Middletown transcript., 1922-01-21
CHAPTER xlll-Continued.
BY PETER B. KYNE
Csp7righe. By Peser .. Kyns

minute later the expectant Neils
stepped upon her deck. A tall dark
man, wearing an ancient palmleaf
hat, sat smoking on the hatch coam-
ing, and him Nells Halvorsen ad-
dressed.
"Aye bane want to see Cap'n
Scraggs," he said.
The tall dark man stood erect and
cast quick, questioning look at Neils
Halvorsen. He hesitated before he
made answer.
"What do you want?" he asked de-
liberately. and there was n 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 evasively:
AYE bane want job"
"Well. I'm Captain Scraggs, and I
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 Mt the, spuri-
GUS Captain Scraggs, while slowly
there sifted through his brain the no.
tion that he had happened across the
track of d 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 for complete investigation,
and as a preliminary step toward
that end he clinched 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
stant Neils was on top of him. Off
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 length Of cord from
a trailing halyard and tied his feet
securely, after which he gagged him
securely with his bandana 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 2. Gbney as 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
McGuffey to hold down job as
chief engineer Of coastwise vessels
up to 1900 tons net register.
1t 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 Neils 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
cluding a notation of arrival that day
at Honolulu. Slowly Halvorsen
turned tie leaves backward, until at
last he was rewarded by glimpse of
a different handwriting 1t was the
last entry under that particular hand
writing, and read as follows:
June 2l. 49,. Took an observation at
noon, and find that we are in 20-4S s..
1874 w. At this rate should lift Tuvana-
tholo early this afternoon. All hands
well and looking forward to the fun at
Tuvana. Bent new flying jib this morn
ing and had the king and Tabu-Tabu
holystone the deck A. p. GIBNEY."
Neils IIalvorsen sat down to think,
and after several minutes Of this un-
usual exercise 1t appeared to the
Swede that he had stumbled upon
clue to the situation. The last entry
in the log kept by Mr.. Gibney was
under date of June 21st-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 1t?
Neils 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 iglands-page 177;" where
upon Nells opened the book at page
1T and after five-minute search
discovered that Tuvana-tholo was a
barren unlnhabited 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. 1t would take nearer fif-
teen days for the run from Honolulu
to that desert island, and Neils Hal
versen wondered whether the ma
rooned men would still be alive by
the time aid could reach them. For
vorsen became convinced that his old
friends Of the vegetable trade were
marooned. They had gone ashore for
some kind Of frolic, and the crew
had stolen the schooner and left them
to their fate. believing that the cast
o.yoyc vuor,1d poyar ho HAND fro,,,