Adventure, February 1917 — page 184: what you’re looking at

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

182 see, even knowing her as well as I did, I did not realize her resourcefulness. y “BROCK did not come to see me : and, from the way he spoke when I passed him on deck, I judged that he was still holding against me what I had told him of Mrs. Carew. They were as thick as peas; he seemed to spend most of his time with her, although once I saw him playing chess with Schwartz in the smoking-room. And it was that afternoon that I first connected Schwartz with Mrs. Carew. ‘He had preempted a corner in the smok- ~ ing-room, in which he took his place imme- diately after breakfast; and there, except ~~ when he went below for his meals, he stayed until the bar closed at night, drinking beer and smoking a short, evil-smelling meer- schaum pipe. “But as I was coming up the forward stairs from the main deck on Thursday af- ternoon, I noticed Schwartz coming toward me. His hands were clasped behind him and his big head bent forward as if it were too great an effort to hold it erect. “Mrs. Carew stepped out from the en- trance to the music-room just as he drew abreast of it, and apparently without look- ing he ran squarely into her. He drew back with a grunt of apology, then passed her and continued around the deck; but not before I had caught the look she gave him. “Of course that’s the sort. of evidence ~ that wouldn’t hold in court; she had neither done nor said anything that I could have sworn to, but I knew as plainly as though they had talked for an hour that there was something between them. And, apparently, they had Brock sewed up; those two were the only persons he had made friends with on the ship, and, of course, they were the very two he should have avoided. — “T don’t mind saying I felt pretty sore. In a way his mission was none of my busi- ness. But he had asked my aid to the ex- tent of furnishing a watchman, and I had complied. _. “T was tempted to wash my hands of the whole business, but in some way I could not. I knew the papers must be important or the Japs would not be making such an effort to obtain them. I made up my mind that the next day I would take a hand in the game—just how I hadn’t determined— but I was going to get Brock through, not Adventure ~ for = own sake but for the sake of the mis- sion. My intention was all right. The only trouble was I was running a day behind schedule. “As I was finishing my breakfast in here on Thursday morning, Brock abruptly rush- ed in and dropped into a chair. A glance at his face and I knew that something had happened. “He had evidently been interrupted in the midst of shaving, for one of his cheeks was pink and smooth, while the other was dark with a day’s growth of beard, on which the lather had caked and dried. It gave him a ludicrous, uncouth appearance which his coat collar turned up above his pajama jacket heightened. “He leaned forward in his chair, breath- ing hard, and after a moment managed to stammer out— “ “Captain, the papers—are gone.’ “Tt took me ten minutés and a glass of brandy to brace him up sufficiently to get a coherent story. ““*They must have been taken while I was playing chess with Schwartz,’ he said at length, ‘although it might have been af- terward while I was asleep. Let’s see, I’ll try to tell you exactly what happened last night. “ “After dinner, I walked and sat for an hour or two with Mrs. Carew. Nothing un- usual occurred, except that she was not feeling well, and once left me to go below for a bottle of smelling-salts in the hope that it would relieve the tightness in her head which she said a sea voyage always brought on. It did not, however, and half an hour later she said she would have to give up and go to her room. “TY went down with her, said good night at her door, and continued to my own cab- in. The papers were there then; I looked to see as I always did on entering. Ordinar- ily I turn in late, and I picked up a book, intending to read. But I was restless. ‘““*VYou remember it was hot and muggy last night; and when a boy came down with a message from Schwartz asking me to join him in a chess game in the smoking-room, [I was glad to accept. Before leaving I glanced about the room. It was empty— no one was concealed in it, I am sure, for I looked both under the berth and the settee. It never occurred to me that any one could get in with the key in my pocket andasailor watching the door from the opposite cabin. NOOLKS ANIC (EC) (E@)