Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1934-07-27
CHAPTER III

a close CALL sure enough. All Bur-
ridge did was to curse Seymour's
clumniness between splitting out salt
water he had swallowed. When the
skipper had negotiated the gangplank
Hodgson said:
IF anyone put strychnine in his
hash, I'd pay that fellows legal costs
would" The rest of the men laugh
ed-once they had finished hiccough-
ing with cold fright. But Seymour
had seen intoxication breed red devils
in mems brains before this; and he
knew that he had got Burridge tapped,
anyway. The man was savage and
he was also sly; capable of anything ;
but so long as Seymour knew what
he was up against he could keep a
bright lookout.
He was beginning to think-after
seeing how he'd missed being pulped
by the thickness of the Minotaur's
boot-topping, that maybe he was luck
Ter than he'd recently esteemed him.
self to be. Perhaps he would be
lucky enough to achieve his ambition
and satisfy old Ben's standards as
required in son-in-law.
The Scottish chief engineer invited
him to his cabin for drink just then;
and over the liquor told him facts and
suspicious concerning. Burridge that
would have made Sevmour's hair curl
had it not been so wet.
Zone of these dark nights he'll be
going over the side-quite by acct
dent" said Macalpin. "Gin the grind
stones hitched tae his tail it's his ain
lookout. The ship owes We a grudge
Mister, for that we howked him out
O. the ditch the way We did"
ooh, Captain Burridge is all right"
grinned Seymour, approaching the con
fidence. ellis trouble is that he
isn't clever enough"
Il could jail him ten times over, on
irrefutable evidence" said Macalpin;
"but that it wad expose a system
O. COMMISSIONS by the which l profit
masel, an Mistress Macalpin expectin'
again." He seemed hopeful and Sey-
mour gathered that being chief of
the Minotaur was not by any means
a bed of roses.
'I'll fight him fair, if fight | must
said the mate. More and more did
he think that the pleasant ways of
the Rickett Line had made for softness
Here he was required to reconsider
his erstwhile system of life. 1t was
to be an atavistic affair of the sur
vival Of the fittest; but as two wrongs
never did make a right, the dirty work
should come entirely from the other
side. Though how battling with Bur-
ridge was going to lift him to a full
fllment of ambition he failed entire
ly to see.
He continued blind when the Mino-
taur loaded up fresh freight and mails
and set out for Grandy Isle. What
had started as full gale was now an
imitation typhoon. He got whiff
OF liquor on Burridge's breath when
he climbed to the bridge after slowing
the anchors; and reached the conclus-
ion that the hardest case on the coast
stltfened his courage with liouor
when things looked bad But in this
Jack wronged him. Burridge's pluck
was there-it was only occasionally
that he INDUCED in hard drinking.
irrespective of time or circumstances.
II he were unusually ruffled he went
to the bottle-and Seymour had ruff
lied him. Not often did the bone
headed ship-driver think deeply! he
was more apt to act than use his
brains; but he had thought somewhat.
and he unquestionably saw in Sey-
mour potential usurper of his pride
of place.
He knew the hostility aimed at him
aboard his own ship and ashore. He
was a seagoing pariah; but a man too
valuable to lose, because the reputat-
ion of the Burnley Line depended about
eighty per cent on him. He got the
mails through when weaker men
sought harbor. But if fate had sent
man of equal or greater fiber in
the person of Jack Seymour, Burridge
estimated that Burley's would well
come the opportunity to rid them
selves OF an incumous. Consequently
Seymour must be put out of the way.
His black malice conveyed itself to
his mate by some telepathic miracle.
All through riot of a growingly
black and beastly night Seymour tast-
ed an unacustomed nervousness that
was not due to the driven ships with
ing agOnies. So far as the Minotaur
was concerned, he delighted in her
che tIyoc htviI% f4,, a.,