The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-14
By MRS. C. N. WILLIAMSON.
4 MYSTERY ST
Copyright 1909 by the National Pres, Ageno
CAN Rights Reserved.)


kilograms and letters to various places.
in the hope OF receiving information by
return. Dick knight spent his time In
wandering ref1ectively between the dining
saloon OF the Xenia, her galleys, and the
storeroon, where the packing case and
the tins of rui5 still stood undisturbed.
IF there We're anything in his idea. and
if. indeed. it were really an inspiration,
the meal which had apparently been In
progress at the hour when mystery
swooped down upon the yacht had not
been dinner. but luncheon. Between the
moment when the two inmates of the
dining saloon had dropped their serviettes
and left the table. and the moment when
the Xenia first sighted by the Lily
Maid. there would not have been time for
the thing vaguely floating in Dicks mind
to happen. Therefore he wished to prove
to himself that the yacht had become
a derelict early in the afternoon; and his
first thought. when he was at liberty to
do as he chose, was to take steps towards
this goal.
The strawberries left on the plates were
now no longer round and ruby-1ke. but
wilted and Of sickly, purplish tirge. so
that their appearance could not help him
to a decision. But he remembered MOTTO
ing before his "inspiration" had come to
him that the berries looked slightly over
ripe. Now he told himself that they
might easily have been on the table for
several hours, "nen lie HHU Oh IStei |
first boarded the yacht Somewhat boy
ishly. perhaps. he had bought a new note |
book in Gibraltar; and now he put down |
his first entry: 'Strawberries over-ripe. |
The next went in after an inspection OF
the dishes which had been served for the
meal. and taken back to the galley with
the changing of the courses.
Neither dishes nor pots and pans had |
been washed. and Dick jotted down In his
book: Soup, fish. chicken. potato GRO |
quette; entrte Of some sort; asparagus;
remains of cream ice in freezer: jelly;
cheese. More probably lunch; not courses
enough for dinner" Then he half smiled
as he read his own notes. IF stranger
opened the book at this page, he would
take me for cook" he said to himself.
On shelf in the principal galley were
a number Of wine glasses, which had been
used, and set aside to be washed. There
were two exquisite, slender-stenlmed bub-
bles of jewelled Venetian glass. intended
for white wine; there were two for claret.
but none for champagne; and the port
glasses had been left by the plates on the
table in the saloon. In the china cup
| board, at which Dick presently arrived,
there we're various other sorts OF glass es,
enough to make up including those which
stood outside. unwashed) dozen Of each
kind. This rule had, however, one ex-
| ception. Dick counted the champagne
! glasses in the cupboard, and found only
| ten. Now, the question arose had two
! champagne glasses been broken during the
| voyage, or had two been used during that
last meal and fors some purpose de-
! stroyed?
On the table in the larger galley stood
| a slim bottle of Liebfraumileh, half empty,
| and a bottle of Chateau La Rose, scarcely
! touched. Evidently these were to have
| been the perquisite Of the chef and the
| steward and in tt edining-saloon, on
! 0rt CT
clined In its basket. :, No used champaign
| bottles were visible anywhere; but just
as Dick was beginning to dismiss the
| thought of the two missing glasses, ne
came upon something which revived sus-
picion in his mind. He had left the gal
| ley, and suddenly bethought himself OF
looking under the dining-table. Cursory
search had been made there before, with
the grim idea of finding hidden, bodies,
| but now Dick peered carefully about in
| the hope of coming upon some small OBJ
ject-a dropped handkerchief, perhaps,
| with a name or monogram, OF possibly
forgotten letter. What he looked for, he
did not find; but something bright caught
his eye and with slight ejaculation OF
| triumph he picked up a silver-headed
corkscrew. deeply embedded in cham
payne cork.
:"so!' he said to himself, "they did have
champagne Now, why have the glasses
and bottle disappeared:
! He sat down, with the corkscrew in his
hand, and began to think things over.
sending his mind back to the time before
the Xenia became a forlorn, mysterious
derelict. and straining his imagination to
people her with passengers and crew.
1.-The owner Of the yacht was a million
aire. and he was eccentric Dick said TO
!, himself. $50 much may take for granted
in the beginning; or circumstant1al eV1d-
ence Is more than usually tricky if I'm de-
| ceived as to that. All the arrangements
| Of the yacht and it's appointments simply
shout Money and eccentricity.' It's no
use thinking that the yacht may have be-
longed to the lady and that the man was
their guest instead OF vice versa. The
plainness OF it's stateroom and the mag
| nihcence of hers show that he was the
host, scorning luxurious personal sur
; roundings. but lavish with his money and
gorgeous in his taste for the benefit OF
! others. Now, would such man-rich,
peculiar, fond Of power, spoilt. perhaps. by
7 prosperity-have been pleasant master
} to serve? Is it possible that some one in
) his employ on the yacht hated him for all
5 act of tyranny or injustice, and planned to
: murder him, with his wife? But why.
= then, do away with every soul on board :
/ Was there no means of obtaining cheap
er revenge? Besides. the owner of the
8 yacht would not have come into close con-
, tact with any member Of the crew, and
COulQ naf0ly nave excited SUCH ueeuly
? hatred. The captain might have disliked
E him; but captains Of private yachts aren't
9 | the sort OF men to commit wholesale MUIR
. der; following UP with such a supposition
is waste Of timeand grey matter. A valet
perhaps? More likely, but how could the
k owners valet succeed not only in destroy
o ing his master, and his masters wife OF
= guest. but more than a dozen other peo-
| pie besides?" Again. the despairing sen
< sation Of having strayed into a blind al
h ley, just as he hoped that he had found his
4 way out into the right road, fell coldly
! clue: the champagne cork, rendered i'm
| portant by the fact that the bottle an6
; glasses had mysteriously vanished.
,, If there had been poison in the cham
: pa gne. that would account for their dis
a appearance. clever poisoner woult
. wish to destroy all traces of his crime
| but even a clever criminal is apt to dro!
Il some stitch in his fabric; and the corl
- under the -table-the one proof that cham
h payne had been drunk at the last meal
Il might have been the dropped stitch.
a knight began again and determined t
. 1 argue from the standpoint that the mas
I ter. of the Xenia and the; woman who wa
a | with him had been destroyed by means c
q poison in the champagne. The cork unde
If the table bore witness that the wine ha
y been opened in the saloon not outside
10 and this detail seemed to point to the din
), ingroom steward as the poisoner. He c
h the chef we're the only men who woul
J. have found it comparatively simple to &c
" rid of evryone on board by means
d poison. But why should they have de
-