Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-05-22


the bandaged wrist, stretched out in the
sunshine, apparently asleep, with his face
concealed by his arm. He was on the
point of asking the captain about him
when steward appeared on the prom
enade deck beating Chinese gong for
dinner.
At dinner, at the supreme moment
chestra plays loudest, when every one is
wittiest and no one else is listening-the
steward LAID a rather soiled envelope,
addressed IN an uniformed hand, beside
RelPs plate. He opened the dubious
looking cover wonderingly, and glanced
| down the half sheet it contained, upon
which among other things was smirch
of blood, until his eyes rested upon the
| signature, "Richard Burns" He stared
at it so long and stupidity that the i'm
patient steward joggled his elbow, and
| Relf, who in the entire twenty years Of
his existence had never been SO deeply
moved, helped himself plentifully to
mashed potatoes.
"Mr. Relf," the note ran, "when
saw you talking to the captain to-day l
hid my face, but you will come again
and see me anyhow, and want to have
. talk with you before you give me
away. Can see you tonight when the
people have gone in9 Very respectfully,
Richard Burns"
Relf shuddered at this note with its blot
| of blood almost as he had shuddered two
years before when in the pink and gray
light of early dawn he stumbled over the
dead body of a servant on the deck of
his uncles yacht. The shock had beon
a horrid one. The gruesomeness of un-
expectedly finding some one for whom
he had G liking, dead, with his head
battered in, was more than Relf felt he
could ever quite recover from; and row
chance and fog had placed tho muir
dcrer in his hands when the police aud
a vast expenditure of money had failed
to do so. Ref had often pictured to
himself noiseless struggle in which
Manderson had succumbed to the 1.-THE
young Gtoker the stealthy tip-tos across
the deck, the soft splash, and the long,
cold swim toward the lights of the DIS
tant watering place. He saw it now so
clearly, so intensely, that 1t made his
head ache, and quite forgetting that the
Bishop was telling him an anecdote, he
left the table suddenly and went on
deck, where, except for eight or ten
ladies dining on lemonade, he found him
self alone.
1t was not because R,f was in doubt
as to his duty that he felt the need of
some one wiser than himself in whom he
could confide. What he had to do he
realized quite clearly; it had flashed
through his mind the moment he saw the
signature of the note. But how to go
about it without becoming undesirably
conspicuous was another matter. He had
but vague ideas as to how criminal
was brought to justice on land. On the
high seas it was probably a totally differ
ent proceeding, and among all the people
on board with whom he had discussed
the run, and the pools, and Rudyard
Kipling, and the collision, there was
no one whose advice he cared to ask.
that Relf doubted whether he even be-
lieved in arresting people at all; and as
for the Rabbi-Relf smiled.
OF course he would not see Burns, he
reflected. To arrange rendezvous with
q murderer, in mid-oceIn, after every
one had gone in, was not xsctly n
subtle thing for young man with no
particular taste for athletics to do. Then,
after thinking it over for some time, he
decided that 1t might be-well, rather
unfair to pay no attention to the mans
request, and decided to IN ct him.
1t was clear and cold when Rslf
stepped out of the smoking room late
that night. Elk ,ept for u fair compatriot
and college man the deck was deserted.
He took up his position in front of the
music room, and stood looking into the
black depths of the steerage until there
was a sudden CLEAN of light there,
against which mans figure stood out
for an instant, and he felt that II ch.rd
Burns was waiting for him.
as that you, Burns?" ne called soft.
ly, and then, without waiting for an an
swer, added: "Come up here, please. "
He neither had anything to say, nor did
he know what the man wished to say to
him, so he leaned against the rail and
waited for the other to begin. During
the silence that followed, his dislike OF
seeing any one ill at ease almost forced
him to speak; but he resisted the i'm
pulse aad waited. When the man
finally plunged desperately into the mid
die of what he had to say, Relf drew
nearer that he might not lose aLy OF the
slowly spoken sentences.
AZ never meant to kill Manderson," +"
Burns began. at was him that had
the grudge against me. He used to go
out of his way to devil me-we never
would have seen each other if ne hadn't,
becau:e-' He broke off abruptly aud
added in hopeless tone, "rhat WASH t
what 1 was going TO say first, for you
won't believe that, if you're sharp, like
they used to say you were. A knowing
chap don't believe what's true"
PLEASE 20 on," said R.lf, dryly.
rHe worried me like cat until tha
night | couldn't stand it, and hit him
You remember Manders )n whel hi