Meade County news., 1918-01-17
CHAPTER xxIx-continued.

the narrow space for even one to creeI
about. Pushing the lantern before me
every nerve singing like copper wire
/ crawied out at last, dripping with
perspiration, and as black as though
had been for half a day in the Goa
hole. To Leayord's inquiries could
only shake my head.
"Well, sir" he said obstlnately, "Pm
q sailorman, but never did believe In
ghosts, an amt a-goin' fer ter believe
In 'em now. 1t warn't no spooks what
did thus job. This yere BascOm was q
sure enough human the last time put
eyes on him, an l don't reckon he's
changed much since, 'cept maybe In his
line o. brains; do you, sir?"
"He's flesh and blood, all right, II
that is what you mean; only insanity
makes them cunning"
"That's what sed to Red here while
you was crawling round in the fore
peak, lappln' up bilge-water. He reck-
Cned 1t might O. bin a ghost a doin'
these things; but claimed thet ghosts
don't shove knives into sailormen
leastways 1 never heard O. none that
did. So 1t naturally stands to reason,
sir, that this bloomin' lunatlc Is still
aboard somewhere"
He leaned forward, striking one hand
on the other to better express his argu-
ment. was thinking, paying little at
tention to his words, my eyes un-
consciously viewing the ship aft. The
deck was so wrapped in gloom that
outside the radius Of our lantern /
could perceive no movement, not even
determine the presence of the two men
left on guard. The two masts, with
their heavy spars, cast all below into
dense shadow, but beyond, on the poop,
the faint rays of the pinnacle lamp re-
1ected softly on the face Of the girl at
the wheel, making her appear almost
as vision. The sight for an instant
fascinated me.
"Aln't thet so, sirT'
"Why, yes, Leayord; / am unable to
see 1t any other way-but whereT'
"Well, there amt but one place
aboard unexplored, sir. Hanged If
know how he ever got there, but he's
either there overheard, or aloft; or
else I've got to take off my hat to Red
here an acknowledge It's real ghost
we've got aboard the old hooker"
"The cargo holdT
aye, aye; I'm fer takin' of tho
matches, and letting man or two creep
down there; we've got to find out
where that devil is."
There was no answering his logic,
and a determination to complete the
fob was already in my own mind.
"Get the tarpaulln out Of the way,
Liverpool" said sharply, throwing
the lantern where the light was need
ed. "Cut 1t loose, man; don't waste
time with the lashlngs; there's plenty
of spare canvas in the sailroom. What's
slowed first below, Mr.. Leayord%
'That's the devil Of It, SIR" he re-
piled soberly. II never told you, for
didn't see no cause. There was a lot
O. boxes come on board, sir, maybe n
thousand of 'em, the ends clamped with
iron, an they was almighty heavy. We
had to load 'em with the donkey en-
glne, an most Of 'em were dumped in
fist below the main hatch"
"Do you know what they containedT
"Mr. Bascom told me they was army
stoves, sir, and maybe he thought they
was, fer he seemed sure about 1t; but
along at the last the hook slipped off
one Of them, an the box dropped about
thirty feet, smashIn' the whole end in
1t was plumb full O. loaded Shells"
LOADED shells?"
"That's what; there was powder
enough scattered about there ter blow
the whole ship to Hades an back"
mo doubt other explosives are
aboard. The greater reason for us to
lay hands on Bascom. Take hold
there with Red and help rip up that
tarpaulin; now get the point Of this
capstan bar under the hatch clos
ings; here's your lever-it'll take the
weight of the three of us to move the
iron-now, heave no"
We bent to 1t, exertlng every ounce
Of strength, encouraged by the fact
that the heavy hatch yielded to our
combined effort, and began to move, to
lift over the grooves, and shove back
slightly. With no other thought but to
gain opening enough for another inser-
ton of the lever, we bent to the task
Something caught, rendering the great
iron lid immOvable.
"White," called, "come over here
and give us q hand"
l heard him patter across the deck
in his bare feet, but before he reached
the bar, the fellow stopped staring al
the narrow opening, and shifting like Q
pointer dog.
"Lay holdw 1 called out angrily
"The weight is breaking our backs"
But there's fire below, sir" ht
roared excitedly. "That's smoke 6
risin' out the hatch-the cargo's afire 7
saw it now, and so did Red, and the
mate-a thin, circllng vapor barely per
ceptible in the night, curling VI
through the hole we had succeeded IL
forcing. For an instant hardly knew
It as smoke, but the fresh draught o.
air had already worked its miracle
- =