Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-02-09

man. wearing an ancient palmleaf
hat. sat smoking on the hatch coam-
Ing. and him Nells Halvorsen al
dressed.
AYE bane want TO see Cap'n
Scraggs," he said.
The tall dark man stood erect and
cast a quick, questioning look at Neils
Halvorsen. He hesltated before he
made answer.
"What do you want?" he asked de-
liberately. 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 EN-
ployer he replied evasiveiy:
"Aye bane want job"
"Well, I'm Captain Scraggs, and 1
haven't any Job for you. Get off my
boat and wait until you're invited be-
fore you come aboard again."
For nearly minute Neils Halvor-
sen stared open-mouthed at the spuri-
Gus Captain Scraggs, while slowly
there sifted through his brain the no.
ton that he had happened across the
track OF deep and bloody mystery
OF the seas. There was something
rotten i'm Denmark" OF that Neils
Halvorsen was certain. More he could
not be certain OF until he had paved
the way for complete investigation
and as preliminary step toward
that end he clinched his fist and
sprang swiftly toward the bogus skip
per.
save 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. OFF
came the sailors belt, the hands Of
the half-stunned man We're quickly
tied behind him, and before he had
time TO realize what had happened
NellS had cut a length OF cord from
trailing halyard and tied his feet
securely, after which he gagged him
securely with his bandana handker-
chief.
4 quick circuit Of the ship con
WINGED Nells llalvorscn that the re-
mainder of the bastard crew were
evidently ashore. - he descended 10
the cabin I'm 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 80 observe. hang
ing on the wall I'm similar and
equally familiar frame, the certificate
OF Adclbert l.. Gibney as first mate
If steam or sail, any ocean and any
tonnage. Put still n third framed
certificate hung on the wall, and NellS
again scratched his head when he
read the wording that set forth the
legal qualifications of Bartholomew
McGuffey TO hold down a job as
chief engineer of cOastwSe vessels
up TO ! 200 tons net register.
IL WAS patent. even To the dull
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 Neis turned TO the last en-
try. 1t 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
ar Honolulu. Slowly Halv0rsen
turned the leaves backward, until at
a different handwriting. 1t was the
last entry under that particular hand
writing, and read as follows:
June n, 10. Took an observa ton al
noon, and find that We are In POS s..
1854 W. At this rate should lift TIJUANA
tholo early this afternoon. All hands
well and looking forward to the fun al
Tuvana Bent a new flying jb this morn
ing and had the king and Tabu-Tabu
holystone the deck. y. II. CHENEY"
Neils HalSorsen sat down 10 think,
and after several minutes Of this I'M
usual exercise 1t appeared 10 the
Swede that he had stumbled upon a
clue 10 the situation. The last entry
in the log kept by Mr.. Gibne* was
under date Of June 21st-just eleven
days ago, and on that date Mr.. Glib
ney had been looking forward TO some
fun Mt Tuvana-thclo. Now where was
that island and what kind Of a
place was It?
Neils searched through the cabin
until ne came across the book that -
the bible OF every South sea trading
vessel--the British admiralty reports.
Down the index went the old deck
hands calloused finger and paused ut
-friendly isiands--page rs" wnere-
upon Nells opened the book at page
III and after five-minute search
discovered that Tuvana-tholo was a
barren, uninhabited island in latitude
21-2 south, longitude 17S-49 west.
Ten days from the Friendly islands,
the paper said. That meant under
power and sail with the trades abaft
the beam. It would take nearer tif-
teen days for the run from Honolulu
To that desert island. and Neils Hal
versen wondered whether the ma