Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-28


cused you of theft. It suited his pur-
pose to make you out innoCent---a
sailor who had picked up the ring for
a trifle, for he would have been glad
had you brought suit against the
jewelers. in order to force from you
the particulars of how you came into
possession Of the ring. 1t was even ar
ranged to guide you to a lawyer who
should betray your confidence!
Shameful, es-detestable--but were
we not justified?'
Matt paused, trying to grasp the i'm.
mensity Of the conspiracy of which
he had been the victim. What tens
of thousands had been lavished, what
care and skill had been employed
close the net about him! Every west
ern seaport watched; New York the
headquarters of veritable general of
detectives; the Esmeralda in ambush
with her picked crew-on what gi-
gantic scale it all had been prepared,
with what secrecy and thoroughness!
And more stirring even than this was
the thought Of John Mort, now re-
vealed as prince Of imperial blood,
and soon perhaps to be a king, an en-
peror, with armies, fleets, palaces
salvos of artillery as he moved in
state. John Mort! With his wild past,
his self-imposed exile, his tragically
divided life-what a poignant figure,
pacing the sands Of his lonely island,
and seeing. not the combers thunder.
ing against the coral nor the palms
bending in the wind. but that far-off
lodge in the mountains of his native
land and the blood trickling from a
womans breast!
reverie to continue He had unrolled
"a chart and had flattened it out, not
without difficulty. on the bed. Pain.
fully excited, with his emaciated
hands shaking and his voice senile
and broken he besought Matt to
show him the spot where his son was.
There" said Matt, running his
finger over the sheet to specl
marked Reef e. d." There, your Ma
iesty!"
The chart bore number Of little
crosses roughly penciled and strung
together, each with its date the
ships course, plotted from day to day.
Matt regarded the last cross careful
ly, and In reply to a question estimated
that Lotoalofa was some five degrees
to the eastward and about degree
and a half south of their present posi-
ton
The old Emperor bowed his head
over the chart and seemed to be strug-
Cling with a terrible emotion. Then he
looked up his face white and drawn,
as though he were on the point of
fainting. But he silenced MATHS ex.
clamation with gesture. Call Ad.
miral Won Todelben,' he gasped, fall.
ing back on his pillows. II must in
struct him to alter the ships course
at once"
CHAPTER XIV.
BY dusk the next day wind and sea
had fallen to profound calm; the
masthead vanes dropped: the ship
might have been steaming over sum.
mer lake. In her sweltering depths her
engines, pressed as they had never
been pressed before, throbbed hoarse
ly, with the needle of every gage shiv
ering at the zenith. Her decks seemed
to arch and fall back at each mighty
revolution; the great stacks darkened
the evening sky with the deeper black
OF smoke, belching forth four-fold
torrent, sometimes lit by fury of
sparks, or high-leaping tongues of
flame. The enormous hull. urged to
the limit of her speed, rolled up be.
fore her wide line Of broken water,
cleaning with phosphorescence as
though turned to liquid gold. and
| crosply splashing in an amending ca
depce.
Latoalofa was in sight, straggliie
row of dots to those on the bridge;
surf, beaches. palms and shining shad
owy lagoon to the watchers in the
foretop. Gathered on the bridge, and
surrounding the venerable monarch
who reclined in a deck-chair, was the
little party privileged to be with him
Matt with binoculars to his eyes
standing beside stout old Won Todlo,
ben, and overlapping him by head
Chris. In an officers cloak, seated on
the elongated end of the Emperors
chair, a position of honor to which
she had been specially called; Bran
deis, now Won Tripwitz, in a borrowed
:. ill-fitting uniform, punctiliously re
naming aloof from the frenuent con
sultations; Captain Count Hoyos, the
nominal commander of the ship, q
dark, fine-looking man Of aristocratie
appearance; the navigating officer, ar
eager, cultural, energetic person; and
last Of all Schwartz, who sat by him
self on a camp-stool, very humbly and
respectfully, as though much over
come AT being in such exalted COM
pany.
| AS night closed in an animated dis
cussion look place, with Matt In the
center of the group, and for the mo
mert the most important individual
therefor it turned on him whether
or not the vessel was to hold her posi-
ton till morning, or venture the Ell
trance Of the lagoon by moonlight
! Mats own counsel was for caution
| for the man-of-war drew twenty-s.1
| feet of water; and while he felt rea
sonably sure of plotting her safely
through the northern channel (there
was another, the western channel
deeper, but more tortuous), he shrank
from assuming so great a responsible
| ity in the dark. Twenty-six feet made
an immense draught; cloud across
the moon might easily imperil the
ship; the lagoon was thick with coral