The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-04-06
CHAPTER xIlI-con,inusd.
copyrishs. By Peter D. Kyps


stepped upon her deck. A tall dark
man, wearing an ancient palmleaf
hat. sat smoking on the hatch coam-
Ing, and him Nells Halyorsen ad.
dressed.
AYE bane want to see Cap'n
scraggs," he said.
The tall dark man stood erect and
cast a quick. questioning look at Nells
Halvorsen. He hesltated before he
made answer.
"What do you wantT' he asked de
liberateiy. and there was subtle
menace IN his tones. As for Neils
Halvorsen. thinking only OF the sur
prise he had In store for his old em-
pIoyer, lie replied evasively:
"Aye bane want job"
swell. I'm Captain Scraggs, and I
haven't any Job for you. Get or my
boat and walt until you're invited be-
fore you come aboard again"
For nearly minute Nells Halvor-
sen stared opcn-mouthed at the spuri-
GUS Captain Scraggs. while slowly
there sifted through his brain the mo-
track OF a deep and bloody mystery
OF the seas. There was something
rotten In Denmark" Of that Neils
Halvorsen was certain. More he could
not be certain OF until he had paved
the way Tor complete Investigation,
and as preliminary step toward
that end he cllnchcd his fist and
sprang swiftly toward the bogus skip
per.
"Aye tank you bane d-n liar." he
muttered. and struck home. straight
and true. to the point OF the jaw.
The man went down, and in an in
slant Neils was on top OF him. on
came the sailors belt. the hands OF
the half-stunned man were quickly
tied behind him. and before he had
time to realize what had happened
NeIls had cut n length OF cord from
trailing halyard and tied his feet
securely. after which he gagged him
securely with his banGana handker-
chief.
A quick circuit OF the ship con-
vinced Neils Halvorsen that the re-
mainder Of the bastard crew were
evidently ashore, so he descended TO
the cabin In search OF further evil
dence OF crime He was quite pre-
pared TO find Captain Scraggs' mas
ter's certificate In Its familiar oaken
frame, hanging on the cabin wall, but
he was dumfounded TO observe. hang
Ing on the wall In similar and
equally familiar frame. the certificate
of Adelbert =. Gibney as first mate
OF steam or sail, any ocean and any
tonnage. But still a third framed
certificate hung on the wall, and Nells
again scratched his head when he
rend the wording that set forth the
McGuffey TO hold down Job as
chief engineer OF coastwise vessels
up to 1.200 tons net register.
II was patent even Ia the dun.
witted Swede, that there had been
foul play somewhere. and the schoon.
er's log, lying open on the table,
seemed to Offer the first means at
hand for solution OF the mystery.
Eagerly Nells turned TO the last en-
try. II was not In Captain Scraggs'
handwriting. and contained nothing !
more interesting than the stereotyped |
reports Of daily observations, cur
rents, weather conditions, etc, In !
Guiding a notation OF arrival that day |
at Honolulu. Slowly Halvorsen |
turned the leaves backward. until at |
last he was rewarded by glimpse OF |
different handwriting. II was the |
last entry under that particular hand |
writing. and read as follows:
June n. is-, Took an observation at |
noon, and ind that we are In eO-ls s.,
l,s-t w. Al this rate should mt Tuvana-
tholo early this afternoon. All hands
well and looking forward TO the fun az
1uvana. Bent new nylng jib this morn
ing and had the king and Tabu-Tabu
holystone the deck. A. p. GIBNEY."
Neils Halvorsen sat down to think.
and after several minutes Of this un-
usual exercise II appeared TO the
Swede that he had stumbled upon a
clue TO the situation. The last entry
in the log kept by Mr.. Glbney was
under date OF June 2lst--just eleven
days ago. and on that date Mr.. Glib
ney had been looking forward to some
fun at Tuvana-tholo. Now where was
that island and what kind OF
place was III
Neils searched through the cabin
until be came across the book that Is
the bible OF every South sea trading
vessei--the British admiralty reports.
Down the index went the old deck
hands calloused finger and paused NJ
Friendly islands-page 1TT;" where
upon Neils opened the book at page
III and after hve-minute search
discovered that Tuvana.tholo was a
barren. uninhablted island In latitude
2l-2 south, longitude Iis-49 west.
Ten days from the Friendly islands,
the paper said. That meant under
power and sail with the trades abaft
The beam. II would take nearer M
teen days for the run from Honolulu