Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 51: what you’re looking at

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

The Secret of Caprice “Oh, no—that is, yes, in a way. You see, of course we must take some measures of protection against them, and the people I have put on this case ought to know what kind of men they are dealing with. Don’t you see? And then, of course, if I catch them—and I fully expect I shall—Phil can identify them and—and—oh, all that sort of thing. He could do it, couldn’t he?” “Very easily. He saw the men for quite some time in bright light and talked to them. Pm sure he would know them again anywhere.” Again he could see Blaydon writhe. was not welcome news, evidently. “Well,” he said, ‘‘that will make things easier when we get them. It will be a good thing to clear out a gang of beach-combers like that.” “Then you really do not think that they had anything to do with the scuttling of Caprice?” “Oh, Caprice wasn’t scuttled. We’ve dis- cussed it in all its aspects, Nellie and I, and we have been forced to accept the un- pleasant fact that my brother went down with the yacht.” Ward was conscious of a slight sound from the girl in the shadows. It was like a sharply intaken breath of pain, and his heart went out to her in sympathy for her suffering. “But,” he objected, “I do not quite see how you reconcile that with the evidence. Those plug-holes in the bottom look most suspicious to me.” “Well, now, Dll tell you.” Blaydon crossed his legs and uncrossed them again. ““You’d understand it better if you had only known Otto. He had a lot of peculiarities, but he came by them honestly, for my father was the same way. I don’t my father ever in his life took advantage of another man in a business deal. It was al- ways his boast that the money he made was clean. People who had dealings with him knew that if things were not exactly as he represented them, they could come right back at him and he would give them satis- faction. That was the principle -he did business on, and he trained Otto the same way.” _“T understood your brother was most punctiltous.”’ “He was. That’s why he wouldn’t sell Caprice. She’s an old boat. She was a steam yacht in the early days, and he had It ! her converted to gasoline and her cabins all rearranged, but it’s the same old hull and it’s rotten clean through. A few years ago he rented her to a friend while he took a trip through Europe, and this other fellow put her in the water without a decent job of coppering her bottom. He took her South in the Winter, and what the ship- worms did to her was something fierce. She’s fairly honeycombed. “Your brother did not have her planks renewed?” “No; said it wasn’t worth while because he had plans for a new boat anyhow that he _ liked better—one of these new-type cruising houseboats with all the comforts of home and a good turn of speed, beside being sea- worthy enough for any*of our inside waters. I wanted him to sell Caprice, but he wouldn’t hear of it.” “So I understood,” Blaydon looked up sharply, his cigar poised half-way to his lips. “You did? Who told you?” “Mrs. Herriot.” “Fi’m. I see. Nellie tells me that she spoke to you about my brother’s engage- ment to Mrs. Herriot. You understand that we want the matter kept entirely secret— especially in view of what has happened?” “T have promised Miss Blaydon not to mention it.” “Well, that’s good. As I was saying, Otto wouldn’t sell Caprice just because of the way he had been brought up by my father. He didn’t think it would be honest. He could have patched her up and got a fairly good price for her, but she never would have been safe. So he made up his mind to break her up himself, take out whatever was worth using and put it on his new boat. I imagine that explains the plug-holes.”’ “But,” Ward protested, “I don’t quite see that.” “Why, I believe he intended to sink her, and then, when this deal in South America came up, he decided to make this last trip on her and sink her when he got back. It looks to me as if they got caught in a storm off here and were probably riding to a drog, with their engine stopped and every- body on deck busy with the boat and stuff. The pitching of the yacht probably loosened the plugs, and before any one on deck could notice it in the general excite- ment, she was full of water, and they either (€(0) 0\(0(0) (G Ss) 49 (E) mn * leas b(n f - a Te | ’ Siu 8). Gate sia ‘ “dos a4 By Pe2? j cs 10y7 Cots ee ns at Na Ry Fy ae eS