Evening star., 1938-07-10

his contract with the Lloyd's underwriters
. in London, and was sailing for the French
coast in dramatic attempt to recover seven
million dollars worth of gold bullion from
the wrecked liner Mel,noth. that he found
stowaway on board his salvage ship. She
was Madeleine Nelson, girl who had made
his acquaintance the night before in London.
She had called herself journalist. declaring
that she wanted to cover the news story of the
Melnoth gold. but the young American sal
wage expert had turned her down.
The liner had been wrecked near the lie
de Fernand, and when the salvage ship came
to anchor at this lone island, Sinclair told
Madeleine Nelson she must find lodgings
ashore. But there was no accommodation to
be found, so the girl was compelled to remain
npn board. In spite of his anger with Madeleine,
taQd his suspicion that she was engaged upon
some mysterious undertaking of her own, he
found himself attracted by her charm and
beauty.>
Sinclair heard that previous salvage
expedition (which had met with disaster) had
found the wreck; and when he was told that
some of the dead captains papers were now
lying in the attic at the big chateau ON the
island, he wondered how he could have look
at them. To learn the exact location of the
MeI,sotA might save him months of work and
and failure of his enterprise. But he had
strong impression that Monsieur Henri Jerome,
the tenant of the chateau, was antagonistic to
him: and when Jerome invited Madeleine
Nelson and him to dinner, Sinclair declined.
To his disgust. the girl accepted and went
ashore alone, returning at late hour to the
salvage ship.
In the darkness before dawn, Sinclair heard
a noise in his cabin and leapt from his berth.
He avoided by inches the thrust of knife
which crashed into the woodwork of locker.
BY the time he switched on his light, the
attacker had gone, and Sinclair hurried across
the little saloon and threw open cabin door.
Madeleine Nelson's berth was empty!
PART TWO
iaalNcLAIR raced up the companion steps to
the deck. Everything was quiet, and he
~ hurried forward. In the galley the night
watchman was heating coffee on spirit stove.
Heard anybody moving on deck. Fred?"
The man spun round with start. "Why,
no, sir! Nothing wrong, is there?"
Thought heard something. You're sure
nobody came on board?"
Quite certain, sir. Not since the young
lady came back. That was hours ago."
Right Wen have look round, and be
quiet about it. Five minutes later, they were
back at the galley door.
Sinclair had the presence of mind to say
nothing of what had happened in his cabin,
and he had slipped down to put the knife away
and pull on trousers and REFER jacket.
False alarm, Fred" he said with laugh.
That coffee smells good. A cup for me?"
While he drank his coffee he was trying to
figure things out. Was there any link between
the mmderous attack in his cabin and the
absence of Madeleine Nelson? The small row.
boat, which had been tied to stanchion at
the foot of the accommodation ladder, was
gone He had not mentioned this to the watch
man. Thanks for the coffee, Fred. You can
turn in now. It'll be daybreak in an hour. and
feel like some fresh air"
Thank you, sir" The man was looking
puzzled at the order, and then he pointed
through the galley doorway to the east.
Look, sir - some craft moving out there"
Sinclair slipped up to the bridge with pair
of glasses She looked like French naval YES