The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-02-19
8, RACHEL MACK

Yesterday: Jerry tries to escape
but feils, and in Boston the Banks
family wonders about their son.
Cabell.
CHAPTER XVI
Corly proved to be a score OF
shabby fishermen huts located to
the right of the Kings Highway
between marsh gras and booming
sea Their excuse for being was
q shallow harbor that all but van
ished at low tide. 1t was de-
iected spot. 49,,
Polly, having been put down
there with her dog and trunk,
looked after the departing coach
with a regret that bOrdered on
panic. -,
She noted one house in the VII
lage that SCENE dtO be an nm
Though not less ramshackle than
its neighbors, it was larger and
carried a sign. Polly dragged her
trunk from the roadside and
pulled it along a sandy path to
this building. Arrived there, she
left Nuisance 10 stand guard
while she entered the inn. She
was leaning heavily on her stick
and frowning sharply. ,
Never had she seen or smelled
so unpleasant a room. 1t reeEed
of fried fish. bad rum and other
discriminating odors, and 1t was
occupied by a half dozen men who
wore fishermen garb but had the
unmistakable look Of outlaws and
pirates. She was shocked and
frightened for she was accustom-
ed TO the self-reSpecting bearing
of Ned England fisherman who,
no matter how poor, took pride IN
then, Glazing. She did not have to
simulate the shaking of her hand
on her staff.
Where can | find John Nc
Gean?" she asked the room at
large.
A man in a dirty apron, evil
IDENTIFY the keeper of this unwhOle-
some place, answered her. yer
in luck, old dame. The Sea Ser
pent, is boat. is anchored off
Corly today. Just in e is, from
a little trip, and soon to put out.
Look. There e comes along
the wharf"
Polly wont OutSidp and STONED
to give Nuisance a reaSSuring pat,
for the little dog was looking I'M
easy and FESTIVE. He was great
ly puzzled by her altered appear
ance. Her staff made him nerv-
Gus and the odor of her rusty
black dress and white wig dis
mayed him. 1t was only when
she bent her face close to his and
scratched his neck with her IA
miliar fingers that he was at ease.
"Stay here~ Polly commanded
him, and he lay down beside the
doeSkin trunk. Hi Snose rested on
his paws but his alert eyes fol-
lowed his mistress as she went
along the rotting wharf to meet
an unknown man.
The skipper, who had just come
ashore from an ugly two-masted
luggcr with patched brown sails.
was large and forbidding. He had
heavy handsome features, coal
black hair that he wore in a
queue, and bold prominent eyes.
So this is a smuggler, Polly
thought and was disappointed
that he was notsmooth and suave
like the famous Jean La Fitte
whom she had heard described in
America-La Fitte who could kiss
a lady's hand as graciously as ne
could take a ship.
''If you are John Mclean" she
said to this man, al have business
with you"
"Then speak it. Times yalu-
able" He stared hard at her.
Polly spoke her business, as
commanded. She talked to hin
urgently; but since money talks
best in the long run, she offered
him what she could afford to pay
and still keep enough to carry hel
to Cherbourg. For this he grudg'
ingly agreed to convey her across
the Channel to a fishing port
near Calais. He was sailing that
night, he said, if the wind was
favorable. Sometime around 1C
he would come to the wharf in q