Charlevoix county herald., 1910-03-05
CHAPTER VII.
In Which | Suspect Evil.


Early dawn reached us in sodden
gray, the sun shapeless blob or duil
red. with no vestige of its golden
light. forcing passage. through those
densll Nouds of misty vapor closing us
in ay ID etween curtained walls. Inc
swell N the sea was not heavy, but
the pGrvading gloom gave to the sur
rounding water a peculiarly sullen APP
pearance, through which we tore, reck-
less of accident, at full speed. A new
hand was at the wheel, Johnson hav-
Ing gone below an hour since, put
still chung to the bridge, my eyes
heavy from peering forth into the log
bank, my clothing sodden with the
constant drip.
ONLY q few of the men were visible,
three or four grouped about the cap
stan on the forecastle head, ana as
many more gathered along the lee
side of the charthouse. Evidently reg
ular watches were already chosen, and
a portion of the crew had been turned
in for their trick below Tuttle him.
self, clad in wet, glistening oil-skins
and looking gaunt and cadaverous, MS
chin-bear forSing straight out over
the high collar, was standing art, De-
side the fellow who still kept guard
over the companion. / moved across
10 the starboard end of the bridge,
and, when he glanced around, mace
signal for him to join me.
- very much chance of any one
ovafruling us in this fog, Mr. futile,
IL would like
hunting needle in haystack.
"'Tis as the Lord wills" he re-
turned. rather sourly. Man proposes,
but God disposes. The sun will lift
that whole outfit in another hour. How
far do you figure we're off shore?
Figure it for yourself. We're doing
all of 16 knots, and have been 1ol
four hours at that speed. with an
other to be added, even our smoke
ought to be below the horizon. We've
given them the slip all right, ant
from now on it's merely question o
steaming to keep ahead. l don't re
call ANYTHING in the Chilean navy tina
can overhaul us. What discoveries
have you made below?"
He turned his crafty, Offering eye
toward me, twisting the lump of tobac
co under his tongue. In some way, be
meath the revealing daylight, / becam
even more distrustful of the man
more conscious of his hypocrisy.
Not a great DEAL" his mouth a
tempting a grin; except that WeV
got the crew. Gagged. Everybody wa
ashore but the harbor watch"
TThen you found the forecast
e4pty9
hNothin' there but dunnage and bilg
water; regular sea-parlor, sir.
And no officer on board?" / aske'
scarcely believing it possible.
None, barring the engineer, so IA
as know. The cabin was locked U
by your orders so l let that alone"
And that, then is all you have oil
covered, is it, Mr.. Tuttle?"
He shifted his long legs, but mac
no effort to turn and face me.
f"Well, | guess that's about Il
Nwhole of it." he answered, slowly,
though celebrating over the choi'
of words. "Only I'm bit puzzle
about some things what don't look Jul
right. We started out, as | understal
it, to run off with Chilean warsh
named the Esmeralda, schoone
rugged steam yacht. That was the CO
tract, wasn't 1t, sir?"
l nodded gravely wondering VIII
the man could possibly be driving
THAT was my understanding, |
nasal tone becoming more pronounc
and disagreeable. and someht
what we've got here looks just a
odd. This here is schooner-rigg
(steam-yacht all right, an l guess I
tonnage isn't very far out OF the
meralda class, but we haven't found
blame Chilean on board-two Swed
Dutchman, two Kanakas, an
bloomin' English engineer"
well, what of that?" l broke
impatiently. You know as well
do that the entire Chilean navy
filled with foreigners"
Sure" he conceded, with a sw
questioning glance toward me; "ths
all true enough, sir. but l never
a whole crew of those beggars an
Chilean bossin' EN-. But then tn;
only a part of It, Every one of tn
ANAL boats down there, an the