Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1908-03-03
The MYSTERY
Blu STEWART EDWARD WHITE
And SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS
COPYRIGHT. 1907 MCCLURE. PHILLIPS

ship sufficiently to bring down both
| lids, which were rather delicately bal
| anced"
Eyes, for Billy Edwards found the
chest closed and locked" said Barnett.
"Of course 1t was spring lock.
| You sent Mr.. Edwards and his men
aboard. No such experts as Pulz or
Perdosa were in your crew. Conse-
| quently 1t took longer to get the chest
open When at length the lid was
raised there was a repetition Of the
tragedy. Mr.. Edwards and his men
leaped. Probably they were paralyzed
almost before they struck the water.
Your bo's'n, whom Slade picked up,
was the only one who had time even
to grab life preserver' before the i'm
pulse toward water became trreslstl-
BILE. There was no element of fright,
you UNDERSTANDING desertion Of their
post. They were dragged as by the
sweep of tornado" Darrow spoke
direct to Captain Parkinson. IF there
is any feeling among you other than
oOlIO" LII tuCll oCulh, ~ ID uAJnoL
and unworthy"
'Thank you, Mr.. Darrow," returned
the captain quietly.
I'VE found the chest closed again
when the empty ship came back" OBJ
served Barnett
Being masterless, the schooner be-
gan to yaw," continued barrow. "The
first time she came about would have
heeled her enough to shut the chest.
Now came the turn Of your other men,"
ives and MCGUIRE" said the captain
as Darrow paused.
1.-THE glow came again that night, and
the next day we picked up slade," said
Barnett.
You know what the glow meant for
your companions" said Darrow.
But the ship! The Laughing Lass,
man! She's vanished. No one has
seen her since"
you are wrong there" said barrow.
II have seen her"
In a common impulse the little circle
leaned to him.
Yes, / have seen her. / wish had
not. Let me bring my story back to
the cave on the island. After the vol
canic gases had driven me to the ref
uge sat near the mouth of the cave,
looking out into the darkness. That
was the night of the It'll, the night you
saw the last glow. 1t was very dark,
except for occasional bursts Of fire
from the crater. Judge of my In
eredulous amazement when in an ac-
cess of this Illumination / saw plainly
a schooner hardly mile offshore, COM
Ing in under bare poles"
Under bare poles?" cried Slade.
"The halliards must have disinte-
grated from some slow action Of the
celestium. 1t could be destructive, ter
rifically destructive. You shall judge.
There was the schooner, naked as your
hand. Possibly might have thought It
a haIlucination but for what came aft
er. Darkness fell again, l supposed
then that Handy Solomon's crew
were managing-or mlsmanaging-the
Laughing Lass without the aid of their
leader. whom had satisfactorily bur-
led. hoped they would come ashore
on the rocks. Yes, was vengeful then.
"of a sudden there sprang from The
darkness ship Of light. You have all
seen those great electric effects at ex-
positions. Some one touches a button,
you know. II was like that. only that
the piercingly brilliant jeweled wonder
Of ship was set in the midst Of
swirl OF varicolored radiance such as I
can't begin to describe. You saw 1t
from a distance. Imagine what It was,
coming close upon you thai way. dead
on. out Of the night-a living glory,
living terror"
His voice sank. With a shaking
hand he fumbled amid his cigarette
papers.
1T came on. A human figure. glow
ing like a diamond ablaze. leaped out
from IL: another shot down from the