Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-08-27

this was only a new complication. He
could not understand it. just as better
men than Claud Tyars have failed to un-
derstand it all through. For no one,
take it, does understand love. and no man
can say whittier 1t will lead.
"There need" continued Oswin Grace,
perforating a series Of small holes In his
blotting paper with the point Of cedar
wood pencil. "be no nonsense of that sort.
! am going to take it upon myself to
watch over Helen's interests: they are
much safer in your hands than In mine."
Still Tyars said nothing, and after a
little pause, Grace went on, In measured,
thoughtful tones, carrying with them the
weight of delibefation.
"There is one point" he said, upon
which I think there must be an under
standing
"Yes," said Tyars anxiously.
| ANY risks-extra risks, such as boat
work, night-work up aloft-these must be
mine. From what you have said, gath
err that your intention was to be skipper,
and yet do the rough work as we'll. When
anything hazardous is to be done, / shall
do it. You must stick to the ship"
IL have no doubt" said Tyars, seating
himself at the table and beginning to
open his letters, that we are all con-
structing a very fine mountain out Of ma
terials intended for a molehill. I, for
one. have no intention Of leaving my
bones In the far North. There is no rea-
son why we should not all be back home
by this time next year."
None at ALL" agreed Oswin somewhat
perfunctorily. adding, with a suspicion Of
| dnnhf fho mil N0,vnnOoo
succeed?"
| "Well, what them"
| Suppose we get there all right, rescue
the men and so on safely; we get over
the elemental danger, and then we have
to face the political. which is worse"
II do not see it," replied Tyars. I'VE
sell the ship at San Francisco. Half
the crew expect to be paid off there, the
other half will dispense with their passage
money in their pockets, and very few OF
them will find their way back to England.
Our doctor is a German socialist, with
several aliases: our second mate a sim
ple-minded Norwegian whaling skipper.
The exiles do not know a word Of Eng
fish. or pretend they do not, and none
Of the crew speaks Russian. There will
be absolutely no intercourse on board,
and only you, the doctor and myself will
ever know who the rescued men really
are. The crew will imagine that they
are the survivors of Russian ivory hunt
ing expedition, and il the truth ever
comes out, it will be impossible to prove
that you and knew better"
but 1t will not be easy to keep the
newspapers quiet"
| I'VE shall not attempt to keep them
quiet. 1t will only be a local matter.
The San Francisco papers will publish
libelous woodcuts Of our countenances and
column or two purporting to be bio
graphical, but the world will be little the
wiser. In America such matters are in
teresting only In so much as they are per-
sonal, and there Is in reality nothing
easier than the suppression Of ones per.
sonality. There is no difficulty in kick.
ing an interviewer out of the room, just
as one would kick out any intruder: and
we are quite Indifferent as to whether
the American newspapers abuse us or not
after having been kicked. As to the de-
tails Of the voyage, l shall withhold those
with the view of publishing book, which
is quite the correct thing nowadays. The
book shall always be in course of prepare
ton. and will never appear"
In this wise the two men continued
talking, planning, scheming all the morn
ing, while they worked methodically and
prosaically.
The eleventh of March was fixed for
the sailing of the Argo. exploring vessel,
and Eastons chief thought on the sub
ject was a vague wonder as to what he
would do with himself after she had gone.
! Tho ArUO n MAJ Of he l.,l
basin into the river Mt one o'clock, and
at half-past twelve Easton drove no to
the dock gates. lie brought with him the
last items of the ships outfit in the shape
Of a pile of newspapers and bunch of
dollhouse roses for the cabin table, for
there was to be luncheon party on board
while steamng down the river.
He found Admiral Grace strolling
about the deck with Tyars. conversing In
quite a friendly way. and endeavoring
honestly to suppress his contempt for
seamanship of so young a growth as that
of his companion. The ladies' were below.
inspecting the ship under Oswins guild
ance.
"She is" he said. addressing himself TO
the admiral, with transatlantic courtesy,
"a strange mixture of the man-of- war
and the yacht--do you not find it so.
sir:"
"She is" answered the old gpntlema n,
gnardedy, zone of the most complete YES
sells | have ever boarded-though her
outward appearance is, of course, against
her"
"One can detect" continued the Amcr-
can. looking round with a musing eye,
"the influence of naval officer
The old gentleman softened visibly. At
this moment the ladies appeared. escorted
by Oswin Grace-Miss Winter first, with
searching little smile in her eyes. Eas-
ton saw that she was very much on the
alert.
II feel quite at home" she said to him,
looking round her, although there are so
many t'S~ses."
80 do l; the more so because the
changes have been made under my own
directions"
They walked aft. leaving the rest Of the
party standing together. AS they walked,
Oswin Grace watched them with singu-
lar light in his clear gray eyes; singular
because gray eyes rarely glisten. they only
darken at times
Presently the vessel glided smoothly be-