The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-03-21
CHAPTER III-Continued

"Prove it." he commanded. Draw
something"
BettingtOn hesitated for a moment
He was not man who went the bet
ter for being driven. But il occurred
10 him that here was a solitary who
was mentally unbalanced. He sketched
in few skillful strokes a portrait of
the man standing there. his gun bal
anced in the crook Of his arm.
Jonathan Gibbs looked at it In ST.
lence.
at is good" he said deliberately
'Whate"er else you may be you are a
craftsman"
"Why should l be anything than
pretend?"
You've never seen me before?"
Gibbs demanded.
Never" Bettlngton said q little ir-
ritably, land shall pass a contented
existence if / never see you again.
What sort of a Maine fisherman are
you 70 behave like this?"
Gibbs put down his gun and as
sumed more friendly air.
I've been threatened" he said
rather vaguely. I've made enemies
hereabout. | have to be careful. |
was startled"
'You certainly startled me-" said the
other. 81 hoped to be able to pass the
night here and dry my clothes"
"YOu surely can," said Jonathan
Gibbs. "PI boil the water and MAKE
you some coffee. | guess you're hun.
cry"
1t was after the meal that Betting
ton asked him, "Why should anyone
threaten you here?"
Jealousy" said Gibbs, after pause
I'm not q state of Maine man and
don't mix with anyone around They
don't understand that"
Plainly the man bad something to
conceal. After all, Bettington told
himself. II was none of his business.
He had often met queer, ingrown
characters He could not go out into
the black night, now made dOubly i'm.
passable by the deluge of rain. Gibbs
made up the fire by packing a huge
armful of wood into it.
Bettington was awakened by the
aroma of coffee. Gibbs was holding
BettingtOn's shoes up.
Dried stiff as boards" he an
nounced. They'll need TO be creased
before you can get into em, and your
pants are torn pretty bad. I'll lend
you an outfit, and you can get what
RI
seas calm now and you can row
across the hay in half an nour"
The summer sun had tanned Bet
tingtOn to rich brown In his sea-
boOts-the only ones Gibbs had to lend
his faded blue sweater and khaki
shirt, he looked the sort of fishing type
he had often painted.
At the dock he took a ten-foot row.
boat and set out to the village. En-
had gone, perhaps, half the distance,
when fast motor boat Overhauled
him. slackened speed as it passed and
then swung round and waited In the
path he wa, taking.
There were two men In 1t. One
was vastly broad-chested man with
a trim sweater AMI white canvas
trousers. He had the look of yacht
sailor. The other, who was steering
the boat, had no physical peculiarities
other than that general air of follow
ing the sea.
"We've had an accident" said the
broad-chested man and pointed to
something at the bottom of the launch
Bettington chung to the side of the
drifting motor boat and stood up
There. on the bottom of the other
craft, was man lying immobile And
as the artist stopped over him, the
recumbent sailor gave a tremendous
half-arm jab which caught Bettington
on the point of che jaw. The other
two grabbed him as bis head fell for
ward and hauled him on board where,
unconscious. he took the place of his
assailant. who rose grinning
The broad-chested man. who was
called Sam. clapped him on the back
In approval
Dandy" he cried. sand that rock
prevents anyone seeing us from the
village" Sam bent over the uncon-
scious form and neatly trussed 1t up
with rope. 1.-THE Boss will be tickled
to death over this. Stove In that row.
boat, one OF you"
man with boat hook smashed
in some bottom boards and Jonathan
Gibbs dinghy slowly filed with water.
Thea the launch put out Of the bay.
past the buoys. and headed north for
Bar Harb0r.
Beitington had recovered from the
knockout within five minutes. He
could see from the brightly polished
brasswork and mahogany that he was
i'm a yachts launch. He knew that
the hum % the motor would make any