Charlevoix county herald., 1918-04-05

afternoon.
CHAPTER XIII.
The End Of the Trail.
was nicely bundled up In swath-
sags about the midriff when l came
out OF my lethargy. and Isabelle and
the signora were close at hand to tell
me l must not talk and ask If was
feverish, hungry, thirsty, wanted
taste of brandy or an esg-nog. felt
better, was too hot or not-hot enough,
and the thousand and one foolish
questions which make it pleasant 10
be sick and nursed by women-folks.
told Isabelle my brow needed the
cooling touch Of her hand. and the
signora attended to It; and l explain
ed that q steak, p0rterhouse size, with
French fried potatoes. corn on the
cob. two fried eggs and strip of ba-
con, stewed tomatoes or creamed
cauliflower. with something light for
dessert, and two-maybe three-cups
Of coffee would be palatable sop to
my appetite. and received beef-tea In
a thimble-sized cup. But was out of
pain and on the mend. and the Sakun.
tala was pointing her nose for Mazat.
Ian.
KodaAi. extremely subdued and val
etful, divided his time between Cap
tain Belgrag and me, giving needful
assistance to the invalids; for the
Igerian was in worse situation than 1,
the bullet having pierced his lung.
Lacking other medical attention than
the clever Jap was able to give, he
was a rather hopeless case, and Cap
tain Blake's decision to make Mazat-
Ian rather than Guayaquil was due to
the knowledge that there was better
hospital there.
With Blake, or Reedley-promoted
to mate-on the bridge, and the Scot,
Hugh Wallace, in charge of the en-
gine-room, the crew was as docile as
anyone could wish; in fact, seemed
pleased with the exchange of masters,
and from them and Wallace, Blake
learned much Of the situation aboard
which had been SO puzzling.
Captain Belgrag was making his
first journey as the grand dukes sail
ing master, and his calm brutality had
long before they had sailed through
the Golden Gate. Although they were
not in the secret of the Sakuntala's
intentions, there was every opportuni-
ty to surmise, and they expected to
leave San Francisco with the grand
duke aboard.
Instead Captain Belgrag ran away
from that port, ran away SO hurriedly
that he left half his crew behind with
one Of the boats, and his subsequent
queer handling of the yacht. shifting
the course whenever the smoke Of an
approaching steamer appeared on the
horizon. coaling In secret outside the
harbor Of San Diego, finally refusing,
until forced. to pick up a boatload Of
the castaways, had convinced the
thinking men of the crew that some
thing was far wrong.
And l made Kodani talk. As Holme
had said, when first suspicion rested
on the Jap. he was but a cog in the
machine, but the information he gave
Leo me to a complete knowledge OF the
mysterious murders In the st. Dun
stan. would not need to force the
story out Of Belgrag.
That same day Clifton brought me
the information that there was COM
plete wireless equipment aboard, in
stalled except for wiring and antannae.
II desired. he could have II In opera
ton In few hours, and eagerly sent
him to 1t. Then. with board on the
blanket over me. q couple OF pillows
proping my head, I went back to
newspaper work.
Well. I needed something to sup
port q wife, didn't II could not ask
the mother OF this black-haired. black
eyed girl for her daughters hand, and
me without an occupation7 I wrote
the first story that any newspaper in
the country-in the world-printed Of
the death of the Grand Duke Of Igeria,
the end of az beautifully sad a TO
nance as history has ever told; and
I wrote Il for the Sentinel.
But the first message that sparkled
from the foremost of the Sakuntala
was to Holme, and read:
Catch Ignatx Gregr and hold. Ans
wer. Gilmore.
Soon the word came back:
Gregr under arrest. What next.
Holme.
Then only did I hand Clifton the
first sheets of what kept him at the
key most of the night.
There were three unidentified bod
les lying in San Francisco's morgue,
20 which gave the names: Marnee
Ta,fa the Grand Duke of Igeria and