The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-04-10
CHAPTER discontinued.


decided, conclusiyely.
you mean he committed suicide
Call Il what you like, sir.
But there was no reason for him
10 do such a thing" objected.
81 understand he's been pretty ILL.,.
sir"
"Iie WINS 81. yes. But he was on the
road to recovery" And then, witk the
retaliation that ! was speaking OF
cameron in the past tense, % though
IL were already settled that | should
never see him alive again. Il SILVER
'of horror swept over me. know Mac
'Leod observed q, for he said;
There's been drop in tho tenn
'perature, in the last half'hour. It'll
be more comfortable in my cabin, sir,
.if you don't mind coming In. and talk.
ing tho thing over bit"
Good Heavens, Macleod" | ex-
claimed turning on him with nervous
,aayagcry, do you expect me TO sit
down and talk calmly at such n mo-
ment? can't It's all | can do to
stand stIll here, for minute at n
time. feel must do something. It's
torture 10 have ones hands tied this
way"
81 think ] know how you feel. sir
But walking the deck will do no good.
and II you could calm yourself enough
10 talk It over quietly, We might get
down to something that would guide
us, so to speak"
Guide us?" | repeated
Yes, sir. It's not impossible, you
know, sir that when he went over
board he was picked up"
The light from his cabin portfolio
Illuminated us both, and now "a he
hooked at me he must have seen my
.perplcXty.
"You eaid yourself, SIR" he ex.
plaIned. that you thought you heard
the exhaust OF some sort o craft not
far away
II was this reminder, think, which
brought back my mountaineering wits
and steadiCd me to perception OF the
real Importance of the captains plea.
or one thing, Mt least, ] was assured:
cameron was not suicide, How he
could have gone over the taffrail with
out my seeing or hearing him. should
never be able to understand, But gone
he was, and It lay upon me TO dis
cover by whose assistance this mar
vicious disappearance was accom-
plished. And 80 II came about that,
controlling my futile unrest. was
presently seated I'm MacLeod's swivel
chair, while he, from a place on the
side Of his berth. fired pointed ques.
tions at me, which | either answered
as best could or returned in kind.
Nov maybe It's none of my bust
ness. Mr.. Clyde. but In view OF to.
nights occurrence | think It's peril
nent to know why there was such a
thorough inspection OF the Sibylla be
gore we sailed, and such lot Of eau
tion regarding the crew" That was
the first OF his yolley, and for mo.
meut It staggered me. ! recognized.
however, that this was not time for
qulbbllng, and as Macleod had been
for years a staunch soldier In Gamer
,on's army Of employees, saw no
harm In letting him know the truth.
'1ll tell you," returned, frankly,
"but It's not to go any further In tho
past nine weeks Mr.. Cameron has
been receiving series OF threatening
anonymous letters The last one camo
a week ago today; and in 1t this was
named as the date for the climax"
Climax" no repeated. questioning
1y,
yes. Today. the letter stated. Mr..
cameron would disappear"
The calm, phlegmatic young captain
did not start. He simply narrowed his
eyes In thought.
That's odd" he said, gravely,
i"damned odd" And then, after a sec
Iond's consideration, he asked: WAS
that-but of course IT was-why he
took tails cruiser
mo" told him That was not his
reason: though 1t was mine"
did not mean to be enigmatic. but
! suppose ] was, for Macleod showed