, 1911-04-06

come back x summer. / think
that with our knowledge of the cur
rents and where the open water Ia,
we might get back to Fielding bay by
the first OF July. Then we can find
whatever there is to find"
His voice faltered there, and
there were tears in the deep weather
beaten burrows of his cheeks. God
Knows, he concluded, IF there we're
any possible chance I would take it,
but there is none-none In the world.
not unless we could fly through the
air."
1t was only an hour since they had
ascertained, beyond the shadow Of a
doubt, that Jeanne was not board the
Aurora. Until Tom had recovered
consciousness, the others had enter
tanned little doubt that she was safely
hidden somewhere about the ship.
Cayley's warning, together with the
confession of the Portuguese. Miguel,
had caused them to steal alongside
the Aurora as silently as possible. Not
a word had been spoken by any of the
party, and the sound of the rising
wind had drowned the creak of their
oars. Half a dozen wellarmed men
had stolen aboard over the bows to
reconnoiter.
Making out the unfamiliar figures
of the Walrus people on deck, and
knowing that they had a fight on their
hands. they had worked their way. un-
observed, to a position amidships.
Here, under cover Of q brisk revolver
fire, they had made it possible for the
rest of their party to get aboard.
The Walrus people, several of whom
were below, came tumbling up on
deck at the sound Of firing, and their
whole party e%ntrenched itself in the
after-deck house. They had found
arms of various sorts aboard the Au-
rora, and made a spirited resistance
before they were finally overpowered.
The Aurora's people, under the cool
headed command of Warner inc the
elder F%anshaw. had proceeded in a
brisk, scientific. military style that
had spared them many serious casual
ties. There were a number of flesh
wounds when 1t was over, and one or
two Of a more serious nature. None
Of them had been killed.
The Walrus people, however, had
not surrendered until their plight was
wholly desperate. Only FIVE of them
were left alive, and two of these we're
MORALLY wounded when the struggle
ceased.
The %uninjured were heavily ironed
locked up in the steerage. All
the wounded-friends and foes alike
were turned over to the care of the
yachts surgeon and a couple of volun-
teer assistants from among the crew.
Altogether, 1t was two or three hours
after the Aurora's people had regained
undisputed possession of the yacht be-
'ore # was possible to form any def
ife idea of what had happened. In
'- excitement and the necessity OF
everybody doing two or three things
at once, Tom Fanshaw and his serious
plight were not discovered. until he
himself. having partly regained con-
seriousness, uttered a low moan for
help, which was heard by a chance
passerby.
The gale, which had been raging all
this while, had gone screaming by
u%nheeded, and it was not until dawn
that the Mortified conquerors Of the
yacht discovered that there was NO
land in sight.
1t was several hours after that, not,
indeed, until the captain had worked
out their reckoning from al observa-
ton, before they realized that they
were 100 miles away from their
anchorage of the previous evening,
and that their return was hopeless.
Old Mr.. Fanshaw gave his arm to
his son, helped him down from the
bridge and thence to the now deserted
smoking room. forward. Tom sub
mitted to be led blindly along. and did
not demur when his father halted be-
side a big leather sofa and told him
to lie down upon it Since that mo-
mentary outburst of his upon the
bridge, the young man had been I'M
naturally calm. His muscles. as he
lay there now upon the sofa, seemed
relaxed; his eyes were fixed, almost
dull.
Through a long silence his father
sat there watching him. but there was
no dawn Of a corresponding calmness
in his face. 1t had aged whole years
over night
Its strange to me-" he said, that :
we ever recovered possession Of this
yacht at all, let alone that we were
able to recover 1t without It costing
us the life of a single a This gang
must nave had a leader, and a clever
one. They way he maneuyered his
men to keep them out OF sight while
he drew away first one party and then
the other from the yacht IA a piece
of mastery strategy. He worked 1t
out perfectly in every detail. He got
possession Of the yacht without losing
a man. without ever firing a shot thai
might give the alarm. And even with
the warning we had and with he
help of the fog, I don't see how we