Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, December 17, 1921, Page 9

eZ 5} > cS = <i “S ~S lam. ay, (—<——\-y'/ —_ 7TSR Rae ES no ee LSS — 4 to stgal the Magzie and her rich cargo, eile ft & § & For a long time gazed sea- Sines SYNOPSIS, ward. He was slower than his ship- " a mates tn making up his mind that the glown Garin Phineas P-| mate had really deserted them and “ er from, ese ‘boy on | sntled bri atid the fortunes of the ot wae aloes ownerthip | syndicate, the three, however, the spection protiined to be the inst | Stoical engineer accepted the altuation id. weatherbeaten veenel, ry bas wom “imeulty in’ securiag a -apureed the white sand with his foot and faced Mr. Gibney and Captain Scraggs with just whom ia Mire, ts he skipper, Hells Halvorsen, a solemn bre suspicion of a grin on bis homely Constite | ace. Bit cou . & wastrel of the Gib- oe Teigne in the Yreom “I make a motion,” he ssid, “that ; frown this motiey_ the syndicate pass a resolution con- ancient vessel, Captain Scrages | demniu' the acticc of the mate.” J Stay to. tn rar es igen a soars hope, and the jest (ra + pecan Maggie going | weut over the heeds of the deck de- partment. Said Mr. Gibney sadly: “There ain't no more Maggie II syn. dicate.” ite Sabore le the Yankee Prince, CHAPTER Xill. ae Relea ih — Nells Halvorsen often wondered con st ime dscep. | what had become of the Maggie and commanding be two tug- | Captain Scraggs. Mr. Gibney and Bar- S Fearing Tidieule ateatd | ‘Rolomew MeGuffey bo knew had turned their sun-tanned faces toward deep water some years before Captain Lor pg RD Mak’ to set's | Scraggs andthe Maggie disappeared =, and make repairs to| from the environs of San Francisco . bay, and Neils?Halvorsen was wise es refuses to ful- | enough to -waste no time wondering hig, promises and Gibney and Mc@uf- | what had become of them. These two ‘ships a crew. .At the end | worthles might be anywhere, and Ste ee oF wild conviviality Gibney | every concetvable thing under the sun fiat ‘old on te Maasie, They might have happened to them; hence, in his {dle moments, Nells Halvorsen neisco. they steht Ederelict Gibney and McGuttey ewies | G14 not disturb his gray matter spec. ulating on their whereabouts and their then condition of servitnde, be the: Chenapesio, richly lateh Tis en: with . But the continued absence of Cap- i sail ship 13 Ban ated Cost ee She ey their salvage money amount- waterfront, und in the course of time Steet ies | ee vie Semraae van on Soe cey Cone aco aae | Nella possied, that one pettectiy cater instead, two dead “hinamen. clear night, while beating down San + Pablo bay in his bay s the Will CHAPTER XIII.—Wwnhen the ship ar- y y scow, the ie rtves_in Honoiuluy Beil 1 vorsen, for-{ and Annie, he eo far forgot himself mer sepenbes, of and his own affairs as to concentra’ While the white all his attention on the preblem of the ~ @ crew of natives” ultimate finish of Captain Scrages. So engrossed was Neils in this vain Speculation that he neglected to ob- serve toward the rules of the ocean highways that nicety of attention which is highly requisite, even in the skipper of a bay scow, if the fulsome title of captain is to be retained for any definite period. As a result, Neils became confused regarding the exact number of blasts frofi the siren of a river steamer destring to pass him to, Port. Consequently the Willé and Annie recelved such a severe butting from the river steamer tn question as | to cause her to careen and fill. Betrg, \-] unfortunately, loaded with gravel on <,¢'=| this: particular trip, she subsided {n- continently to the boztom of San Pablo bay, while Neils and his crew of two men songht refuge on a plank. Without attempting~to go further Anto the details of the misfortunes of Netls' Halvorsen, be it known that the destruction of the Willie and Annie Proved to be such a sevare shock to Neils’ reputation as a safe and sane bay scow skipper that he was. ult!- mately forced to seek other and more yirgin fields. With the fragments of his meager fortune, the ambitious Swede purchased a course in a local nautical sthool from which he duly idea only by information he sbiatne rom ty ote erences time ny 08 t for his eartlose, Rel ined Nells is made a mem- vorsen the “syndicate.” At Honolulu the sym and the less for passenger the owners had’ planned. acrimoni ange of which theyshave renamed the Maggie 11,] managed to emerge with sufficient es their ‘of operations. They gall for Bout tslande, whi they plan} courage to appear before the United to obtain valuable Diack coral, a States “local inspectors of hulls and botiers and take his examination for & second mate's certificate, To his un- utterable surprise the license was granted; whereupon he shipped as quartermaster on the steamer Ala- meda, running to Honolulu, and what with the lesson taught bim In the loss of the Willie and Annie and the ex- acting duties of his office aboard the Uner, he forgot that he had ever a known Captain Scraggs. @ fistic’ com- Judge of Nells Halvorsen's surprise, fight) therefore, upon the occasion of his first trip to Honolulo, when he saw something which brought the whole matter back to mind, They were standing In toward Dinmond head and the Alameda lay hove to taking on the pilot, It was early morning and the purple mists hung over the entrance to the harbor. Neils Halvorsen stood CHA) XL—Going ashore with sup- cr , Gib a Leroi ee oat CHAPTER —McGuffey, believing friends to ioen been Pit shells the and and ery “syndicate” @ valuabl ot coral and sails for homs. W11 double idea of punishing the cannibals for their treachery and ha’ ae Ure ea with ha is pot. toni Mecutrey <arran Fee ee MeGuffey looked, and his face went whiter than the foaming breakers be- yond which he could ‘see Maggie I, un- der full sail, headed for the open sea. ‘The small boat had been picked up, | at the gangway enjoying the sunrise and there was no doubt that at her | over the Punch-bowl, and glancing Present rate of speed the schooner | longingly toward the vivid green of would be hull down on the horizon by | the hills beyand the city, when he was sunset, ~ aware of a “put,” “put,” “put,” to \ “The murderin’ hound,” whispered | starboard of the Alameda. Nells turned at the sound just fn time to see a beautiful gasoline schooner of about a hundred and thirty tons head. ing in toward the bay. She was so ‘close that Neils wos enabled to make out that her name was Maggie I. “Vell, aye be dam,” muttered Neils, and scratched his head, for the name revived old memories, Ax hour later, when the Alameda Joafed into her berth at Brewer's dock, Neils noticed that the schooner Iny at anchor off the —It’s mutiny,” gulped Captain Scraggs in a hard, strained voice. : bloody fiend of 2 mate! The sly sneak-thief, with his pleasant smile his winnia’ ways! Saw a chance and he fs leavin’ us here, marooned on 2 desert island, with two cannibals.” Captain Scroggs fairly shrieked the last two words and burst Into tears. kee =< SZ (ES => DI On wx a as \ La 7 i) SSS YS = SS eS | | on provisions and water today will pro- ceed to San Francisco, tomorrow, for dis charge of cargo.” “By yiminy,” quoth Neils Halvorsen, “aye bat you that bane de ole man so sure as you bane alive. And aye bat new bat he skall be glad to see Neils Hatvorsen, I guess aye hire Kanaks boy an’ he bane pull me out to see de ole man.” A Jacob's Indder was banging over the side of the schooner as the canoe shot in under her lee quarter, and half a minute later the expectant Neils stepped upon her deck. A tall dark | man, wenring en ancient palmieaf bat, sat smoking on the hatch coam- log, and him Neils Halvorsen ad- dressed. bane want s. " he sald. ‘The tall dark man stood erect and cast a quick, questioning look at Nells Halvorsen. He hesitated before he made answer. “What do you want?” he asked de- Itberately, and there was a subtle menace in his tones. As for Neils Halvorsen, thinking only of the sur- prise he had in store for his old em- ployer, he replied evasively: te sce Cap'n | marooned. They had gone ashore for “Aye bane want job.” “Well, I'm Captain Scraggs, and T haven't any Job for you. Get off my boat and walt until you're Invited be- fore you come aboard again.” For nearly a minute Neils Halvor- sen stared open-monuthed at the spurt- ous Captain Scraggs, while slowly there sifted through his brain the no- tion that he had happened actoss the track of a deep and bloody mystery of the seas. There was “something rotten In Denmark.” Of that Netls Halvorsen was certain. More he could not. be Certain of until he had paved the way for a’ complete tnvestigation, and a8 a preliminary step toward that end he clinched his fist and sprang swiftly toward the bogus skip- “Aye tenk you bane d—n lar,” he muttered, and struck home, straight and true, to the point of the jaw. The man went down, and in an tn- stant Neils was on top of him. Of came the sallor’s belt, the Bente 6 the : man were quickly i rei him, and Before he had time to realize what had happened Nells had’ cur. a length of cord from a trailing halyard and tied his fect securely, after which he gagged him securely with his bandana handker- chief, A quick circtiit of the ship con- vinced Netls Halvorsen that the re- mainder of the dastard crew were evidently ashore, so he descended to the cabin in search of further evi- dence of crime. He was quite pre- red to find Captain Scraggs’ .mas- ter's certificate In its famillar oaken frame, hanging on the cabin wall, but he was dumfounded to observe, hang- ing on’ thé wall in’ a’ stmilar and equally familar frame, the certificate of Adelbert P. Gibney as first mate of steam or sail, any ocean and any tonnage, But still a third framed certificate hung on the wall, ind Nells again ~scratched his head when he read the wording that set forth the legal qualifications of Bartholomew McGuffey to hold down a job as chief engineer of coastwise- vessels up to 1,200 tons. net register. It was patent, even to the dull- } witted..Swede, that there'had been foul play somewhere, n/1 the schoon- er’s_ log, lying open on the table,’ seemed to offer the first means at hand for a solution of the mystery. Eagerly Nells turned to the last ¢ try. It was not in Captain Scraggs’ handwriting, and contained nothing more interesting than the stereotyped reports of dolly observations, cur rents, weather conditions, etc, {n- cluding a notation of arrival that day at Honolulu. Slowly Halvorsen turned the leaves backward, until at last he was rewarded by a glimpse of a different handwriting. It was the last entry under that particular hand- writing, and read as follows: “June 21, 19%. Took an observation at hoon, and find that we are in tholo early this afternoon. well and looking forward to the fun at Tuvana. Bent a new flying jib this morn- ing and had the king and Tabu-Tabu holystone the deck. A. P, GIBNEY." Netls Halvorsen sat down to think, and after several minutes of this un- usual exercise it appenred to the Swede that he had stumbled upon a clue to the situation. The last entry In the log kept hy Mr, Gibney was Onder date-of June 21st—just eleven days ago, and on that date Mr. Gib- ney had been looking forward to some fun at Tuvana-tholo. Now where was that Island and what kind of a Place was it? Netls searched through the cabin ‘until he came across the book that ts the bible of every South sea trading yessel—the British admiralty reports. Down the index went the old deck- hand's calloused finger and paused at “Friendly {slands—page 177;" where- upon Nefls opened the book at page 177 and after a five-minute search discovered that Tuvana-tholo was & barren, uninhabited island in Jntitude : 21-2 south, longitude 178-49 west. from the Friendly islands, That meant under with the trades abaft would take nearer ff- the run from Honolula wondered whether the nin- rooned men would still be alive by the time ald could reach them, For by some sixth sailor sense Nels Hal- | vorsen became convinced that his old friends of the vegetable trade were had stolen the schooner and left them to their fate, believing that the cast aways would never be heard from and that dead men tell:no tales. Ho rushed on deck, carried his pris- oner down Into the cabin, and locked the door on him. A minute later he was clinging to the Jacob's ladder, the canoe shot In to the side of the vessel at his graff command and passed on shoreward without missing a stroke of the paddle. An hour (ater, accompanied by three Kanaka sailors picked up at random along the water front, Neils Halvorsen was | pulled out to the Maggie I Her crew had not returned and the bogus captain was still triced bard and fast in’the cabin, The Swede did not bother to inves- | tigate in detall the food and water | supply. A hasty round of the schoon- er convinced him. that she had at least a month's supply of food and water. Only one thought surged through his mind, and that was the awful necessity for haste. The an- chor came in with a rush, the Ka- naka boys chanting a song that sounded to Neils like a funeral dirge, and Nefis went below and turned the gasoline engines wide open. The Maggie II swung around and with a long streak of opalescent foam trail- ing behind, her swung down the bay and faded nt last in the ghostly moon- light beyond Diamond head; after which Neils Halvorsen, with murder tn his eye and a tarred rope’s end In his horny fist, went down into the cabin and talked to the man who posed as Captain Scraggs. In the end he got confession. Fifteen minutes later he emerged, sm!ling grimly, gave the Kataka boy at the wheel the course, and turned tn to sleep the sleep of the consclence-free and the weary. . OT idk Dee eek Tan aE) Darkness was creeping over the beach at Tuvana-tholo before Mr. Gibney could smotWer the despair in his heart suffictent to spur his jaded imagination to working order. For nearly an hour the three castaways tad sat on tho beach in dumb horror, gazing seaward. They were not alone 1n this, for a little further up the beach the two Fiji islanders sat huddled on | thelr haunches, gazing stupidly first at the horizon and then at their white captors. It was the sight of these two worthies that spurred Mr. Gib- ney’s torpid brain to action. “Didn't you say, Mac, that when we left these two cannibals alone on this {sland that {t would develop Into a case of dog eat dog or somethin’ of that nature?” Captaln Scraggs sprang to his feet, his face white with a new terror. However, he had endured so muth since embarking with Mr. Gibney on a Ufe of. wild adventure that his netves had become rather inured to impending death, and presently his fear gave way to an overmastering rage. He hurled his hat on the sands and jumped on {t until it was a mere shapeless rag. “Let's call a meetin’ of the Robin- son Crusoe syndicate,” sald Mr. Gib- ney. “Second the motion,” rumbled Mec- Guffey. “Carried,” sald the commodore. “The first business before the meetin’ fs the organization of a expedition to chase these two cannibals to the other end of the Island. I ain't got the heart to kill ‘em, so'let's chase 'em away before they get fresh with us.” “Good idea,” responded McGuffey, whereupon he picked up a rock and threw it at the king. Mr. Gibney fol- lowed with two rocks, Captain Scraggs screamed defiance at the en- emy, and the enemy fled in wild dis- order, pursued by the synditate. After a chase of half a mile Mr. Gibney led hfs Cohorts back to the beach. “Let's build a fire—not that we need it, Dut just for company—and sleep till mornin’. By that time my imagination’ll be tn workin’ order and I'll scheme a breakfast out of this Godforsaken hole.” At the first hint of dawn Mr. Gib- ney, true to his promise, was up and scouting for breakfast. He found some gooneys on a rocky crag and killed half a dozen of them with a club. On his way back to camp he discovered a few handfuls of sea salt in a crevice between some rocks, and the syndicate breakfasted an hour later on roast gooney. It was olly and fishy but an excellent substitute for nothing at all, and the syndicate was grateful. The breakfast would have been cheerful, in fact, if Captain Scraggs had not made reprated ref- erence to his excessive thirst. Me- Guffey lost patience before the meal was over, and cuffed Captain Scragss. who thereupan subsided with tears in his eyes, This hurt McGuffey. It w like salt in a fresh wound, 80 he pat- ted the skipper on the back and humbly asked his pardon, Captain Scraggs forgave him and murmured something about death making them all equal. “The next business before the syn- dicate,” announced Mr. Gibne: a search of this island for wnter.’ They searched all forenoon, At in- tervals they caught glimpses of the | two cannibals skulking behind sand dunes, but they found no water. Toward the center of the Island, how: ever, the soll was less barren, and here a grove of coconut palms lifted their tufted crests invitingly. “We will camp in this grove,” said the commodore, “and keep guard over these green cocousta, There must be pearly a hundred of them and I no tice @ little taro root here and there. As those coconuts are full of milk, that insures us life for a week or two f we go on a short ration. By bath- in’ several times a day we can keep down our thirst some and perhaps | itl rain.” “What {f it does?" snapped Captain Scraggs bitterly, “We ain't got noth- fa’ but our hats to catch it in.” “Well, then, Scraggsy, old stick-in- the mud,” replied the commodore quizzically, “It's a cinch you'll go thirsty. Your hat looks Ike a cul- lender.” Captain Scraggs choked with rage, and Mr. Gibney, springing et the near- est palm, shinned to the top of it in the most approvéd sailor fashion. A moment later, instead of coconuts, rich unctuous curses began to de scend on McGuffey and Scraggs. “Gib,- my dear boy,” inquired Scraggs, “whatever ts the matter of you?" | “That hound Tabu-Tabu's been strippin' our coconut grove, roared the commodore, “He must hare spent half the night up in these trees.” “Thank the Lord they didn't take ‘em all," sald McGuffey plously.. “Chuck me down a nut, Gib,” said Captain Scraggs. “I'm famished.” In conformity with the commodore’s plans, the castaways made camp tn the greve, For a week they subsist- ed on gooneys, taro root, coconuts and coconut milk, and a sea-turtle which Sctaggs found wandering on the beach. This suggested turtle eggs to Mr. Gibney, and a change of diet resulted. Nevertheless, the un- accustomed food, poorly cooked as it was, and the lack of water, told cru- elly on them, and thelr strength tufled rapidly. At the end of s week, all hands were troubled with Indigestion and McGaf- fey developed a low fever. They had fost much flesh and were a white, ‘hag- gurd-looking trio. On the afternoon of the tenth day on the island the sky clouded up and Mr. McGuffey predict. ed a williwaw, Captain Scraggs in- quired feebly !f It was good to ent. That night it rained, and. to the great Joy of the marooned mariners Mr. Gibney discovered, in the center of » blg sandstone rock, a natural reser. voir that held about ten gallons of wa- ter, They drank to repletion and felt thelr strength return a thousand-fold. Tabu-Tabu and the king came Into “amp about this time, and pleaded for a ration of water. Mr. Gibney, swear- ng horribly at them, granted their re- nuest, and the king, tn his gratitude, ‘hrew himself at the commodore's feet ind kissed them, But Mr. Gibney was not to be decelved, and after furnish- ing them with a supply of water in ‘oconut calabashes, he ordered them to, thelr own side of the Islund. On the eighteenth day the last drop of water was gone, and on the twenty- second day the last of the coconuts disappeared. The prospects of more rain were not bright. The gooneys were becoming shy and distrustful and the syndicate was experiencing more and more difficulty, not only in killing them, but in eating them. ‘McGuffey, who had borne up uncomplainingly, was shaking with fever and hardly able to stagger down the beach to look for turtle eggs. The syndicate was sick, weak and emaciated almost be- yond recognition, and on the twenty- fifth day Captain Scraggs fainted twice. On the twenty-sixth day Me- Guffey crawled into the shadow of a stunted mimosa bush and started to pray! It was the finish. The commodore knew it, and eat with bowed head in his gaunt arms, wondering, wondering. Slowly his body began to sway; he muttered something, slid forward on his face, and lay still. And as he lay there on the threshold of the unknown be dresmed that the Maggie II came Into view around the headland, a bone in her teeth and every stitch of canvas flying. He saw her luff up into the wind and hang there shivering; a mo- ment later her sails came down by the run, and he saw n little splash under her port bow as her hook took bottom, There was a commotion on decks, and then to Mr. Gibney's dying ears came faintly the shouts and songs of the black boys as a whaleboat shot Into the breakers and pulled swiftly toward the bench. Mr. Gibney dreamed that | a white man sat In the stern sheets of this. whaleboat, and as the boat touched the beach it seemed to Mr. Gibney that this man sprang ashore and ran swiftly toward him, And— Mr. Gibney twisted his suffering lps into a wry sinile as he realized the oddities of this mirage—it seemed to him that this visionary white man bore’a striking resemblance to Nella Halvorsen, ..Neils Halvorsen, of all men! Ole Wells, “the squarehead” deckhand of the greer.-pea trade! Dull, bowlegged Neils, with his lost dog smile and his— Mr. Gibney rubbed his eyes feebly and half staggered to his feet, What was that? A shout? Without doubt he had heard a sound that was not the moaning of* their remorseless prison: keeper, the sen, And— “Hands off,” shrieked Mr. Gibney and struck feebly at the imaginary fig- pre rushing toward him, No use. He felt himself swept into strong arms and carried an immeasurable distance down the beach, Then somebody threw water in his face and pressed a drink of brandy and sweet water to Lis parched Hps, His swimming senses rullled a moment, and he discovered that he was lying in the bottom of a whaleboat. MeGuffey lay beside him, and ona _thwdrt in front of hin To good old Neila Ha:vorse: Seraggs’ heag on his opened glanced up at Nells Halvorsen, spoke: “Why if % ain't olf squarchead Neils." he muttered wondering!y tt aln’t Nefla, TM go to hades or some other seaport.” He closed h again and subsided into a sort argy, for he was content, He knew he was saver. Mr. Gibney rolled over, and, strog. gling to his knees, leaned over Ne Guffey and peered tnto his drawn “Mac, old shipmate! Mac, speak to me. Are you alive?” B. McGuffey, Esquire, opened a pair of glazed eyes and stared at the com modorea. “Did we Uck ‘em?” he whispered. “The Inst I remember the king wes puttin’ it all over Scraggsy. Tabu boy—was—no slouch.” Me fey paused, and glanced warily around the boat, while a dawning horror ap peared in his sunken eyes. “Go back, Netls—go back—for God's snke. There’s two niggers—st on the— fsland. Bring—em some—water, They're cannibals—Nells, but never— mind. Get them—aboard— devils—tf they're living. leave a—crocodile on that—hell if I could—help tt.” An hour, later the Robinson Crusoe syndicate, including the man Fr and the Goat, were safe aboord the Maggie IT, and Nefls Halvorsen, with the tears streaming down his bronzed cheeks, was sparingly doling out to them a mixture of brandy and water. And when the syndicate was strong enough to be allowed ell the water It wanted, Nellis Halvorsen propped them up on deck and told the story, When he had fintshed, Captain Scraggs turned to Mr. Gibney. “Gib, my dear boy,” he sald, “make & motion.” if “I move,” snid the commodore, “that we set Tabu-Tabu and the king down on the first inhabited tsland we can find. They've suffered enough. And I further move that we readjust the ownership of the Maggle Il syndicate and cut the best Swede on earth in on ® quarter of the profits.” ’ “Second the motion,” sald McGuffey, “Carried,” sald Captain Scraggs. CHAPTER XIV. The lookout on the power sctrooner Magele IT had sighted Diamond head before Commodere Adelbert P. Gibney, Captain Phineas P. Scrages, and En- gineer Bartholomew McGuffey were enabled to declare, in all sincerity (or at least with as much sincertfy as one might reasonably expect from this hand of rovifig rascals), that they bad en- tirely recovered from thelr harrowing experiences on the desert {sland of Tu- vana-tholo, in the Friendly group. At the shout of “Land, ho!” Mr. Me- Guffey yawned, stretched himself, and gat up in the wicker lounging chair | where he had sprawled for days with Mr. Gibney and Captain Scraggs, un- | der the awning on top of the house. He flexed his biceps reflectively, while his companions, stretched at full length in their respective cliatrs, watched him lazily. “As a member o' the Maggio syndl- cate an’ ownin' an’ votin’ a quarter In- terest,” boomed the engineer, “I here- by call a meetin’ o' the sald syndicate for the purpose o’ transactin’ any an’ all business that mny properly come before the meetin’.” iss the word for Neils Halvor- suggested Mr. Gibney, “Bless his squarehead soul,” he added. “We got a quorum without him, an’ besides this business {s just between ‘us three.” “I move you, gentlemen, that It be the sense o' this meetin’ that B, Me- Guffey, Esquire, be an’ he ts hereby app’inted a committee o' one to lam the everlastin’ daylights out o' that sinful former chief mate o’ ourn for abandonin’ the syndicate to a horrible death on that there desert island. Do Thear a second to that motion?” tain Scraggs. “The motion's denied,” Mr, Gibney firmly. “Now, looky here, Gib, that ain't fair, Didn’t you fight Tabu-Tabu co’ didn't Scraggsy fight the king o’ Kan- davu? I ain’t had no fightin’ this en- tire v’yage an’ I did cal'late to lick that doggone mate.” “Mac, it can't be done nohow.” “Oh, it can’t, eh? Well, you two boys my Interest In the syndl cate—" announced body's doubtin’ your natural ability to mop him.up. But {t ain't policy. You wasn't sore agin ‘em cannibal savages, was you? You made Neils go back an’ save ‘em, an’ it took us two days to beat up to the first in- habtted tsland an’ drop ‘em off—" « “But a cannibal's like a dumb beast, Gib. knows’ better.” “shi” Mr, Gibney leveled a horny forefinger at the engineer. “That's where you hit the nail on the head. He's too fly, and there's only two with us. The first {s to feed him to the sharks and the second Is to treat him Ike a long-lost brother. I know he ought to be hove overboard, but I ain't got the heart to kill him tn cold blood. Consequently, -ve got to let the villain live, an’ {f you go to deatin’ him up, Mac, you'll make h!m sore an’ he'll peach on us when we get to Hono- lulu. If us three could get back to San Francisco with clean hands, I'd say Hck the beggar an’ lick him for fair. Bat we got to remember that this mate S eS SASS : Naz eg A And boot “Meetin'll come to order." The | commodore tapped the hot deck with hig bare heel twice. “Haul away, Mac.” “Second the motion,” chirped Cap- | I'l just bet | “It ain't that, Mac, It ain’t that. No- | He ain’t responsible. This mate | ways to keep him from flyin’ away | was o° the original Mibuster crew o the old Maggie L The day we tackled the Mexican mavy an’ took this power schooner away from ‘em, we put ourselves forty fathom plumb outside the law, an’ this mate was present an* knows it. We've changed name an‘ rig, an’ doctored Id Maggte’s papers to sult the e Tl, an’ we've give her a new But at that, {t's hard to dis a ship tn @ live port, an’ the se ‘vice agents o° the Mexican gov- y be @layin’ for us tn San and with this here mate * ready to turn state's evi- dress, “We're Pirates Under the Law—* lence, we're pirates under the law, an’ It don't take much Imagination to see three pirates swingin’ from the same yard-arm. No, sir, Mac. I atn’t got no wish, now that we're fixed nice an’ comfortable with the world’s goods, to be hung for a pirate tn the mere shank ©’ my youth. Why, I ain't fifty year old yet.” the tafl o’ the Great Sacred chattered Scraggs. “Gth's right.” McGuffey was plainly disappointed, | “I hadn't thought o' that at all Gib, I been cherlshin’ the thought o’ jammin’ the whey out’n that mate, but !f you | say so I'll give up the idee, But if | bringin’ the Maggle II tnto home wa- ters {s tnvitin’ death, what tn blue blazes're we goin’ to do with her?” Mr. Gibney sm!led—an arch, cunning smile. “We'll give her to that mur. derin’ mate, free gratis.” Captain Scraggs bounded out of his ir, struck the hot deck with his e feet, cursed, and hopped back | into the chair again, McGuffey stared incredulously. “Gtb, my dear boy,” quavered Scraggs, “say that agin.” “Yes,” continued the commodore | placidly, “we'll just get shet- o' her peaceable like by givin’ her to’ this mate. Don't forget, Scraggsy, old tar- pot, that this mate's been passin’ him- self off for you in Honolulu, an’ if there's ever an investigation, the trail leads to the Maggie I, This mate's | admitted belng Captain Seraggs, an’ if he's found with the schooner tn his possession tt'll take a Keap o* evidence for him to prove that he ain’t Captain Scraggs. We'll just keep this here mate in the brig while we'ro disposing of. our black coral, pearl, shell and copra in Honolulu, an’ then, wheg we've cleaned up, an’ got our passages booked for San Francisco—” “But who says we're goin’ back to San Francisco?" cut in MeGuffey, “Why, where else would men with money in thelr pockets head for, you oll-soaked plece of ignorance? Ain't you tad enough adventure to do you a spell?” demanded Captain Scraggs. “Me an’ Gib's for goin’ back to San If you got any Francisco, so shut up. | objection, fey subsided, Mr. Gibney continued: “When we're ready to leave Hono- | tnlu, we'll bring this mate on deck, e him a kind Christian talk .an’ give him the Maggie II with the com- pliments o' the syndicate, He'll think our sufferin's on that island has touched us with religion an’ he'll be so tickled he'll keep his mouth shut. Then, with all three of us safe an’ ott o’ the mess, an’ the evidence off our hands, we'll clear out for Gawd’s coun- try an’ look around; fer some sort of a profitable investment.” The commodore sighed. “She's a love of a bont an’ ft breaks my heart to give up the only command I’ve ever had, but the fact ts, Mac, her posses- sion by us ts dangerous, an’ we don't need her, an’ we can’t sell her because her reeord’s got blurs on tt. We can't convey a clean an’ satisfactory title. | Anyhow, she didn’t cost us a cent an’ there ain't no real financial loss if we give her to this mate. He'd be glad to get her if she bad yellow jack abonrd, an’ if he’s caught with her he'll have to’ do the explainin’. When you're | cnught with the goods in your posses- | sion. Mac, it makes the explatnin’ all | the harder. Besides, we're three to | one, an’ If tt comes to a show-down later we can outswear the mate.” Captain Scraggs picked his snaggle with the little blade of his Jack- gitated a minnte, announced presently, “far to fly in the face o' a T've made a heap of ’ Gib's advice, an’ bust growling, and | | be tt from r m’s death. in »b-stny If I don’t stay put on this, Gib, It’s your lead.” | (To be Continued) MSE HOS SS There 1s no Ch ae Ms W 84 vwaer® s8irses forse oe