Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1924-07-24


the instructions. won't your Bess
glanced at the EneIlshman Is she
spoke
Captain Bunker shook hts head
Cant do that Miss. Besa" he de.
ciared. "T'll have to do It myself, and
III have to seek the secIusion that my
cabin grants before do Il"
Bess turned to the Engilshman
you hear. Lord GeorgeYv she ex-
claimed. "He wants to keep all the
mystery TO himself"
Lord George nodded comfortably.
HE Jolly well better had keep Il to
himself" he declared ~Mr. Archman
would court-martial him II be didn't.
What g.
Bess drew q long breath. Clearly.
she decided, Lord George was not es-
pecialIy interested in the instructions.
~Well. call II mean" she said. s'Be-
ware, captain, or when you come to
open your Instructions you'll End I'VE
got ahead OF you and read them Grst."
"Not you, nlss-unless you wheedIe
the combination Of my safe out OF me"
laughed the captain, as be vanished
into the chart house.
Bess said nothing more. She had
warned the captain In q way, without !
betraying the fact that she had re
ceivsd the note. which she more than
ever believed was a hoax. A little
later. when Captain Bunker announced
that he would open the envelopes at
FIVE o'clock that afternoon. she decid-
ed that nobody could possibly manage
to steal the instructions out OF a
locked safe In less than four hours.
and that, therefore. she would say
nothing.
The tasks OF the day had been nm
shed and, the weather being good.
here was little for the crew-except
hose In the engine room--to do. OF
II en- board. only Lord George was
'usy; he had borrowed q light rife
rom Captain Bunker and was anus
ng himself by shooting at floating OBJ
ects. /.
Eight bells struck. Bess sat up IN .
er steamer chair, throwing back the :
ght rug that covered her feet. and
,oked about her As she did 30. Lord
Ieorge raised his rife and fred at =
Dmethina directly aft. Bess rose and :
Eared cursoualy across the tafrraIl. :
''6eei That looks exciting" abe ~. :
larked casually. p
Lord George looked up at her ITS !
,lly good practice. you know" he q
I'D. "Its the shooting season at
1ma now. and everybody there is pop
ng away. IT'S lots Of fun. II Ia real
Excuse me-" He turned and sent IN
bullet at ahark's triangular I'm 81
at cut the water or the starboard &c
arter The IN disappeared and he 2
rned back to Bess I'm not much nc
a shot be explained. "The best re
z ever made was sixty brace" pc
sixty bracei One hundred and en-
entyi" vi
Lord George did not answer He Or
'ung his rife up. Besg lid just br
ne to see that he was atmfing at
netting that looked like bottle an
tn a small flag stuck into its neck, 20
len the piece exploded and the bottle pr
appeared. Good graciousi" she af
claimed where dld thar bottle en-
ne fromf" CHI
Bother Lord George looked sur ini
sed. Where Is 1T"
It's at the hottom OF the sea. now"
claimed Bess. You blew It TO .
ces. Didn't you know what you -.
re aiming atrr hfo
Lord Georges expression OF surprise -
9 obvious. Really, now, really, 60.
Y Besa.r ne mnmbled. -are you sy.
e Il was q bother al
OF course. I'm sure. I've got eyes. the
'an't II Il looked like a message. Ia
II had nag In IL. Maybe II was nct
message from some poor ship sen
icked mariner And you've de- tirs
,ye6 e. Good Lord r mn
ord George had fred again. and at and
ther bottle. which few In fraR-
ATS like the iirst. n
ess stared at the water. Then she Il
,ed az Lord George. But that gen
han kept his eye Fixed on the water. @ss
sr failing o. refusing 20 meet her
\ ''oh I" she hreathed significantly.
he rudder chains leading along the -
began TO rattle. and the wake OF
ri Rio began 10 change its dIrec- ~
The san, which had been on the =,
. left. shifted behind her For q
nent Rezs did not understand: then ICY
realized that the III Rio had =
asad he course from south to west. !. = =