Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-10

tllHe WAS ripe loI aCtloll, anu ne swung on
the srllen-faced skipper, dragging him across
the beach to where the ship of sand doomed
up.
where's the Mandarin, Cap'n Cane" he
cried. THAT'S what | saved you for
where's the Mandarin"
The skipper looked at him somber eyed.
Ships Bottom held its breath
dts all up, tell you!~ Carney grated.
give got all the Mandarin's topworks that
washed mater you dumped 'em into the
sea and sailed away, leavin' me behind in
the boat. It's all marked and branded SO
it'll fit into place again Carney's wrath
was rising fast. "Now ask you where's the
Mandarin all that stuff belongs to, figure
cargo? If you don't confess, Carney cried,
pointing to the Chinese crew, "they will.7
THE Cinnamon were chattering excited
1y,-Pidgin English bracketed with
their own cultural tongue, confession, ac-
cusation, promise of amendment, fearful of
the wrath of the Mandarin they had mis-
used. The skipper glanced from the men,
acing figure that confronted him to the life
savers. stern and forbidding. Captain Cane
was no fool. He was shaken himself more
than he cared to confess, and he was sailor
man enough to know that, with Carney ac-
cusing wreckage and the hull of the Morning
Star intact, the former mate would have no
difficulty in proving his case. to say nothing
of the crews testimony He gave a harsh
laugh.
3You got me with the goods, reckon"
he said "The Mandarin-or what was the
Mandarin, full rigger-is out there" He
pointed to the ship on the rocks. Il doused
her yards, an changed her topworks and
her name, and made her the bark Morning
Star 1t was owners orders-those con-
founded Chink owners the skipper said
sulkily @They wanted to collect insurance
on the ship and keep her and her cargo too.
They fixed me up with double charter in
Shanghai-for the Mandarin and the Morn
ing Star-to use after changed one into the
other. had spars aboard and spare stuff"
A gasp of anazement went up from Ships
Bottom. But Jack Carney was not bother
ing with charters, real or crooked. He turned
burning eyes on the skipper that made him
shrink back. 3Now tell en- he said, chow
we come to part company off Barnegat,-
YOU an me and the Mandarin
"Why, you didn't fit in with that Chink
scheme and you knew too much to be safe
aboard" the skipper said. anyway, we
went off and left you. l made a mistake
there Cane said; "like | did when | left
that Chinee fgurehead behind. The crew
took him Tor sort OF JOSS Ihey Wouldn
work the ship this last trip, when the storm
came up. Thought it was the old Mandarin
layin' for them, | suppose. You saw the
finish of it yourself
AS it happened, neither Ships Bottom nor
the skipper of the Mandarin realized
the full significance of Carney's ship of sand
until after the coming of the Inspector and
certain high dignitaries in the department.
Il don't know about that sailors super
stition of ship coming back to where she
was wrecked, or that sand ship calling her
in" the Inspector said; "but l do know
everything worked out the way Carney
said, and from the moment he started work
here on the beach she gives him claim for
salvage Furthermore, she's responsible for
a call from the underwriters who count him
in on the salvage for ship that was never
lost, and was paid for. If she doesn't belong
to Carney, don't know who that Mandarin
ship does belong to-and he's got claim
on the original cargo too. But of course
that's matter he will have to take up with
the interested parties.
There was one party in interest whom
Jack Carney thought more of than all the
rest. Taking it by and large, when that
ship of sand once got down to business it did
some pretty effective calling among
ships and other things came certain pretty,
Iova1 oir1 IF Rarneoat