Imperial Valley press., 1936-11-15
Sixty Seconds From Life FORTUNE"

the Swede blow on the head with that same
ringed fist, killing him.
Becoming panicky he had cut hole with an
axe in the bottom of the lugger, swan ashore
and watched it sink in the secluded lagoon where
they were anchored in five fathoms of water
Making his way across the island back to the
town, he again searched Swensen's house for
the pearls. The only thing he found however,
was a sealed envelope which was written,
ITO Be Opened in Case of My Death" Tearing
it open, he read Behind the panel above the
compass in the cabin of my boat there is small
safe containing a collection of pearls which
I estimate the value of at 10000 pounds. They
are to be turned over to my sister, Hildegarde
Olsen, in Bergen, to be her sole property"
And so the pearls had gone to the bottom with
old Swensen
Terrified at the thought of being implicated
when an investigation of Swensen's strange dis
appearance started, Smythe had fled to Aus
tralia intending to return after the disappear
ance of Swensen was forgotten, and retrieve the
pearls from the sunken lugger. Penniless, hun
cry, desperate in the hope of getting money
to take him back to Thursday Island after read
ing report that Swensen had been lost at sea,
he had told his story to Warwick. But again
fear made a madman of him. and realizing
what he had done, he struck Warwick on the
temple with the same armored fist that had
killed Swensen, leaving him for dead. After
lowering on the borderline between life and
death for a week, Fate decreed that Warwick
be spared On his feet again, he determined to
go to Thursday Island and wait for Smythe,
knowing sometime somehow he would return.
And now Bradley Smythe was here Warwicks
hour of triumph was near!
TOR almost week, carefully hiding his iden-
tity, Warwick kept Smythe under surveil-
lance Two days passed before he sobered up
enough to get down to the business which
brought him back to Thursday Island. Under the
name of John Rogers, he was stopping at
Chinese hotel where questions were asked.
He kept indoors by day, avoided all contacts
with white men, and finally arranged for the
use of boat belonging to Jap beche-de-mer
fisherman. He evidently had obtained little
money somewhere.
On the eighth day after his arrival the
island, Smythe set out alone in his hired boat.
1t was no easy task to trail him without arous-
ing suspicion, but Warwick was determined not
to lose sight of Smythes boat He had waited
too long to fail now. Throughout the day. he
kept at as great distance as possible, and he
was aided in allaying suspicion by the dozens
of small craft that dotted the waters off the
island and were almost constantly in sight That
night Smythe anchored in protected cove, and
Warwick just around point Of the reef, spent
a sleepless night of vigil Early the second after
noon Smythe headed into almost land-locked
lagoon to be lost from sight. Warwick, far out on
the water, chugged some distance past the la
COON, then headed sharply in toward the beach.
AS his boat approached the shore, he stopped
his motor, drifted just to the edge of the break
ers and dropped anchor. He slipped over the
side, swan to the beach, and cautiously traced
his way across the neck of palm-lined shore to
the lip of the lagoon.
Smythe had anchored his boat about thou
sand feet from the shore Stripped to the waist,
he had made one end Of line fast to the side
of the boat and with the other end looped over