The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-27

accommodate ono of our pssssagrs.
didnt walt TO look up the gold. fdmpl,
placed iton my desk, switched Of tho ligh
and hurried away. he'd no fear for th
safety of the sovereigns, my door having
particularly intricate lock, In which tool
care to turn the key before leaving.
] remained below for an hour or 10 In
vestigating these fresh complaints, but, a
In the other cases, / was utterly unable Il
make head or tail Of them. Vsxed and DO
wildered I went back 10 my office, nm
looked the door, turned on the light ani
mechanically stretched out my hand X
take the sovereigns from my desk. Ny
hand closed upon nothing more solid thar
thin air. My little pile Of gold had van
ished.
For minute or two stood there gas.
Ing blankly before me, 80 utterly confused
and disnayed that could scarcely bring
my wits to bear upon the mysterious Of.
fair. Then managed to pull myself to-
| gether and took a look around my little
cabin. In the course Of my observations
my eye happened to rest upon the portfolio,
which stood wide open, the weather being
oppressively hot.
Regarded the innocent looking portfolio
with the air Of a veritable Sherlock
Holmes. went outside and thrust my
arm in through the opening, but my hand
did not reach within fully two yards Of
the desk. Still, 1t struck me as being the
only way by which the thief could have
got at the money, and determined to put
my theory to practical test.
! hurried down into the saloon, where
most Of the passengers were congregatetl.
As yet few of them were aware of the rob-
beries, for we had kept tho matter as secret
as possible. I went straight up to young
American gentleman who / knew had
great many trinkets in his stateroom, and
was rather careless, too, In the way he loft
them lying about.
Don't show any SURPRISE" I whis.
pered. glanoing around at the other oscu.
pants Of the saloon, "but might I ask
whether your stateroom is lockeds"
at Is"
"And the portfolio openp',
~ should say sol don't want to find
the place as stuffy as the engine room
when go to turn In"
"Well, just pass me your key. I want
to try little experiment.. Wait till I'm
gone and then stroll up on deck. Lot
yourself be seen on the lower deck particu-
larly, but don't pay too close attention to
any one you may>notice lettering there.
He fell in readily with my scheme
Invent and shut myself In his stateroom,
orouching down so that could. just keep
an eye on the portfolio over the top Of the
lower berth. remained In that cramped
pusition until my limbs fairly aohed, and
Twas half inclined to give 1t up as bad
job.
But suddenly as l glanced up at the
portfolio my blood ran cold and in all my
life never had such difficulty to keep
down yell In the dim light I saw
hong, thin, hairy arm thrust in through
the opening. The next moment small
black hand had fastened upon leather
case lying close to the window and with
drcw 1t as quick as thought almost.
Isprang to my feet and bolted outside
into tho passage. dashed up the saloon
stairs and made for the lower deck. There,
just about the spot where Judged tho
stateroom to be situated, l came face to
face with the Brazilian, De Castro. In
spite Of the heat he was wearing his long
cloak with the deep cape and had his
eternal cigarette between his toeth. He
looked at me with an air Of frank sur
prise, and looked at him with an air of
profound suspicion.
Suddenly happy thought flashed
through my mind. turned round and
sprang down the saloon stairs, running
full tilt against the chief steward, who
was standing at the bottom.
"Get mo handful of nuts quickp I
cried.
When he brought them, hurried back
OH deck. The Brazilian had moved away
a little toward the stern. went close up,
stood right in front of him and then began
deliberately to crack the nuts.
He regarded me with o plying sort Of
look, but paid little attention to him.
Presently I saw corner Of the cape drawn
aside, and behind pair Of small, gleam-
ing eyes fixed greedily on me-
1t was enough. MY suspicious were
confirmed. flung the rest of the nuts in
the sea, and walking straight up to De
Castro said:
II must ask you to accompany me to
the captains cabin"
"Vot you meanp" he asked, drawing
back. y
I was determined to stand no nonsense,
and straightway took him by the shoul-
ders. The moment laid my hands upon
him heard n vicious snarl under his cape.
1t was pulled suddenly aside and out flew
a monkey.
The little brute went at me tooth and
nail. saw the CLEAN Of knife, too, in |
the Brazilian's hand, but let him have
my fist straight between the eyes before
ho could use 1t, and lie measured his length
upon tho deck.
The quartermaster came running up,
and the rascal was dragged off to the cap
tain's cabin. When searched there, Mrs.
Mclhurst's diamonds, Mr.. Carter's olga
rette case and rings and miscellaneous
collection Of other valuable were found on
MIN. In his stateroom we discovered per-
forated box, apparently intended for the
use Of the monkey, who was evidently
luite as ACCOMPLISHED "a bis mastar=Uit-