semi-monthly magazine
9
4- C
then enter my cabin to shoot him
self?" "I do not know, sir."
Captain Hayward stooped down and
opened the dead man's shirt, exposing
a small blue hole In the breast.
"Shot through the left lung," he
said as he stood up; "and the bullet
may have grazed the heart. There
are no powder marks. Ho was shot
from a distance. You tell a somewhat
fishy ynrn, Mr. John Wilson. You'll
have to tell It In court."
"Do I look nnd act like one who
had Just shot down a fellow man, Cap
tain?" I asked, warmly. "What yarn
can von tell In court. Who, after all,
really took my pistol, and whero were
you when It shot him?"
"In my berth, d n you, and the
shot woke me up. D' you mean to ac
cuse me?"
"I have the samo right to accuse
you as you have to accuse me. If you
were asleep how could you tell which
cabin he was In?"
He glared at me, but I returned his
glare and added: "Why not consult
your daughter, Captain? She must
have heard the shot?"
He stiffened as though struck a
blow. Ills chin dropped and the glare
left Ills eyes as they opened wider.
The glare must have left mine, too,
for I smiled.
"GPme that gun first," ho said,
with a choke in his voice. "I don't
want you to pot me, too."
"I '11 empty It first," I answered; "I
don't want you to pot me," suiting
the action to the word and ejecting
the cartridges upon the table. I was
vaguely hoping to find the whole ten.
But, no, there were only nine.
"This gun killed him, Captain," I
said, quietly handing It over. "I ad
mit that much."
TIE stupidly pocketed the pistol, en
tered the after cabin, and called,
audibly: "Florence, Florence, are
you awake?"
Then, In a moment, his voice came
in a roar:
"Great God, what devil's business
Is this?"
And now his face, ghastly gray in
the lamplight, appeared at the swing
ing door.
"Steward," ho called. "Come In
here and lend a hand. My girl Is
dead, too."
The stewnrd made a detour to avoid
the body and followed him, while I
stood over It and waited, mystified,
wondering, trying to understand. I
had heard but one shot.
Soon the Captain appeared, calmer
now, but with a set face.
"Mr. Wilson," he said,, sternly, "the
steward says she is only In a deep
faint, and he Is trying to bring her
to. Meanwhile, will you go into your
room, quietly, and stay there while
the carpenter puts -a lock on your
door or shall I call all bunds and put
you in Irons?"
"I '11 submit without force, Captain
Hayward," I replied. "But what's
the need of It. I 'm harmless now, and
as anxious to solve this mystery as
you are."
"It's already solved Just as I
said. He was a good friend of my girl
and must have seen you from the
main deck, sneaking out of your room
and heading aft. He followed you to
protect my girl, and you shot him.
The shot scared her into a faint, for
she is full dressed and must have
been awake."
Disdaining to ask that he wait for
her testimony, I merely said: "Very
well, sir. Have it your own way."
And went to my room, where I lay In
my berth smoking, while the carpen
ter fitted a lock to the door. When I
was properly locked In I heard the
sound of the body being dragged out,
and an occasional order from the Cap
tain, who had taken the deck.
I was not alarmed at my situation;
but sleep was Impossible, and I
smoked and pondered over the prob
lem, a few factors of which could not
be eliminated. That Taynter should
take my pistol while I slept and re
turn to the deck to deliberate, was
feasible. That a girl should be awake
and dressed at three In the morning
might well accord with an Intended
elopement on shore. Hut at sea? No.
It Indicated an exactly opposite state
of mind, thoroughly In keeping with
her laughter of the evening before.
And why had not my mental alarm
clock aroimed me at four bells In
stead of waiting until six?
I mused on these things until about
daylight, then fell into a doze from
which I was awakened by the open
ing of my door. Captain Hayward
stood looking nt me, with the key In
his hand.
"Turn to," ho said, gruffly. Then,
tossing the key Into my berth, he
added: "My girl wants to see you In
the after cabin. Get through with It,
quick. It 's your watch on deck."
I rolled out and reached for a hair
brush.
"Don't primp," ho growled. "She
looks tougher than you."
LIE departed, and, first rubbing the
Asleep from my eyes and smoothing
my tousled hair, I passed through tho
forward cabin, wondering what had
happened and why this unpleasant,
flirtatious, and mischicf-muklng girl
wanted to see me. After a prelimi
nary knock I pushed through tho
swinging door and looked at her
standing near tho chronometer but
did not immediately know her. I
only recognized her dress, which was
wrinkled and soiled from the sea-dust
of the floor. Her, brown hair a
wealth of It was free from pins and
combs, hnnglng loose, one-half down
her back, the other flung over her
right shoulder. Her face wns tho face
of an old woman, white, drawn and
twitching: her lower Hp drooped and
quivered, while In her wide-open,
staring, brown eyes was a look which,
as a boy, I had once seen In the eyes
of a captured and frightened wood
pigeon.
"Your father said that you wished
to see me," I ventured, nfter a mo
ment of mutual scrutiny.
"Yes," she answered, in a voice not
her own not the soft, mimical volco
that had sung Taynter on to his fate.
There was n raspy, unnatural sound
to it that seemed hardly human.
"Yes," she repeated, and tottered,
rather than walked, toward me. "I
I Oh, John, they ahall not
they shall not they must not hang
you. Tho speech had begun with a
gasp, risen to a shriek, and sunk to
a moan; then she threw her arms
around my neck and clung to me.
Does a man know that ho loves a
woman? Not always only when his
sleeping consciousness is awakened.
Does ho know that ho dislikes her?
As certainly not. For such secondary
emotions as jealousy, pique and ap
prehension arise equally from lovo
and hate, and often domlnato the
primal emotion. No sooner had that
limp, clinglrg form touched mo than
I had my arms around the girl
taut and stiff and tenso as two hand'
spikes while unknown assailing
pulses surged through me, and I
planted kiss after kiss upon the white
and wasted face.
"Oh," sho articulated, in a volco
that held neither gasp nor shriek,
but rather the note of a preacher
speaking over tho dead, "you did
did care for me, John Just a little.
And you '11 bo sorry when I 'm gone?"
"Gono where?" I demanded, still
holding her tightly.
"To the gallows or tho chair.
John, dear, do they hang women In
California, or do they do they "
"Electrocute?" I Interrupted.
"Neither, In that state. Hut what aro
you talking about?"
"I killed him," she said, In tones of
utter abandon and despair. "I shot
him, and when I confessed to father,
and asked him about this, he told me
to wash my face nnd tlo up my hair.
Then they will not execute me,
John?"
"Not much," I assured her, "nor
Imprison you, nor even accuse you
not if tho three only witnesses are
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