The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-30
q p;;TER Vii.

EaEs yacht h -ygith in audacity
 Of garelessness w wIlich did not
 ike to note--hnrdfy inside the. As seage Of the regular shipping channel but swung securely and grace fully sak her cabla, held by an anchor which had devised myself. heavy enough Tor twice her tonnage A man leaned against the rail idly smoking. but this made out to be the engineer. Williams, come up to get the evening mir. Billy. the deck hand; John. my Chinese cook, and Peterson the boat naster were at the time out of sight. 2 as well as Cal Davidson, who had her
 charter
 We lay thus. separated by some dis tanae Of the rivers food. each craft at ancaf. only one observed by the othee But to my impatient gaze mat ters seemed strangely slow on board the Belle Helene was relieved when aE last the rather portly but well groon4ed ngure of my friend Daxidson appeared oh deck He made his way aft along the rail, and could see him bend over and call down the compan- fonway Of the after stateroons. Then. an instant later. he was joined on the affezzdeeIx by two ladies' The sight Of one of these caused my heart to bound,
 They stood for a moment, no more than dak1tay outlined, but could see tiaem yell enough The older lady. with the9 scarf about her head. was Aunt Lzaeinda The slighter figure in h1te and wearing no head covering iyvas ehe elena Emory. It was Hele- na It was Helena.
 She turned toward Davidson. I could hear across the water the sound of laughter IA sudden feeling Of an ger came into my soul
 The three figures passed forward Aleng the deck slowly and disa ppeared down the front companion stair which led to the cozy dining room. I could see them all sitting there. about my own table using the rory silver and linen which had made for the Belle Heleae, attended hy John. my Chinese cook. and sfactotum, whom I had es- ssecsaIly imported. selected from among q thousand other Chinese b. myself at HankeW- knew that Davidson would have caaanl,aGne and a dozen other z tvfnes fn abundance. everything tie n1arEx Exet offered A pleasant party, this pf three. which was seating Itself at my st.lssie over yunder. while | in n grik1ys dIrsgy little tub. lay looking at thun halpt ess in the gIoeBl.
 scarceA know how the time pass ed unsu sa7v them. in the ilfiinni-. nation sof the deck lights. Tt length come on deck again They stood look ing out over the river or tow ard the lights Of Eatchez- -Under-the- -Hiil, and it length idly walked aft once more. The tNo ladies seated themselves on
 
 @Emr deck. could not see them now. { but heard the tinkIe and tslrob of guitar come across the water, touched lightly with long pauses. as under some suspended melody not yet offer ed in fiillness- Now and again I could 5 hear word or so. the rather deer, 7 voice Of Aunt Lueinda the bass tones Of Daridson. but strain my ears as I might could not bear the sound Of that other voice. low and sweet, m ex- ceiIent thing in woman
 At length the little party seemed to be breaking mp. saw Davfdsor. hale in shadow. outlined ny the deck lights she rose and passed forward Then heard the falls run and q soft splasIsS as the dinghy was launched osersiae Cal Davidson was going ashore He could no longer resist his anxiety over tlae baseball score.
 E Clear away the longboat for inc boarding party.Y I new whispered hoarsely. spoke D e3-apanions TOW in full character. BeltesI and armed . Lafltte and I'OIonnois rose, ready for any bold en1prise. each with resl keI- chief pulled about his brow And now f0 my interest I observed that each Lad resumed the bIaek mask which Ae had worn aarlanr 1n our long yoy- age. sign of the desperate character of each wearer
 e- yFllither away Black Baft de nanded L0lonnois Eierceiy. Lead. and wa follow =
 You had better put on 2 mask. Black Bart added Jean LDftte. and handed mo snare one of his own manufac-