Evening star., 1933-08-06


when I saw a workman dive
toward her.
He brought her in alive. bat her Wr1st was
cruellv broken and lacerated. 1 knew that the
ripped bracelet would leave its scar as suleiy
as a dragons teeth might have left one No..
was convinced now, ana that hieii' 4 S
at Jeffries apartment
She'll be all right he said IN ails"ei "
my question about the girl.
She'll always have bit OF scar, OF couiSe'
and the shock was rather bad Rotten shaihe'
you know Spoiled the launching ceremony
toe"
Yes" I said dryly. Ard now 1 hope that
your plan for the Junk is simply 70 Dunn H'
or sink it."
He stared at me half angrily. III do nothing
of the kind! Good gracious! You'd thlnk We
were living 1000 years ago behind the Great
Wall of China Just because workman nap
pened to be killed while rebuilding her, ana
Leah hadn't sense enough not to wear one oi
those silly dangling bracelets-
Then YOU believe we've been witnessing
coincidence"
Perfect examples, What Go you Think"
1 ignored the sarcaem IN the question he
flung at me.
You're stubborn fool, that's what think.
And if you try to sail that boat you'll be sorry
providing you live. Perhaps you don't care
about yourself but it would be criminal 10
take guests or crew aboard her
Jefres made an impatient gesture of dlsa-
greement. He went on tridmphantly
We'll, I'm going to sail her Reiter. lot
of superstitious rot won't keep me from II,
either You'll be interested to know that my
state room IS built right where they found two
OF the fellows-and 1 intend to sleep there,
too What do you think of that?
He glared at me triumphantly. That's what
think OF all this half-baked monkey business.
AS he went out into the hall he called to me.
You put it in your paper. Reter. that
leave for a trip down the coast next Friday
with crew Of four. It'll be pleasure trip and
a sort Of shakedown cruise. don't know just
how long I'll be gone or just where Ill 60.
Might wander quite way before I get back.
"All right said sapping my hat. It'll
be in the paper"
1 wrote a little squib about his departure
for the yachting page, and that was the last
time Jef1ries name appeared in the DAlly
Dispatch for more than month.
1 had almost forgotten both him and the
boat: and whenever did think OF them as
sumed he was still in Southern California,
enjoying himself. If anything had happened.
I told myself we'd have heard of it. I began
to think that had been sort of foolish after
all.
was a bit silly to let ones self pay too
much heed to what, at bottom. he had been
perfectly justified in designating lot of super
stitious nonsense. His boat certainly was
sound enough seaworthy enough, for any one
He was an experienced yachtsman, too; it
hardly seemed intelligent to go expecting
disaster to befan him.
1t was more than month later that
learned through the Yacht Club News Exchange
that the Junk had never reached Southern
California. There was no alarm in the report
for Jeffries had intmated that he might bear
off toward Honolulu. Fifty-io yachts aren't
great ocean liners, and If their positions hap
pen not to be reported regularly nobody pays
much attention to the omissions.
1 had my own ideas. but kept them to my
self. They were with night and day.
wished I could be rid OF them-and somehow
I couldn't.
Late one Saturday afternoon well along
toward Fall, got telephone message nom
All Ling. the Chinatown merchant.
Il have" he said "a news item for your
waterfront page
think knew what coming remem-
Der that said shoot" in sort of whisper.
and had to repeat it so All Ling could hear,
IT'S from a Shanghai newspaper received
today All Ling went III translate It
literally for you -...,
Involuntarily. my hand frightened its grip On
the receiver Of the telephone and my body
stifened with an odd nervous tension.
IOosening All Lngs literal translation int