, 1909-05-06

hunting a needle In a h%aystack."
Tts ss the Lord wills" he re-
turned ra her sourly. Man
but God di poses. The sun will lif,
at wErle ou'tit in another hour. how
far do you figure we're of sho"e?"
"Fi~ir~e 1t for yourself. We're doing
all Of I6 knots. and have b en- for
az hour al that s, , d. With an
OIL :" 10 be added. even our smoke
ouch to he below The horizon. We've
given ! en- the slip all right. and
ir'm now on It's merely a quss ion Of
81, a"inc to keep ah r.. | dln't re-
ell anything in the Gu, n " v th"t
can overhaul MS. What discoveries
Lave you made below"
lie ti ned his c:aHy. Cite i'm eyes
toward me. twisting the lumr of tobac.
co under his tongue. In some way. be-
meath the revealing daylight. | baeame
even more distrustfu! of the man.
more conscious of his hypocrisy.
No, IA great deal his mouth at
temrt'ng a grin; "excep, that we've
got the crew Gagged. Everybody was
ashore but the harbor watch"
Then o found the ~forecasrle
ersnty?"
'Nothin' there but 'n7nar- and b.lra
water; regular sea-ra lor. sir
And no of,cer on bnari?" | asked.
scarcely believing II pos i1le.
"No1e. barring t'e ~ inprr. % far
as ! know. The cam was loc' d MP
by your orders. so | let that alos -"
And that. then. IS al YOU La se dis.
.,tar l. To IL gr..N
Fe shifted his long legs. but made
no effort 10 turn aud face me.
Well. ! guess ilat's alb the
whole OF f." he answered. slGAiy. as
ihoueh celebrating over tie choice
% wo"ds. only I'm a bit puz2is d
ahout some things what don't look iust
ri hit. We started on. as | ulL Ind
It. 10 run of with a Chilean warshir
named the Esmeralda. a schooner
iigTed steam yacht. That was the con
tract. wasn't 1t. SIR"
nodded. eravelv. WONDERING what
the man could possibly he d-i ing n,
That was my uud, rstGndilg" vi
nasal tone becomil1 moe lrutodpra,
and di~sagreeable. "tnd SOM '7N
r'?. "'7'~e got he T. -
odd. This here is a scho Fre- rig
sfeHm yacht all right an | ~ : ~
isn't very far cut of IT, =
meralda class. but we haven't fnnai
blame ~ ilecn IN b. "I-two .,w a.
a Dutchman, two Fanakas. an
b.oomin' English engineer"
We'll. what of that?" | brc'a T.
impatiently. You know as well as
do that the entire chilean navy t.
filled with foreigners"
Sure" he coincid d. with a swift
questioning 81 nee oward me-: "tlIa.'
all true enough. sir. but never sav
whole ere of those hesears an M
Chilean bossin' EN-. But then thai
only = TART of 1t. Every n of then
small boats down there, an the life
r"e~scrvers hangin' in front Of tn,
cabin. have got the name Sea Queel
printed on them. Dam II it amt, here
too. on this %tarpaulin."
bent owe the rail looking dow
at the lettering he pointed out. We
WITH no feeling Of u~neasiness.
"Berond doubt, fiat was The yacht
name before the Chilean government
purchased her and renamed her rs
meralda for their service. She wa
bought from English parties. Nv
resrd. Probably the new owners hav
found no opportunity to repaint th
name"
futile drew forth a red ~bAndann
and blew his nose. his voice more su
lenl" insolent as he resumed speech.
Glad We take it.so cool, ar mayb
yer rl~ht. However. It looks dan
odd to me-
! glanced aside at the wheelman al
progressively. The fellow was gain
straight ahead Of him into the rapid
Timing fog. 1t was the manner c
tie mate more than his words that in
PRESSED me.
See here. Mr.. Tuttle," rnd
"rorned my hand rather heavily o
his sleeve. kindly explain exactl
what you are driving at. Do o IL
tend to insinuate that we have mad
a mistake in the dark. and run o
with the wrong vessel? Why. IA
that Is impossible. We are sailor
not landlubbers. Both of MS have IN
chences to see the Esmeralda. and yo
certainly knew where she was moore
YESTERDAY"
We'll when I. come 10 think
over. | don, feel quite so eye"last-ns
iy sure about that. The mind o ma
is mighty deceitful." he admitte'
slowly. You see. | never saw he
any closer than mavbe a mile. a.
even then she was half hid behind OIL
er shirn'u'. OF course | took notice
her outline an RIG. but ! did, pa
much attention to details. Tonight y"
wa all of Ms excited an colors don
show up much in the dark! Now, he
funnel is rainted red. an unless II
a liar the Esmeralda's was black wi
a waller stripe round the top. fo
see. Mr.. Ster hens, we kept In prttt
close under cover all yesterday, IL