The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1942-03-26

late, but SO thoroughly unaccounta-
bic in the ordinary world of reality
that every figure upon the deck of
the Holokai was instantly struck mo-
tionless. Even the perpetually trot-
ting Inyashi stopped, and stood fro
zen on the swaying deck. They were
waiting to hear If that sound should
come again, once more cutting
through the laboring of the little
ship, and the great, persistent rush
and wallop of the sea.
1t did not come again: but after a
moment Dick knew that what he
had heard was a woman's terrified
scream.
1t was Dick himself who burst into
action. He raced aft, sprang into
the ladder well, and in second
more was in the main cabin, where
he, and Karen, and Lilua had faced
each other such little while ago;
and here he stood, for a moment
balancing to the sea
He didn't see her at first. That
cabin, deep, but narrow as the little
ship, seemed strangely empty; he
had paced alone here a thousand
times, without ever sensing the ut
ter vacancy that was here now. The
door of his little cabin, wedged into
the stern, was Tapping loosely
against its latch-swinging half
open, then banging shut again with
out catching, with the perversity of
all doors. He sprang the length of
the cabin with a furious activity !;
and booted that door into its wall
catch, once and for all; but there
was no one in the camped stall
where he usually slept.
Then, turning, he saw her; and
was instantly by her side. Lilua lay
in a little crumped heap at the end
of the table, and half under it. He
had seen death many times; but 1t
seemed to him now that he had nev-
er seen anyone SO utterly lifeless, SO
completely slumped into an unut-
terable oblivion, as Liluas form
seemed there, dropped like seaweed
left on the beach.
He picked her up in his arms
gently as he could, but so handi-
capped by the Holokai's roll that he
cursed the helmsman for not hold
ing the vessel steadier into the seas.
She seemed terribly without
weight, without half the substance
he would have supposed. But the
utter lmpness of her body made the
lifting of it awkward, for she kept
pouring through his arms, almost
as if he were trying to lift wave of
the sea.
He got her down onto his own bunk
at last. He kissed her mouth as he
laid her down, then sought the source
of the blood that was staining his
shirt, and the bunk upon which he
had placed her. There was a knife
wound under Lilua's left breast
how deep he could not tell. He
snatched cotton from an emergency
cabinet nailed to the wall, and
crammed it deep into the wound.
She stiffened convulsively when he
did that. 1t was his first intimation
that she was alive.
He tucked a blanket over her
tightly, so that she would not be
rolled by the Holokai's pitch, and
stepped to the door. The Chinese
mess boy had appeared uncertainty
from the pantry; Dick seized him,
and pulled him into the bunk room.
HAS anyone gone out of here
through the galley?"
''No, SIR
''This girl has been hurt-stabbed.
You stay here with her-do any
thing you can for her, until l get
back"
The face of the Chinese was star
ing with confusion and alarm. Very
probably he had never seen the girl
before in his life, and now supposed
that Dick himself had done her in.
He remained silent, however, and
stayed where he was told.
Inyashi slid down the hand rail
and landed at the foot of the ladder
as Dick turned.
Someone was knitted here a min
ute ago." Dick told him, when you
heard that scream. Has anyone
come up the ladder since then?"
mo, Captain Dick. But there's
a man standing by the taff-rail. He
acts queer-maybe he is the one.
He stands naked by the rail
and looks at the sea, and the crew is
afraid to go near him. Maybe he
came up from here by the skylight?"
Dick snatched a rifle from a rack
upon the forward bulkhead. That
itl Who is he-do you know him?"
"It's that big new Kanaka."
81 hired no new Kanaka!"