West Wind Drift

and later in the perilous districts of Northern Mexico. A year or two prior to the breaking out of the great World War, he was sent to South Ameri

rs, structural workers and assayists who were engaged in the develo

erbial grain of salt caused them to watch closely for the slightest sign that might reveal to them the always-to-be expected and seldom successful duplicity so common in those harrowing days when all men were objects of suspicion. From time to time they glanced inqu

that witnessed the passing every second day of a primitive and far from dependable railway train, was presented with agreeable simplicity and conciseness. He passed briefly ov

that you deserted your post up there in the hills, and that you have betrayed the confidence of your emplo

ion not to renew the contract, went forward two weeks before I left the camp. I merely anticipated the actual termination of my contract by a month or so, and as I handed my resignation at once to my own newly appointed superint

ed at this ingen

e me any choice. Maritime justice is rarely tempered by mercy. However, under the circumstances, I am inclined to accept your word of honour that you will not violate your par

have,

g man. You will not jump overboard and try

, sir, never to g

ll as many Germa

d A. A. Perciva

r arose and ex

You ought to be flogged and stowed away in the brig until you show a properly

f the black-snake in a public sort of way. The black-snake, I may explain, could be wielded by a strong but unskilled arm. It was different, however, with the cattle-adder. That had to be handled by an expert, one who could stand off twenty paces, more or less, and crack the long lash with such astonishing precision that the tip end of it barely touched the back of the culprit, the result being a nobby assortment of splotches that looked for all the world like hives after the blood got back into them again. You

you hung men in that off-hand fashi

deal with. I wish to add, however, that before I had been up there six months we had a singularly law-abiding and self-respecting camp. Crime was not tolerated, not even by the men who had once been criminals. If two men quarrelled, they were allowed to fight it out fairly and squarely in any way they could agree upon. Knives, hatchets and all other messy weapons were barred. It was either fists, pistols or rifles at a

ung man with wide-open,

ire-eating, swashbucklin

there I was the absolute boss of five or six hundred men,-I won't say I could boss the women,-and I made 'em all walk chalk without once losing step. There were murderers and crooks, blacklegs and gunmen in my genial aggregation, men whose true names we never knew, men who were wanted in every part of the civilized world. The only place on earth, I suppose, where they could feel reasonably at home was in that

he a care-free, unstable youth who had matured abruptly in the exercise of power. On the contrary, he was,-and Captain Trigger knew it,-the personification of confidence, an optimist to whom victory and defeat are equally un

clean-minded, clean-bodied American with the confident

t similar to my own,-possibly in some respects your position up there was even more autocratic, if I may use the term. I am not unconscious of all this, and yet I have no choice other than that designated b

"I am asking no favours. I expect to be treated as an ordinary stowaway. Set me

of assistant to Mr. Codge, the purser. I've no

, Captain Trigger, of course there i

d Mr. Codge a hard taskmaster.

siderate," hastily adde

dest sort of labour, if you don't mind. I don't want to owe this steamship company a penny when I

xclaimed Cap

sed!" sai

rince of Wales had drifted in there, dead broke, and asked for something to eat, he would have got it, but you bet your life he'd have had to work for it. A tramp's a tramp, no matter how

t's

Men that mop up the decks after

the Captain, sitting up very straight.

ow that a couple of your men jumped overboard last night,-or early th

earnest?" cried Mr. Mott,

ers before they jumped. I haven't a doubt they were picked up, so there's no use worrying. A minute or two after they

er had dashed out of the cabin

cival stared blankl

he said, addressing space. "If they were working for me, I

ficer popped

here and when did you see a couple of men go overboard

minutes had passed, at least a portion of the stowaway's story had been verified. Two men were found to be missing, although, strange to say, they had not been missed up

h of air, risking detection, and from the shelter of a secluded corner well aft had heard the two men swabbing the deck below. Sudd

tly he heard one of them say, in English: "We got to do it now or never." The other mumbled something he could not distinguish. He was only mildly interested, not anticipating what was to follow. For a few seconds he heard them sc

itnessed by others, he darted into the companion-way and made his way back to the stateroom of the sick passenger. Through the lightless porthole he listened for the terrifying shout, "Man overboard!" It did not come, but his ear caught the staccato beat of a motor near

etched "bunkie" if he had observed him leaving the room during the night. The answer was a mournful negative, follo

ope that he had dreamed it all. His own affairs however now loomed large, taking precedence over the plight of the men who had deliberately abandoned the ship. In any ca

which the men left the ship signified but one thing: the absolute necessity of flight before an even more sinister peril confronted them. Not a man on board doubte

ine in the path of the steamship, could have but one significance. It represen

r,-and she was there! The men who jumped knew that she would be there. A black, tiny speck on the broad expanse of water, sheltered by a night of almost stygian darkness, she lay outside the narrow radius to which visual observ

k, but whether toward or away from the spot where the men went over he had no means of knowing. He offered the suggestion that there were three persons actually involved, and that one

en regarding Percival wit

hat you are not the one who stayed behind

te sure of one thing: if there is a man on board this ship whose business it is to finish the job, he isn't idle. He's getting on with the job at this minute, gentlemen. If you'll take my advice you will institute two investigations. First, searc

ed at him over the t

d Camp at present, Mr. Pe

beg your pardon, Captain

ixing him with an inimical eye, "is to answer qu

k the retort, but, failing, relea

is ship I'd head her for s

the only one who smiled, and he did it ope

Mr. Shannon. He wants work

aptain Trigger, of

aid the Captain with decision. "Every one, sir, from myself

, anxious hours of delving revealed no hidden, sinister agent of destruction, there was no relaxation on the part of the officers and crew. One by one the passengers were examined; their rooms and their luggage were systematically overhauled. No one resented these drastic operations, for by midday the whole ship's company knew what had transpire

at his transmitter was out of order. While he was satisfied that the apparatus had not been tampered with, he was plain

duty during the night just past, and had picked up several indistinct, incomplete radio messages. There was nothing wrong with the receiving or transmitting apparatus when he went off duty at six in the morning, and as his superior came on at the same hour,-they exchanged greeti

paced the decks. Few remained indoors, and few

te peril. With commendable thoughtfulness, he had shed the clean white shirt and colla

deck-walkers, nor were his ears proof against audible comments. Mothers nudged

man. He's

No, no! The one with the m

ful looking c

rning away down in the bottom of

oesn't look like a

o forth, as the

. Mr. Landover, the banker, stopped to discuss the toil

egg, that fellow is. I'm a pretty good judge of men, gentlemen, and I don't often make mistakes. That fellow is a fugitive from just

ets on. He ain't as simple as he looks. I told Captain Trigger just now that he ought to give him a dose of the third degre

e architect,

by his companions. "Of course," he hastened to add, "I am not saying that he is all right.

r had in the bank," said Mr. Landover, "turned out

nk if you are such a good judge of men?"

me in contact with every employe of the bank. Yo

inking of transferring our account to your

enough life-boats to get as much as half of us off safe in case something happens. I counted up all the life-boats I could see, and ven I estimate the number of peoples on board, w'y, by gra

th a prisoner," ventured Mr. Fitts. "Why doesn't the C

do in an emergency. Soon as you get one of them where he can't telephone in to headquarters for instructions

rs at this moment, Mr. Landover

" said Mr. Landover

s," said Mr. Nicklestick, looking after the banker. His re

icklestick," said Mr. Block, "un

icklestick, "he wouldn't have his