The times., 1901-06-16

At midday I made our position So de-
grees Is minutes south. 30 degrees Il min
utes east, or only some 200 miles from
Juan Fernandez. so that If anything were
to be done ii behooved us to do il quickly
As II turned out, all Necessity of decision
was taken from me presently by a mere
accident.
In the second dog watch striving with
all my might to find "a way out Of my di-
lemina, whilst staring gioomiiy along the
deck, | suddenly saw scutfie and saw
Adams mate, Fisher. haul the cook out
OF his galley as one pulls n limpet from
his shell, eXClaiming, at the same time,
'Ye yaller hound. IN larn we better man
ners than to abuse the poor kid what s
gone. Blow me, if I'd like to swear you
good, wasn't he? An lazy, was he? An
dirty, was he. ye sneakin. mouksyfaced
baboong And at each question Fisher,
holding Rafael by the back of the neck,
kicked and belabOred him in great style,
letting him go at last with a thrust that
sent the cook sprawling over the main
hatch. As he fell | heard the report of a
pistol from Just under where ! stood, and
saw Fisher throw up his arms and pitch
forward, falling close to Rafael, whilst
the latter, who had risen to his knees and
grasped drawn sheath knife. buried it
with a stroke swift as lightning in the
saflbFs body. and then ran aft. Like an
inspiration came to me the certainty of
an arrived opportunity, and shouting
!
derersi' I drew my revolver and rushed
/ into the deckhouse. hearing the rest
pounding along behind me with shouts
! and curses. The lamps had not been lit,
( and it was almost dark. There had been
no time to shut the doors, and we entered
I nearly together. some on one side OF the
pantry. some on the other, to the sound
/ of cracking pistols and falling glass as
the bullets hit the swinging tray
Rush en-, boys l shouted, as Phll'
( with yell, sprang through the smoke TO
H cid. T.r,I.- f1ff a G6sarr
my shoulder, and, twisting round and see
ing Rafael scrambling away across the
table, l let drive at him. Then every
thing seemed to go round and round IN
my head and | remembered no more till
I | came to in my own bunk, with fhli
( bending anXiousiy over me.
/ It's all right. old man" said he; don a{
I get excited! We've got EN- tied up hard
I and fast. RafaeTs goose Is cooked
( Adams has got a bullet through his leg
nothing serious; and the Darthea iylhs
/ fine breeze after her. You've lost lot oI
( blood, but nothing worse. Now not
| word more out Of you!
! had only grOaned-not with pain, but
! for thinking of what pretty market l
| had brought all our fine pigs TO-
/ IL was a week before / was able to get
| on deck, during which time Fhll huIseu
; mo like any professional; worked ttie cut
/ ter shOrt-ha nded as she was, ana haEl-
I gated her to a hair, notwithstanding the
/ marine board had twice rejected nm as
O.
white and shaky. but fast mending our
/ prisoners, Phil said, had been very trou-
hlcsome until one day, rummaglng q 4 IOcf-
er. he had happened on some Olo Hai,,i ta-i,,e-
I cuffs which saved endless bother OF tying
/ and loosing He had Benton secured
/ in my old berth, Sinclair IN , niS.
taking theirs so as to be HgaI 5
[ ~ during his watch below Also
! thew had offered him and myself tz'y1
| eac6 to he set free-adrift. even in a boat
! This. after many threats Of prosecution ....
I for mutiny, murder, robbery, ana ai o., phi
( of crimes And, anyhow, says I IA ~ !; :
/ where were they to get the money from ,
I I don't believe they've more than tIVp
/ between 'em They must have sent II on on
/ to VALPARAISO. I had good oVernaui ioT
/ knives and pistols and things atter / NO 10
/ Shifted the beggars out of their berlhs
and didn't come across much cash. Yes
/ Of course we buried poor Fisher, also the
! cool, NV word. Harry. you took him
| neatly-right through the apple OF the
/ throat Ia just tackled Sinclair .When Il 4
/ saw you pot him And now you re Wen Wen
again. old man." continued Phil. i sup
/ pose we can't DO better than keep all on
why, no, Phil" I replied, i don't see
that there's any other course course p.SIi,,i sslJ,,
! There's something shockingly crooked
/ about this racket that l can't get the hang
1 of I'm beginning to think We've been had
| from the very start HQWSVelr,' Inc me
! out in the washing when we get to sgd
/ But we had not to wait for that. Seeing
| that I was still weak Phil insisted on my
I I,-ino down again Adams. because of his
I came leg was cook also relieving Phil as
| mate now and again; and they were man.
I aging nicely in the fne weather but
( had no desire to interview either Benton
! or his partner. The pair OF them had
worked us mischief enough. ana was
Thoroughly determined to take them back
TO Australia and have the mystery cleared
+ awoke about midday to find Phil in the
berth. 49,. 1T,
he. coming straight for US with the
'heave-to' signal flying. Perhaps you d
like to have a squint at her. What had
we better do?
after taking a good look through the
Ia. ses at the boat fast meeting US from
the westward. 20 may be mistaken, but
fancy by her tunnels that It's one OF the
South Coast Company's steamers, al
though what in the world she's doing out
here beats me. And, by the way, PM,
which of those fellows was it who shot
Nobody seems to know for certain" he
replied johnson thinks il was Sinclair,
brt he can't swear 70 it. You see see when
they heard Rafael yelling. they both ran
out with their pistols ready.
II can read the name, remarked PM
presently. working away at MS glass
why. it's the Cudgegong,
FASTEST boat out of Sydney" | replied.
''and. as I thought, one of the South
we had already hauled down our square
foresaiI and gaff topsail. and brought our
main-bOOm amidShips. lying nearly mo-
tionless as the steamer ranged alongside
and without hailing dropped boat into
the water II was fine weather. with
fairly smooth sea and in a very few
minutes three of her company were climb
ing up our gangway ladder.
What cutter is this? asked the hrSt
man on hOard-a short stout, keen-eyed,
red-cheeked customer with light. peaked
beard and a brusque manner, who stared
about him inquisitively..
.Darthea. OF sydney" I replied; and
who might you be If it's a fair question?
The man grinned. as he asked, anxious
Iv, Surely you haven't landed your pas
sengers already and got this far back
again? Couldn't be done in this time
No" l replied, our passengers are
here safe enough. were taking them
home as the trip doesn't suit them. And
now. sir, what is your business | con-
tinued I'm in a hurry. and can't stop
pottering all day answering questions.
Can topsail halIiards there
Hold on" exclaimed the man. Per
hans I should have told you at first I'm
a detective officer i'm the service of the
New South Wales Government; and these
with me are police COnStableS. Here my
warrant I'm in search of three swiniiers
supposed TO have left sydney in your cut
ter for a South American port VIII that
satisfy yOu?
Amply replied. only I wish you'd
said two I'm place Of three. I'm afraid
you're looking up the wrong spout this
time However, I'm glad to see you Come
inside"
Not half wrong spout. Captain!' eX--
claimed the detective. This Is business,
Not that ! understand il yet Still. it's
some comfort to know that we haven't
burnt 800 tons % coal for nothing. Now
sir fire away. if you please. What you
don't know. perhaps can supply. Where's