Adventure, February 1917 — page 187: what you’re looking at

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

A Crossed Trail “She closed her door behind her; but I opened and fastened it so; and calling the sailor—an Irishman named Hogan—who had been watching Brock’s cabin, put him on guard with instructions that no one was to be allowed to enter. Also I told him to keep an eye on the other two cabins down the corridor. “As we came up on deck, I saw perhaps a mile ahead of us one of those little Japan- ese fishing fleets that infest these waters; but the sight made no impression on me. We were constantly passing similar fleets. “My plan was to get Mrs. Carew and Schwartz together in my room, learn what I could from them, and then make a search for the papers. If we did not find them, I had not determined on the next move. But I thought we would locate them; there was more than a hint of nervousness in her manner, and I set it down to fear. Oh yes, I'was feeling rather proud of my astute- ness. “Wilkins, Brock and Schwartz were wait- ing for us in here—Schwartz sitting there where you are, looking about as excited as a stuffed sausage, Brock in my chair with his head in his hands, and Wilkins standing guard on the stairs which led to the chart- room. At a sign from me he returned to the bridge. “Mrs. Cina took in the scene at a lance, then she turned to me. *“*And now, captain, you will perhaps tell me why you brought me here?’ she said. “I did so, and she listened without inter- _ ruption, looking mostly at me, but once or twice stealing a quick, fleeting glance at Brock. When I had finished she crossed quickly to him and laid her hand on his arm. * Surely, Tommy, you don’t think I had anything to do with it, do you?’ “Can you beat that? No tears, no indig- nant protestations of innocence; just this simple appeal to the man who had been robbed. If you could have heard her, you would have sworn that she was the very angel of innocence. “Brock winced when her hand touched him, but he neither replied nor looked at her, and for five minutes she continued to plead with him, as though neither Schwartz nor I had been in the room. Suddenly I be- came suspicious; in some way the idea that she was merely playing for time possessed me. “T stepped forward to interrupt, but at 9 that moment there came the hoarse scream of the whistle, followed by a furious rin of the reverse ‘from the bridge. I bolted for the stairs. “*Tt’s all right,’ said Wilkins as I rushed | out on the bridge. ‘She cut square across us, and by gosh we nearly got her!’ | “I followed the direction of his finger. We were passing through that fleet of fish- ing boats, and one, a schooner whose sails were flapping, lay riot thirty yards off our bow. A brown, almost naked figure was leaning against her tiller, and I couldn’t make out what he was trying to do. A number of similar figures were bending ea- gerly over the schooner’s rail. “And then, from the deck below came a shout, the gleam of something hurtling through the air, and a splash as it struck the water and disappeared. It reappeared a moment later; and I saw that it was a Jap- anese woman and she was struggling desper- ately to escape the suction at the side of the ship. She was stripped to the skin, and — her hair which had become unbound was tossing in the water about her. “A life-preserver thrown by some one ~ from the deck fell beside her, but she ignored it as she went down the second time, “Then, as she came up, two men from - the fishing-boat joined her. I thought the screw had them, for I lost them in the churn- ing of the water. But somehow they e¢s- caped it, for, as the schooner, clear of our. blanketing, caught the wind and rounded up astern, I saw the three of them drawn aboard. “For a moment in the excitement of the rescue I did not realize what it meant; then it suddenly flashed over me. Mrs. Carew had a Japanese maid!” ‘“‘And she went overboard with the pa- pers, while her mistress was stringing you — along in the cabin,” I commented. was a fool?” he snapped. And when I had admitted that he had, he added: “And now I'll tell you why. had the papers?” — “Surely. Mrs. Carew must have tabs KWite RAGAN tossed his cigar into the 4 uy \ ash-receiver and twisted around in Pe ae “Did I begin by telling you that Brock = 4 You say, s from what Ff have told you, that the girk = them, given them to her maid who was hid- + 3 Ss) co Eomicboo