The San Francisco call., 1913-08-10

thorough inspection OF the Slbylla be-
fore we sailed, and such lot of eau
ton regarding the crew" That was
the first of his volley, and for a mo-
ment it staggered me.
"IIl tell you,'' returned then,
frankly, but it's not to go any further.
In the last nine weeks Mr. Cameron
has been receiving a series of threat
ening anonymous letters. The last
one came week ago today; and in it
this was named as the date for the
climax
| Climax he repeated, question
ingly.
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,
damned odd" And then, after a sec
ond's consideration, he asked: WAS
! that-but of course it was-why he
took this cruiser"
NO." told him. THAT was not his
reason; though it was mine
You see,' I went on, in elucidation,
Mr.. Cameron did not known about
| this last threat. He was i'll when the
letter came, and we kept it from him. .
1t was evident to me that the cap
tain disapproved. but he held his peace.
What were the previous threats?"
he asked, presently
Nothing definite answered.
Simply that ON certain fixed days the
writer's would demonstrate their
powers"
.And did they?'
Most marvelously"
Again Macleod was silent for a
space.
Under the circumstances, Mr. Clyde,
don't you think it would have been
better if you'd told me about this?''
Mr.. Cameron was very anxious that
no one should know
The captain compassed his right
knee with his locked hands.
All the same" he said, he'd never
have been spirited off this yacht If I'd
a known what was in the wind"
This statement annoyed me. and /
resented it.
What could you have done?" I
asked. 81 was with him almost con-
tinuousIy.'
There came strange. half medita-
tive, half bold look In the mans eyes.
You see there oughtn't to be any mis-
understanding between you and me.
sir. This Is too serious a business to
be bungled because / am only captain
of this yacht and you are the owners
friend. So, if l speak plainly, sir.
you'll understand why, and not think
me disrespectful
smiled to reassure him, still puz-
zled. and added:
go straight ahead, captain. You
are perfectly right"
Well he began, "I1l tell you, Mr..
Clyde. Your story, as you told 1t to
me. has some weak points in 1t. You
say, for instance, that you were with
Mr. Cameron almost continuously.
Now, I'm not mentioning the little
while you were in here early in the
evening, but during the last quarter of
an hour before you gave the alarm you
weren't with him, either
| stared at the speaker for an in
slant in absolute dumb amaze.
i don't know why you say that
| said, at length, more hurt than an
gered. Il tell you that from the mo-
ment last spoke to him, seated beside
him there on the after deck, until +
turned from the rail and found him
gone, not more than two minutes
elapsed. And that was Gods truth. =
You said you were listening for
what you thought sounded like a mo-
tor boat, didn't you?"
"I did"
And you were leaning over the
taffrail, looking for it, weren't you?n
81 was.
But you didn't see it?''
No. ] didn't see it; and / couldn't
hear 1t after the first few seconds
After my answer he was silent for
moment. Then he said:
Where we're you. Mr.. Clyde, when
that boat-motor, tug or whatever she
was--crossed within ten feet of the
dory we are towing?"
Had he struck me in the face I
could not have been more dumb
founded.
What do you mean?" were the only
words that came to me.
Il mean that the craft you have been
talking about came up and went astern
OF us 10 or II minutes before Won
gave the alarm that Mr.. Cameron had
vanished under your eyes. / was on
the bridge and saw 1t myself-just a
black shape, without lights, and her
exhaust muffed. just as you say. You
tell me that you and Mr. Cameron had
been sitting there for three hours at