Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-08-06
CHAPTER Ill.
Accident-or Murder?


MacKnight's caustic estimate OF
the steamers size had not been very
wide of the mark. The Monleigh was
certainly very small, and certainly
a frOwsy. unkempt and weatherbeaten
little craft; and her general appear
ance bespoke her as one of those
homeless, vagrant waits of the ocean
that knew no schedule-that took the
crumbs of the worlds commerce
where she could find them--and was
grateful for the crumbs.
Wallen had been afraid that morn
ing that he was in for a relapse, but
he had no fever nowhere was none
of that disquieting giddiE%ss IN ms
head, and-he smiled happily to him-
self-a few days OF sea would put
him back again in his old form.
He sat up in mis- bunk as the ships
bell sOunded from forward. Two bells
five o'clock in the afternoon. He
got up, went over to the wash basin
and plunged in his head.
How had Helen MacKay-she had
told him her name on the way down
to PObi-cOme to be not only on a
tramp like the MOnleigh but to be
here at all? He hadn't seen any
other women on board; but then-he
was spluttering deliciously in the wa
ter-he hadn't seen much of any
thing.
Helen MacKay had side-tracked
even that thin-faced, queer-eyed skip
per and insisted that he should go i'm
mediately to bed ~
Wallen's thoughts began to ruiz riot
as he completed his toilet. The ship,
and everyone connected with it whom
he had seen-except Helen MacKay-
had somehow got him wrong. He
hadn't liked that fellow MOTIFS face
from the instant he had set eyes on
ii in the forest. And his m0mentary
interview with the skipper, despite
the same ELUSIVE attentions, had pro-
duced the same intuitive distrust
They were still at anchor off the
three traders stOrehOuses and veran-
daed bungalows that were digniied
by the name of PObi. What, after ALL
did it mean?
What was the MOnleigh doing at
Pobi?-there was no sign of, any
cargo being handled And. above all,
how had they heard of him and the
UpOlO-and what was their interest
in him that would account for the sec
Ond officer being sent to cross the
island to MacKnight's to question a
supposed survivor of the bark about
him?
Drink House Sam of Singapore ~
the words unbidden came flashing
through his brain.
Wa1len whistled in low, perturbed
way under his breath. Could there
be any connection? 1t seemed alb
surdly impossiblei And yet what had
happened was obviously not mere
coincidence.
ITS a bit queer when you come to
think of it," he muttered slowly. 81
guess I'll hear what the shippers got
to say
He opened the door of his cabin and
stepped out into what was evidently
the vessels main saloon, down whose
length ran a long mess table with five
revolving chairs on either side.
There was no one in sight. Wallen
crossed the saloon to the doorway
and paused to get his bearings. Di-
rectly in front of him q short COM
paniOnWay led upward. He mounted
this and found himself in a small box
like smoking or Iounging room. Here
doors on either side gave onto a boat
deck that was fairly spacious for the
size of the ship.
He stepped out onto the deck-and
again paused to survey his sur
rOundings. Forward from the smok-
ing room was a small house, very
evidently of temporary construction
his eyes rested on it speculatively for
an instant, then he glanced quickly
aloft. Wireless
He hadn't noticed that in coming
aboard
It was a little strange. Ships like
the Monleigh weren't in the habit of