The Cruise of the Jasper B.

he hold of the vessel, Cleggett stumbled and stagge

ch had leaped into the hold after him, yelping like a ter

" cried Clegge

from the forward part of the hold. The bullets passed over his head. Raising himself on his elb

had taken effect. He rose to his feet and plunged forward, firing

guns in that pent-up and restricted place, stinking powder, and streaks of fire that laced themselves across the dark

med in long black hair, and of flashing white teeth beneath a lifted lip that twitched. The face was almost within touching distance; as it vanished Cleggett heard the sharp, whistling intake of the fellow's breath-and then a click that told him the other's last cartridge was g

he cried. "Don

re his eyes, Niagara roared in his ears for an instant, and he kne

wounded and flung into a ditch, appeared to be lost. But when Nature, often so stupid, really does take stock and become aware that she has create

s is not accidental. These two men were, in some respects, n

Agatha was applying a cold compress to the bump upon his head. (He made nothing of his other scratches.) As for Elmer, who had not stirred from

the figure of his recent assailant. Cap'n Abernethy, for the first t

at the young man. Then he added: "Kind o

e? Was he killed?

of seconds rather than minutes; it was begun and over like a hundred yard dash on the cinder track. When George and Kuroki and Cap'n Abernethy had tumbled into the hold they had been afraid to shoot for fear of hitting Cleggett; they had reached him, guided by

still be down there. Carry this fellow into the forecastle-we'll look at h

Cleggett first. It was not impossible that the other intruder might be lying, wou

ubbish heap and the steps for the masts, she was empty as a soup tureen. The pile of debris was the highest toward the waist of the vessel. There it formed a treacherous hill of

ery inch of the precarious footing, and overturning and looking behind, under, and into every box, cask, or jumble of planking that might possibly offer a pl

were marks left by boots which had been gaumed with a yellowish clay. A revolver lay on the floor. Cleggett examined it and found that only one cartridge had been explode

ent, made his men go over the place again, even more thoroughly than before. But there was no one

thing," echoed George; and then as if with one impulse, and moved by the same eerie th

t impossibility. Yet this seemingly impossible thing was the fact. There had been two men in the hold of the Jasper B. They had entered as my

broke the

and have a look at that fello

but there are times when the invisible, the incomprehensible,

ved. His clothing was a sop of blood. They cut his shirt and undershirt from him. Kuroki brought water and the medicine chest and surgical outfit with which Cleggett had provided the Jas

smile, as she saw the look in Cleggett's face. And Cleggett remembered

as a deep cut on his head, and there were half a dozen other stab wounds

. There was a dagger thrust clear through it; if the book had not been there this te

erse was written in the manner of Walt Whitman. A glance at one of the sprawling poems

archist!" said Cl

animation, and then gazed upon the youth's face again with a new interest.

ad," said Cap'n Abernethy, who seemed t

aid Clegget

flag, I spit

ganized society any

pon your

ur capitalisti

upon yo

the whole

spit, I we

Lady Agatha. "Wh

taken in conjunction with the red flag that had been displayed and then withdraw

an interest in the Jasper B.? An interest s

fingering it, "I'd say it means young Jones here has fell into bad company. That don't expl

aid Cleggett. "In fact, the Ja

say that it looks as if she was liable to need a couple o' trained nurses, too, I'd say to you that if t

a humane man-let me shake your hand

ny there might be of them, received adequate medical attention. He had often been shocked at the callousness with which so many of the heroes of romance dash blithely into the next adventure-though th

I am sure that the men who hid in the hold are spies from Morris's. I do not yet know the motive for this hostility. But the Jasper B. is in the mid

rent, or purchase, the buildings at Parker's Beach, and fit them up as a field hospital, wit

I understand you to say that you in

destination of the Jas

t it's a very dangerous place," ventured Lady Agat

said Clegge

Lady Agatha, "you are

d standing with his feet spread just a trifle wider than usual,

him speculatively.

u're going to the China Seas you can'

ospital ship-a vessel supplied with nurses and lint and medicines

nese pirates, you know," said Lady Agatha. "Do yo

. And although the great spirits of other days had much to commend them, it is not to be denied that they knew little of our modern humani

with a meditative frown, "the

f idealism sentence to death. And I have no doubt that many a Chinese pirate would, un

gett," she said, "if you will permit me to say so, a gre

said Cleggett

humanitarian mission. George was to walk a mile to the trolley line, go to Fairport, hire a taxicab, and make all possible

o patients. But he was bold and ready. He was, in short, just the lad to welcome with enth

y for several hours. But Cleggett did not hesitate. He was not the man to a

bright smile of approval, "we will dine, and I will hear the rest of your story, which was so rud

Mr. Cleggett, that the daughter of an English peer and the widow of a baronet should conf

s which stood near the cabin companionway dripping coldly: "Until now, Mr. Cleggett-un

flash his lively fancy furnished him with a picture of the box of Reginald Maltravers suddenly springing upright and hopping towards him on one end with a series of stiff jumps that would send drops of moisture flying from the cracks and seams and make the ice inside of it clink and tinkle.

vined her thought; for brief as was their acquaintance, there was an almost psychic accord between h

with a touch of formality, to his own room in the cabin, which he put at her disposal, ordering her steamer trunks to be

erceived subtly that Lady Agatha was of the nature to appreciate this compliment. At a moment when her fortunes were at a low ebb what coul