The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-05-13

dozens Of the most minute OF antennae.
These writhed and fiuttered most
weirdly
"Oh, can't stand this" she declar-
ed. nor the air in here. Tyoga! Tyo-
| ga!come and take me upstairs"
When the old negress had led her
| back to her shady seat on deck Betty
Lancey sat and scanned the offing for
sail. and wondered how she could get
word to Larry Morris where she was,
and how in the world she could send
| the news she had to the Inquirer" Of
| fee.
Somehow her hunger for Larry was
far worse than her desire to satisfy
the newspaper appetite of delivering
her portion of the solution to the
| wayne murder mystery. Betty, self
reliant Betty, weakened by the first se-
we're illness she had ever known; Bet
| ty, stripped of the practical routine
| adjuncts of the daily life to which she
was accustomed; Betty, who had OPEN
ly fouted at poetry and romanticism.
this same Betty plunged into fire of
mystery, murder and death, convalesc-'
ing from malignant attack of brain
fever, was beginning to discover that a
woman is weakling after all, and that
when she needs strong arm to lean
on, she wants it sadly. And in the
mist and mirage of the life from which
she had SO suddenly been taken away,
1T was Larry Morris, his face, his fig
| ure and his personality that Betty's
heart and soul reached out for vainly.
If she could have found an empty
bottle anywhere she would have
CHANGED that old pastime of the mari
ner and last refuge of the shipwreck-
ed-a note in a bottle. But bottles
there were none, nor anything else fea-
sible, and Betty plunged into despair.
With returning health, however, came
renewed interest in life. She had
good food, the weather was fine, and
Betty splendid sailor. She possessed
| the exuberance of youth and all OF a
newspaper woman's curiosity for the
what is to happen next LIE Malheu-
reux, though extremely repulsive, was
also decidedly interesting, and their
conversations and intimacy grew with
the voyage.
| LIE Malheureux was well read, cour-
teous, polished gentleman. gracious,
and d delightful companion when he so
chose. But he never saw her for more
than an hour day, and was reticent
about himself and his people. Betty
| gathered that he had long lived in AZ
RIGA, though he had been educated in
England, France and Germany. BY
| education he was a physician, by for
tune independent, and by occupation
research worker in the extensive fields
of electro therapy. But there were
three things he never did-he never
removed or shifted any of his somber
1 drapings, his hands were always glow
ed. and the thick veil Of full green was
never lifted from his face.
| CHAPTER XII
| At the close of long, hot day, the
enchanted yacht sighted land-a blur
of gray and green to the left AS the
night deepened this verged into a
| splash Of tropic green, washed with a
| spendthrift moon. Betty begged to be
| allowed to stop on deck to watch this
| dawning beauty, and Tyoga, muffied in
long white cloak, stood beside her.
AS they approached the harbor Betty
saw it was the jettying mouth OF a
river, the banks lined with mosshung
palms, springing from matted
| growth Of reeds, entwined vines, rush
| es and lush grass Straight up the
river they went in the moonlight,
through a current so slow that the
stream appeared stagnant No sign of
| habitation met the eye, and the tun-
/ giles to either side were still as death
save for the occasional roar of lion,
or snarl Of some angered panther.
| The river verged into lake, black
and forbidding, within bleak beaches of
| yellow sand, and from there they rush
ed into another river rooted with en-
| tangled trees through which filtered
| blood red sunrise. All day they fol-
lowed this river, pimpled at intervals
| with lakes, small or large, and clear
or muddled. The white heron and the
| storm watched them unheeding. A
crocodile or two sided after them. and
| at intervals some huge snake, untwin-
4 ing from long hanging Dough, would
stretch Its Shiny length across the
snowy deck. Twice they passed herd
of elephants coming down to drink, and
often sent an affrighted lioness hurry
ing back from the waters edge to her
mewing kittens. The purple lotus
spread itself despairingly over some Of
the slimiest pools as If to patch up
black hideodsness with perfect bloom.
ALI this tropical splendor finally wear
led even Betty's rapt eyes, and she
chung gratefully to Tyoga's arm as the
negress said: I'VE are at our journeys
end" And with It had come the night.
The yacht had swung through an
archway, and shot into rooted pas
sage. water dripping from the stones
and moss above them, and raven
cawed as they stopped at stubby
wharf, from which led up dizzy dight
Of dimly lighted granite steps.
The stairs ended In vaulted corri-
dor hung with few antique brass
lamps. Placed at intervals along the
sides were low stone couches covered
with leopard skins.
To one Of these Tyoga motioned Bet
ty, and then pursuing her thick black
lips she emitted peculiar whistle. In