Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-27
CONTINUED FROM PAGE TWO

seems to me that it's about time we had
breakfast"
II don't see how you can think of such
thing as breakfast at a time like this was
the response. 'Tm not hungry"
wen, L am; and I'm going down into the
galley Tor cold bite. The other fellows are
hungry, too."
!, Don't you dare to leave the deck till give
ene order!,. protested Lofty. "What are you
ute?' 49, -sl' on oui Dan'' 'n' '
think we can all of us fight better after
we We had something to eat," was the un-
compromising InIp9l rejoinder.
food and let it be eaten here on deck. /
arms"
Shall 1 feed the prisoners?" was Ewen's
next query.
gant, being couched in language be6tting o
inutlneer. 1t was to the effect that the pri
soners, one and all, might starve, like rats IL
q Trap, before he'd consent to their being fed
Therefore, while the robbers in the cabin
continued their deliberations. the Venture.
rev ate their makeshift meal, and Cap
lam Rankin waited with impatience for bott
Whlie the captain waited the consultation
was occurring below deck, overscen and over
heaTd by Commander Brant
having listened to the dialogue between the
cnle1 OF the robbers and the chief of the mu
o,neers, t brant climbed through the transon
over the state-room door, as has been related
ward eoe ~
just as the robbers came backing down the
eompanion-stairs, vowing vengeance upon the
Rrant Rensares IS crew for the trick perpetrated
nnn ral L
eu OH tne passageway leading forward from
the ward-room
In the hoor OF the pantry was hatch Oh
geuttle, leading down into the vessels hold
by Ine Tune the robbers returned to tht
ward-room, Brant had vanished down this op
ening and was making his way forward
through the hold.
!, The step he had taken was necessitated b,
the construction of the. yacht. Brant's pur
pose was to reach the forecastle and to con
ffer with the boatswain and the four marine inc
2lncarcerated there. If he had remained OF
he cabin deck, he would have been obliged
pass through the engine room in order t,
>seash = the .6 forward section of the vessel.
through the fre-room but this, Brant beiiev
ed he could do without discovery.
Inc me ventures boilers rested on the vessel
bottom, amidships. Here was located the fire
room, occupying position midway between
the fore and after-holds, and dividing thost
two compartments
On each side of the fire-room, and separatef
from it by a passageway on either hand
We're the coal bunkers, occupying the snac
against the vessels bilge. A door on the Star
board and another on the port side of tn
hre-room opened upon the passageways, ant
opposite these doors were the apertures /,
the coal bunkers whence the stokers drew tn
fuel for the furnace. At intervals, ,varyin,
from one to two minutes, perhaps, one or tn
other OF the two stokers engaged in frin,
the boilers, stepped across the narrow pas
sageway and returned into the fire-room.
From his concealment in the dark afterhold
Commander Brant looked through the doc
opening from the hold into the starboard pas
sageway. Though it was broad daylight q
deck and in the well-lighted cabin, it was darl
as Egypt deep down in the interior of tn
Venture The fre-room was alight, from tn
glow under the boilers, but the passageway
alongside the coal bunkers were as dark as tn
hold, except where the open door of the fire
room permitted the light contained there &
stream athwart the gloom
Brant waited till he saw one of the stoker
come out into the .passageway and start t,
return with good-sized shovelful of coal
Then he advanced boldly, but quietly, into th
passageway He moved forward SO swift,
that he almost brushed against the man eoin,
through the fire-room door, but the mani
back being turned, and his body completed,
filing the narrow doorway, prevented Brant',
discovery. The fireman on the opposite sid,
Of the vessel could not see him, and the rat
lie of the loosened coal in the bunkers, com