The San Francisco call., 1913-08-10
IIIII



And yet" he retorted, accusingly
sand yet-eight bells had struck be-
fore you gave the alarm
Il had not thought 6f the time But
Captain Macleod knew. At sea they
work by the clock. At eight bells the
watch had been changed
my dear fellow" exclaimed, ris.
ing, you certainly can not for mo-
ment suspect me Of completely"
/ He stood up, too; stolid, imperturb-
able.
Il just want those things explained
| that's ALL was his reply.
| And can't explain them | told
him, candidly. You say you saw the
boat. I didn't. You say it was after
midnight when came to you. It may
have been. don't know 1t may have
! been nearer IL when / went to the
rail. My impression Is that it was not
III admit 1t Is mysterious. The whole
awful thing is mysterious.
My candor seemed to relieve him.
We'll. Mr. Clyde" he said, with
equal sincerity. maybe | was too out
spoken. but /. wanted to know what
you'd say to the points that were puz-
zling me-
You did perfectly right" I told
j him. AS you have said, there must be
no secrets between u.s. And then, as
/ resumed my seat, / asked: What
about the fisherman? He hasn't evaded
his guard, has heg'
| Macleod sat down again, too.
He's in where / put him, now" he
answered, with a shade of reluctance
'.but-Im not sure: it's almost as
mysterious as the other--but could
have sworn I saw him come up that
for'ard hatchway and go sneaking aft
while / was on the bridge"
When was that?" pressed, eagerly
About quarter of twelve"
What did you do?''
Nothing. just then. / waited. And
while was waiting / saw that black,
spooky craft come out of the dark and
go swimming astern of u.s. A little
after eight bells came down from the
bridge and went myself to look after
| Johnson and the man Id set to watch
him. The fisherman was in bunk,
sound asleep and the man swore he
had been lying there. snoring, for the
| last two hours. Who was it came up
the ladder 20 minutes ago?' / asked.
He looked at me as If he thought /
was gone suddenly loony. Before the
watch changed?' he asked | nodded.
Not a soul came or went he said,
since been here.
And the boat without lights?' |
questioned. did you inquire about
her? Who else saw herr"
Il asked the lookouts; but-well,
no, sir-and that's very strange to me
neither of them saw her. / gave
them both rating. If they weren't
asleep don't see how they could have
missed her.
! The thing was growing more and
more battling.
What did you make the craft out
to be-" l asked
Well, sir. I couldn't say exactly.
She looked more like tug than any
thing else; but she had more speed
than any tug ever saw She hadn' It
the lines of a yacht
"She wasn't a pilot boat?'
sOh, no, sir. New York pilots don't
cruise this far east and the Boston
pilots wouldn't be so far away from
home either" he replied.
Il suppose you have some theory,
Macleod. You don't seriously think
1t was suicide?"
AS usual, he was slow to answer.
After thoughtful second, he said:
I'D be sorry to think that, Mr..
Clyde, and then he paused, thought
full again. Its not in possibility he
went on, after second, that they
could have plucked him off with line.
But if that fellow | saw going aft
Oh, Lord! no, sir. It's past me to see
a way out. All the same, we are keep
ing that craft in sight. and if we can
only get 80 knots out of the Sibylla
again, we'll find out what she is and
what her business is, before morn
ing.
III tidings, always heavy burden,
never weighed more heavily on any
one than on me that dismal, rainy
Sunday morning on which | stepped
from the Sibylla's launch to the stone
water steps of Cragholt For two days
we had searched the bays and inlets
from Provincetown to Plymouth and
from 6iasconset to Province, but
without thimblefuI of profit for our
pains. As that black craft, with
dimmed lights and muftled engines,
had eluded our pursuit on the night
Of Cameron's disappearance, so for the
iS hours succeeding she had baffled