The Captain of the Kansas

e limpid purity of the water. She could see white pebbles and vegetation at a vast depth. It seemed to be impossible that a few hours should have worked such a change, but Suarez assu

many places small trees and shrubs of dense foliage take root amidst the decaying stumps beneath, so that even the Indians cannot pass from one point to another, but are compelled to climb the rocky watercourses or follow the slopes of glaciers.

a feeling akin to despair. The brightness of nature served rather to convert the ship into a prison. Storm and stress, whether of the elements or of the less candid foes who lurked unseen on the neighboring shores, made the Kansas a v

ve distinction in the artistic career which she had mapped out for herself. So the super-Alpine glories surrounding that inland sea, and the prismatic hues flashing from many a glacier and rainbow of

subdued sound of hammering, with the sharp clink of metal against metal. Walker was tinkering at the engines. With him, in all likelihood, were the captain and Tollemache. She and Suare

e companion she saw Joey, sitting disconsolately on his tail, a sure indication that Courtenay

she was not inclined for talk at the moment. The doctor would have understood at once that the girl was below par, owing to the strain of

f fights on deck came as a touch of mother earth to the sole of Antaeos-Joey, then

travagant friendship, and, as the girl carried him aft to the cook's

a little as

otograph that day when Isobel and I visited his cabin and looked at the pictures of his mother and sister. I should

ent substitute; he licked her ear conten

l simply be compelled to remain constant to me while we are in this

What could any reasonable dog want more than fine weather,

it of despondency had fled. Boyle was there, having been

bright as a new pin, Miss Maxwell. Now, if I had b

you are actually paying m

But pirates, especially Spanish ones, are supposed t

did not consid

at boat. Christobal has been tellin'

really t

chance for them

most as badly

rs. One foundered, one burnt, an' one stuck on the Goodwins. I'm careful, steady as any man can be, but no owner would trust me with a ship now, unless she was a back number, an' over-

ss deck hands required the stimulus of a tongue lashing. Such a string of connected sentences

fortunate?" she asked, flushing somewhat a

command of a ship like the Kansas at his age? An' to get five hundred pounds an' a gold chronometer because the skipper of the Florida w

ened to th

haft in a gale, an' the skipper was washed overboard-you always tell lies about dead

the Royal Navy, I have been told, and h

l gold braid, an' buy your own vitt

d. A man's career may be more to him

osin' Courtenay was in the Navy, an' had a wife an' family to keep. Could he do it on his p

aged to some such

was goin' to be that friend of yours, but she's off the register, poor lass. There! I didn't mean that. I 'm an idiot, for sure. Yo

lucky voyage in such high spirits was lying beneath that grim sea behind the smiling headland. Yet she knew that Boyle meant no harm by his chatter. He was weak from his wound, and perhaps a trifl

e, I should have been very pleased to see Miss Baring married to a man of stro

per telephoned him. I guess there is some one on the lookout, but y

of the spar deck, she could command a view of the bay and of most parts of the ship. She heard the dog scuttling down the companion; on reaching the after-rail, she saw the captain engaged in earnest, low-toned conv

ie recognized at once as a stick of dynamite. Though it was blackened by contact with the coal, she was certain of its real nature. She had visited a great many mines, and the officials always scared the ladies of the party by telling them what would hap

d be made aware of her presenc

at you four a

discovery that they had eyes for nothing else. Walker straight

ded. "Do you intend to visit the Valley of the Gol

rtenay who

alone?"

is in the c

is any one el

N

all join yo

he men, Elsie was far from guessing what

e coal placed which we

ay aske

oss bunker," was t

first coal used

s,

eedingly so, and the chief officer t

t up steam

in the stoke-hold, but, for all practical purposes, we have

r coal was ship

s,

long, that the furnaces were blown up wilfully. Now our suspicions are proved. This morning, after a careful scrutiny, we came across a number of lumps of coal cleverly constructed out of small pieces glued together. In the center of each lump was a stick of dynamite, protected by an asbe

oyle. "Who holds

cargo, of course-Mess

gu

of a million st

es

s a lot o

was her habit when puzzled, she placed a finger on her lips. Christobal noted her action

ell," he said. "This is one of the many

hed and dropped her hand. B

a serious financial reverse if the ship is lost. Two thousand tons of copper may be worth a considerable fixed sum, but the lack of the metal on the London mar

could be foreseen an

ache,

man who sent his only daughter

, though disavowing any thought of Mr. Baring

le when the Kansas is re

d not be paid for a long

er market will re

day from Sandy Point. The news that she has not arrived will soon reach the nearest

rough his fingers five years ago. Let us hope the parallel will hold good for the gentleman

st a bit of Spanish roguery- Well, I'm sorry, Christoba

one," and the doct

iece of rascality, doctor." Then Courtenay paused in his turn. "By the way," he continued, with the fr

on enough in Chile

id Elsie. The men seemed to have forgotten her presence. They were wrapped up in the remarkable discovery which Cour

d, perhaps, why her smiling eyes had lost their mirth. Yet there was nothing unreasonable in the mere fact that a certain Chilean named Ventana, who had b

lsie as the Jonah of the

he explained. "But he was a member of Baring's copper syndicate, and, indeed, was spoken of as

dent that the sudden introduction of Ventana's personality was distressing to her, but Courtenay, preoccupi

, Miss Maxwell?" he

ltogether detestable. If Mr. Baring knew his character as I

brown-skinned man, who affects an American drawl when he speaks Englis

said

his connection. Yet it cannot hurt any one if I state that Isobel Baring and he were-well-how

a chance of copper being located there, Mr. Baring advised me to employ Ventana as an expert prospector. Indeed, Mr. Baring himself sent Ventana to examine the property and re

on which forthwith evaporated in its unconscious humor. E

beggar's good

tunity to reason with him in the approved manner of the high seas. And, as there was no

dence merely goes to prove a secret design to interfere with, or control, the trimming of the bunker. That particular hatch must be sealed, and the specimens we have secured put away under lock and key. I fe

er grinned

u-aw I'll get up steam in one boil-aw within ten days or a fawt-night. It'll be a makeshift job at the best, because I have so few spa-aw fittin

ll the difference in the world between a steady progress towards home and friends and the present plight of the Kansas. Death, too, had thrown its shadow over them. Some there were to whom the passing of the years would mean no m

engineer had just pledged his reputation to restore wings to the Kansas-somewhat clipped wings, it is true, but sufficient, given fa

easible once more. And you, Miss Maxwell, though you have never quailed for an instant, can hope to be in En

onous Indians," replied Tollemache. "Here they come now,

keep watch and ward over the ship until noo

xpect. They will want me to go back. I beseech you, se?or captain, not to g

and show a bold front. A palaver is the best thing that can happen. We must display all the arms we possess. Bid any of your invalids who can stand upright show themselve

ngs. He even found cause for congratulation in the threatened visit of cannibals whom Suarez feared so

It was with curiosity rather than dread that they watched th