The St. Mary banner., 1919-11-01


monitory Of coming nausea.
Its all right. Ting Wah. it's all
right" he said soothingly. Better not
try to talk"
But now Ting Wah, with desperate
effort. raised himself to his elbow.
"Yes. me talk! !" he gasped out. "But
must talk quick. Me here. Won Su
here, four more all same Cinnamon
come on bloard and make crew on ship
here for all same knifee you"
| There was cOntortion in the mans
face, pitiful struggle to fight back
| the weakness and exhaustion that was
upon him. Wallen stared at him In a
dazed way.
XIII me. Ting Wah" he cried out.
what for? You-you don't know
what you're saying, do you? You
don't mean that" The Chinaman's
elbow was slipping gradually away
from beneath him. his eyes were
| closed. The medicine spilled from
Wallen's hands onto the deck, and he
caught at the other, propping him up.
''Ting Wah! Ting Wah!" he cried
| again, shaking the man to rouse him.
"Wbat do you mean? Ting Wah, don't
you hear mel What did you mean to
kill me for?''
There was no answer. The man
was-no. not yet! Ting Wah's lips
were moving. Wallen bent his head
still closer to catch the words.
"Dlink-House Sam Singapore -
him know"
That was all. 1t was over now.
Wallen Strengthened up unsteadily,
and lurched to the rail where he could
cling on to something.
Six Cinnamon had shipped as part
Of the crew so that they could kill him,
Why? He laughed In a sick fashion.
What did 1t matter? They were all
dead, those six--and every one else
and In a few hours he would be dead
too. He laughed again, little hys-
terically. This Drink-House Sam of
Singapore, whoever he was, ought to
be satisfied with thatl
He clawed his way back to the aft
erdeck. and dropped into his chair
again. His brain seemed to go numb
for time, to be Indifferent to every
thing-and then suddenly to become
strangely active. Six Cinnamon had
shipped as members Of the crew so
that they could kill him.: 1t wasn't
pleasant thought. even IL the whole
six were dead now, and that he him
self would be dead, too, before long.
Oh, yes. he believed it now, right
enough-why shouldn't he? What
about that murderous attack Won Su
had made upon him. and that he had
thought was delirium! But that
wasn't all. he had reason beside that
to believe Ting Wah's story; reason
enough, God knew now that he came |
to think Of the things that were crowd
ing into his mind.
Out Of the shimmering heat waves |
that rose along the deck and seemed |
to hover so weirdIy over those COW
cred shapes that ought not to have
been there, another scene gradually
took form, at first indistinctly, vague
ly. then In sharp outline, startling. dis
tinct.
1t was stone house, gray stone
house. all by ITSELF without neigh
bors. isolated. silent place. Yes, he
1t! 1t seemed to bring
chill upon him now-the cold, dreary,
lifeless house had done its best to
crush even a laugh out of his boyhood
with Its eternal, silent brooding mys-
terry. That was why he had run away
ten years ago, when he was fourteen.
All his earlier recollections were of
that place.
His mother wasn't there, he had
never seen his mother. There were
Just his father. and that tall, swarthy
Eastern servant. who frightened his
boys heart-just those two and him
,elf. He never saw anyone else.
No one ever came to the house. No
,ne was ever admitted. Gunga, the
servant. fetched the supplies from the
nearby village. His own education was
by his father. But there
had never been any intimacy between
lis father and himself. ,
He had never questioned his father
,ut once-after that he had never
Jared to do so. He remembered the
leadly whiteness that had come over
he morose, taciturn face. the grip of .
ron upon his shoulder. the hoarse pas
ion in his fathers voice.
"Never speak to me again Of that"
lis father had said. when you are ,
,ldor uhon tho tfyno cOxuos vn,, shall
now"
Wallen rocked unsteadily In his
hair. What q frightful stencil the
hip possessed-or was Il only his
What was II he had
,een thinking OF Oh. yes, the six