Williams news., 1922-06-02

ly, spat, and spoke to McGuffey, soto voce: By George, the joke ain't all on Scraggsy," he said. Then turning to Captain Scraggs: Help yourself to the mustard, Scraggsy, old tarpot."
 Captain Scraggs took off his hat, rolled up his sleeves, and made a dive for the royal presence. His majesty. lacking the scientific training of his prime minister, seized a handful of the Scraggs mane and tore at 1t cruel ly. A well-directed kick in the shins, however, caused him to let go, and a moment later he was flying up the beach with the angry Scraggs in full cry after him. McGuffey headed the king off and rounded him up SC Scraggs could get at him. and the lat ter at once "dug in" like terrier After five minutes of mauling and tearing Captain Scraggs was out of breath, so he let go and stood off few feet to size up the situation. The wicked McGuffey was laughing immod- erately, but to Scraggs it was no laughing matter. The fact of the mat ter was, the king was dangerous and Scraggs had glutted himself with re venge.
 '1 don't want to beat an old man to deatb," he gasped finally. "T1l let the scOundrel go. He's had enough and he won't fight. Let's mosey along back to the schooner and leave them here to amuse themselves the best way they know how.'
 "Right-O," said Mir. Gibney, and turned to walk down the beach to the boat A second later a hoarse scream of rage and terror broke from his lips.
 What's up?" cried McGuffey, the laughter dying out of his voice, for there was hint of death In MT. Gib- ney's cry.
 "N1arooned '" said the commodore hoarsely. ''Those two sailors have pulled back to the schooner, and therejlook, Maci My Gawd '"
 McGuffey looked and his face went winter than the foaming breakers be yond which he could see Maggie II, un- der full sail, headed for the open sea. The small boat had been picked up, and there was no doubt that at her present rate of speed the schooner would be hull down on the horizon by sunset.
 "The murderfn' hound" whispered McGuffey, and sagged down on the sands. "Oh, the murderin' hound of mate i'
 ''Its-it's mutiny.'' gulped Captain Scraggs in a hard, strained voice. That bloody f1end of a mattel The sly sneak-thief, with his pleasant smile and his winnin' waysl Saw a chance to steal the Maggie and her rich cargo, and he is leavin' us here, marooned on a desert island, with two cannibals."
 Captain Scraggs fairly shrieked the last two words and burst into tears. Lord, Glib, old man." he raved, what ever will we do?'
 Thus appealed to, the doughty com modore permitted his two unmatched optics to rest mournfully upon his
 He gulped and thoughtfully rubbed the knuckies of his right hand where the skin was parked off. He thought of the silly joke he and McGuffey had thought to perpetrate on Captain Scraggs by leading him up against a beating at the hands of a cannibal king, and with the thought came a grim, hard chuckle, though there was the look of a thousand devils in his eyes.
 "Well, Mac, old sporty boy, I guess there ain't much to do except to make up our minds to die like gentlemen. If I was ever fooled by a man in my life, I was fooled by that doggone mate. I thought he,d tote square With the syn dicate. I sure did"
 For long time McGuffey gazed sea ward. He was slower than his ship mates in making up his mind that the mate had really deserted them and sailed away with the fortunes of the syndicate. Of the three, however, the stofcal engineer accepted the situation with the best grace. He spurned the white sand with his foot and faced MT and Captain Scraggs with just the suspicion of grin on his homeIy face.
 'I make a notion" he said, "that the syndicate pass resolution con- demnin' the action of the mate."
 It was a forlorn hope, and the jest went over the heads of the deck Ge- partment. Said MT. Gibney sadly:
 ''There ain't no more Maggie II syn dfcate-"