Courier Democrat., 1918-03-28
md left him on watch below"

and left him on watch below"
"There was no one hiding in any Of |
the staterooms? You tried the doors?" |
''rhey were all empty. Mr.. Bas-
CONS door was the only one locked"
"YOu-you made him Open?"
"No; Why disturb nm?"
She drew quick breath. her eyes
on my face.
"You-you have not seen Philip Bas-
"on lately?'
"No. not since we had supper to-
scther."
you saw nothing strange then in his
actions, or words?"
"Why nothing that remarked. He
seemed about as usual; more haggcr.i,
and nervous possibly. but he spoke
cheerfully enough. What can you
mean?"
"Oh. do not really know; perhaps I
ought not to say such thing. 1 meant
TO lave spoken to you about it h,,fore.
out so much happened, forgot. Il
suspect Philip Basco,o is insane"
Insane! Good heavens Why do you
say that?"
"He has talked to me so strangely.
IHe-he frightened me, and | was hard
ly able to quiet him."
"And YOU suspect he killed Dubois?'
"Who else could it have beeE?'
There was no answer possible. Every
other man on board was already ac.
counted for The truth was borne in
upon me irresistibly. called Leayord.
The mate thrust his head over the
forward rail-
"Do you know if Masters is in the
engineroom?"
Il think he is, sir"
'Then call down, and have him
send White on deck Immediately; and
pass the word forward to have Mr.. OF.
son come here"
"Aye, aye, sir; is there anything
wrong?"
81 will explain presently; just now l
want you to remain in charge Of the
deck"
Olson arrived first, and l barely had
time to tell him briefly what had oc-
Cured, when White emerged through
the deck opening and reported, his
/ eyes blinking in the bright light, and
his face grimy with coal.
"You wanted me, sir?" he asked,
With no bluster in the gruff voice.
"Aye, White; you possess the
strength and nerve for this sort of job.
Miss Darlington here suspects that
the owner of this ship has lost his
mind. l just found Dubois lying on
the cabin deck murdered" ,,,.. s."
dubois, sir?"
eyes; he had been stabbed in the
BACK" :s: s:, e. .SS :. ss,s ;A'2s.
"And you believe the owner did it?"
| "There is no one else on board who
could. He is locked in his stateroom
and we've got to get him out. Come
on now, both of you"
! led the way down the stairs in no
pleasant frame of mind. An insane
man running free aboard, animated by
desire to kill, added to my other re-
sponsibilitieS. increased our dangers
manifold The cabin seemed so dark
after the brightness Of the deck above,
that I grasped the stair rail and ad-
vanced almost blindly. I had reached
the center Of the cabin before my eyes
discerned that there We're two bodies
outstretched on the deck instead of
one. involuntasily shrank back. grip
ping the sleevss' of Whites shirt, and
pointing.
"Look here : there are two bodies !;
he-he has gotten Dade Also"
The sailor sprang past me, and
dropped to his knees.
"Aye, it's Dade. and the poor cuss
Is done for, sir-its another knife
thrust In the back"
"And no longer any doubt who did
It," echoed Olson. "for there's not an
other man aboard been aft"
"Right you are" l said, gripping my
self ready to act. "And we must get
him at once. Come on. both of you F.;
f there's fight 1t may take the three
If us. He has knife, and there was
gun in his drawer"
/ The door or BnScOmS 5 StaterOom was
closed, and l grasped the knob with no
thought it would yield to my fingers.
But it did. and l almost fell forward
into the room. catching myself, and
staring about. The last CLEAN Of the
sun streamed In through the stern
ports, and every object within was
clearly revealed ut glance. The man