The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1913-01-01

Stolen
Singer
By Martha BeIlinger
CHAPTER VI.
On Board the Jeanne D'Arc.

cure q knight-errant OF his sentiment,
then Jimmy Hambleton had been free
of his passion for the Face. His
plunge overheard had been followed
by joyous swim. lusty call to the
yacht for Help" and growing
amazement when he realized that it
by. lie had swum valiantly, deter.
mined to get picked up by that par
ticular craft. when suddenly his
strength failed. He remembered
thinking that it was all uD with him.
and then he lost consciousness.
When he awoke he was on a hard
bunk in dim place, and a sailor was
Jerking him about. His throat burned
with a fiery liquid. Then he felt the
plunging and rising of the boat, and
came to life sufficiently to utter the
stereotyped words. where am IL"
In Jim's case the question did not
imply the confused cropping back to
sense that it usually indicates, but
rather an actual desire to know
whether or not he was on board the
Jeanne D'Arc. Plainly his wits had
not been badly shattered by his ex-
perience overheard. But the sailor
who was attending him with such min
Istrations as he understood, answered
him with a sample of French which
Jim had never met with in his school
books, and he was not enlightened for
some hours.
1t was indeed the Jeanne Dare.
as Jim proved for himself the
next day, and he was lying in the
seamen's quarters in the fo'cas'le. BY
morning he felt much better, hungry,
and prepared in his mind for striking
a bargain with one of the sailors for
clothes. lie could make out their
lingo soon, he guessed, and then he
would get suit of clothes and fare
on deck. Suddenly he grasped his
waist, struck with an unpleasant
thought; his money-belt was gone! He
was wearing a sailors blue flannel
shirt and nothing else. He turned over
on his hard bunk, thinking that he
would have to wait a while before
making his entrance on the public
stage of the Jeanne Dare.
And wait he did. Not a rag of
clothing was in sight, and no cajolery
or promise of reward could persuade
the ships men into supplying his
need. He received consignments of
food; short rations they would be, he
judged, for an able-bodied seaman.
But inactivity and confinement to the
fo'casle soon worked havoc with his
physique, so that appetite, and even
desire of life itself, temporarily dis
appeared in the gloom of seasickness.
In spite of difficulties, Jim tried to
find out something about the boat
The seamen were none too friendly;
but by patching up his almost forgot
ten French and by signs, he learned
something. His sudden failure of
strength in the water had been due to
blow from a floating spar, as a
bruise on his forehead testified; "the
old man." whom Jim supposed to be
the captain, was a hard master; Mon
sieur Chatelard was owner, or at least
temporary proprietor. Of the yacht;
and the present voyage was an I'M
lucky one by all the signs and omens
known to the seamen's horoscope.
The sullenness of the men was ap-
parent, and was not caused by the en-
forced presence of stranger among
them. In fact. their bad temper be-
came so conspicuous that Jim began
TO believe that it might have some
thing to do with the mysterious ac-
tons of the man on shore. He pom
dered the situation deeply; he evolved
many foolish schemes to compass his
own enlightenment, and dismissed
them one by one. He grimly reflected
that man without clothes can scarce
iy be hero. whatever his spirit. Not
since the days of Olympus was there
any record of man or god being re-
ceived into any society whatever
without his sartorial shell. thought
Jimmy. But In spite of his discomfort,
he was glad he was there. The in
tuition that had led him since that
memorable Sunday afternoon was
strong within him still. and he never
questioned its authority. He believed
his turn would come, even though he
were a prisoner in the fo'cas'le OF the
Jeanne Dare.
AS the violence OF his sickness
passed, Jim began to cast about for
some means of helping himself. Grad
ually he was able to dive into the for
gotten shadows OF his French learn
ing BY much wrinkling of brows he
evolved sentence. though he had TO
wait some hours before there was
favorable chance TO put 1t to use. At
last his time came, with the arrival
of his former friend. the sailor.
100 avay-voo cashay mon money
belt?" he inquired with much conf
dence. and with pure Yankee accent
The sailor answered with a shrug
and spreading of empty hands.
pas de money-belt, pas de panta-
Ion, pas de tous! Dam queer Amayri-
cainl"
Jim was not convinced OF the sail
In A..t A.k II.