Evening Star Newspaper, October 20, 1935, Page 95

Magazine Section Everything went green, and darker after that, and presently Terry felt the side of the Amarillis under his feet. Turning slowly about, he could see how she'd sunk. In clearing the reef she had torn her bottom out. The bow was high and headed out to sea. The Greek had lowered him even with the bridge. Moving slowly up the side of the ship, Terry looked down over the deck. Still held by the falls, a life boat swung bottom up, caught before it could be launched. It was strange, looking down on the bridge, nearly vertically like that. Evidently the sun had come out, the visibility was so good. He could read the signal on the engine telegraph: “‘Full speed ahead.” Everything buoyant, chairs, fibre mat- ting, and a lot of cushions, had floated up against the windows through which he looked. Along the side of the yacht Terry moved slowly, leaning against a strong tide. The plates underfoot weren’t even slimy yet. It would be a clean job. He was looking for Drayton’s cabin. When he had found and identified that, he would look for a safe. The money, if any, he felt sure would be there. Stepping across a closed port, he saw something white against the glass. He went back and looked.It was a man’s clenched hand. He didn’t stop. Below, and behind the bridge would be the dining room, and lounge. No use wasting time on that. Next, pos- sibly, the owner’s cabin. Terry asked for more line. When he got it, he dropped over the rail on to the side of the deck house. He landed on a door. Stepping back, he stopped, grasped the handle, and raised up the door. Something glimmered in the dim green light. It turned out to be the metal faucets over a sink. Just the pantry — a bum guess. He moved on, and suddenly he came aware of Finch’s voice. “What do you see?"’ The fool was excited; Terry could tell by the way he talked. “A lot of water,” he shouted back. In the next half hour Terry dis- covered that the deck house of the Amarillis was unlike that of other vachts. The dining room was aft. Drayton'’s cabin in that case might be forward and behind one of the doors he'd passed up. Because the tide was with him, it was casier going back. The clenched fist seemed to threaten him as he passed over the port hole next to the doors he had missed. Terry raised the next door, and something white floated up. He watched it pass —a pillow, and that meant a bedroom at last, Then he had mercy on Finch. Into the mouthpiece he said, ‘It looks good; give me line.”’ When he saw the connections loop- ing down through the green haze, Terry dropped through the doorway. A bed screwed to the floor saved him from sinking to the lower wall. It was what he wanted. It placed him in the center of the room where he could look about. He let Finch know that the connections were down far enough. Everything loose and buoyant rested against the top wall. The place was a mess. With his crowbar, he cleared the windows and the light flooded in from above. Then he looked about. Being on deck like this, it was un- doubtedly the owner’s cabin. Pres- ently, above a picture hanging askew on the wall, Terry saw what he was looking for — the dial of a safe. He knew at once that getting the safe out was going to be tough. It meant hack- ing the steel box out of the wall. But with the first thrust of the crowbar he saw that his guess was wrong. The wall was nothing but composition boarding. The point of the crowbar had sunk in deep. Breaking the wall away, he saw that the safe was an- chored at the corners to two cross- beams. He spoke into the mouthpiece then, and asked for the hacksaw. He heard Finch give the order to the Greek, and presently the saw dropped slowly through the green haze. To have hit the doorway accu- rately like that, the Greek must have been watching him through a water glass. All right, let him watch. Sawing the anchor studs through took Terry longer than he had ex- pected. After each stud he had to rest. The pressure of the water weakened the force of his strokes and exhausted him. With the last stud cut through, he asked Finch for the grapnels. A minute later, looking up, he saw the big hooks dangling through the door- THIS WEEK Dark Waters Continued from page eleven way. The Greek was doing his job well. When he had enough cable, Terry fastened the grapnels onto the safe four ways. The Greek could wrench the safe from the wall with the hoist. “Let her go,” he called into the mouthpiece. He watched the cables tighten, and then suddenly the safe swung out and away from the wall. ‘““Hold it,” he said into the mouth- piece, but there was no reply from Finch. “Finch, are you there?"’ he asked. Only a faint buzzing came through the ’phones. Terry knew what had happened. Finch had deserted his post. Overcome with curiosity and greed, the rat was probably looking through the water glass. To hell with the guy who got the stuff, to hell with every- thing. He was going to get his hands on the gold. But not so fast, Finch, you haven’t got the safe through the doorway yet. That required expert manoeuvering of the hoist, which Terry would do from above. Terry lay on his back and looked up. The corner of the safe had jammed against the side of the door, as he knew it would. Now they’d be calling to him to guide it through. Now that they needed him, Finch would go back to the pumps. They'd give him air now, and he’d tell them to bring him up. The tight feel- ing in Terry’s lungs began soon after that. He'd felt it before once when the pumps had failed, and he’d passed out. Damn them, what were they doing? Trying to tear the side of the cabin out. They'd break the cables. Damn them! Damn the pain in his chest. Unless they gave him air soon. . . . “Finch, Finch!” But what was the good of yelping? Finch had probably thrown the earphones overboard. “Finch.” God, if the cables would only break. If they just would use a little sense and give up. “Finch!” It was gettingdark. The sun must have gone under. “Finch!” My God, were they ever going to give up? Looking up, Terry saw the wall of the cabin slowly give under the pres- sure of the hoist. He wasted the last bit of precious air calling for Finch. Then, just before everything grew black, he heard Joan calling to him. Her voice reached him faintly. It was as if she were calling to him from miles away. Gradually he became conscious of a loud hammering. A moment later he knew that he was lying on the deck of the tug with his helmet off. He took a great gulp of air and opened his eyes. Joan was leaning over him, with Lawson looking over her shoulder. Terry looked around. Finch and the Greek were trying to wreck the safe with sledge hammers. Under their blows they were slowly driving it ahead of them across the deck. He looked up at Joan. She was smiling and pushing his hair back from his eyes. He felt cold and very tired. She poured some rum into his mouth, and he could feel the stuff go all through him. Presently the pounding ceased, and he could hear the hiss of a blow torch. He sat up then, and Joan and the old man helped him out of his suit. She said, “They forgot all about For a long time Terry sat on the stern winch. Joan and the old man stood watching him without saying anything. At last, when he felt better, he stood up. “Go below,” he said, ‘“‘and stay there until I come for you.” They went ahead of him towards the deck house. Finch and the Greekdidn't see them pass. They didn’t even know they were there. Finch was working the blow torch around the lock of the safe, and the Greek was telling.him how to do it. Watching them through the rear port hole, Terry drank a pint of rum and threw the bottle out of the port. Heknew only onething : He was going to get them. The Thompson gun lay on the lounge in front of him. He checked the magazine and saw it was full. He waited until they had opened the safe; then he picked up the gun and went on deck. Standing close to the deck house, he called to them. He couldn’t shoot them in the back. He wanted them to know they were getting it. He wanted to see their faces when they knew that they hadn’t a chance. ‘“Hey! Finch! Joe!"” They never heard him. The Greek had a strong box on the deck and was trying to open it with a sledge ham- mer. The box bounced under the blows, and suddenly sprung open. Glittering in the sun, several gold coins rolled out and across the deck. They both sprang for the box, and Finch recoiled under the impact of their bodies meeting. Cursing, Finch got to his feet, and Sealed Under Glass Continued from page four he did not know. All he did know for a certainty was that he Rad violated his wife, had spent upon her a stored wrath of love which she could never have dreamt he possessed. And he was not sorry, for there had been one electric instant toward the last when something in Lois had responded to his own crude vehemence. Whatever happened, he would have that little instant to remember. “Dan!”’ Lois’s whisper made him start upright. He stared at her. In the evening radiance he could see that she stood very straight, and that she was smiling in a strange way. “I thought you were going to the lodge,” he said harshly. “Dan, oh, Dan!” She was seated close beside him before he was aware that she had moved, and her hands were clinging tightly to his. “I've never known you before tonight! Why didn’t you tell me long ago that you knew — what a fool I've been?”’ He looked at her blankly. “You'd better say what you mean, Lois,” he replied stiffly. She laid her head down against his arm and laughed tremulously. “You've known, somehow, Dan, that I was in love with Gailord Morse once, and that I thought I still was. You must have known, or you wouldn’t have lied to me tonight about how wonder- ful he still is! And you wouldn't have told me he was leaving tonight, in- stead of tomorrow!” He started, and she laughed again with a little sob. “See? How you give yourself away! Gailord and that wo- man who'’s buying his place came by our road today, Dan. She was driving. She asked me the way, because — Gailord wasn’t able to. But I saw him, Dan. He looked at me, but he didn't know me from a fence post! Then, before you got home, Newt Shafer came over with your brief case, which you had left in the cloak room. Newt told me all about Gailord Morse and the jewelry he had stolen from that woman, and everything. Then you came home for supper, and what you said was so different, wasn’t it? You couldn’t have made up that story un- less you wanted to spare me a shock, could you, Dan?”’ She was almost breathless now, and yet he sat rigid. Gratitude again, — no, he could do without that! “All right,” he said shortly. “I'm sorry it was all for nothing, Lois.” ‘“‘Nothing?"’ She stood up, straight, slim and blazing. ‘‘Why do you sup- pose I pretended that I was going over to the lodge? Because I wanted to see what you would do about it — that's why! And you did something about it — and now you sit there and say it was all for nothing! I’ve been asleep for five years — I've wakened sud- denly — and now you tell me it was all for nothing!” She turned about furiously, a swirl of white, but Dan had risen and caught her before she had gone three steps from him. threw himself into the mouth of the safe. He had to have some of the money for himself. They were like hogs feeding in slime. ““Hey you, Joe, Finch. Hey, Finch.” They didn’t even know he was alive. Then Terry let a burst go over their heads, and they turned suddenly — frozen and wide-eyed with astonish- ment. Terry decided he wouldn’t talk, He stood watching their faces. They were so funny he nearly laughed. Then, gradually as he saw their as- tonishment change to fear, he watched them more closely. He watched the Greek rather than Finch. Finch was smart; he'd try to talk his way out. But not the Greek. When the Greek was scared, he talked with his gat. Terry watched his face. He could see him decide he hadn’t much chance. He recognized the glint in the Greek’s eyes the instant he decided to shoot. Finch had started to talk and had got as far as ““Now listen, McGovern"’ — when the Greek started to reach for his gat. Then Terry let him have it. They were standing close together. He fired in a small arch until they both went down. Then when Terry saw that they lay quite still, he threw the Thompson gun overboard. He felt cold sober after that. He could hear Joan calling to him from below. She’d heard the shots. From the top of the companionway, he told her to stay below. Sprawled all over the stern, Finch and the Greek didn’t look so nice. Terry saw that there was a smudge of smoke on the horizon to the north; the Devlin trawler without a doubt! Just a couple of hours too late. The thing to do he decided was to get away as soon as he could. Raising the anchor, he headed the tug due south. It would do for the present. A half hour later, he glanced back and saw that the smudge of smoke had disappeared. He also no- ticed two long grey shapes moving through the water just over the stern of the boat. He decided to cooperate. The sharks would get a nice meal, and the world would be rid of the slightest evidence of Finch and the Greek. Terry went aft, threw the bodies overboard, and watched the two sharks move up. Then he got a mop and swabbed up the deck. Joan was watch- ing him from the bottom of the com- panionway when he re-entered the wheel house. Shesaid, *“I couldn’t stand it, every- thing was so quiet.” He told her to come up. When old Lawson saw that Finch and the Greek were no longer there, he rushed aft and began pawing at the safe. Pres- ently he began shouting at the top of his voice, *‘It’s here. It’s all here.” Terry grinned at Joan. ‘““He can play checkers with the gold.” She came and stood beside him at the wheel, and together they looked ahead at the endless expanse of sea. He drew her close to him, and said, ““This will change everything.”’ She made no reply. A faint smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. Suddenly he felt very shy. ‘“‘Look it,”” he said. “I — you. ...” He couldn’t say it. What the devil was he going to do? “Yes?"” she said. He could feel his face go red. Sud- denly he was scared stiff. She was looking up at him waiting. “Yes?" “Damn it,” he blurted out, “you got no business living way off here on an island like this. It’s not right. You'll go crazy from loneliness and besides now you can’t go back.” “Well?” He gave a faint moan. “Gee, Joan, can’t you see? Why don’t you help?”’ Her laugh rippled through the deck house then as she reached up and took his head in her hands. ‘“You aren’t by any chance trying to ask me to marry you?” Terry gave a deep sigh. ‘““That’s it.” She patted his cheek. “Try again.” “Lookit...ubh...listen...do you suppose . . . uh ... will you marry me?”’ She pulled his head down and kissed him full on the lips. “You big silly, you know I will.” Terry looked at the compass. The tug was going in circles. He straight- ened her out then and headed south. He'd never asked anybody to marry him before. He was glad, but he felt like an awful sap. THE END. YOU GET VARIETY IN YOUR MENUS WiHCEN. . ‘Y-O0 )" “U-S'E 1) PANNED, gen OYSTER STEW 14 ouP by 1qt milk 5 oney. vavrive Melt buttef, sdd and oook ¢ o until edges milk, salt, PRCCC prika 8 the polling serve at once FR! 1ot crachers. Your family should eat meat but they will welcome fresh Oysters for a change. 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