Adventure, November 1915 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

26 playing the game every moment for all he was worth, Winton was Number One, a brilliant but erratic forward. With Ad- dams at the wheel and skippering the yacht in race or cruise, Winton handled the jib sheet, and, between tacks, devoted himself - to the general entertainment, especially if there was a sailor of the gentler sex aboard. And yet, through his birthgift of the ability to draw and design, Jim Winton had made better weather of it so far in the com- mercial field than Addams. But there was no question as to who was the leader in times of stress. “Peggy,” said Addams, lowering his voice. “Have you noticed any disarrange- ment of your cabin, as if some one had made a careful search of it?” “Why, I did, yesterday afternoon,” she said, “‘after lunch. But I wasn’t sure, so I said nothing about it.” “Ah! T’ve had the same fancy. Suppose you arrange something—some ribbons, say —in such a way they can’t be disturbed without your knowing. Can you do that?” “Easily. You think She stopped as a figure passed them. “T don’t know anything except they’ll find nothing for their pains. If Henley has traced us in spite of all, he must be on this ship to do him any good. Have you any idea what this mysterious passenger looks like?” “He’s a very old man, I believe.” “Well,” said Addams, “I may be mis- taken. In any case he'll not find out the position, the way we’ve disposed of it.” The pacing figure came back, a long coat covering it from collar to foot. “Tt’s the nurse,’”’ whispered Peggy as she passed. “What does Henley look like?” ‘Tall and thin, with black hair and beard. Heavy eyebrows. The best he can do is to keep on following us if he zs aboard and, if I can charter the right kind of a boat, we’ll lead him a merry chase to the island. Here comes Jim.” The spark of a cigarette glowed as Win- ton and his companion, a vivacious bru- nette, came laughing aft. “Come on down, moonies,”’ said Winton. “This is concert night. Miss Belmont’s going to sing.” “So are you,” said the girl at his side. “T am willing to go through my whole repertoire of parlor tricks like a good doggie at your command,” said Winton, “pro- Adventure ‘viding the.usual lump of sugar, or its equivalent, is forthcoming.’ They passed on, chafing. Addams and Peggy Winton followed after a few minutes. At the head of the staircase they heard the piano in the music salon break out into accompaniment, and Jim Winton’s tenor caroling— “Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest, Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” _ Adams shrugged his shoulder. “‘He’s irrepressible,” he said. “He ought to be more careful,” said Peggy. “Perhaps this is all getting on our nerves too much,” said Addams. ‘“‘We may be imagining everything without real cause. We're as bad as Shakespeare’s guilty thief who ‘fears each bush an officer.’ I confess I thought the chief engineer was Henley the first time I saw him, and I was only re- lieved when I noticed he didn’t oe Let’s join the crowd.” CHAPTER IX SELIM EOLLOWS A TRAIL ie WAS noon of the fifth day out from San Francisco. Diamond Head was already in sight and the passengers of the Korea were on deck, waiting to watch the unfolding of the panorama of Waikiki Beach with its villas and the harbor of Honolulu with the emerald, purple-shadowed moun- tains of Tantalus and the Pali-Gap beyond, backed by the ever-present masses of trade clouds. “It’s wonderfully beautiful,” said Peggy Winton to Addams, as the Korea glided along the reef, where the peacock waters changed swiftly into the transparent chryso- prase of the lagoon. “I suppose our little island will look very different from all this.”’ “Yes,” assented Addams, “I imagine it will. But I don’t think you are going to see it, Peggy. Not unless I am satisfied we have shaken off Henley. The risk is too great. You won’t misssomuch. You see, we'll be sailing for several days through a sea-desert; and life on a small boat, such as we may have to put up with, is not too agreeable.” . “Any one would think I had never been on a yacht before,” pouted Peggy, looking particularly adorable, Addams thought, in COnnieooolks (C@