staring with confusion and alarm very probably he had never seen the girl before in his life and now supposed that dick himself had done her in he remained silent however and stayed where he was told slid down the hand rail and landed at the foot of the ladder as dick turned someone was knifed here a minute ago dick told him when you heard beard that scream has anyone come up the ladder since then no captain dick but theres a man standing by the taff rail he acts queer maybe he is the one he stands naked by the rail and looks at the sea and the crew is afraid to go near him maybe he came up from here by the skylight dick snatched a rifle from a r rack ck upon the forward bulkhead it who is he do you know him its that big new kanaka 1 I hired no new Ka kanaka he came over the side out of the water just before we sailed he said you sent him his name is bokano I 1 think dick seized and pushed him up the ladder stop your engines he ordered following close on heels full astern no if you do that the propellers will catch him as he jumps man the dinghy with the four kanaka boys and lower away yes captain in a moment more everyone on the ship was snapped into action by shrill sputtering commands emerging on the deck dick saw at once the immensely tall broad pul dered figure of bokano stand q JS against the rail in the extreme stern ta n bokano faced the sea motionless ti as a mast the tall figure was no more than twenty five feet away and for a moment dick was strongly tempted to try bringing down bokano with the butt of his rifle he gave up that idea even if he succeeded in felling the big kanaka before bokano could leap into the sea the stunned man would be extremely likely to slither over the rail and sink like a plummet kamahu Ka makul roll the searchlight out karen was at his elbow her face white and frightened what is it happened lilus lover has come after her and got her dick said ashes killed A Fro probably probably bably U P r eyes were on the rifle in his hands bands what are you going to do going to call a policeman he snapped at her get that boat over what are you waiting for now the diesel quit so that the holokai seemed suddenly silent the rush of the water at her bows diminished as she lost way As it if awakened by the shutting down of the power the motionless figure in the stern came to life abruptly bokano sprang lightly onto the rail itself and for a moment poised upright then he launched into the night in a beautiful clean arc arms outspread turning downward to disappear almost silently into the black water now the big searchlight came trundling out on its unwieldy tripod in a moment more it began to sweep ing at the tall fin ot of kai ale ale was curving near gliding lazily unhurried dick fired again without effect he could not see his sights karens teeth were chattering 1 I thought I 1 thought you said sharks never harm brown men this thing like other sharks nobody knows anything about him the incredibly long monstrous shape of kai ale ale was sn outing near to the swimmer now bokano must have seen it but he swam straight on unmindful the boy manning the searchlight suddenly swung it aside and held it unsteadily upon the monster A long phosphorescent scent gleam ot of turned water suddenly shone hatt half the length of 00 4 A vast scimitar shaped thing higher than the Holo kais booms then it drove downward disappearing in black water the surface of the sea searching tor for the place where the swimmer would come up the Holo kais dinghy took to the water and immediately shot astern dick said to karen 1 I knew he was going to do that he walked after without hurry and took his place at the rail where bokano had stood there any way to stop him hell be easier to handle in the water would he try karen gasped could he possibly swim all the way back to of course not he expect to get back the searchlight picked up the swimmer now fifty yards back in the Holo kais wake in moments when the waves favored those on the deck of the vessel could glimpse a flash of wet shoulders but nothing else bokano was swimming face down taking advantage of the swells like a seal the holokai had lost steerage way and was rolling sickly in the swells dick braced a knee against the rail and brought his rifle up karen cried out would you shoot him in the water do you expect me to wait until he jumps into the air he fired and a spout of water sprang up tar far to the left of bokano karen saw now what dick was fir the whale sharks back emphasizing the unbelievable dick sighted upon the base of the great fin and fired four times suddenly the fin jerked rigid and a great gout of water went up the fin sunk from view tar far back incredibly tar far back from where it disappeared the great tail fluke rose out of the sea for a moment the searchlight held it a vast scimitar shaped thing higher from the water than the Holo kais booms then it drove downward disappearing in black water as kai ale ale sounded 41 stay down there a while dick s said aid did you kill it you cant kill that thing the searchlight found the boat again it was rising and falling idly and its bow rose clear of the water as the banakas hauled the slack body of bokano over the transom CHAPTER ArTER XII bokano that tall unhappy man who had tried to end liljas life and his own presently lay bound with wet cordage in a bunk one of his brother banakas had bashed him over the head with an oar as bokano had turned treading water to look at kai ale aie ale tonga dick wayne had been right in sending a kanaka crew in the boat to pick up bokano the maxim of south sea sailors was true that no one knew how to handle a kanaka except a kanaka bokano naked though he looked had his knife slung about his neck by a sennet cord and he would have slashed the wrist tendons of anyone who laid hands on him from the boat while he was conscious after one of them had knocked him out with an oar another kanaka had dived to rescue him and had stopped the sinking ot of the inert form it would have been weird watching for anyone to see those simple casual maneuvers the kanaka boys standing with easy natural balance in the reeling little boat on the swells of the sea letting the dinghy stand on the heel of her scant hull while they dragged bokano in without any one of them ever losing his superb balance and never shipping a quart of water nobody not a kanaka could ever understand the easy affinity of that amphibious people to the sea sea riding a small boat or a canoe or a floating stick as easily as a haole e walks on asphalt pavement or handles his knife and fork bound with cords that cut too deep ever to slip bokano lay in a bunk awake and impassive aft in dick waynes bed lay the girl bokano had tried to kill fighting for her life the intense native vitality of lileas body held onto life avidly regardless of how little lilua herself cared whether she lived or died karen waterson sat beside alitia and and the chinese mess boy hovered behind karen useful chiefly to hold lilua down when she could no longer be controlled lilua was not out of her head entirely she babbled unceasingly in the hawaiian tongue dick went away unable to listen any more lilua was talking as if her heart would break and kill her if her wound did not he went on deck and stood at the stern swaying to a sea he did not feel the holokai when full out had always had the character of a crazed animal able to drive across the surface of the sea like a thing possessed knocking the swells into spume but it seemed to dick now that she wallowed like a slug getting no place his whole soul was trying to jerk the holokai out of the cling of the sea he would have liked to lift her and throw her through space and bring her against the beach of alagoa like the thrust of a knife he was standing there watching what seemed to him the slug like process of the straining Hol holokai olai when karen came to his side im sorry karen said im terribly sorry dick this has been a thing such as I 1 have never seen dick said in a muffled way you dont know what youre saying how would you know dick karen said 1 I should never have come into the pacific above all I 1 should never have come to alagoa I 1 bring nobody anything but sorrow and trouble and death yes said dick brutally 1 I think karen said it if it hadil been for this mongrel girl it would have been all right were an awfully long way apart I 1 guess but except for her I 1 think you and I 1 would have got together in the end dick waynes elbows rested on the rail the holokai was throwing everything ery thing she had into kicking the sea behind her and the white boil of her wake stretched into a path that failed only with night vision but tonga dick was looking at something beyond its utmost reach he spoke thickly with an unaccustomed incoherence that girl knew what it was to love something he said it required a conscious effort of karens mind to know what girl he meant but when she had done that she was ready for what he said next even before he be said it without demanding anything without ever any questions or any terms none of this everlasting doubt and wavering and indecision once and for all she gave everything she had and asked for nothing 1 I suppose you mean karen said that this halt half caste girl this cousin of mine as you say it matters a lot to you it dick said bitterly exactly who this girl is I 1 would rather ask a woman what she thinks and feels than who she is and so karen said with something like a tone of despair if a brown woman or a black woman c can an let herself go more fully than I 1 can your answer is karen dick said if ever any woman has to ask herself it if she loves a man the answer is no the stubborn silence that tell fell between them then was broken very gratefully for them both by the impetuous projection of between them it always seemed that whatever did was high pres and sudden captain dick a vessel is coming in m ashes three points oft off the quarter now I 1 think it may be the boat you look for hard to tell yet from just the lights the two at the swinging their eyes to the left could now see on the horizon a speck of light that showed winking in the rise and fall of the sea the high running lights of a ship quartering in from beyond all ali right dick said when weve anchored ill go out and pilot her in I 1 when had moved away dick and karen stood silent tor for a little while when karen spoke it was a apparent that she was steadier better poised than he cant you be fair to me she said cant you be honest if you and I 1 cant be frank and honest with each other who in the world can honest you always been honest with me dick if you had told me at the first that garrett waterson was alive more honest I 1 think than you with me 1 I cant imagine what you mean youve played your hand alone or else with john colt never with me ive protected you in situations situation that you tried to conceal from me altogether TO BE CONTINUED M 7 |