The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-01-22

voice shook little, for he was terribly
scared.
cold Job" was bigger man in his
eyes than any king or potentate.
"Well What's the matter with you %
growled the captain.
"1he-the passenger, sir"
"What have you to do with the pas
sengerl"
'I beg your pardon, sir,-but are you
sure he isn't thief, or worse ?" gasped
Dan, forgetting, in his terror, the re-
spectful speech he had planned. in which
he meant to state the fact of Doctor Far
nails visit below deck.
The captain seized the ropes end.
''Take that for your impotence - he
shouted aiming blow at Dan, who
lodged it, and then bIurted out the
whole story.
Searching among the hunks Doctor
Farnall !" muttered the captain in as
tonishment, dropping his weapon; and
then he walked thoughtfully up and
down. Suddenly he stopped before
Dan.
cit is well you came to me and nobody
else with the story" he said. '.It is of
no account. Doctor Farnall is all eccen-
tric man.
If he wishes to examine the ship in any
part, he is not to be watched and spied
upon. So keep your eyes to yourself
and your tongue, too. If you so blab-
bing this story about, I'll fog YOU"
Dan crept off 20 his work feeling as if
he had had sound drubbing. Tears of
rage and modification stood in his eyes.
Mothers rules do very we'll on land
but they won't wear on shipboard, he
muttered. But there's something that
needs watching in that man, aud I'll
watch him."
Nothing of moment happened, how
ever, for a week. Then Dan observed
that passengers day of fasting and de-
preston grew more frequent. There
were whole nights when he paced the
deck until morning.
The crew joked together about him.
One declared that he was murderer;
another, that he escaped from q lunatic
asylum; but the common opinion was
that he had run away from termagent
wife.
"D'ye mind" said Irish Jem, chow
he eyes every ship we hail, as though
she might be aboard? ?"
Dan, alone never joined in the gossip
below decks about the mystery.
One day little incident occurred
which suddenly strengthened his suspic-
ion.
Just before nightfall when passing the
after hatchway, in the covering of which
was a slide that could be opened and
closed at will, Dan met DR.. Farnall COM
ing up, covered with dirt and dust.
There was an unsteady glare in his eyes.
He seized Dan by the shoulders.
"Do you know where L have been ?"
he said hoarsely.
SIN the lower hold sir, among the box
es."
"What dye think is down there, by
for you all of us? death ! DEATH But
tell nobody-nobody-" He dropped
his hold and staggered on.
"Mad as March hare p muttered
Dan.
But half an hour later he, DIR. Farnall
was seated at the supper table, gay,
self-possessed, keeping the captain in q
roar OF laughter.
About the middle of the second watch
that night, Dan turned out of his bunk.
The boy was really too anxious to sleep.
death in the hold eh Death in the
hold ?" he repeated to himself.
He did not dare go to the captain or
crew with his story. Yet he was sure
that some peril was at hand. He sat
shivering for awhile, then pulled on his
clothes.
"If Deaths in the hold I'll find him
he said
He groped his way to the after hatch
way unquestioned; for the mate, who
had charge of the deck, was reclining
listlessly against the rail further aft,
where the hatchway was hid from view
by the cabin.
The slide was open.
His heart beat quick with excitement,
but noiselessly y as a cat, Dan crept down
to the lower deck and groped for the
hatchway that opened into the lower
hold.
He was SO certain that danger was
afoot that he was not startled when he
saw faint reddish light, and found the
lower hatchway open.
The hold was not so closely slowed
but what one could move about in it
quite freely, and lowering himself care
fully, Dan saw that the light came from
a lantern. and that it cast glare directly
in the face of the passenger, who was
kneeling and working at something on
the floor.
$50 that's the way death looks, hey l''
thought Dan. "He couldn't we'll look
worse;' and he eyed the haggard ghast-
ly face.
"What grating noise is that % he ask
ed himself; and in the same instant he
sprang forward with cry of horror.
The passenger had an auger in his
hands and a saw lay beside him.
He had bored hole through the side
of the vessel, below the water line, and
the water was already coming through.
The boy clutched Farnall, and shook
him like wild beast. sYou are sinking
the ship. Help help"
The mailman turned on him quietly,
Z