The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-01-19
TEE PRINCETON UNION: THURSDAY, JAN UARY l9 1905

i She was not pretty she was too tail
Tor that-quite as tall as Wilbur him
self, and her skeleton was too massive.
her race was red, and the CLINT Of
blue ice was in her eyes. Her eye
lashes and eyebrows, as we'll as the
almost imperceptible down that edged
her cheek when she turned against the
1ght, were blond almost to whiteness.
What beauty she had was of the fine,
hardy Morse type. Her hands were
RED and hard, and even beneath the
coarse sleeve of the oilskin coat one
could infer that the biceps and deltoids
were large and powerful She was
coarse flbered, no doubt, mentally as
Well as physically, but her coarseness,
SO Wilbur guessed, would prove to be
the coarseness of primitive rather
than OF degenerate character.
One thing he saw clearly during the
few moments of the dorys trip be-
tween bark and schooner-the fact
that his charge was a woman must be
kept from Captain Kitchell. Wilbur
knew his man by now. It could be
done. Kitchell and he would take the
Lady Lefty into the nearest port as
soon as possible. The deception would
nave to be maintained only for day
Or two.
| He left the girl on board the schoon-
er and returned to the derelict with
the axes He found Kitchell on the
house, just returned from hasty sur
vey of the prize
"She's daisy" vociferated the cap
tain as Wilbur came aboard. 1--WE
been havin' a look round. She's brand
new. See the date on the capst'n head?
Christiania is her hailin' port-built
there. But it's her papers I'm after.
Then We'll know where we're at.
How's the kid?''
| "She's all right" answered Wilbur
before he could collect his thoughts.
But the captain thought he had ref
erence to the Bertha
II mean the kid we found in the
wheel box. He doesn't count in our
salvage. The bark's been abandoned
as plain as paint. If I thought he stood
in our way" and Kitchells jaw grew
salient, 'I'd shut him in the cabin
| with the old man spell till he'd cop
ped off. Now, then, son, first thing to
do is to chop vents in this yere house,
Hold up! We can do better than
that,' said Wilbur, restraining Kitch-
ellis fury of Impotence. "Slide the big
skylight off. It's loose already"
A couple of the schooner's hands
were ordered aboard the Lady Lefty
! and the sl1ylight removed. At first the
| pour of gas was terrific, but by de-
grees it abated, and at the end of half
an hour Kitchell could keep back no
longer.
"Come on!' he cried, catching up an
ak. Rot the difference!'' All the plum
dering instincts Of the man were
aroused and clamoring. He had be-
come a very wolf within scent of it's
prey, a veritable hyena nuzzling about
it's carbon
''Lordv' he gasped. ITO think that
everything we see, everything we find,
| is ours!'
| Wilbur himself was not far behind
him in eagerness. Somewhere deep
down in the heart of every Anglo-Sax-
on lies the predatory instinct of his
| viking ancestors, an instinct that a
thousand years of responsibility and
taxpaying have not quite succeeded in
eliminating.
A fight of six steps, brass bound and
bearing the double L of the bark's
monogram, led them down into sort
of vestibule. From the vestibule a
door opened directly into the main
cabin. They entered
! The cabin was some twenty feet long
and unusually spacious. Fresh from
his recollection of the CRIME and reek
of the schooner, it struck Wilbur as
particularly dainty. 1t was painted
white, with stripes of blue, gold and
pea green. On either side three doors
opened off into staterooms and private
cabins, and with each roll of the dere-
lict these doors banged like an irregu-
lar discharge Of revolvers. In the CELL
ter was the dining table, covered with
red cloth very much awry. On each
side of the table were four armchairs
screwed to the deck, one somewhat
larger at the head. Overhead in swing
ing racks were glasses and decanters
of whisky and some kind of white
wine. But for one feature the sight of
the Letty's cabin was charming. How
ever. on the floor by the sliding door in
the forward bulkhead lay body, face
upward.
The body was that of a middle aged.
| fine looking man, his head covered
with the fur, ear Tapped cap that Nor
wegians affect even in the tropics. The
| eyes We're wide open, the face discol-
ored. In the last gasp Of suffocation
| the set Of false teeth had been forced
| halfway out of his mouth, distorting
the countenance with hideous simian
grin. Instantly KitchelIs eye was
caught by the CLINT of the gold in
which these teeth were set.
"Here's about 500 to begin With"
he exclaimed, and, picking up the
teeth, dropped them into his pocket
with a wink at Wilbur The body Of
|