The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1906-09-22
Prisoners and Capfives
by III. 8. MERRIMAN
-=(O~--
BY III. g. MERRIMAN

and this he was biting meditatively. 1t
was as yet entirely a puzzle to him, and
this was only a new complication. He
could not understand it, just as better
men than Claud Tyars have failed to I'M
derstand it all through. For no one, l
take it, does understand love, and no man
can say whittier it will lead.
There need" continued Oswin Grace,
lperforating a series of small holes In his
blotting paper with the point Of a 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 elaboration.
There Is one point" he said upon
which l 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
er that your intention was to be skipper,
and yet do the rough work as we'll. When
anything hazardous is to be done, I shall
do 1t. You must stick to the ship"
II 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
/ doubt the next minute: Suppose we
succeedW
! well, What thenT'
l Suppose we get there all right, rescue
the men and go 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
Q sell the ship at San Francisco. Half
: the crew expect to be paid off there, the
y other half will dispense with their passage
J., money in their pockets, and very few Of
o 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
/, lish, or pretend they do not, and none
Q Of the crew speaks Russian. There will
W duSOiutciy lnISlCOuESo vi bOdEu,
Q and only you, the doctor and myself will
b ever know who the rescued men really
l. are. The crew will imagine that they
y are the survivors of Russian ivory hunt
I ing expedition, and IL the truth ever
is comes out, 1t will be impossible to prove
e that you and knew better"
But It will not be easy to keep the
y newspapers quiet"
uUa shall MT attaropt 20 koay> ~,
IL quiet. 1t will only be local matter
l. The San Francisco papers will publish
libelous woodcuts Of our countenances and
'e a column or two purportins to be bio
70 graphical, but the world will be little the
4, wiser. In America such matters are In
1t teresting only In so much as they are per
sonal, and there is in reality nothing
u easier than the suppression of ones per
s. sonality. There is no difficulty in kick
ing an interviewer out of the room, jus
70 as one would kick out any intruder; ant
10 we are quite Indifferent as to whether
.e the American newspapers abuse US or no
ID after having been kicked. As to the de
a. tails OF the voyage, shall withhold thos
[e with the view Of publishing a book, which
,r is quite the correct thing nowadays. Th
he book shall always be In course of prepare
ton, and will never appear"
Il In this wise the two men continue,
talking, planning, scheming all the morn
~ ing, while they worked methodically an,
,e prosaically.
The eleventh of March was hxed 10
the sailing Of the Argo, exploring vessel
e, and Eastons chief thought on the sub
he ject was a vague wonder as to what h
D. would do with himself after she had gone
Ar~ 70 80 L.. ~. 4.
ht basin into the river at one o'clock, an
Of at half-past twelve Easton drove up t
re the dock gates. He brought with him tn
re last items of@the ships outfit in the shap
be Of a pile of newspapers, and a bunch O
is dollhouse roses for the cabin table, 70
there was to be luncheon party on boar
n while steaming down the river.
20 He found Admiral Grace strollin
about the deck with Tyars, conversng
lis quite a friendly way, and endeavorin
ID, honestly to suppress his contempt fo
seamanship of so young a growth as tha
I'd of his companion. The ladies were below
n inspecting the ship under Oswin's guit
ance.
to "She L." he said, addressing himself
We the admiral, with transatlantic courtes.
70, "a strange mixture of the man-of-wa
ana the yhCuV-uO you not Hnu IL 8
&C sir?"
uu "She Is" answered the old gentleman
II, guardedly, zone Of the most complete We
H. sells / have ever boarded-though b,
outward appearance is, of course, again
au her."
,s Zone can detect" continued the Amer
n can, looking round with a musing ey
1.-THE influence of a naval officer"
The old gentleman softened visibly. 4
>. this moment the ladies appeared, escorts
- by Oswin Grace-Miss Winter first, vii
:, d searching little smile in her eyes. pa
70 ton saw that she was very much on Il
alert.
ed. 81 feel quite at home" she said to hir
,at looking round her, although there are
on many changes"
$50 do I; the more so because Il
red changes have been made under my ow
directions"
,ed They walked aft, leaving the rest Of d