, 1924-08-06

w 'N i'iu sc anu liz bDth
the instructions, won't your Bess
glanced at the Englishman as she
spoke. D
Captain Bunker shook his head.
Cant do that, Miss Bess." he de-
clared. 'Ill have to do it myself, and
I'll have to seek h seclusion that my
cabin grants before l do it"
Bess turned to the Englishman.
you hear, Lord George?" she ex-
claimed. N'He wants to keep all the
mystery to himself"
Lord George nodded comfortably.
He jolly well better had keep it to
himself" he declared. Mr.. Archman
| would court-martial him If he didn't.
Whatl'
Bess drew a long breath. Clearly,
she decided. Lord George was not es-
p~ecially interested in the Instructions.
We'll, ] call 1t mean" she said. BE
ware, captain, or when you come to
open your instructions you'll find I've
got ahead of you and read them first
Not you, miss-unless you wheedle
the combination Of my safe out of me-
laughed the captain, as lie vanished
INTO the chart mouse.
Bess said nothing more. She had
warned the captain in n way, without
betraying the fact that she had re-
celved the note. which she more than
ever believed was a hoax. A little
later, when Captain Bunker announced
that he would open the envelope at
five O'Clock that afternoon, she decid-
ed that nobody could possibly manage
to steal the instructions u of a
locked safe in less than -four hours.
and that, therefore, she would say
nothing.
The tasks of the day had been fin
ished and, the weather being good.
there was little for the crew-eXcept
those in the engine room-tod do. OF
all on board, only Lord George was
busy; he had borrowed n light rifle
from Captain Bunker and was anus
ing himself by shooting at floating OBJ
jects.
Eight bells struck. Bess sat up in
her steamer chair. throwing bach the
light rug that covered her feet, and
looked about her. AS she did so. Lord
George raised his rifle and fired at
something directly aft. Bess rose and
stared c~uriously across the taffrail.
Gee! That looks exciting" she re-
marked casually.
Lord George looked up at her. TITS
jolly good practice. you know" he
said. ITS the shooting season at
home now. and everybody there is pop
ping away. It's lots of fun. 1t is real
L. E-o,o ,,1t H. t,r,al AVID cont
a bullet at a sharks triangular fin
hat cut the water OFF the starboard
quarter. The fin disappeared and he
turned back TO Bess. I'm not much
of n shot" he explained. THE best
bag I ever made was sixty brace"
sixty bracel One hundred and
twenty!
Lord George did not answer He
swung his rifle up. Bess had just
time to see that he was aiming at
something hat looked like a bottle
with a small flag stuck into its neck,
when the piece exploded and the bottle
disappeared. Good gracious!" she
exclaimed. where did that bottle
come from?"
."Bottle?" Lord George looked sur
prised. where is it?'
ITS at the bottom OF the sea. now"
exclaimed Bess. You blew II to
pieces. Didn't you know what you
were aiming at?'
Lord Georges expression of surprise
was obvious. REALLY, now. really,
Miss Bess.' he mumbled. ARE you
sure 1t was a bother"
"Of course. In sure. I've got eyes.
haven't II II looked like n message.
too. It had a flag in II. Maybe II was
a message from some poor ship
wrecked mariner. And you've de-
stroyed Il. Good Lord"
Lord George had fred again. and ut
another bottle. which flew In frag-
ments like the first.
Bess stared AT the water. Then she
stared Mt Lord George. But that gen.
tleman kept his eye fixed on the water.
either failing or refusing TO meet her
eyes. "oh !" she breathed significantly.
The rudder chains leading along the
rail began TO rattle. and the wake OF
the FL Rio began to change Its direc-
ton. The sun. which had been on the
girls left. shifted behind her. For n
moment Bess did not understand then
she realized that the III Rio had
changed Its course from south 10 west.