Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-30

stood beside me when we sailed. At
er examining them all l was sure he
was not among them.
The affair was mystery. The OH
GERS made ii a topic of conversation
while on and off duty. and the passen-
gers in the smoking room talked nd
made bets about it. A pool was laid
based on different solutions of The
problem whether Carpenter had come
aboard. was still aboard or had gone
overheard. The only person from
whom it seemed probable that infor-
nation could be obtained was Mr.. Bur
ton, but when approached on the sub
ject he shut himself up like clam.
The more l thought about the miss
ing man the more recalled his APP
pearance. He was rather long of body
and short of leg, long neck and red
hair, his face being spTinkled with
freckIes. Mr.. Burton was in appear
ance his antipodes. His body was
not long enough for his legs, which
were like stills His complexion was
dark, and his face wore a sinister ex-
preston. A scar on his left cheek was
noticeable. His head was small. round
as a bullet and set down on his high
shoulders without any interval of neck.
l instructed the purser to continue to
search for the missing passenger, for
! had seen him, and he must have
come aboard. Of course as soon as we
made port his loss would be common
property, the reporters would make
good deal out of it, and / preferred
that we should be able to give an ex-
D,,f he I ~
poohpoohed both my evidence and that
of Mr.. Burton, which concurred, and
made only half hearted effort to end
the man. His theory was that Car
penter had not come aboard.
But that occurred which put the
mystery out of the heads of all of us.
Before sailing the signal service had
given a warning of a hurricane in the
West Indies. / watched the barometer
and one morning about four bells saw
it drop like lead. 1t wasn't long after
this that the wind began TO send frag-
mentary clouds across the heavens. in
creasing hour after hour in violence
till it was plain that we were in the
teeth of the hurricane.
Our vessel was Of average strength.
the wind and waves of a hurricane is
liable TO give way. When a wave
struck US it was as if several tons OF
rock had been hurled against us out Of
the mouth of a gigantic gun. The
drops of water beating against my
cheek struck like gravel stones. The
only passenger on deck was Mr.. Bur
ton. / was on the bridge when / saw
him come up the companionway, turn
and look at the storm. 1t seemed to
make no more impression on him than
a twelve knot gale. Then, looking up
at me. he sang out:
This will drive him OUT
At any other time the words would
have seemed ludicrous. but now,
knowing that If the hurricane did not
blow itself out very soon our vessel
would not be able TO stand up against
it. l had no interest in what the man
meant. Indeed, soon after this heard
an ominous creaking and when the
bow plunged down in between the
monster waves and rose again ! felt
the ship bend at the waist. From that
moment 1 knew she was liable to
break in two.
It was half an hour after this that I
left the bridge in charge Of the first
mate and went below TO make an ex-
animation. BY this time the passengers
knew that the ship was about to go to
pieces. Passing through the cabin. I
found them all, except Burton, grouped
while one OF them was praying.
Are we lost, captain:" asked all at
once.
81 am going TO see" I replied and
hurried away. Passing down n COM
panionway, 1 entered lower deck.
1t was dark. but not so dark that 1
could not discern objects. And this is
the sight I saw through the gloom.
There was the long bodied, short
legged carpenter defending himself
against the stilted Burton. Carpen-
ter's weapon was n heavy furnace
poker, Burton's a cUtlass that be had
stolen from among a lot of old arms
that had been locked up i'm the ship for
years. Burton made his thrusts and
let fall his blows with the fury Of
demon, while Carpenter. houSh on the
defensive had been driven to bay and
was no less wildly vindictive. Both
men were covered with blood.
The contrast between this picture
and that of the huddled passengers 1
had Just left occurring under the
frightful conditions made my blood
run cold. The ship and passengers
were in my care. 1 was going to find
out how great was the damage from
CONTINUED on Fage Nine)