The Rich Hill tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1903-1911, 1910-03-17
CHAPTER VII.
IN which SUSPECT Evil.

In Which : Suspect Evil.
Early dawn reached us IN sodden
gray. tsc ssn a shapclcss blob Of dull
red. with no vestlge OF SIS golden
hight forcing passage through those
dense clouds OF misty vapor closing US
IN IA between curtained walls. The
swell Of the sea was not heavy. but
the ~pervading gloom gave 20 the sur
rounding water o peculiarly sullen ap-
peaTance, through which We tore. reck-
less % accident. az fun speed A new
hand was 10 the wheel. johnson hav.
INK gone below an hour since. but I
Sun chung % the bridge. my eyes
heavy from pcering forth into the fog
bank. my clothing s0dden with the
constant drip.
Only q few o. the men we're visible,
three or four grouped about the cap
stan on the f~orecasle head. and as
many more gathered along the lee
side OF the charihouse. Evidently reg
ular watches were already chosen. and
a portion Of the crew had been turned
IN for their trick below. futile him.
self. clad IN wet. giistenlng oil-siins
and looking gaunt and cadayerous. his
chln-beard foriinE straight out over
ths high collar. wal standing ait, be
side the fellow who still kept guard
over the companion. I moved across
10 the starb0ard end Of the bridge,
and. when he glanced around. made
signal for him 10 Join me.
Not very much chance OF any one
oyorhagling as in this fog. Mr.. Tuttle.
I said. pleasantly. 1t would De- like
hunting q needle in a haystack."
It's as the Lord wills" he re-
turned rather souriy. Man proposes,
but God disposes. The sun will llu
that whole outfit In another hour, How
Tar do you figure we're OF shoro7'
Figure O. for yourself We're doing
ell OF 10 knots. and have been for
four hours al that speed. with an.
other 10 BE- added. even our smoke
ought 60 be below the horizon. We've
given them the slip all right and
from noW on it's merely "a question Of
stcaminF 90 keep ahead. I don't re.
call anything IN the Chilean navy that
can overhaul as. What discoveries
have you made below
He turned his crafty. Offering eyes
toward me. twisting the lump Of tobac.
CO under his tongue. In some way. be-
meath the revealing daylight became
W moro dlstrustful Of the man.
more conscious Of his hypocrisy.
Not a great deal, his mouth AZ.
tempting a grin: except that we've
got the crow Gagged. Everybody was
ashore but tho harbor watch
Then you found tho forccastle
empty
"Nothin there but duunaEc and bllEe
water; regular seaparlor. sir
And no omcor on boardg" ! asked.
scarcely believing Il possible,
None. barring tho engineer. so FAR
as ] know The cabin was locked Up
by your orders. 90 I let that alone"
and that, then. Is an YOU have ais
covered. is H. Mr.. Tuttle2
Ho shifted his Ions legs. but made
no cnort TO turn and face me.
Well I guess that's about the
whole % a." no answered. slowly. as
though celebrating over the choice
OF words, only I'm a bit puEslcd
about some things what don't look Just
right We started out. as I understand
q. TO ran on With a Chilean warship
named the E~smeralda. a schooner
riggod steam yacht That was the con
tract. wasnS a. Slrg"
nodded. g~rayoly. wondering what
the man could possibly be driving a,
That was my understanding. his
nasal tone becoming more pronounced
and d-isngrecahle, And somehow
what we've got here looks just a BIT
odd, This here Is a schooner.nggcd
stcRm.yacht all right an I guess the
tonnago isn't very far out Of the RS
meralda class, but we haven't found a
blame Chilean on board Swcdes.
a putchman. two Kanakas. an a
bloomin' English engineer
Well. what OF that9' I broke in
%impatently. You know as well as I
do that the entire chilean navy IL
allied with foreigners"
sure. no coincidod, with a swift,
questioning glance toward me; that's
al true enough. sir. but / never saw
a whole crew OF those boggars an no
Chilean bossin' 'em. Hut then that's
only a part OF H. Every one OF them
small boats down there an the life