Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-12-17

!
/ broke in the voice OF Andrea. the
/ Italian. He rested on his oars in some
! excitement. "One-a day he coma da
feeshman's warf an talk-a da feesh-
man. an say, 4 show-a TO you da dol
lare deespeer. You gotta da dollare?'
/ Freshman pull-a da dol,are outa da
/ peck an banda man one-a meenit.
You see? Passa da han dees-a way
and Andrea made a sweep upward
with one hand-"an' da dollare dees-
peer Wait-a da dollare coma back !;
no coma back. Da man he wait-a, too.
/ an look-a da aire, bat dollare coma
no down-nevare. Ware wonderful, all
/ feeshmans teonk. Try-a da more dol
lare-all goa up, no coma down. Ware
wonderful. Feeshmans teenk he hava
da devil cen heem."
felt for my watch. Harvey looked
surprised.
And didn't he give the dollars
back?" he demanded.
How giva back, when he no getta
heemself?" asked the boatman.
Harvey was about 10 reply, but
changed his mind and asked me what
time IL was.
"Half-past four" replied return
ing the watch to my pocket.
And where are we, AnGrea?"
"Closa da whistling buoy, sare. Half
a mile, | teenk."
/ could see the tower of the buoy
looming in the dark haze ahead OF us.
1t seemed, as Andrea had said, about
half n mile away.
You want TO get out OF this said
Harvey, gazing around. We're right
in the line of the raft and the buoy,
where rAhasn't been fish since
the swimming season opened"
At that moment | felt tap on the
side Of my coat. | turned question
ingly.
Well" said. What is it?'
Andrea raised his brows with an
swering inquiry.
What was it you wanted?" ! re-
peated.
Il? | not-a want-a anyteeng."
Il thought you touched me-"
mo, sare, no touch-a you"
shut up talking" said Harvey.
Lets get to work"
For the next halfhour we circled
slowly around the buoy and fished in
silence. Then Harvey wound his line
on the peg in the bow again and re-
filled his pipe.
What's the time now?" he asked.
The next moment / could have
fallen out of the boat with consterna-
ton.
My watch was gone!
had worn it in small inside peck
ct of my coat, without any chain,
thinking it safer that way. | had con-
suited it but half-hour before and,
replacing it carefully, had buttoned
my coat over it, Under the coat |
wore a sweater, so there was no
chance that had mistakenly placed 1T
in a waistcoat pocket.
The watch had simply been removed
in some miraculous way from the
pocket in which ! was accustomed 10
keeping II, and in which | remembered
with terrible distinctness having
placed it such a little while before.
And now miracle was TO follow mir
acle-or else We hadn't done with the
/ first one yet-for while | was still
/ frenziedly fumbling about my clothes
! became aware of Andrea leaning for
ward in strange excitement, with his
/ finger pointed seward.
What the deuce is happening any
| how" cried Harvey, getting to his
! feet
was doubly dumb. Straight ahead
of us in the haze of the dawn. | could
descry the outlines of a vessel some
two or three miles farther seward.
| Our own boat was fully three miles
/ from shore the whistling buoy we
/ could see quite distinctly on line
perhaps a quarter of mile TO the
4 south of us.
Andrea was hauling a glass out of a
locker and fixing it to his eyes.
Ware wonderful" he muttered I'M
der his breath. Il noa see da boat-a
/ look lax heem before, teenk so!"
Well, / had. Here, in a part of the
Pacific at least six weeks travel from
where had last seen one, was a Fill
! pino junk
1t was bearing with good speed
southwark, but coming in also. Ii
seemed in a fair way 10 pass quite
close to the whistling buoy, at which
we also were heading. IL we should
stop at the buoy the strange craft
would come within speaking distance
of us, unless she should change her
course Trembling under a three
fold mystery-the hotel stranger, the
/ junk, the magical disappearance of my
watch urged Andrea to give me the
glass and row with all his might for
the buoy. Harvey l silenced with a
shake of the head.
In ten minutes we had run the boat
alongside the buoy and were resting
on the side hidden from the Filipino
vessel. BY poking the glass around
the corner | could see the incongruous
visitor still coming on, now within a
mile of us.
From a dazed inspection OF this
marvel / was shaken abruptly by 4
hand on my arm. / whirled about to