Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-02-01

trick for the other Side,' he answered
his fingers nervously gripping the rail
"but / shipped for this voyage fail
enough, and always held it sailors
duty to stick to his ship. Once Tn
through with this job, sir, and I'll de
my hearty bit for old England"
''Well said, Mr.. Leayord," and
gripped his hand. $50 far as under
stand this row, my sympathies are al
on your side. may as well explain to
you that | have been induced to as
sumo command because of the condi
ton in which | found the owner. AS
you must know the man is helpless
cripple, and his entire fortune is repre-.
sented by the cargo in this vessel"
''He is a friend Of the lady's, sir,
heard Dade say"
eyes, they knew each other ashore
when she was young girl. 1t was
odd enough for them to have met out
here again, but stranger still is the
fact that this fellow Mccain, whom
have locked up below, should have
been the cause of BasCom's present
condition"
you don't say, sir
'That is the story as Miss Vera Car
rington tells it. There was a shooting
ARRAY in a New York restaurant, over
some woman. Mccain shot him and
bought his way clear"
''He is rich, then?"
1.-THE fellow has more money than
you and will ever see, Mr.. Leayord.
He's in the only place now where it
can do him no good
The mate shook his head doubtfully,
his eyes wandering toward the men at
the wheel
Il Wish | was SO cocksIre Of that,
SIR" he said sobeily. There's some
mighty bad blood forward on this ship,
and it's my Judgment we're not out OF
the mess yet by long ways. Those
wolves have got scent Of McCann's
gold, and they'll never leave the trail
until they get it."
"You don't think they would actually
"They're not calling it that, sir. It's
the cargo aboard, and your determina-
ton to land it safe at Hamburg, which
Is going to make the trouble. There
Is only one German in the crew, sir
the rest are all English and Swedes, ex-
cept couple Of .niggers. The Swedes
and niggers will do whatever the 9TH
ers tell 'em to, an the argument for
ward, according to Dade, is, that it'll
be no crime to capture this ship and
run her into an English port. They're
not ready yet, but the devil will break
loose presently, according to my no.
tons. Wait until they hear what has
happened to Mccain"
"Well," 1 said deliberately, "we shall
have to meet whatever comes, Mr.. Lea
yord. l talked with Mccain again this
morning and offered him his freedom
aft if he would promise to keep away
from the crew. He refused to accept
parole, so locked him up again. Do
you suggest any other cOurse?'
''No, sir, don't" he said slowly,
after pause for thought. "This Miss
Darlington now, by any chance is she
the same lady these two men got to
shooting about?'
mo, she was not involved in the
quarrel. Mccain had never met her
personally until we escaped from the
wreck of the yacht together"
"She was passenger, alsoT
"She was the owners daughter"
"Then she's rich, tOO?"
"Her father is one of New York's
multimillionaires. What difference
does that make, Mr.. Leayord?"
Nothing, much, likely" he an
swered, leaning against the rail, his
eyes on the distant bank of cloud,
"only maybe we might play money
against money in this game, with fair
chance to win. / reckon gold, no mat
ter where it comes from, would look
good to those devils forward"
Scarcely a manly act on our part
to suggest such a thing"
"Well, / don't know about that, sir"
he insisted stubbornly. II reckon old
man Darlington would be willing
enough to pay the price, rather than
have his girl left in the hands of those
fellows. They'll be no lambs if they
ever get control Of the ship. But may
be you know best, sir"
/ left him and walked forward to
where I could look down on the main
deck. As deeply as | despised the
thought of ever resorting to this last
suggestion made by Leayord, yet
could not remain entirely Indifferent
to it's possibilities. If matters on board
were, indeed, as serious as he pictured
them, our situation was far from pleas
ant. To keep on probably meant bat
tie to preserve the ship, and involved
not only our own rough handling, even
possible death in the melee, but also
horror to the woman left
alone, and unprotected, on board. What
would be her fate if we failed to up
hold discipline, and those unbridled
ruffians once obtained control of the
vessel? The thought staggered me,
Yet I could reach no other conclu-
H.