The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-03-04
CHAPTER WI.
In Which I. Suspect Evil.

In Which /. Suspect Evil.
Early dawn reached us in sodden
gray. the :.sun q %shapeless blob of dull
red, with no vestige OF its golden
light forcing passage through those
dense clouds Of misty vapor closing us
in as between curtained walls. The
swell of the sea was not heavy, but
the ~pervading gloom gave to the sur
rounding water a peculiarly sullen ap-
p~earancey through which we tore, reck-
less OF accident. at full speed. A new
hand was at the wheel, Johnson hav.
Ing zone below an hour since. but I
still chung to the bridge, nay eyes
heavy from peering forth into the fog
bank, my clothing sodden with the
constant drip.
Only a few of the men were visible,
three or four grouped about the cap
stan on the forecastle head, and Is
many more gathered along the lee
side Of the c~harthouse. Evidently reg
ular watches were already chosen, and
. portion Of the crew had been turned
In for their trick below. Tuttle him.
Cell, clad In wet, glistening oil-skins
Ind looking gaunt and ~cadaverous, his
ch1n-beard fOrking straight out v
The high collar, was standing aft, be-
side the fellow who still kept guard
v the companion. l moved across
to the starboard end of the bridge,
and. when he glanced around, made
signal for him to join me.
mot very much chance of any one
overhauling us In this fog, Mr.. Tuttle,"
/ said, pleasantly. 1T would be like
hunting a needle in a h~aystack."
IT'S as the Lord Wills" he re-
turned, rather sourly. Man proposes,
but God disposes. The sun will lift
that whole outfit in another holr. How
Tar do you figure we're of shore"
Figure it for yourself. We're doing
al Of is knots. and have been for
four hours at that speed. With an
ofAer to be added, even our smoke
ought to be below the horizon. We've
given them the slip all right, and
from now on it's merely q question Of
steaming to keep ahead. l don't re-
cal! anything in the Chileaa navy that
can overhaul us. 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, l became
even more distrustful of the man,
more conscious of his hypocrisy.
Not q great DEAL" his mouth at
tempting q grin; except that we've
got the crew Gagged. Everybody was
ashore but the harbor watch"
Then you found the forecastle
empty"
"Nothin' there but dunnage and bilge
water; regular sea-parlor. sir"
And no oficer on board?" l asked,
scarcely believing 1t possible.
None. barring the engineer, SO far
q I know. The cabin was locked up
by your orders. SO l let that alone"
And that. then, is all you have dis
covered, ID It, Mr.. futile"
HI shifted his long legs. but made
NO effort to turn and face me.
well. /, guess that's about the
whole Of It." he answered. slowly, as
though celebrating over the choice
Of words. only I'm q bit puzzled
about some things what don't look just
right. We started out, as I understand
It, 10 run on with q Chilean warship
named the Esmeralda. a schooner
rugged steam yacht. That was the con-
tract, wasn't ~ sir?"
nodded, gravely, wondering what
the man could possibly be driving at
That VA my understanding" his
nasal tone becoming more pronounced
and d~isagresable. "And somehow
what we've rot here looks just a bit
odd. This hare II ! acknowledged
steam-yacht Ill right, an ! guess the
tonnage isn't very far out Of the Els
meratda class, but Ne haven't found q
blame Chileln on board-two Swedes,
= Dqtchman, two Kanakas. an 81
blconins English engineer
'eWe1lwhat OF thak7" / broke in
ilnratlent1y. tsYou know - well as
Do that the entire Chilean navy is
all4d with foreigners"
Sure he conceded. with ! swift,
Questioning glance toward me that's
al str1e enough. sir, but | never saw
ehols erew Of those beggars an no
A6osin' EN-. But then that's
p1rt Of 4. Every one Of them
s,fs lawn there. IN Tho Lie