The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-15
A Secret Of the Sea
A MYSTERY STORY.
BY MRS. c. N. WILLIAMSON.
Copyright 1902 by the National Press Agency.
By MRS. C. N. WILLIAMSON.
Copyright 1902 by the National Press Agency
MYSTERY STORY
Gan Rights Reserved.

soma grata on board-a skilled chef no
doubt; or else the steward was ILL., Ill!
Does that mean that the work Of poison
ing had begun first among the servants
and the crew? If it had, the murderers
thousand difficulties would have been
lessened, perhaps If everybody on board
| were hors de combat, before the owner
and lady were disposed of, there would be
| only those two against him, If worst came
to- worst. Heavens! Imagine them all
dead just the two In the, dining saloon
left, calmly eating their luncheon, never
dreaming that they were surrounded with
corpses-that soon they were destined to
be corpses too How must the man have
felt who planned it all, who was slowly,
surely, carrying out his plans to the very
end?
Wine or liquor of some kind was prob
ably the safest vehicle for the poison. he
had chosen. or else he would have put 1t
in the food--which would SO much have
simplified things for him. 1t had to be
wine: therefore it. was necessary for the
murderer to come into the dining saloon
himself, and open the bottle. or course,
he and steward might have been CON
federates; but + don't believe that was
true A genius in crime prefers to work
without help; he wouldn't dare trust any
one except himself. No wonder his hand
trembled as he drew this cork. He
couldn't control his nerves, and broke the
neck of the bottle, perhaps cutting his
hand But he wouldn't havezfelt the pain
He would have had the poison within
reach, and he would have had to keep his
|. countenance while he poured out the
wine -. ; ~! - - -
Suppose that they drank it.. They
weren't affected at first, for they evil
IDENTIFY went on with the meal, till they
came to the dessert. All this time the
cook-if he were playing. the: steward
part-must have had to come and ga
bringing the dishes, carrying them OUT
wondering whether all would be we'll, and
when the thing that he was waiting for
would happen. BY this time, perhaps, the
man at the wheel was dead, and the
Xenia was at the mercy Of the sea, as she
was when we saw her first. Who can
tell what followed then? Those serv5ettes,
dropped under the table, did they fall from
dead hands. or did the master OF the yacht
not knowing yet that he must die-]eave
his place to see what was wrong above,
and did the woman follow? 49,
This last thought appealed to Knight.
He seemed to see a mans figure springing
from the table, rushing up the companion,
and out on to the white deck. what a
sight must have met him there! Dead
men for his crew, the wheel deserted' ana
the canvas Tapping m0lrn1ully.
Involuntarily Dick rose from the seat
| he had taken at the head of the table, the
very one In which the master Of the yacht
| had sat for his last meal.
Almost as If he followed a visible form,
he went up the companion, and on to the
deck, as in his fancy the dying master OF
| the Xenia had gone.
1.-The poor wretch may have fallen
here" Dick said to himself; fallen and
! died, knowing at last that he was muir
dered'' Invountarily the young man
stopped, abruptly, as though he could see
| a corpse lying at his feet; and looking up
| he realized that he stood in front OF, and
close to, the great broken iron cage.
For some reason, which he could hard
! ly have defined, this discovery brought
with it a shock. Dick felt suddenly cold
and tingled all over, as II something tre-
mendous had happened or were about to
happen. Again, for him, the mystery Of
the yacht seemed an incarnate. though
! invisible shape, crouching behind the
broken door Of the cage. If but for
a moment 1t would become visible, and
give itself to his eyes. he would be.
he thought, more than halfway toward
him at last to Eve Markham. What ami
NAL had been the prisoner Of that cage,
what had it seen Of the tragedy. and,
above ALL what part taken in 1t? AL
ways Dick was brought back to that
| question, as a man lost in the woods
comes again u lIle ShIllc pOllt
after trying many devious paths.
| No answer was forthcoming; but the
young man felt that he had gained some
thing. At least, he had found theory
to which, as yet, no insuperable OBJ
lection had presented itself, as had in
variably happened before. That 'in-
spiration'' of his. during his conversation
with Sir Peter was still the foundation or
which he stood. He had snatched Their
at the idea Of a master of murder; nc
feeble, revengeful cur who snaps at the
hand which has given blows instead Of
food; but genius, with an unrelentinl
purpose to work out, and no human
sacrifices as to the way Of working it
He was building the theory up, step by
step, on this foundation; and, to his mind
no stone tested had as yet proved de
fective.
His courage rose. So far, only thir
ty-four hours had passed since he under
took his mission, and not one of those
hours had been wasted. OF course, a
any moment, he might come upon dis
covery which would. overthrow all hi
deductions. as. by an earthquakes; bu
even so, he was training his mind in de
tective work. With each step he had tax
en- he felt more confidence in himself AM
, his own powers Of judgment. One thin,
led up to another. He believed now tina
he was teaching himself to miss no points
even the smallest. At all events, right o
| wrong, ne determined IQaC, unless again
) he should stumble against another blanl
wall, he would continue to work on hi
q. present lines; that is, on the suppositio1
> that master villain had destroye,
1 every one on board the Xenia, not through
I madness, not through a vulgar desire TO
revenge, but simply as the one means to
, wards a great end. ,..- 49,. H..
' Sitting on deck Dick made many NOR
. entries in his new notebook, lest h
r should inadvertently drop some lin
thread. and forgot to pick it UP again
When he had put his various deduction
down on paper" in the form of queries
with suggestive. interroga ton poin
y after each one. he began to ask himself
G series Of questions. Granted that
wholesale murder had been committed OF
! the Xexia, how had, the murderer dis
: posed of the bodies of his victims: VIII
u had he destroyed all papers and every
: thing on board which could lead to tn
; Identification Of the yacht, and how ha
he himself escaped? .,.--... -.E.. ~.
It seemed to Dick that the least elab
crate theory regarding the Disappearance
e of the papers was most likely to be tn
1 right one. The murderer must hay
4 argued in making his plans, that soone
S or later the Xenia would be found, a hope
|. less derelict. Ill.,. = 8 rr:.s.aS
g He would have realized that, if the TIL,
S ory Of murder were advanced, his oW
e hope of escape would be so much d,
t, creased. Those who made it their bus
), ness to solve the mystery would scare
Y for the escaped murderers, and Il
Il chance was that were he on land or sc