The Washington times., 1911-03-30

, | upright men, Is read Alright. To be dis
, trusted before he can give actual cause
| for such feeling, is, to him, an unpar-
donable affront. His resentment-the
word IS feeble-could be no greater
were he caught foul-handed In the very
act of his contemplated treachery. \And
thus 1t was with Mr.. Tompkins. Close
Tipped. wary, elusive, revengeful, he
trod lonely, anfractuous by ways and
; held himself aloof from all, hugging to
his breast the thought of the fate he
planned to be Curtice's. And as for
the latter his ever-present wonder was
that the mates sneaking mien aroused
no distrust in Captain Hendry.
The young man, therefore, slept with
one eye open. II surprised and some
! what relieved by the virtuous conduct
ticipated evil Of them. Their very calm
ness disturbed him, since he knew we'll
| the dangerous breed. And this knowl-
edge made him to feel that. far from
| living up to their outward seeming OF
| unresisting submission 10 defeat, sur
! reptitously they conspired and were
; active. Estimating them critically. he
assigned them to an allegortcal rating In
/ inverse ratio TO their formidableness-
two snakes, a iend incarnate, and
| master mind, respectively. Messrs.
Tompkins and Fetter. General Lazard.
and Mr.. Arthur. The latter were the
most to be feared, the former those
! whom he should watch. rightly thinking
/
! lay out and direct the campaign, the
! weaker men would be their tools. BY
| closely observing their movements, he
! hoped TO be able TO surprise whatever
I perfidy might be contemplated.
! One dreary day OF wet weather passed
| without incident. Curtice, while osten-
| sibly busy in bettering his acquaint-
! ance with Daniel, failed not TO take no.
| tice of his shipmates: and since Norah
kept her room perforce, from illness
ha
| high excitement. Of the. last few days,
he had excellent opportunity. But the
results Were meager. II encouraging.
Arthur did not venture on deck, pre-
! ferring to remain In the cabin and
/ amuse himself with a greasy pack of
cards and many cigarettes. He proved
affable, good-humored, and entertain
| ing when he was approached, self icon
| tanned and satisfied II left alone. La
zard, however, made no secret OF his
avoidance of Curtice, although he toll
Grated Haigh. and. wonderful to relate,
actually cultivated Captain Hendry-
much to the captains disgust, judging
by the frown he wore whenever the
mercenary was at his side. At times
they appeared to engage in argument,
though their tones were always too low
for Curtice to catch the purport OF
their words when they happened to be
within earshot.
OF the reptiles, Tompkins went about
his business sullenly-and minded 1t ex-
Clusively. Fetter, after a few abortive
attempts to inGratiate himself into the
good graces of the two young men, and
5eing plainly disliked even by Tomp-
kins, betook himself to the deck and
mingled with the crew, by whom, as
Haigh suggested, his peculiar talents
were likely to be welcomed. This was
part of the plot, however; nature hav-
ing so outfitted him that clean men kept
from him, no suspicion attached to this
move, II being quite conceivable that
his mental and moral rottenness, to-
gether with the verbal filth OF which ne
was lavish, would make him favorite
before the mast. Bear in mind that no
representative crew OF American sea-
men is referred to, nor one Of honest
tars: the Miranda ]. was complemented
with as rare a collection OF jail birds 8
1t would be possible to pick from the
muck of South American ports and the
lowest dives of Manhattan's waterfront.
They were ten IN number--a large
one for a vessel of the Miranda J. ton
mage. Three were Americans-count-
ing all as such who spoke English; one
Chinese, the cook; two were ordinary
shiftless "niggers;" the remainder
''greasers''-a comprehensive term at
sea, embracing all Spanish and Portu-
guese, or Of such descent. In addition
there was the engineer, bluff, burly
German. of unquestioned ability and
faithfulness, one Hentz. With him Fet-
ter met with no success but with the
crew his popularity was assured ana
With the dawn OF the second day the
world took on a new, strange aspect FOR
Jimmy Curtice. Life held for him
deeper, truer meaning. 1t was not the
change In the weather which could be
held to account for this, though that
turned from grave to very gay during
the night. so that clear and radiant
morning greeted him as he stepped on
deck-a morning of pearls and anne |
thyst and gold. whose lively sea was
whipped by a wind warm and sweet.
with the intoxicating quality Of rare old
cordial. whose sunlight was pure JOY,
whose message was the old, nne one:
Gods IN HIS heaven, alls well with
the world Neither was 1t that he es-
teerned himself, or that he was glad
that he had found friend In Daniel.
1t was, In brief, Norah.
He had turned out at about five bells
in the morning watch, had oreaktasteo
lightly on coffee and rolls, promising
himself a more substantial meal later;
and now he stood. head up and shoul-
ders back, facing the breeze astern ana
puffing at short and loud pipe, his
found him. Doubtless, had such an in
terruption been offered him, he would
have fed incontinently, being more or
less fearful of woman In the abstract
.et him among US who Is without tnls
difIdence-or is it sex distrust?-let
him cast the first jeer at Jimmy Cur
tice. AS il was, he had 10 warning:
sim fingers tapering. to oval nails, and
tinted with the glowing dusk OF Anda-
fisian blood, rested softly for second
unon hiF arm and her voice as quietly
reached his ear:
some vague premonition seemed to
pass over him, with little fit of gentle
"a ned the girl: vet to him it was as II
an ague shook him. Before he looked
upon her face. the blood that had MOI
Temporarily choked his heart was IN
his cheeks: and his breath was no.
where at all and disinclined TO return:
II seemed. The ardent soul OF the man
was in his face when he did look. Anc
vet neither thought 10 question why:
There Is a Iand-most of us have LETT II
far behind alack!-where such violent
local disturbances are treated as
matter Of course: a most delectable
country is II. and swept by the dear
wind Of romance.
(The Continuation of This Story VIII