The evening world. Newspaper, November 6, 1915, Page 11

ae The Evening World Daily Magazine. Saturday. November 6. 1915 WEXT WEEK'S COMPLETE SOVEL 18 TRE EVENING WORLD The Devil’s Admira The Adventures of Three New Yorkers __Who Tried to Run a Whole Republic WHERE ARE ALL INA BOX UNDER me ( in THe PIRE-PLACE MY WINTER PATENT LEATHER d . ) ( COUCH IN THE PARLOR . € { BACK of mE GAS Ferdinand Mo By Edgar Franklin j | ‘‘°™*>? (NEEDED Tie Boor mY SH 7 wan tee Ba Re) pera, 118 Wy Pret & Meme Oe) — eenin, quick! Momange’s waitt Ortorse oF Mikdhiuse CHAPTERS «for you The old man ll have me ener = / THe DRESSER JOHN § v lla 5 | ANOTHER Tring / No, Kouby, £4 like be merett - but bole” mereif . ar Me the « one ont Hen, thee Mee Tors If be cutches talking We Ye vende 4 at im = Red teemerines im te heeds of Cone ™, bd wetle!” , é o jaro. 6 Ghewed cht entities of tortune whe te the whe @ lovely, elusive é@ream 1 . ond ; “Weer hind the Gree me the Reeth gee Oped up the rider end wes low to a * Ff i of Ramis Chanse They hove vied we a! Ther gennen, outent Velen gmt herr failed Sew = “Well, who--who in Meave: aptal of Some Chews, Could have crienly | “Then | guees if you three'lt just nd over oo" The Hoeke ond Willem gan . ee Hebert Ve eudibiy; - ; The Ar er o- tin ree them money and bits thew wome te an ale os about a's neal es GOR Merting of wuth Volvo, compiretore They « the Spanish Brute @aspe aed Me fond tie wont The Snake, clawing at the wall, tottored beside his bunk se Valeo ond Crow im tele primon, ‘And @ sloop!” be cried. “A sloop “gee Nhe Presdent ond Voiland tbe his vee going to New Oriesns, and Romango Waive, bowers, Wicks thew ont oil thee oe had it al! fixed for 4 |. ‘Ther mabe nt attemte te Me reeled and collateed! At leneth they dimorer what ome ete “We-might—dig—out"—— Mr. Pol- lard easayed faintly, a “Hub? The Spanish Brute laugh. 4 horribly, “It took us near all day CHAPTER XI. and all night to dig that one, Now (Cantievet,) we're so far gone we can't stand up, Home and a Loaf. and it's after three o'clock in the morning! | heard the clock strike.” MEAD there, ese one Robert Pollard fairly shrank to- / panting, snarting, swearing, gether, soul, mind and body, His / as they labored along the splendid h chattered for a mu- hot, narrow passage. The nd his control, Spanish Brute gave scant Weed to those anew mnediantiy, at Sue the ne of bie @ d rieked When (he rifles spoke for f One wecond more! We've got time, after a mont ten thousand doliare here! You ean have every penny of that and wei- come! And*—— WHY DIDN'T You | “Weil, it seems tke Pa sort UNDER THe BAT AND YOUR COLLARS ARE IN Pie: \ Contouy theuee THE BOOK CASE I COULDN'T THROW THEM isin tighed. ne SP A DRAWER IN THE hon ween coe | us one hour to get Clear ‘af thie—thie —er—eplendid biti bic in whieh ( Gg” 5 ee) WHERE DID You Put My DRESS SHIRTS 2 us all | heaven and hell never to come within \s thousand miles of y ‘That's the truth, captain, if | ne fore in my life, and—and” other bunk. bitterly certain 'We'ro—done!" He an panting words choked altogether. me terouap tere the ee screamed that if he lived to reach the end of “We'recall done now, hove. “ite nut a er por ait the remarkable traite 1a Mr, ‘the tunnel his last grain of energy 9 sun X nia | ollard’s complex per- ‘ he huddled a * 1 mw I know how you feel, 1} Strained for sounds behind ectually drilling his firing won't argue no more about it, be- a1" ng the infinite, William Ryan i] able to smile er se None came, He tumbled eventually through the he in their stone wail, ishing. He ve to get thie cover and b+ toward the little blot of hurry he e to breakfast, Just stand its toy iiehthouse now over there now, all three—right Miniature Spanish prison, A most and atill none came; and be saw that Qunno as you cas againat that wall. wegen rr to hie features i to bis much, Robby,” he said, e've tried peed erm ol He pointed, and with « gasp Mr. “Th ” he Pollard obeyed, His friends were al- on teats epremed io ee ready now uot ther fad spot, MeReral direction of Catala Valve, wabblin choking, chattering. In the busy little city of Relam: i taht Ray nena es al a aa kes facing the end! people were walki Captain Velvet looked them over ¢ 7” with, tho utmost calm, stroked ble qyna, “NUERINE doxwedly. . The to pul over a lot of things on that old Spanish Brute fumbled for a shovel, KUY, and we've handed him some ; pretty mean ones, first. and. last, foo, and gave his ald; and, minute Gunno's I'd do any different in his ead minute, earth was erkeplonsy place, only “aS to their tunnel with frenz! ‘force! young to go!” AN'T FIN "e They seemed to have filled the end, _ The Snake, too, ant up slowly, shak- I CAN IT’S IN THE then, and Me, Pollard was gasping: {i,t head 094 looking atthe candle MY DRESS ( ) TRunic in THE we're pretty — pretty Suen tS LIFE \ IN A SMALL FLAT! “ ‘ — beard for a little, and shook his head, th: ‘Now the stones, Bill! Now the ws 1 eouid have got word to Dolly SUIT BASEMENT. “It looks sorter skimpy,” be sald genre’oinePaacia, and in the prest -biocks! Gimme a band! —I had a scheme for getting word to MA dimapprovingly. 7 ecutive of Santa The Brute iumbered toward bim Dolly.'and he'd have had her father | | HAVE NO fo wciardon. senor | The omfoer e- he had never been disc f+ ed an 4; metus out!” " uted w ord. ‘obert Pollard. Seier Srtes Ans! MSUieG! BEd Bree Ey eee er ay the ocheme se oktn Pon PLACE To , bea gad ‘and it had happened, somehow: Two great blocks had been lifted back In the entrance to their tunnel and the a good scheme, “Taay, this thing o” baving fust six men to shoot three jooks skimpy, Pe ads ad arriving Gonsales! it looks mean and—t lard asked without enthusiasm, “Tve forgotten it now; but it was HANG IT ‘Way was closed to pursuit! . Followed a jong lull in which, each * agcording to bis taste, they gasped nd groaned and choked and panted and swore feebly. Stunned, they sprawled upon the Infinity of loose earth, to the digging of whfch they had given thelr very Iife-blood; and after a long time the, Spanish Brute , found voice: “Well, we know what happened to them, anyway!” The Snake dragged up to one elbow and smiled groggily. “Maybe he's going to shoot them when be shoots us?” . “EP hope so! said Robert Pollard with simple sincerity. “I hope we © can seo it.” “They ain’t so much to blame,” the » Brute muttered. “No, my sense of location's as much to blame as anything else,” the master mind said bitterly, “I'm sorry, 1 though’ “Senor! Senor!” came bissingly “ from the doorway, “What?” ‘Make haste, senor!” the whisper pursued. “Il am Juan Sadina, Ro- mango has been waiting this three hours with the boat for the senores. And he added, astoundingly, "Get @ gait on you in there!” A thick scream escaped William Ryan. He rolied to his hands and knvcs 4nd lumbered to the doorway, sand there he collapsed against the bara, panting hysterically: ““Look! Look, Robby! It's Johnny Wop! [t's Johnny that used to be with Hed Antonio's gang back in New York.” “Tt is—it is the Bill Ryan!” gasped their guard. “In the name of”— He stopped again as Mr, Pollard stag- gered to the bars, “And you—you "are Smiling Pollard!” “",~ mad laugh of joy escaped the master mind. “1 know youl know your face!’ he cried. “What you doing here?" “This is my country, of course, — well, all right! Never mind that part!” Mr, Pollard gibbered. “How dw we get oul of here, John? How fr do we get out?” f/f) ™ “By the tunnel! It is all dug now, of course. Komango 1s waiting, What are you sitting around there fur? He can never row you out to Ihe sluup vefore dawn if you walt ger!” a “What sloop?’ J “The one which takes you to New Orleans!” Juan Sadina sad fever- ishly. liurry! | can't stand here talkiug; 4 should go off duty five ago. l've been tying to wake you for an hour! He turned away and 6 down the corridor in U red up and dim lantera light, with the same doar, furtive hitch that belonged to the street cor- ners and saloons he had deserted! Mr. Pollard reached out and convul- take about that tun out that way, You'll have to get us ut some other way, Johnny! D'ye hear? You'll have to get us out some other way, and"—— “How the devil can 1?” their ac- quaintance asked energetically, "I puemested digging out to the east courtyard because it's the only un- arded spot here, If you were out fore you'd be worse off than you are now!” “Why?! “Because Velvet has \ssued orders that you're to be shot down if you “@ucceed in breaking out through the ! He's spending the night here; ep went to bed an hour or two .» He was drilling the fring Heat on "Ours?" “1 guess so, Pollard. 1 can't etay ere another second, Try that tunnel the Snake said, weakly and sadly, “It was an elegant scheme, Robby, and it stuck with me till just before woe had that tunnel finiwhed, Dolly’ —— “Paugh!" sighed Mr, Pollard, “Robby!” said the Snake, and as he rose further there was a ghastl: exalted smile on his soiled features, “You don't understand about me and Dolly, You don't know what love ‘s, That—what's her name?—Mercedes, she was all right in her way; she was ood looking, and she rolled her eyes, and she had a nice, soft kind 0° voice, I could see what was the matter with you: you looked at her and you wen funny In the hea love, Robby—that’s Just {nfatuation,” the Snake sald gravely. “Now, when mony ena T sat out there, we”—— "ON — Mr. Pollard’s tone was bitter; the Snake's smile vanished and be looked pityingly at his leader, “All right.” he said gently; “you can't understand, and that's your loss, The old guy may blow my head off, Robby; but he can’t make Dolly stop loving me just the way I love her. And let me tell you that when she finds out what's happened to me I'll bet she starts a revolution here and has him fired out of the country! “T'll bet if she knew where I was this minute she'd gather a mob in the streets and tear down this jail before sunrise to get me out! That's what love ts, Robby! And I'll bet if she finds out where I am, between now and the second we're taken out to be shot, she'll find a way of saving us! Yes, sir! That's what a real girl's love is like, Robby!" They did not answer James Fvans, Bowed, numbed, they waited for the little tiie to pase that waa left to them, And {t passed—oh, how it passed! The master mind, shrinking mentally before the suspicion that It must be half past three, heard the distant clock strike four, He started up and looked around wildly. Something in the corridor seemed to catch his attention; ne stared at lt for @ moment, and even as he stared the clock struck the quarter hour, Juan Sadina had not returned, There was another stranger in uni- form doing the death-watch patrol now, very much of a native and a very stern person, so far as one judged from bis profile. Eyos straight ahead, he passed and renassed, tread never varying, angle of the rifle over his shoulder never changing, But these last few minutes he, too, had been absent; the master mini, gripping the edge of his couch with cold hands, fancied mistily that ne had heard some one calling a little while back. Perhaps the guard had been summoned to receive his orders about leading them out—for it was very near to sunrise now, Ever so slowly the inky tint of thelr window was turning to dark gray. Yes, and now the guard was return- ing with the same steady tread. Mr. Pollard went icv from head to foot; mortal sickness was creeping through him, for this was the end. This—be tottered to his feet and swayed toward the door, and the man was pushing something through the bars and say- In nk “Bread, senoret “We—don't want bread “It is, the messenger stated, for Senor ans,” the guard said. “I have risked much to bring it here, for one sympathiges with the condemned, ia it not?” The Snake started up. "T du wut hivw, weuue To huow nothing ex e it here if it’s for mel" ans cried h arsely as 10 snatched at the thing, Again his eyes held the madman glare as he lunged back Into the shadows and stumbled to the mighty earthpile, He held the loaf to him as the guard, shouldering his rifle, umed his unending tramp, ‘ve got a hunch!” James Evans chuckled. “I've got a hunch!" "Jimmy," the master mind sald soothingly and miserably, “don't give way like that, If we walk out let's do it Ike gentlemen, and’— “You don't know Dolly!" thy fae natic Snake assured him, “Maybe this is files, and maybe {t's saws— bless her little heart! They can't do us any good now, but—oh, don't look sorry for me! I'm not crazy, When @ loaf comes In like this it isn’t for food. It's"—— He raised it high and broke it across his knee, Then for @ moment he sat quite motionless, No files clattered out, no saws. In either hand he held naif a loaf, and he stared and stared—and then with a yelp he tossed away one- half and bis grimy hand dug into the other, and dug and dug. And ne snatched out a mpled envelope! “Was L right?” he shouted. A wave of sudden, tense excitement surged through Robert Pollard. “What ts that?” he gasped, “Open it! Open it suick and—" “It's open!" gibbered the Snake, “Gimme that ‘oandle—hold it, Bilt! And—say! Look! It's from Dolly!" Hia weak finger pointed; they bent closer and both started violently, Bo- yond question, in a fine, feminine hand, “Eternamente, Dolores,” was at the bottom of the rumpled sheet, And now the Snake was Kissing It insanely and holding it close to his eyer a8 he went on: “Here! Listen! Quer—huh? ‘Q-u- O-T-l-d-o jo!’ What does that mean, Bill?" “That means ‘my 4 Spanish Brute said hu: A “The rei in English!" panted James Evan from a faithful friend that you are in grave danger and where, Heaven is kind to those who love, for my father once ruled all the prisons, and as a child I have been through the vile Spanish jail so many times in all its corners, Seek carefully under the west bed in your cell, I shall try—oh, #o hard-to have help waiting before you are free again, ‘E— something or other—"Dolores!’ Can you beat it?" shrieked the Snake. "Was I right? 14 1 aay"—— Life, coming out of death itself, had whirled back to Robert Pollard. Aches, pains, strains, bruises forgot- ten, he was all but himself again, and he clutched the Snake's shoulder and cried softly: “Well, don't shriek like that, Jim! Hush! [-—— This is better than any- thing I ever dared hope for if—ii's true, Hush!" ‘He darted at the bunk and shook it. It remained quite fast, He laid vio- lent hands on it, and the Spanish Brute was tugging al his side, here came a dull, splintering boom-and the thing was thrown bodily to the dirt-pile; and James Evans, writhing between them on hands and knees, was fumbling over the floor and peer- ing here, there, and everyw Then, if turned to stone, he ce. all motion and his voice came up to them as from a great distance: saved us! The little ! This ls a trap-door, and I've my hand through the ring that lifts it!" Lan yoummove ii bir, Polara choked. “It's moving now! It's—here sho ling, " the Ho staggered to his feet, pulling hard. In the « of the corner a faint creak sounded; four willing hands went to his ald, gripping the edge of cold, heavy stone, At their very feet yawned a black hole, all of @ yard square, Mr, Pollard, whisking to the table with one motion and back with an- other, was holding the candle and kneeling = Steps were there, surely enough—a flight of ten, going to a passage below. The stillness of the tom) came upon the cell once more, for Mr, Pollard, Willlam Ryan, and the Snake had gone, At the bottom of the Might the little rays of the candle shone down a long, damp stone corridor, close and airless, with nioldy moss in patches and queer HERE with everything you say—and that's no joke, either, this jail before Velvet finds out that we've started!” In the flickering candle-light the Snake's smile was very, very happy and most co crawled away They did not pause to nature; they moved get clear of vead, with the wheeaing breaths broke the silence of the grim place. Yet it was leading them to freedom Mr, Pollard knew it, aod his heart pounded until it bade fair to Infinitely, since it had he would have preferred that aid had arrived from Mercedes; beyond question there was some very wood reason why she ha able to reach them, These last fow guess we can start, suffocate him, “There's nothing to it at all: hinges might have been olled for us,’ master mind from above, We're too near “Come along-quick! the Jail to do any loitering.” He threw back the door and bound. ed out; he lowered it gently, and b, fore it had even touched the ground they were with him. conds, in fact, the master mind found itself quite ocou- pied with Mercedes, now that life lay With the rarest of luck they would get clear of Santa and he would ahead once more, And now they ughts, they would not run, Vor while they might ery aloud as dumfounded mai might eluteh @ another, thi write and—— “There's steps!” said tho Spanish cb other and shriek at terrible fact remained that they were standing in a simple stone court, with sky overhead and about—that six trim soldier persons, with rifles, were directly in their path, they paled, mad vision of in Velvet, looming before them old faroiliar cigar of bis mouth, and smiling, “Good morning, fellers!” the cap- “Lemme introduce Pollard returned suddenly to the highly interesting present. “How far have we come?” “All of two hundred feet, Robby,” yan, “This thing’s a sald William Kk; regular subwa: "Then we must be well beyond the prison itself, rd knows what any one ever built this for, but {t's saved our lives!" Mr, Pollard stated as he “'T learn but now Lo: peered up the “There's another Come along!" He set foot upon the bottom step and would have mounted, but that the Snake laid a detaining hand upon his door up there, tain sald simply, you to your firing squad!” CHAPTER XII, Departed! JUT of the wild Jumble in his Poor brain, a weakling {m- pulse, sought to urge Robert “We're getting out of this with a whole skin, when the old wan would have bad us looking lik: half-hour, Robby. ‘a’ been for Dolly, it would have been all over with us.’ trap-door and, battle in the passage. found @ soldier closing the trap: and, the soldier stood upon It and presented arms with a perfectly good rifie, Ho was a fresh, reated soldier, toot 1 he been a mere moune, no He turned and heartily and : with deep, real gratituc if having closed “When I get a Little money together y something for that ll keep for the rest I'm going to bu little blondine sh contributed fervently, sho's the star of the whole crowd “You bet your lifs she is!" “And that's what | want : you Kotter hand it to Dolly iow, Ww !" agreed the mastor mind impatiently, "Come on!" ce ch to push it aside, azing eyes fastened upon Velvet and rer ifter second, with only faint uncanny fascination, toward the east, out here—very Mgnt Over there in the east, red were appearing on the sky- last streaks of their kind that Mr Vollard would ever view, An the noint they ware muah than he had eup- and all safe sound somewhere, whenever I want to talk about Dolly, thrown at me! sneers when [ mention Dolly—not if 1 mentioning her re'll be no rocks There'll be ao at noon and his chict said soberty, “You can talk about Dolly for the rest of your natural nearer the ocean haps three hundred feet away, the HOW WOULD YOU LIKE A SHIPLOAD OF GOLD ? THAT WAS THE STAKE THEY PLAYED FOR IN THE DEVIL’S ADMIRAL BY FREDERICK FERDINAND MOORE is next week's complete novel in “THE DEVIL'S ADMIRAL* THE EVENING WORLD It isa stirring tale of treasure and piracy, with an American hero READ ancient light-house marked the end of the promontory and the beginning of Relampago's harbor, On eitner hand gray water stretched, and on je ive over the wall, and the harbor surface was not twenty feet away—and for all the good that did them, twenty thou: id miles away! dunno—sorter cheap, and as if we couldn't afford to do the thing up in good ape, ‘Tain't worthy ofa hustiiing country like thist’ “They are markamen, seporl” officer stated. in this morning might have thought many thi but never would he have hol had “L know, but {t's the looks of the %0 thing I'm thinking about," Captain Velvet said stubbornly. Mig 2 the time the British Government in In- dia tried t' execute me, they lined up twenty-one big fellers in red unt- forms, and {f It hadn' been for— 1 wish I had time ¢’ tell you about that, Gonzales, but I 't.”* shook his head again and more ener- getically. “No, siree!” he sald decidedly, “1 won't run the risk o’ having acy one hear about this later on an’ twit me for doing it up poor! This a@air /), ain't up to the mark at all! I'm Ing to get twelve more men an’ ive ‘em @ firing squad apiece.” oried Captain Velvet in a burst of gener- osity, and tramped out of sight the prison door, Bhim Fora little, he ay beneath him, For o 0, Pad to the awful oraees, were little motor boats, too, bobbing sneering, most supercilious smile of at their moorings in the gray dawn, and Iittle boat-nous:s, with landings and floats and-— : Snake said dazed- , Captain Vel- “That y- “Hey! Stop vet interrupted very sharply. young woman didn't have anything to do with You don't suppose no decent girl'd write you, do you?” The captain's smile grew pensive, “I wrote that note myself, Jimmy and It wasn't so bad for an old ler, at that~and I had the cook bake her tn with his night's bread. Fooled ye, toohey?” Captain Vel- vet chuckled richly for a moment. “I thought It was better t' have you waik out that passage than have a lot o° hollering and hauling in the Jail, t work up all the other prisoners, “Y' see, in the old days, the old don that bulil this place designed that corridor for loading out fellers like, you, #o's they could shot here without any one knowing, and | been waiting hours to have you fellers discover it—and I might ‘a' known you wasn't bright enough to find it, too," the captain mused and shifted his clear, “Well—it's pretty nigh sunup, ain't ite” He scratched his short beard and eyed the awa orient. He turn- ed back slowly, and looked at his little filo of soldiers and thelr extremoly dapper officer, “All picked shots, boys,” he ox. plained with pardonable pride, “There ain't one could miss you at six hun- dred yards, let alone six. Well, I sup- pose Japtain!” burst from Robert Pol- lard. “What in it, Robby? “You—you're not going to commit this crime! You"——~ His voice failed, Captain Velvet's brows rose in mild astonishment, ain't hey?" he said. “Well, you Just be a little patient, Robby, and I see it committed’ pretty that T want t' do tt, # one thing I've it's executin’ folks but there's some things in this world you have t' do whether you like ‘em or not, I'l probably stand it better'n you do, even so," “Hut what are you golng to gain by ic? the master mind cried wildty “What wood aan lt dete kite . "Robby," said the good captain, “there's prisoners asleep in this #ide of the jail atill, and [ wish you wouldn't holler like that. You fellers have because I'm plumb tired being d with you. You've tried a lot o' fool tricks on me, an’ you don't show no sins o! letting up While you're alive—and I've got too much elge to ‘tend to t' bother with you. “What's more, you're a derned nuisance allve, “anyway!” Captain Velvet said with growing warmth, “Why, you three fellers corrupt every blamed thing you jook at! I had no idee but what Romango was an honest lttle feller tlil we found him Wailing for you a little while ago, and heard him talking to that feller he als with about you, Now I've had t’ sentence ‘em both t' tary confinement—-and your account, * hohr his whole sinful career, to be shown just as the ghastly barrels were aimed. But the smile and everything else was dribb! he suspected that he was about to faint, nd he did not rouse immediately en Gonzales rushed forward and shook him, “Sonor! Senor! To me! The ten thousand dolla: Quick!" The master mind reeled to @ fairly right sture ac elk without roaked. “I—I'm damned if Tu a cent in my ponketal” he “[—we"—— “Fool! You do not diel You ea- cape!” the little officer hissed. “See! The man Velvet is gone for utes--for even seven minut attacked us! There was a fight, tn which we were thrown everywhere! We rallied, but you had leaped the wall—into the ocean—to the dark, shining speed boat over there He shook Mr, Pollard again and and this time Mr, Pollard’a ed across the water, bright with the sun's first rays, And the boat wan there, and the little officer was crying: “We must fire after you, but at first we miss! Quick! Quick!" It seemed to Mr, Pollard that his expiring heart, shooting upward, crashed into his brain and pounded It back to life, Soldiers were awirling about; three Snakes and three Span- ish Brutes were dancing crazily be- wide him, and all three of them were slawing at the rear pocket which held wil that remained of the fearful Qve'a contribution, And now the roll of bills had come free and the little officer had snatched them from his fingers—and now the Spanish Brute had gripped Mr, Pol- lard and was shoving him toward a low wall, over which the Snake was already climbing, The Snake turned for an Instant: “There isn't a foot of ground ont e straight for the water; it jocks deep and” — yore was pone, hurtling through the alr and vanishing in a splash, And the Spanish Brute was following more cleanly, for he cut strateht into the water and came up, swimming, aheat of James Fons. A shriek of maniac joy escaned Mr, Pollard’s Itps and be plunced headlon| Heavenly water engulfed him and shocked his reason back to place. He shook |t from bis eves and swam as ho had never swam before, strateht for the shiny mahogany sneed-boat that Ago near at hand. Snaniah Brute wa climbing tn- to and tearing mway the canvas cover hefore the master mind had even touched the mide, The Snake. versed In enxoline eneines, was croaking Ina strane. wild hanpy way aver the machinery under the hood un forward “Ta Robby in? he shouted, “Tear thore ropes loose!? “You; let her go!” the Spanish Brute roared, “Say, whatter y' know r rehtered by the roan of the engine, With a dive mes Evans had reached the seat ‘1, rattling gears snoved ints place with one hand, was twisting the wheel toward the open sea, Behind the craft @ tremondous pile of white roe writing, glanced up Senor Pacato, and then laid aside bis pen, “Velvet.” he said, “they”. Food aptain. “Prom, whas captain. “From ey got twenty thousand boters cash from that fool gang: Well, there was ten thousand dollars it ad from ‘em last; and we found five thousand more on a feller out in the jail I never suspect o crooked; and before that f got thousand dollars—and that's all right enough. But they had some loose money and I know what was in that pocketbook o° mine they stole; and,’ to nave my life, there's near three! hundred dollars I can’t accopnt for no way! I dunno. I don’t like to get stuck like that. Of course, I'm away in pockat, same as I always seem to when I strike those three; but— I dunno,” the captain chi led. “They are gone?” the it asked significantly. ‘t shoot ‘em," Capt. shed with a pensive emile. “I never could im to Ph say one that made me laugh #0 and hearty as they do. Nope, Mike, I let ‘em escape in that fancy motor- boat Mendez had sent down tn the spring. He paid nine thousand dol- lara for that boat, but he won't xt ten or Aft keep ‘em | up that long, anyway—eh?" “At least,” agreed Senor Pacato, will have a record of their trial sentence filed this afternoon; trim or no trial, it is better to have an oMectal record, Velvet, But as to theso three, was it wise to let them live? The excellent captain chuckled pleasantly, we ny ne waa eee ‘om 7 e,” he said, “They esca| 0 steamer Holmar Hi nseaeCaprn Lars Ardversen, the feller that beat two of fe crew (' death comin’ into port «re, “But @ steamer—landing in another port-they may escape?” the Preal~ dent said with growing anxlety, “St would have been better— “They won't escape from that steamer, Mike,” the captain replied gently. “That Holmar Hansen's tak- in an Antarctic expedition this trip; she don't make no stops till she hita the South Polar ice packs now, and she’ sot provisions for nine years, \n" Lars told me private they'd never see civilization again short o° twelve. Robby an’ Bill an’ Jimmy are just finding that out about now—um-ame And, yawning, he added: “O-ho! I'm sorter sleepy!” A slow and brilliant smi spread Senor Pucato's features. o0"to sianced out of the window and over »* palm-trees to the pateh Kling ocean far beyond, A WSS Cosi be cee features too; but this was a ditative expression, which ader and happier and, some- how, were childlike, The sident of Santa Change started siiwhtly, for he suspected that his old friend was drifting back to the glorious past. Nor was he wrong, for th plain’ eyes twinkled .at him suddenly and the captain said: “Mike, did Lever tell you about the time, ‘way back in sixty-nine, when me an’ Hell-Fire O'Grady started for the south pole with the battleship we stole from the Dutch Government? Hey? Well now, I thought I never did," said Capt. Velvet hy tly, amd bit the end from a fresh, t, black cigar and hitched to the side of his friend's desk, “Weill, by ginger, Mike!" he ll have to tel you about that excursion!” | THE END _ Aey