Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-04


1, 1912.
| women in the articles I signed to. sir
much less about robbery and worse
Worse"
I've picked up a word or two. ere and
there, sir: they don't Ply much eed to
| the likes Of me- you know: nothin' def
| mite, so to speak; just 'ints that they'd
| like to get rid of the old lydy-beg par
| don. Nine. Savaran.''
And Miss Grayce?'
They 'aven't said much about 'er
while was in EARN. SIR said the man.
obliquely.
What about Rhode? Have they won
| him over?'
/ Acklin shook dubious head. II
wouldn't like to sy. sir. E Odds out
strong. and perhaps it's only my sus-
piciousness makes me think 'e's weak
enin'.''
..Oh =. said Crittenden, thought
fully.
rs that al. sirc" Acklin made as if to
take up heavily laden tray. Il
wouldn't like to be caught talking
"Of course. Yes. that's all, just now.
Good-night-and if we get out Of this
alive. Acklin. and I have the chance. I'll
do what l can for YOU
L 1HdIho6, SIT. i III v the syIH6, IL i
| my tyke the liberty. Goodnight
His mood Swallowed with profound dis
| quiet Crittenden turned and slowly re-
| assembled the companionway.
Stepping quietly out on deck. he found
| it quite deserted: the only figures visible
| We're overhead, on the bridge where a
| knot of heads and shoulders bulked
| black against the shimmering heavens.
| Several men were there in consultation
| over and more or less tense attendance
i ha to of no IN
their number Crittenden thought to dis
| tinguish Lobb and Claret. but without
surety. At all events. he considered
| Acklin's counsel had been that Of super
dreamed of boarding the first officer
| against such overwhelming odds.
| None the less, his hour would strike.
He set his teeth upon his purpose
| neither to forget nor yet to weaken, and
| moved noiselessly forward, placing him.
self at the rail. directly beneath the
bridge.
| Here he found himself in close ac-
e guam T, with every phase of their po-
the conclusion of her voyage; the omi-
nous fms to her story was imminent
Some distance ahead. insersibly gain
/ ing breadth and the seeming of substan-
| TALLY, an island of fair size doomed
dark and dense in the midst of the i'm
mense glimmering spaces of sea and sky;
like the pendant of a necklace, a great
stone in a chain OF lesser stones or like
the parent of a brood of tiny. nameless
little islands, mere Outcroppings Of sand
and coral-pin-prick dots upon the
| charts
/ Crittenden had scant doubt about the
identity of the larger shape of land-it
was Coffin Cay, as Rhode called It.
/ Toward it at snail's pace the Cynthia
| shOuldered on. seeming with an effect of
sentence to pick and choose its perilous
! channel, forging sullenly through a pale.
/ slamourous, incredibly fathomless vault
| of night. On either hand a multitude of
| dangers veined the FURNISHED ebony of
the sea with network of threads Of dim.
smoldering, phosphorescent green's and
| puppies. or splashed 1t with wide areas
| of milky fire, where the waters in their
| imperceptible swell creamed over sub
| merged ledge and reef awash. or along
| the pale. shining beaches of the congre-
cation of islets.
| Old. livid and deformed. the wrath of
world long cold. late moon hung a
! little ways above the eastern horizon, its
| spectral rays tempering with wan pallor
| the Starlit shades, manufacturing in the
vast. calm. night-enfolded void simula-
crum OF false dawn. The waters glassed
An affection OF suspense hung In the
atmosphere as IL it were fmpregnated
| with some strange, stimulating gas. Crit
| tenden himself was sensitive to it. He
y.
as though he hung upon the issue of
some terrible succession of events. his
| every sense nd instinct alert to probe
| the meaning of each common but weirdly
| significant incident and sound
From the bows came the canorous
drone Of the leadsmen: from the bridge
a soft scuffie of feet, the whine of a
steering quadrant wanting grease. la
comic directions tClaret's voice)-"Sta'-
board!'-"So.' Steady Keep her
| Offf'-anfinbnna no civtr, Of
the fellow at the wheel: occasionally a
brief. subdued mutter of comment from
the bystanders: constantly from the in
terror of the ship the hasteless heave and
speed and less. obedient to the jangle
and clanl1ing of the engine room tele-
graph; as necessarily from under the
| bows gurgling; down the sides a sibi
liant SwaSh. =
After some time. wearing and growing
FESTIVE under the strain of waiting, Crit
tenden took turn down the deck.
Soft stepping, he came to the rail abaft
the smoking room, and stopped to ana
I'VE the discovery that the vessel was
being followed by another: astern and
far. cluster of lights fianked by green
and red logged the wake OF the Cynthia
turning and twisting to the convolutions
of the tortuous trail she bIazed-a Way
visible long after she had passed, in the
smoking phosphorescence of the waters.
&" The Orion. he surmised
Later, attracted by humble of voices
behind him. he turned, and, himself UNI
seen. acquired a vivid mental sketch of
a scene revealed by the open door of the
smoking room-o: three men grouped
round table. with bottle and glasses
before them. on the one hand ThuriOw
indoiently smoking, indifferently amused:
Perez. on the other. leaning forward his
stout person animated and his hands Vi
vacious with a vehemence of argument
and exposition; Rhode between the two
sitting with folded arms in stony mutiny.
like an incarnate blush of humiliation
due to the ignomny of the pass to which
lack OF foresight and confidence mis-
placed had brought him.
So, apparently. he was not yet rene
gade-won over, like sardonic Providence,
TO the side with the heaviest artillery,
Thoughtful. Crittenden moved forward
again. On the way he was passed by an
exhilarated person. one of the ships OFF,
cers-Greenaway-with attracting his
notice. Then he heard the mans voice
at the smoking room window:
"ThurloW? Shay. Lobb vanish you
, vanish send wireless's message to Orion
'All right. Coming
Crittenden drew back into the shadow
of an angle: the wireless operator passed
him. unseeing and needless: Greenaway
unquestiOnably yielded to the allure of the
bottle and joined the party in the smok-
ing room.
Watching Thurlow Chamber to the
bridge, slip hastily down again and, turn
ing. descend the comma niOp ladder IN his