The Washington times., 1938-07-12

! WIN a sign OF relle1 onto q pile o
old sacks that lay nearby.
How these Trenches have inves
tigated here I do not pretend tt
know" he exulted, but 1 believ
I've found something they'v
missed. Here, listen to that =
don't you hear the hollow sound
There must be a secret compart
ment behind that panel-and
fairly long and large one at that
in fact. almost all that side O
the hold. e"
But what does it mean?"
asked.
1T explains probably all thest
wild stories of hauntings, flicker
ing lights, voices, and all that" hi
said.
Then what?"
MYSTERIOUS VISITOR
Then keep quiet and don't ash
foolish questions" he snapped
If anything happens, it cannot
happen before high tide. That viii
be full at midnight. Meanwhile
we must wait and watch"
1t was we'll after midnight when
the faint sounds outside woke US
from our uneasy slumber on the
stack of damp sacking. The storm
had spent itself and the rain was
now but a gentle patter on the
planking above.
I started up fearfully. The noise
outside, faint though it was, rever.
berated strangely on the echoing
stiffness. Uncle Bert seized my
arm and squeezed it.
Ssh" he hissed, they've come.
There were sounds of a human
presence and presently the unmis-
taxable, though cautious. noise of
human activity behind that par
tition. Uncle Bert crawled nearer
to the wall and laid his ear
against it. I did the same.
Though I could see nothing,
what I heard was evidence enough
that men had risen from the sea
men-bent on carrying
out some mysterious activity.
There was the faint changing of
chairs; the scraping of a foreign
body-probably a small boat
against the hull of the ship:
hoarse. muttered orders and a few
curses .. Then, suddenly, a long,
more definite, grating sound, like
that of rusty hinges and the noise
OF a panel sliding back, with
creaking which sounded almost
deafening, coming Unexpectedly
on the utter stiffness Of the night.
CLEVER PLOT
Now, the voices sounded nearer
just beyond a comparatively
thin partition Of planks. They
were working quickly and as 81
lently as possible. It was obvious
that they were removing fairly
heavy objects and passing them
over to somebody who had re-
mained in the boat.
All my fear was gone now: they
were men, though they were en-
emies; there was nothing super
natural in the whole occurrence.
Uncle Bert had been right after
all, that Norwegian freighter had
carried some supplies for the Ger
mans and it may be that it had
been piled up on the rocks just at
that spot on purpose, for, as some.
body had pointed out, the running
aground Of that ship, just out of
reach Of the waves and without
wrecking her completely. was
really a feat in seamanship.
At long last, the nature of the
sounds altered. There was a
sharp order, the secret panel slid
back on its rusty hinges with an,
other loud creaking, we could
visualize that small boat going
back to the mysterious craft to
which it belonged-we could hear
oars being cautiously plied-then,
a family changing bell-the long,
swishing sound Of submerging.
The nightmare was over-the
stealthy visitors from the sea had
come and gone-laden with what
loot?
Uncle Bert sprang into activity.
He made me hold the two torches
over the wall on which he began
to work frantically with his pocket
knife, jabbing, probing, trying to
dislodge the planking and to see
what lay behind. Finally, his eff.
forts were rewarded.
THE EVIDENCE
AS he had figured out. there was
a secret compartment at that
place-running along that whole
side Of the ship, just above the
water line.
There were small wooden kegs
stacked compactly in the restricted
space and we could see where the
raiders had removed some o1
them, but the gaps that showed
in the serried ranks. Still, a gooc
few were left, which as Uncle Ber
remarked with jubilation, the Ger
mans would never have.
Clambering out of our dark ant
smelly prison, laden with the liz
of the oil barrel as a proof tina
the happenings on the wreck wer
of wholly human nature, was &C
complished at the price of almos
superhuman efforts. But we botl
felt that the game had been wortl
the hardships, mental and phys
cal, it had entailed.
If the various legends surround
ing the wreck of the Norwegian
| Froi1b+ar 11,ere never denied an