Cheyenne Wells record., 1922-04-27
CHAPTER xi,,-con.inu.d.
.By PETER B. KYNE

81
A Jacobs ladder was hanging over
the side OF the schooner as the canoe
shot In under her lee quarter, and half
minute later the expectant Neils
stepped upon her deck. A tall dark
man. wearing an ancient palmieaf
hat, sat smoking on the hatch coam-
ing, and him NeIls Halvorsen I'D
dressed.
.Aye bane want to see Cap'n
scraggs." he said.
The taIl dark man stood erect and
cast a quick. questioning look Mt Neiis
Halvorsen. He hesitated before ne
made answer.
.What do you wantf' he asked de-
liberntely. and there was subtle
menace in his tones. As FOR Neiis
Halvorsen. thinking only Of the sur
prise he had In store for his old en-
ployer, he replied evasively:
"Aye bane want Job"
"Well, Tn Captain Scraggs. and
haven't any job for you. Get of my
boaf and wait until you're invited be-
fore you come aboard again."
For nearly minute Neils Hnlvor-
sen stared open-mouthed at the spuri-
Gus Captain Scrnggs. while slowly
there sifted through his brain the no.
tion that he had happened across the
track of n deep and bloody mystery
Of che sens There was something
rotten in Denmark" OF TINT Neiis
Halvorscn was certain. More he could
not he certain Of until he had paved
the way for complete investigation
and MS preliminary step toward
TINT end he cIinched his fist and
sprnng swiftly toward the bogus skip
per.
"Aye tank you bnne 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
stant Neils wis on top OF him. on
cnme the Sailors belt. the hands of
- the half-stunned man were quickly
tied behind him. and before he had
time to realize what Ind happened
~Nells had cut length OF cord from
trailing hniyari and tied his feet
securely. after which he gagged him
securely with his bundanu hnndkcr-
= chief.
"A quick circuit Of the ship con-
I. vInced Neiis Hnlvorsen that the re-
mnintler OF the dnstard crew were
evidently ashore. so he descended to
tho cihin. In search of further EVIL
drnce Of crime. He was quite pre-
pared to find Captain Scrnggs' mas
ter's certificate In Its familiar oaken
frame. hanging on the cabin wall. but
he was :plmfounded to observe. hang
ing on IT,, wall In similar and
equally fanhhar frame. the certificate
of AdeIbert /. Gibney US first mate
Of steam or sail, any ocean and any
tonnage. But still a third framed
certificate hung on the wall. and Neils
again scratched his head when he
read the wording that set forth the
legal qualifications OF Bartholomew
McGuney to hold down Job as
chief engineer Of coastwise vessels
up to 1000 tons net register.
II was latent. 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 Mt
hand for a solution OF the mystery.
Eagerly Neils turned to the last en-
try. 1t was not in Captain Scraggs'
handwriting. and contained nothing
more interesting thnn the stereOtyped
reports of daily observations. cur
rents. weather conditions, etc, In
Guiding notation Of arrival that day
at Honolulu. Slowly Halvorsan
turned the lenves backward, Until at
last he was rewarded by a glimpse of
a. different handwriting. II was the
last entry under that particular hand
writing. and rend as follows:
:, June p. 49,. Took An observation at
noon. ana find that we are in 2o-4s s.,
: 1ls=4 W, AT this rate should lift Tuvana-
tholo early this afternoon All hands
:. well and looking forward to the fun at
Tuvana Bent a new 'lyicg jb this morn
ing and had the king and Tabu-Tabu |
holystone the deck a. p. GIBNEY."
Neils Halvorsen sat down to think.
end after several minutes Of this un-
usual exercise 1t appeared to the
Swede that he had stumbled upon a
clue to the situation The last entry
In the log kept by Mr.. Gibney was
under date of June 2lst-just eleven
days ago. and on that date Mr.. Glib
n"y Ind been looking forward to some
fun at 1'uvann-thOlo. Now where was
that island and what kind of q
place was it7
Neiis searched through the cabin
until he came across the book that Is
the bible Of every South sea trading
vessel-the British admiralty reports.
Down the index went the old deck.
hands callOused finger and paused at
Friendly islands-page ITS" where
upon Neils opened the book at page
III and after a hve-minute search
discovered that Tuvana.tholo was a
barren, uninhabited island In latitude
21-2 south, longitude 17S-40 west.
Ten days from the Friendly islands,
the paper said. That meant under
bower and sail with the trades abAft