The Sauk Centre herald., 1909-12-16

anu luCTSUulOuSIy.
Tell him you'll take him back on
condition that he'll shave"
Mr.. Van Torp, who was in dead
earnest, had just given his best friend
\ this piece Of sound practical advice
when the door opened, though he had
not rung. and the steward announced
that the second mate had a message
for Mr.. Van Torp. He was admitted,
and he delivered it.
The owner sprang to his feet.
by thunder, we've caught 'em!" he
cried, as he rushed out of the deck sa'
loon.
Lady Maud leaned back and stared
at his empty chair, wondering what
was going to happen next.
This was what happened. The Ian
cashire Lass reversed her starboard
engine with full speed astern, put her
helm hard over to port, and turned
back towards the straits in the small
est space possible for her, passing
less than cables length from the
Scylla rock, and nearly running down
half dozen fishing boats that pulled
, like mad to get out of her way; for
they supposed that the steering-gear
had broken down, unless her captain
had gone raving mad
While this was going on, Capt.
Brown himself, with the international
signal code in his hand, was calling
out letters of the alphabet to a quar-
termaster, and before his ship had
made half circle the flags ran up the
single stick the yacht carried.
MY owner has urgent business with
your owner" was what the flags
meant in plain English.
The Erinna was going slow, for Ba-
raka was only just ready to come on
deck. haste being in her opinion. an
invention of Shaitan's. Logotheti,
who wished her to see the straits, was
just inside the door of the deck sa-
loon, waiting for her to come out of
her cabin. The officer of the watch
read off the signals of the other yacht,
ran up the answering pennant, and
sent for the sailing-master, but could
of course do nothing else without or
ders. So the Erinna continued to go
slow. All this took some minutes, for
the officer had naturally been obliged
to look up the signal in the code be-
fore answering that he understood it;
and in that time Van Torp's yacht had
completed her turn and was nearly
alongside. The Lancashire Lass
slowed down to the Erinna's speed,
and the two captains aimed their meg
aphones accurately at each other from
their respective bridges for a little
pleasant conversation. Capt. Brown,
instructed by Mr.. Van Torp at his
elbow. repeated what his signals had
meant. The other sailing g-master an,
swered that he had already informed
. his owner, who was coming to the
bridge directly.
At that moment Logotheti appeared.
There was not much more than a
cables length between the two yachts,
which in land-talk means 200 yards.
Van Torp also saw a slim young lady
in blue serge, with veil tied over
her hair, leaning on the rail of the
promenade deck and looking towards
him. With his glasses he recognized
the features of Baraka.
Got 'em!" he calculated in a low
but audible tone of intense satisfac-
ton. .......
Logotheti had also seen Van Torp,
and waved his hand in a friendly
manner.
ASK the gentleman II he'll come
aboard, captain" said the American.
81 can't talk through your cornopean
anyway. l suppose we can send the
naphtha launch for him If we stop,
can't we?"
Cant stop here" answered Capt.
Brown. "The currents might jam us
into each other, and we should most
likely get aground in any case. This
is not even safe place for going
slow, when the tide is running"
We'll, you know your business. and
don't. Tell him we don't want to in
terfere with any arrangements he's
made, and that If he'll kindly set the
pace he likes Wen trot along behind
him till We get to a nice place, some
where where we can stop. 1 suppose
he can't run away from us now, can
he?"
Capt. Brown smiled the smile of a
<man who commands a 23-knot boat.
and proceeded to deliver the message
In a more concise form. Logotheti heard
every word. and the answer was that he
was in no hurry and was quite at Mr..
Van Torp's disposal. He would be
glad to know whom the latter had on
board with him.
Lady Maud Leven. Miss Margaret
Dome, Mrs. Rushmore and Count Kra-
linsky," answered Capt. Brown,
prompted by Van Torp.
The latter was watching the Greek
through pair of Devastating glasses
and saw distinctly the expression of
surprise that came into his face when
he heard the last of the names.
"Tell the gentleman" said Van
Torp, "that II he'll bring his party
with him when we stop. I'll be very
glad to have them all take lunch with
me-"
Capt. Brown delivered the message
J At such q short distance he did not
ZEN have to raise his voice to be
hs, Ard through the six-foot megaphoas.