The Mountains

ng moodily out at the Laughing Lass. As the night was calm the tow had made fair time toward their port in

lue, doctor?" aske

No," muttered Trendon. "Marie--Mar

? What ab

out was found derelict. Everything in perfect order. Captain's wife's hem on the machine

came of

to unravel our tangle." He shook hi

d," said Barnett, frowning at the fusty schooner a

is. Schermerhorn's work maybe," replie

wonders, why s

pedition,

id the other thoughtfull

you gentlemen in the ward room,

hered. Captain Parkinson was pacing u

ing the schooner which we have in tow to port at Honolulu. In the present unsettled weather we cannot continue to tow

e veteran Trendon to the you

gravest of perils. Nothing less would have driven Mr. Edwards from his post. All of us who know him will appreciate that. Nor can I free myself from the darkest forebodi

s a dead

? Dr. Trendo

ned light which we have twice seen, and the double desertio

the source of the light and however near to it the

tt. "That seems to vit

"In this respect you make my duty the more difficult. I shall accept Mr. Ives because

n the paymaster, "but I've handled a schooner yacht f

ire, you shall be th

k you

fort to find records of the schooner's cruise. Keep in company and watch for

rkinson was unwilling to compel any of them to the duty. Awed by the mystery of their mates' disapp

of nine men boarded the Laughing Lass. There were no farewells among

g Lass, making slow way through the mists, had become separated by a league of waves from the cruiser. One glimpse of her between mist areas the Wolverines caught at sunset. Then wind and rain descended in furious volume from the southeast. The cruiser immediately heade

from stem to stern of the Wolverine. For far toward the western horizon appeared such a prodigy as the eye of no man aboard that ship had

ring reds. Below, a broad band of paler hue, like sheet lightning fixed to rigidity, wavered and rippled. All the auror

leaden over the ship. It was broken by a scream of terror from forward. The quartermaster who had been at the wheel came c

The compass!"

ead spits venom, it spat forth a thin, steel-blue stream of lucent fire. Then so swiftly it whirled that the sparks scattered from it in a ti

nic?"

muttered the surgeon in his deep bass, as he looked forth u

r shot to the zenith. Barnett whirled t

ht be bewitched,

arkinson calmly. He had come from his cabin, all his nervous

ed her. Then fell blackness, sudden, complete. After that radiance the dazzled ey

," he shout

re a

ward, near where t

d, and beheld a majestic rolling volume of purpl

e," said Trendon. "V

her?" asked

lcano,

ins his bet," said Fo

th to collect it," rep

of prospect except that on the far horizon where the chart showed no land there ro