Pittston Gazette

              \ Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY. M vRCH li). 1897. * Weekly local and Family Journal. 1**-82BWSH lie must be followed, but not by me, tuid for two reasons. The first Is that while he's away I mast get by hook or by orook upon the Ouban Queen. The second is that I don't want him to see me, as in that oase he'd know me again. Will you trust me that all's square until I can tell you the whole story, and in the meantime will you let Quickly follow that man and try to find out for me where he goes? It is most important that I should know." "I must," I replied. "This is a case where you'd get into trouble for keeping the rules, not for breaking them. You can't talk about rules to a half drowned man. It would be manslaughter. Help me on board and get me bome brandy— I suppose you've some by you—and I'll pay you well and not say a word to any one. And be quick about it, for I can't bold on here much longer. You'll be half a sovereign tbe richer for this night's job, and if you're quick I'll make it a sovereign." was not Becturcd, 1 loaiui i.u i viaeiicu us to the sex of Hughes' visitor. To describe the fruitless search in detail is unnecessary. Whoever "Mrs. Hughes" might be, she hud evidently taken pains to insure that every trace of her presence should be removed. I could not even tell whether she had shared the sleeping bunk with Hughes, for the coverings bad been stripped off, leaving tbe bare boards without so much as a pillow, and tbe entire cabin bad apparently been turned out and scrubbed from end to end immediately before or after her departure. presented tnemsem-s ro me wnun i mm so hastily to make choice. In the first place, I had to recognize that in intrusting the task to Quickly I had out* or two very ugly possibilities to face. Thong:, a sensible fellow enough for ordinary purposes, he was hardly the sort of man one would select for so delicate a piece of work as that of shadowing a suspect Ho might prove himself sufficiently clever to carry it through successfully, but it was much more likely that he would fail, and it was even conceivable that be might so bungle it as to attract the attention of Mullen and thus to frighten away the very bird for whom I was spreading a net. But what weighed with me even more than this was that in deputing Quickly to follow Mullen I was losing sight, at all events for a time, of the central figure of my investigations, as they then stood—of the person whom, rightly or wrongly, I suspected to be the object of my search —and this was a course which no one plaoed as I was could adopt without the gravest misgiving. nstructions had gone at onoe to tbe that s u Li set it set mod a part of himself, not merely a thing at which to look. water. Hj's bcv., a.  hours, and it can make no difference to him, poor fellow That's it. He's just as be was when I found him. Now I'll be off. Good night, Mr. James Bakewell Green. I won't press you for that 1 O. U." nerni waiting room, where he remain- d until the train started. Some few minute* afterward a woman, carrying a bajj, had entered the booking offioe and taken a third class single ticket to Stepney. When the train drew up at the platfor she had seated berself in an cmp. rriage near tbe center, and Quick t. id entered a smoking carriage at the ■D id When the train reached Stepney, si , wed through the barrier, followed at jme distance by a man answe4 fo the description of Quickly. It seemed to draw him to itself and into itself. It seemed to him as if, as he gazed, two little doors opened somewhere in his breast and his soul flew out like a white bird into the distant west. He knew that his body was still standing by tbe window, but he himself was away there among the purple and crimson and gold. He was walking yonder sunlit shining shore that bent round to form a bay for a golden sea. He was climbing yonder range of mountain peaks—peaks which, though built of unsubstantial cloud, were more beantif ul than any show plaoe of the tourist's seeking, peaks upon whose shining snmmit the soul might stand and look out upon the infinite, peaks whioh might be climbed by the fanoy of those whose fortune it might never be to see an Alpine height. And when the purple and crimson had faded into citron, and the citron into gray; when the gold had paled to sih er and darkened to lead, and the bird had fluttered back like a frightened thing to his breast then tbe Still wondering at my beartlessnesa, I turned ac£ walked in the direction of Yarby. But I had more important matters than my own mental attitude to consider, for the first thing which I had to ask myself was, "By whose hand Sid Green meet his end?" It was of oourse possible either that be had oommitted suicide or that tbe paper bearing tbe signature of "Captain Shannon" had been plaoed where I found it by some one who, for reasons of his own, bad taken Green's life and hoped, by attributing the orime to Captain Shannon to divert suspicion from himself. But I soon decided that neither these alternatives was worth consideration. For tbe motive of tbe crime one bad not far to look. Green bad, on bis own showing. discovered something which might leid to Captain Bhannon's arrest, and there could be no doubt that should tbe fugitive get wind of this, his first step would be to rid himself of so dangerous an enemy. "All serene, my boy," said Muir, slapping hia great hand into mine too vigorously to hp altogether pleasant, and too loudly to be discreet under the Grumbling audibly about it being "a fine lay this, making a poor man run the risk of getting the sack because fools choose to play the monkey," he unlAshed tbe dingey, and having brought her round to where I was slinging be assisted me in, and with • few dexterous strokes took us to the side of the hulk, over which a rope ladder was hanging. "Afore you go aboord," he growled, putting a detaining band upon my arm, " 'ave you got any hiron concealed about your person?" The visit from which I hoped so much had proved a lamentable failure. I was not a penny the wiser and £3 poorer far T; onan had then bought an evening paper ' 'mi a newsboy and, orossing the road jwly, had turned down a bystreet whi 'h ' J to tbe river. The man, after looking in a tobacconist's window for half a minute, had taken the same turning, but upon the other side of the COPYRIGHT 1896-BY DODO MEAD AND COMftMKY. it was generally believed on the island that be often had his wife with him. That he had some one—wife or otherwise—on board I soon satisfied myself, and that by very simple means. CHAPTER VriL THK DYNAMITE HULK. No one who ban not visited Canvey would believe that so lonely and out of the world a spot could exist within 3d miles of London. Just as we sometimes find, within half a dozen paces of a great central city, thoroughfares where the black and pursuing streams of passengers who throng its pavements never cease to flow, and the roar of traffic ia never still, some silent and unsuspected alley or oourt into which no stranger turns aside aud where any sound but that of a slinking footstep is seldom beard, so bordering the great world thoroughfare of the Thames is to be found a spot where life seems stagnant, and wbero scarcely one of the thousands who pass within a stone's throw has ever set foot. road. There I came to a dead stop, for not one jot of evidence as to the subsequent movements of either of the two could I discover, and, reluctant though I am to admit myself beaten, the faot could no longer he disguised that in that direction, too, I was checkmated. The man whose duty it was to wait upon tbe hulk keeper* was, I found, a methodical sort of fellow and kept a memorandum book, in which be wrote down the different articles he was instructed to obtain. This book Quickly managed to get hold of for me, and, on looking over it, I saw that from a certain time—dating some months back— the supply of provisions ordered by Hughes bad doubled in quantity. This might of course be due to the fact that his wife was on board, and fcideed Quickly reported that tbe bulk attendant had remarked to him: "Hughes have got bis old woman on the Cuban Queen. I see her a-rowing about one night in the dingey." But I bad made another and much more significant discovery wbem looking over the book—a disoovew "Iron?" I said. "What do you m«an? And where oould I conceal anything? Every stitch of my olothes is lying over there on tbe beach." On the other hand, the reasons which most influenced me in deciding to intrust the task of shadower to Quickly were equally weighty. If the person who was secreted on the Cuban Queen were James Mullen, he was not likely, in view of the hue and cry that had been raised and of the vigorous search which was being made, to venture far from so secure a hiding place, and the probability was that he bad gone to some station up or down the line—probably to Southend—to post some package in order that it might not bear the Canvey postmark. little boy would creep down stain again, dry eyed, but sad at heart, with a strange sense of loneliness and loss. "Another throw baok, Grant" I said when I entered the cottage at Canvey after this fresh reverse. "My instructions is," he replied doggedly, "that I bask bevery one wot oomes aboord this boat whether they've got any hiron concealed about 'em. That's my dooty, and I does it. 'Ave you or 'ave you not got hiron on your person?""Well, what are you going to do now?" inquired my friend and collaborator when he bad beard my story. "Give it up, as we did the other riddles of our schoolboy days?" As I sat there watching the last of the sunset that little boy seemed to look out at me with desolate, reproachful eyes, asking what the man had to give the boy in exchange for his dreama Then a bat flew by, so closely that I felt the cold fanning of its wings upon my face, so suddenly that I drew baok with a start and awoke to real life again. From the  I di aoovered the body of my unfortunate ■gent I came to the conclusion that he was on board a yacht when the crime was effeoted. Having often yachted off Yarby, I was tolerably familiar with the coast and knew that the plaoe where I fonnd the body was the very spot Toward which, with every incoming tjde, a strong current Bete. And as matters stood it looked as if the corpse had been carried thither from the open sea. That It had not been placed where it was by any one on the shore—at all events since the outgoing tide—was evident from the faot that my own were the only footmarks on the soft, smooth stretch at sandy mad which led down to the water's edge. Bat what struck me as especially strange was that, though Green was otherwise fully dressed, he was wearing no boots. It was very unlikely that be bad walked two miles along a rooky beach with unprotected feet But if be had for any reason been persuaded to go upon a yacht it was quite possible that be might take his boots off—firstly, because no yaoht owner who prides himself upon the trimness of his craft and the whiteness of her decks cares to have a visitor tramping about in heavy and perhaps muddy boote, and, secondly, because a landsman who is so shod would find It difficult to get a safe foothold upon the slippery decks of a small vessel. My theory was that Green bad been decoyed upon a yacht under some pretext, or that he bad been foolhardy enough to go on board of his own aooord, perhaps in the hope of obtaining further and final evidence of Mullen's identity, or, it may be, with the idea of achieving the fugitive's arrest Onoe on board, he had in all probability been the viotim of foul play. Very likely he had been rendered insensible by a blow on the bead given from behind, after witfob be bad been carried out to sea, where be could be dispatched at leisure and without any risk at bis cries being heard or the act witnessed, as might be the case on land. After that the bottle containing the paper inscribed "By order, Oaptain Shannon." had been fastened to his wrist and the body oast adrift, to serve as a warning to others like him who might elect to enter the lists against the arch assassin. But apart from the question at how Green met his end I had to recognise that, if the body were found while I was in the neighborhood and foul play were suspected, I, as a stranger, might be oalled on to give an aooount of myself and might even be arrested on suspicion; hence I decided to return to town at Once. But as the crime might at any moment be discovered and an alarm raised I thought it highly in ad- under whioh "Certainly not," I said, "unless the iron in my blood's going to be an objeotion. And now stop this fooling and get me some spirit as fast as you can, for I'm half dead." "Don't you stir out of that chair." my trouble, not to speak of baying got a chill, of which I should think myself cheaply rid if it ended in nothing worse than a cold. "Give it up! What do you take me for? But, hollo! For whom is that letter?" I said, pointing to an envelope which was lying on the table. Where the Thames swings round within sight of the sea there lies, well oat of the sweep of the current, a pear shaped island, some six miles long and three miles broad, which is known as Canvey. Another reason was that I con Id not ask for an arrest merely upon suspicion, and it was quite possible that to obtain the necessary evidence I might have to keep an eye upon Mullen for some time to come. By shadowing him upon the present occasion I ran the risk of being seen and recognized, which would not so much matter in the case of Quickly. Then, again, it was highly desirable I should pay my surprise visit to the Cuban Queen in the absence of tho suspected party, and, if 1 neglected to do so on the present occasion, I might not get another opportunity. "For you. Hardy Muir brought it over. It was sent nnder cover to him from London." Evening was already closing in. An which the presence of Hughes' wife As a matter of fact, I was beginning to feel chilled to the bone, besides which it was very necessary I should keep up the role I had assumed. hour ago the setting sun had looked oat over the horizon's edge and flooded the stretch of meadowland, now so gloomy and gray, with a burst of luminous gold, which tipped every grass blade and daisy head with liquid fire. Now on the fame horizon's edge the gusty nightraok was gathering. The glory and the glamour were gone, and darkness was vltready abroad. A wind whioh struok a shill to the heart moaned eerily over tfae meadows, and white mists blotted out bush and tree. not altogether explain. This was that not only bad the quantity of food supplied to Hughes been largely increased, but that the quality, too, was vastly superior. "The scheming ranoalt" I said to myself. "I might have known he wouldn't uive let me down here if he hadn't boen awure that every sign of his bav* ng a companion on board had been beared away. I suppose the secret of it til is that he has got word that the inpector's coming to pay the hulks a visit hortly, and he's packed off Mrs. Hughes intil it's all over. Very likely she set hings straight herself before she went \11 his pretended relnctanoe to go for -ny clothes and to leave me here was mt on that he might bleed me to the uneof another pound. I should only be :erving him out in his own ooin if I ;ave information that he'a had a woman in board. "At last!" I said, breaking the seal. "It's from Green, the detective whom I put on to ferret out Mullen's past. I told him that if he wanted to write be was to slip tte) letter into an envelope addressed to muir at the Hogarth olub in Dover street. He's been long enough finding anything out. Let's hear what he has to say, now he does condescend to write. It is dated from Bazenham, near Yarby. I knew the plaoe well years ago—used to yacht round there as a lad. Nasty coast, too, with some curious currents and very dangerous sands. Here's his letter: JiTi U Three hundred years ago it was praotioally uninhabitable, for at high tide the marshes were flooded by the sea, and it was not until 1623 that James I invited a Dutchman named Joas Croppenburg and his friends to settle there, offering them a third for themselves if they oould reclaim the islaud from the sea. This offer the enterprising Dutchman accepted and immediately set to work to build a sea wall, which so effectually protects the low lying marshland that, standing inside it, one seems to be at a lower level than the water, and can see only the topmost spars and sails of the apparently bodiless barges and boats which glide ghostlike by. M Hughes disappeared below, but soon returned with half a tumbler of rum and water and a dirty, evil smelling blanket The rum I tossed off gratefully, but the blanket I declined. The man in attendance on the hulk bad probably failed to notioe this fact, and I did not deem it advisable to arouse bis suspicion by making further inquiries. But I at once decided that before I put against the name of the Cuban Queen the little tick which signified that I might henceforth dismiss it from consideration I should have to make the personal acquaintance of "Mrs. Hughos." "Very well," said Hughes. "But yon look as white as a sheet already, and you'll find it none too warm going back in the dingey wi' nothing on." By tMs meant I vxu able to keep a constant watch. circumstances. "All serene. I'll trust you up to the hilt, and I'm sorry I spoke. Do what you like about the skipper, and I'll never ask a question." "I'm not going back in the dingey with nothing on, my good fellow," I replied calmly. "You've got a fire or a stove of some sort below, I suppose, and I'm going down to sit by it while you row back and get my clothes for me. Then you can put me ashore, and I shall have much pleasure in handing you over the sovereign I've promised you, on condition you give me your word not to speak of this fool's game of mine. I don't want to be made the laughing stock of the island. I told them I was a good swimmer, and if they heard that I had to sing out for help and had to be taken back to shore like a drowned kitten I should never bear the last of it especially from that big brute of a Muir, who's always bragging about bis own swimming." If I was to reach Baxenham before nightfall, I had no time to lose; so, with a sigh for the vanished sunset and my vanished dreams, I rose to continue my walk. If I could satisfy myself by a visit to the hulk that the person who had been ooncealed there was really a woman, I need trouble myself no further about the vessel and its occupants. But if, on the other hand, I found evidence which went to prove that the supposed Mrs. Hughes was of the malo sex, I should have good cause to believe that I had iudeed discovered the hiding place of the redoubtable James Mulleu. I turned to Quickly. "Oan you get sound to the station without being seen before that person gets there, so that he shan't suppose he's followed?" "Max Rissler, Esq.; CHAPTER IX. I TAKE UP MY Ql'ABTERS AT CAXTKY. "Deak Sib—When you asked me to see what I could find out about James Mullen, I did not expect to turn up anything muoh in the way of trumps. But, sir, I always act honorable, and I have found something which I think is valuable. Sir, it is so valuable, and the reward offered for the capture of James Mulleu is so big, that I cannot afford to part with the information to any one else. So I ask you, sir, as man to man, to let me withdraw from your service. The man that finds Mullen has got bis fortune made, and what I have discovered ought to be worth £25,000 to me. Sir. I could have gone on taking your money, as you allow for exs., and kept my mouth shut but I want to aot honorttble, believing as you have always acted honorable by me. So, sir, I beg to give notice that I withdraw from your service as regards the aforesaid James Mullen and hope you will not take offense. My exs. up to tbe present as I have drawn in your pay are £31. Sir, if von will take my L O. U., and I find Mullen, I will pay you back double money. But if you say you must have the money I can get it. I hope you will take the L O. (J., as I want my money just now, and oblige. Sir, I am on the track. Your obedient serv- Another A eld and a thickly wooded plantation, and then, as I turned a bend where the path wound round among the trees, I found myself upon the seabeaoh along which my path lay. In front, about a couple of miles away, I could see the church tower of Baxenham, over which red Mars burned large and lnrid among a score of tiny stars that quivered near him, like arrowheads shot wide of the mark, and low in the south the slender moon was like a finger laid to command silence on the lip of night. The beauty of the scene so possessed me that I stood still an instant with face turned seaward and bared head, and then, almost at my feet, I saw lying in the water a dark body that stirred and rooked and stretched forth swaying arms like a creature at play. For one moment I thought it was alive, that it was some strange sea beast come ashore, whioh was now seeking to regain ita native element, but in the next I knew it for the body of a man, lying faoe downward and evidently dead. Up to this point I had, as far as possible, avoided visiting the island myself, but I now camo to the conclusion that the time had oome when it would be necessary to carry on my investigations in person. Fortunately there was not wanting an excuse by which I could do so without arousing suspicion. My friend Muir, who is an ardent sportsman, rents a part of Canvey to shoot over; hence he is a very familiar figure there and is known and loved by every man, woman, child and dog. "Ees zur," said Quickly, "if I go through the ohurohyard and cross yon field." { "If it was a woman! It's very odd, bough, that she hasn't left some little ign of her sex behind ber—a hairpin, t button or a bonnet pin. There are only Chort hairs (Hughes' evidently) on the Drush and comb, but she may have had ler own and have taken them with her. 3ut, anyhow, I might have expected to ind, if not some hair combings, at least « stray hair or two which would have 'ct me into tbe secret, and the neigbuirhood of the mirror's tbo moat likely Dlace to find them." But tbo most notioeable features in the scenery of Canvey are the evil looking dynamite bulks which lie scowling on the water like huge black and red barred coffins. Upward of a dozen of these nests of devilry are moored off the island, and they are the first objects to oatch the eye as one looks out from the sea wall. "Off you go, then," I said. "Here Is £3 for expenses. Get to the station before he does and keep an eye for him from the window of the men's waiting room, where he can't see you. If he goes into any waiting room, it will have to be into the ladies' while he has that dress on. So you go into the general room. But take tiokets before he gets there, one to Shoeburyness, which is as far as the line goes one way, and the other to London, which is as far as it goes in the opposite direction. If he waits for the next down train, you wait, too, and go where he goes; but if he takes the up train to London slip out and into the same train when his back is turned. Wherever be goes, up or down, you're to go, too, and when he gets out shadow him, without being seen yourself, and make a note of any plaoe he oalls at. Then, when you've run him to earth, telegraph to Mr. Muir at the inn here—not to me—saying where you are, and I'll join you next train. But keep your eyes open at all the stations the train stops at to see he doesn't get out and give you the slip. Do this job well and carry it through and there'll be a couple of £10notes for you when you get back. And now be off." My last reason was that at tbe moment when I was called upon to make my decision I was wearing a norfolk shooting jacket and knickerbockers. This costume, especially in tbe streets of London, would render me conspicuous, and, in fact, would be tbe worst possible attire for so ticklish a job as that of shadowing a suspect, whereas Quickly's dress would attract no attention either in town or country. In view of the fact that the position of Canvey in regard to one of the greatest water highways in the world is like that of a house whioh lies only a few yards back from a main road, one bonders at first that such a locality should have been selected as the storage place of so vast a quantity of a deadly explosive. That it was so selected only after the matter had received the most careful and serious consideration of the authorities is certain, and, though very nearly the whole of the shipping which enters the Thames must necessarily pass almost within hail of the island, the spot is so remote and out of the world that it is doubtful if any safer or securer place oould have been found. But, search as I would, not a single ■air could I find, and in another half ninute the near dip of oars announced hughes' return. Aa I beard him jurk he sculls from the rowlocks and foe rinding of tbedingoy against tbe ship's ide I took another despairing look iround in tbe bope of lighting on aomebing that bad hitherto eacaped my noice. One object after another waa baaiily lifted, investigated and aa hastily iut down, but always with the same remit As I heard Hughea' step upon tbe leek my eyes fell upon a little square f soap which bad fallen to tbe floor and Dad escaped tbe notice probably of Jughes as well aa of myself on account if i ts being bidden by tbe corner of an nlskin which was banging from tbe *all. This oilskin I bad taken down to iverbaul, and it was wben replacing it ibat I found the soap, which I saw, wben I lifted it, was of better quality than one would expect to find in suoh a place. It was still damp from reoent usage, and as I turned it over two or three bafrs came off from the underside and adhered to my hand As I looked at them I gave a low, long, but almost silent whistle. They were beyond queation the bristles of a shaving brush which was fast going to pieces from long service. And that I was not mistaken in so thinking waa proved by the fact that the underside of the soap atill bore tbe marks made by tbe sweep of the brush over tbe surface, and that the lather upon it was damp. Something like a grin stole over tbe fellow's forbidding faoe. To go as his friend would, I knew, insure me a ready welcome, so I got him to row me over onoeor twice in his boat, and then, when we had been seen frequently in each other's company, to ask the landlord of the inn at Hole Haven to find me a bed for a week at two, ae I was a friend of his who had come to Canvey for some shooting. By this means I was able to keep a constant watch upon the Cuban Queen without being noticed by Hughes, fur the sea wall, as I have elsewhere said, was bo high that, standing outside, one is invisible from the water, but anybody inside who wishes to look out to sea can walk up the sloping bank on the inner side of the wall until his eyes are level with the top and then oan peer through the long, weedy grasses without attracting attention. "Muster Muir, 'e don't like no soft plucked nns, 'e don't, and you did sing out loud, and no mistake! You toldnn yon could swim, did you? Wby, Muster Muir, I seen bim swim out two mile and more, and then"— I have asked my readers to take me into their confidence and to face with me tbe dilemma in which I was placed because I am in hopes that most of them will admit that under the circumstances, and especially in view of the conspicuous dress I happened to be wearing, I acted rightly. Those who so decide will not be too bard upon me when I confess that in allowing myself to lose sight of the person who bad been in hiding on tbe bulk I made, as events proved, a fatal and, but for other circumstances, an irretrievable mistake. That I am but a bungler at the best is, I fear, already only too evident, though I make bold to say that it is not often that I bungle so badly as I did on this occasion. The results of that bungle—results big with oonsequences to others and to myself— were twofold. The first was that Quickly never returned from the quest upon which I bad dispatched bim, nor from that day to this has any word of bim been received. He simply disappeared as completely as if the eartb had opened and swallowed him. The second was that he was companioned in his disappearance by the person whom I had instructed him to follow. James Mullen, if James Mullen it were, did not come back to the hulk, and I had after a time to admit to myself that, so far as Canvey island and the Cuban Queen were concerned, "the game was up." "Confound Mr. Muir!" I interrupted angrily. "Do you think I'm going to stay here all night while you stand there jawing and grinning? Be off with yon and get my clothes for me, or you won't aee a halfpenny of the sovereign I promised you." There is horror enough in the silent and stone cold stillness of death, but to gee death put on the semblance 'of life, to see dead arms reach and the dead body stir and sway, as they did that night when the incoming tide seemed to mock at death and to sport, cruel and oatlike, with its victim, is surely more horrible still. The dynamite magazines consist, as the name indioatea, of the dismantled hulks of old merchant vessels, which, though long past active service, are still water tight. One man only is in charge of eaoh hulk, which he is not supposed to leave, everything that he needs being obtained for him by the boatman, whose aole duty it is to fetch and carry for the hoik keepers. "It was £3 as you promised me," said the fellow, lying insolently now that be had—as he thought he had—me in his power, "and little, too, for a man wot's running the risk of getting the billet by letting strangers on boord, dead against the rools. But I don't leave my ship for no £2, I don't I You'll 'ave to come along wi' me in the dingey, and, mind, I 'as the money afore you 'as the clothes. None of your monkey tricks wi' me, I tell you. Come, wot's it to be? Are you going back wi' me. or will you wait for Mr.' Muir to oome and fetch you? I can let 'im know in the morning (this with an impudent grin) as you've been resoooed." ant, ' 'P. S. —My address is care of Mrs. Brand, Elm oottage, Baxenbam." "What a rascal!" said Grant when I had finished this letter. "He ought to say he's on the make as well as on tbe track." With hands scarcely warmer than his I drew the dead man up upon the sands and turned him upon his back that I might see bis face. It was the faoe of Green, the inquiry agent, and in his hand he held a small green bottle, whioh was lashed to his wrist by a handkerchief, worked with his own initials, "J. B. G." "Suicide!" I whispered to myself as I stooped to untie the handkerchief and bend back the unresisting fingers. The bottle was short and stumpy, with a wide mouth and a glass stopper secured by a string and was labeled "Lavender Salts." I out the string and drawing out the stopper held the thing to my nose. "It is lavender salts," I said, "or has been, for it's light enough to be empty. No, there's something inside it stilL Let's see what it is," and with that I turned the bottle mouth downward over my open palm. A slip of neatly folded paper fell out, which I hastily opened. Fonr words were printed upon it in rude capitals: "By order. Captain Shannon." A week passed uneventfully, and then Muir came over, accompanied by Quickly, for un afternoon's shooting. After a late lunch we made our way on foot and inside the sea wall toward the eastern end of the island. My interest in the sport was not very keen, for 1 was keeping half an *ye meanwhile upon the hulk, but by the time we started to retrace our steps it was becoming dark. Just as we reached the point off which the Cuban Queen waa lying I fancied I heard the stealthy dip of oars, and asking Muir and Quiokly to wait a moment I peered over the sea wall. Some one was coming on shore from the Cuban Queen under oover of twilight, and instead of making for the usual "hard" at Hole Haven the oarsman, whoever he might be, clearly intended effecting a landing in some more secluded spot. I stole softly back to Muir and Quiokly, telling them what I had seen and asking them to crouob down with me under cover of some bushes to await events. CHAPTER X. I BOARD THE CUBAN QUEEN. Not only ia a hulk keeper who happens to be married forbidden to have hia children with him, but even the presence of hia wife is disallowed, his inatructiona being that no one but himself la, under any circumstances, to oom* on board. The opportunity to pay • surprise visit to the Cuban Queen in the absenoe of "Mrs. Hughes" had ooxne at last, and as I had already hit upon a plan by which I might carry out my purpose without giving Hughes cause to suspect that my happening upon him was other than accidental I proceeded at onoe to put it into effect "I don't think he's a rascal," I'answered. "I bave always found him *• -p/— ft en .# p$i Ffeifc 5 - " • PwM i II' I Theae roles are not, however, very rigidly complied with. A hnlk keeper is only human, and as his life is lonely it often happens that when visitors row oat to the ship he is by no means displeased to see them, and half a crown will frequently procure admittance not only to hia own quarters, but to the hold where the explosive itself is stared In small oblong wooden boxes, each containing 50 pounds. Nor are instances unknown where the solitude of a married balk keeper's life has been cheered by the presence of his wife, tbe good lady Joining her husband immediately after an inspection and remaining with him until such time as another visit may be looked for. Even if tbe faot of her presence on board becomes known on the island, the matter is considered as nobody's business but the inspector's, and the love of an officer of the crown ia not ao great among watermen and villagers aa to lead tbem to go out of their way to assist him in the execution of his duty. 1 "I don't go ashore without my clothes if I stop here all night," I said firmly. "It's inhuman to ask me. What harm could I do to the oonfounded ship for the few minutes you're away? I don't want to stay here any longer than I can help, I assure you. It was a sovereign I promised you, but if you'll row ashore as fast as you can and get my clothes and promise to keep your mouth shut you shall have £2. Will that please you?" Telling Mair that I would rejoin him at the inn before long, I slipped off my olothea, tossed them together in a heap on the beach, with a big stone atop to keep them from being blown away, and planged into the water. I am a strong awimmer, and the tide was running out ao awiftly that when I reached the Coban Queen, whioh was moored about a mile from shore, I was not in the least "winded," and indeed felt more than fit to fight my way back against the current But in order that the game should work out aa I had planned it waa necessary for me to assume the appearance of being extremely exhausted. Hence when I found myaelf approaching tbe hulk I began to make a pretense of swimming feebly, panting noisily meanwhile and sending np the most pitiful cries for help. Some one had been shaving, and that luite recently, on the Cnban Queen. It oould not be Hughes, for be wore a thick, full beard. If the person who passed as "Mrs. Hughes" really was a woman, she was not likely to have recourse to a razor to enhance her charms. If, on the other hand, that person was a man who was personating a woman for purposes of disguise, a razor would be au absolute necessity among bis toilet CHAPTER XII. HOW CAPTAIN SHANNON'S AUTOGRAPH The setback I had received, so far from causing rue to abandon my search for Mnllen, only nerved me to fresh endeavor, though how to go to work I oould not for some time determine. To threaten Hughes that I would report blm to the authorities unless he made terms for himself by telliug me all he knew about his mysterious visitor was not a oourse which commended it-self to me. I might, as a last resource and in the event of everything else failing, be compelled to so bold a step, but for the present I felt that the wisest thing I oould do would b» to trace Quick ly's movements after he had started to shadow the person who had come ashore from the hulk. This v.ould, however, necessitate my leaving Canvey, and in the meantime it was of the highest importance that an eye should bo kept upon the Cuban Queen. CAME INTO MY POSSESSION n "Make it £8," said he, "and I'll say done." "Very well," I answered, "only be as gnick as yon can, for the sooner I'm ont of this thieves' den and have seen the last at your hangman face the better. And now I'll go down ont of the cold, and perhaps yon won't grndge me another dram of tbht ram of yours, considering bow yon'ye bled me tonight." C8 That there were two persons in the boat was evident, for in another minute we heard the grinding of the keel upon tbe shingle, followed by a few whispered words. A low voice said, "Pass me out tbe parcel, and I'll push her off." Again we heard the stones crunch as the boat was slid back into the water. "Good nights" were exchanged, and receding oar dips told us that tbe boat was returning tp the hulk. Then somebody olimbed the sea wall and stood still for half a minute, as if looking around to make Bore that no one was in sight Our hiding place was fortunately well in shadow, and we ran very little risk of discovery, but it was not until the person who had landed had turned and taken some steps in the opposite direction that I ventured to lift my head. Night was fast closing in, but standing as the newcomer was upon the sea wall, silhouetted against tbe darkening sky, I could distinctly see that the figure was a woman's. "Hughes' old woman, zur," Quickly whispered in my ear, but I motioned to him to be silent, and so we remained for a few seconds. requisites. CHAPTER XIII. [ POSSESS MYSELF OF THE SECRET OF JAKES CHAPTER XI. BAKEWELL OREEN. We often read of a novelist "taking the reader into his confidence," but at this point of my narrative I should like to reverse the process and ask my readers to take me intc theirs. Were I telling my story by word of mouth instead of by pen, I should lay a respectful hand, my dear madam, upon your arm, or hook a detaining forefinger, my dear sir, into your buttonhole, and, leading yon aside for a few minutes, should put ibe matter to yea somewhat in this way: From the fact of your following tny record thus fa-" you are presumably interested in detective stories and have, uo doubt, read many narratives of the sort. You know the detectives who have been drawu, or rather created, by Edgar Allan Poe, and in more recent times by Dr. Con an Doyle and Mr. Arthur Morrison, detectives who unravel for oa, link by link, in tbe most astounding and convincing manner, and, by some original method of reasoning, an otherwise inexplicable mystery or crime. When I look back upon that moment, I find myself wondering at the singular effect which the discovery of the dead man's identity had upon my nerves. It turned them in a second's space from quivering and twitching strings to oords of iron. It acted upon the brain aa a cold douche acts upon the body. It waa as if a man had staggered, heavy with drink, to a pump and after onoe dipping his head under the tap had come up perfectly sober. And the mental effect was equally curious. UJ Tvn neatly folded sheets of paper wer» concealed in the secret pocket. ▼isable to oarry about with me anything whioh oould be identified as the dead man's property, and that I should do well to investigate the oigar case at onoe and get it out of my possession. Aa I had expected and intended, Hughes came on deck, and, looking over the ahip'a aide, inquired loudly, "Wot'a tbe row?" Motioning me to follow, he led the way to the stern of the ship, where, as I knew, the hulk keeper's quarters were situated, the dynamite being stored, as I have already said, in the bold. After looking in a tobacconist's window. aboveboard and square. If he is really on Mullen's heels, the temptation to turn his discovery to bis own account is pretty strong. Twenty-five thousand pounds, not to speak of tbe kudos, isn't made every day, my boy. It's rather like shaking an apple tree in order that somebody else may pick up the fruit, to do the work and then see another man go off with the money bags. No, I think he's acted honorably in giving me due notice that he's going to run the show himself and in offering to return the exs., as be oalls them. Many men would have gone on taking the coin while working on their own aocount" Had I not had reason to suppose that Mullen was somewhere in the neighborhood of Southend, the possibility of his being on one of these hulks would never have occurred to me. But the more I thought of it tbe more was I impressed with the facilities which such a place afforded for a fugitive to lie in biding, and 1 promptly decided that before I dismissed the hulks from my consideration I must first satisfy myself that tbe man I waa looking for waa on none of them. Hughes, I may here remark, waa, as I soon discovered (you oould not be in hia oompany for half a minute without doing ao), a man of painfully limited vocabulary. Perhaps I should say that hia color sense had been developed at the expense of hia vocabulary, for if he did not see everything in a rose colored light he certainly applied one adjective, vividly suggestive of crimson, to every object which he found it necessary to particularise. A cockpit, from which there shot np into tbe night an inverted pyramid of yellow light, marked tbe entrance to the oabin, and into this Hugbes, disdainful of stairs, shuffled feet foremost, swinging a moment with his palm resting on either ledge and his body pillared by rigid arms before he dropped out of sight, like a stage Mepbistopheles returning to hia native hell. Not being familiar with tbe plaoe, I decided to oontent myself witfc a less dramatic entrance, and pi6ked my way accordingly down the steep stairs and into the little oabin which served as kitchen, sitting room and dormitory. A lighted oil stove ■tood in the center, beside which Hughes placed a wooden chair. Two neatly folded sheets of pape»—a diagram and a letter—were ooncealed in the secret pooket, and one glanoe at them satisfied me that they were the doouments of whioh I was in search. I do not thiuk I am in the general way unsympathetic or indifferent to the misfortune oi others, but on this occasion I found myself as coldly calculating the possible advantages and disadvantages to myself of Green's untimely end as if I had been a housewife reckoning up what she had made or lost by the sale of eggs. It was quite within tbe bounds of possibility that Mullen might yet return, in which case he would probably do so by night. Hence it was ut night that I kept my keenest wateh upon the hulk, and in order to do this I thought it advisablo to leave the inn and to install myself in a small furnished cottage, which, by an unexpected stroke of luck, I was able to rent very cheaply. But, as I could not pursue my inquiries in regard to the fate of Quickly and keep an eye at the same time upon the Cuban Queen, I decided to send for a friend of mine named Grant, whom I oould trust implicitly. CHAPTER XIV. ▲ STRANGE DOCUMENT. Aa I could Dot secure a carriage to myself in the train by which I returned to town, 1 had to defer a oloser examination of the papers I bad fonnd nntil I had gained the seolusion of my own chambers in Buckingham street A point which I did not lose sight of was that it was quite possible for a balk keeper who was taciturn by nature and not prone to encourage gossip to remain in entire ignorance of what was taking place throughout the country, and of the reward which had been offered for the apprehension of Captain Shannon. In fact, there is at this moment in charge of one of the hulks off Canvey a man who is never known to go aahore, to receive visitors or to enter into conversation. Whether be is unable to read I cannot say; but, at all events, be never asks for a newspaper, so that it is conceivable that he may not know—happy man!—whether the Conservatives or Liberals are in power, or whether England is ruled by Queen Victoria or by Edward VII. "Wot's the row?" be repeated when there was no immediate reply to his question. "Help!" I gasped faintly, pretending to make frantic clutches at a mooring ohain and clinging to it as if half dead with exhaustion and fear. "What are you going to do?" queried My first procedure was to secure the piece of paper which I had found in the' bottle. "1111 ay want Captain Shannon's antograph one of these days," I said to myself, "and even were it not so I should be unwise to leave this document upon the scene. If, when the body is found, it is believed that Green was drowned by misadventure, there is less chance of awkward questions being asked and inconvenient inquiries made. Such inquiries might briug to light the fact that he was engHged, by my directions, in investigating Mullen's antecedents, and the matter might come to the ears of Mullen himself. Grout. "Run down to Baxenham tomorrow. I don't suppose I shall get any change out of Green, but I may hear something thut will help me to put two and two together in regard to our late visitor on tho Cuban Queen. As Green has been working on my money and in my service I shan't feel any qualm of conscience in finding out his wonderful secret, if I can, and of making use of it if I do find it" The first of the documents contained in Green's cigar case was a letter, evidently addressed to Mullen. It was dated i'rom Stavanger, Norway, and ran as follows: Then Muir spoke, with evident disgust, and not in a whisper either: "Look here, Master Max Rimler, eavesdropping and foxing about after women isn't in my line. You huven't told me what your little is, and I haven't asked you. I've a great rcspeot for you, as you know. But if you're playing tricks with that poor devil's wife, why, damme, man, I'd as soon knock your jib amidships as look at you." And yon know, too, the familiar bungler who is always boasting about lis astuteness, unless, as occasionally uappens—but only in the pages of a detective novel, for in real life oar friends are more ready to record our failures rhan our successes—he has some applauding Boswell, a human note of ex elamation, who passes his life in ecstasies of admiring wonder at his friend's marvelous penetration. And, as it is not unlikely that you have your own opinion an to what a detertive should or should not do under oertain circumstances, I ask you at this point of my narrative to take me into your oonfldence and let mo put to you the following question: "Who are you," he inquired suspiciously, "and 'ow'd you get 'ere?" "You've got very comfortable quarters here," I said, looking round approvingly after I had seated myself. "If one doesn't mind a lonely life (it is lonely, I suppose), one might do worse than tnrn hulk keeper." I was anxious to play my part so as not to arouse his suspicion; bence I did not reply for at least a minute, but continued to pant, gasp and cough until my breath might reasonably be supposed to have returned, and then I said faintly, "Help mo to get on board and I'll tell you." "James—I know all. I have never tried to spy into yonr affairs, but I have known for a long time that yon havo been engaged in some secret undertaking whioh I felt sure was for no goodi purpose. Your sudden disappearances Grant took the next train to Benfleet, the nearest station to Canvoy, on receiving my telegram, and after hearing my story assured me of his readiness and willingness to co-operate in the searoh for Mullen. He promised to keep an unwinking eye upon the Cuban Queen while I was away and to let me know should any suspicious stranger oome upon the scene. The matter being thus satisfactorily arranged, I started off to see what I could learn about the ill fated Quickly. Hughes grunted by way of reply, but whether this was to be taken as signifying acquiescence or dissent I was unable to say, his face being at the inomont bidden in a corner locker, whence he presently emerged with a bottle of Old Tom and a glass. and equally sudden reappearances, and, the large sums of money you have had,: have always been a source of anxiety to me. That it was some political plot you, were engaged in I was certain, for yam were not at snoh pains to disguise your real views before me as vou were before others. I remember your wild talk about society having conspired to rob you from before your birth, of your being denied the right to bear your father's name, and of your mother's name being a dishonor to yon. That yonr father was a villain to our mother I know, and' it may be that from him yon inherit your evil tendencies, and that God may not hold yon morally responsible for them. But, James, bad as your father must have been, he was, after all, your father, and the language you sometimes used about him has made me, who am used to your violence, shudder and turn siok. I con Id have strangled the big hearted, blundering Briton, but had to content myself with shaking a list at him and grinding my teeth with vexation until I grinned, for "Mrs. Hughes" was stilt within earshot. It did not lessen my annoyance to know, from the approving grimace which I could feel rather than see on the generally expressionless face of Quickly, that he also credited me with evil designs upon "Mrs. Hughes" and shared his master's sentiments. Next morning I was up betimes to catch an early train to town and thence to Yarby, where I arrived late in the afternoon. Baxenham is a little village on the const, some five miles distant, and the shortest way there from Yarby is by a footpath across the fields. "You can't room aboord," bo answered surlily. "No one ain't allowed aboord these ships." "And now, another thing. I'm afraid Green's papers have been taken by the murderer; otherwise I ought to secure them. They might contain a clew to the secret to which tbe poor man attached such importance. Abl I thought so. They've gone, for the pocketbook which I know he carried is missing, although his watch, chain, mouey and other belongings are left. But stop a minute. When I gave Green my address, I remember he took out his cigar ca6e, removed the cigars and showed me that the case bad u secret pocket for papers. He said that he never carried important papers in a pocketbook, whioh is the first thing a thief or a rogue who wishes to abstract a document goes for, and that he had had his taken from him twice—once by force and once by a ounning theft. The first tbing to be done was to make out a list of the dynamite hulks— just as I had made a list of the boats off Southend—and then to take the vessels one by one and satisfy myself that no one was there in biding. I need not more fully describe the details of the various inquiries than to say that in order to avoid attracting attention they were made, as at Southend, by the waterman Quickly. "There's the rum, and there's the glass, and now don't you stir out of that chair," he said, with a liberal use of his favorite adjective. Then, much to my relief, he betook himself up tho stairs and on to tho deck, where I coitld hoar him muttering and swearing to himself as he uniashed the dingey. "I must," I said, with as much appearanoo of resolution as was consistent with the half drowned condition which I bad assumed. A lovelier walk I have seldom bad. The sunset was glorious, so glorious that for awhile I sat like one rapt, dreaming myself back into the dstys of my childhood and forgetful of everything but the beauty that lay before me "Must you?" he said. "We'll  soon see about that!" And tbeu for the second timo he put the question, "Who are you, and 'ow'd you get out 'ore?" Suppose it bad been yon and not I who, In the hope of getting sight of James Mullen—as we will for convenience's Bake call the person passing as Mrs. Hughes—had kept a watch npon the Cuban Queen, as described in chapter 9; suppose it bad been yon and not 1 who bad been in the company of Muir and Quickly that evening and had seen Mullen come from the bulk in a boat, under cover of twilight, and proceed in the direction of Benfleet, whence ho could take train either to London or to Bonthend—would yon in that case have acted as I did and instructed Quickly to shadow him, so that you might get an opportunity of paying a surprise visit to the Cuban Queen in Mullen's absence, or would yon have abandoned your proposed visit to the hulk and decided to follow bim yourself?My theory was that that luckless wight had so clumsily performed thu work of shadowing as to bring himself under the notice of the person shadowed, who would then have reason to believe that the secret of his hiding place was known, at all events to one person. Under such circumstances Mullen would in all probability decide that, in order to insure the retnrn of the secret to his own keeping, Quiokly must be dispatched to the limbo of the "dead folk" who "tell no tales," and I felt tolerably certain that on discovering he was being shadowed he had led the way to some secluded spot, where he or his accomplice had made an end of iho shadowor. Him, too, I was strongly moved to strangle, and that I resisted the temp* tation was due chiefly to the fact that I had present need of his services. I replied, in sentences suitably abbreviated to telegraphic terseness, that my name was Max RiBsler; was a friend of Mr. Hardy Muir; was staying at Canvey for shooting; had thought would like a swim; had got on all right till I had tried to turn, and then had found ourrent too strong; had become exhausted, and must have been drowned if had not fortunately been carried past bulk. 1 remembered the fair haired little boy who day after day, as the afternoon was waning, would climb the stairs which led to a tiny garret under the roof. There was only one window in this garret, a window which faoed the west and was cut in the roof itself. Looking down, one saw the red tiles running away so steeply beneath that the little boy could never glance at them without a catching of breath and withour fancying what it would he like to find oneself sliuniug down, down the Thut I was excited and eager the reader may believe, but though the moment Hughes' back was turned my eyes were swiveiiug in their sockets and (weeping the sides ot the cabin with the intentness of a searchlight, I did not think it advisable to leave my seat and set about the search in earnest until he had actually left the hulk. But no sooner was he well out of the way than I was at work, With every sense as poised and ready to pounce as a hovering hawk. Most of the hulks are moored in the oreek within sight of Hole Haven, where the principal inn of the island is situated, and all these we were soon able to dismiss from our calculation. But there was one hulk, the Cuban Queen, lying not in the shelter of the oreek, but in a much more lonely spot direotly off Canvey, in regard to which I was not able to oome to a conclusion. |t lay in deeper water, nearly a mile oat, and no one seemed to know much about the man in charge except that be was named Hughes and was married. He very rarely came on shore, but when be did so returned immediately to his •bin without aMakina to anybody, and "Look here, old man," I said to Muir when I thought it safe to speak, "did you ever know mo do a dirty action?" "Never, my boy," he responded promptly. '' Well, I can't tell you my purpose in this hn«hi"fM jnst now, "Twnt to sn.v that if you knew it you'd bo with me heart and soul, and that if my surmise is right the person we have just Been dressed like a woman isu't a woman at all, but a man. He isn't going to Hole Haven, for be's just turned down the path that leads to the ferry at Benfleet It looks as it he meant catching the 9 o'elonk train for London from Houthand Hughes evidently considered the explanation satisfactory, for his next question was not about myself, but about my intentions: "James, I promised our dead mother on her deathbed that I would try to be to you all that she was. She could do almost as she liked with you—could soften you and turn you from evil as no other person in tbe world oould. There was some strange sympathy between yon and her. Perhaps your knowledge of her one and only sin made you tender "But Mullen would not know that Green kept documents in his cigar case and probably wouldn't trouble to take it. Let me see. Yes, here it is, in the breast pocket, and I think I can feel papers inside the silk lining. We'll look at them by and by. Anything else in his pockets that I might require? No. Then I'll slide the bodv back into the Not often in my life have I experienced so hitter a disappointment. I had hoped great things of this visit to the Cuban Queen; but, though I searched every part of tho hulk, including the hold, which, as there happened at that moment to be no dynamite on board, How I set to work to collect and to sift my evidence I need not here describe in detail, but will sum up briefly the result of my inquiries. dt-otnt il oue rescued I «t Dtw ui —ths worlu's edge, H teeme-1 io htm—w ere the roof sided in a sheer and terjtble abyss. "And wot are yon going to do now?" "Come on board," I answered promptly. "You can't do that," be said. "No one ain't allowed aboord these  boataL" ...  Quiokly had reached the station some minutes before the arrival of any other Aaaseiurer. and in accordance with my Bat it was to sen the »nnset that the little bny wou'd oHmh the stairs  day, and as he dreamed himself rnt Into Let me sum up briefly the arguments for and against either couree as thej Cmntintud on Pooe'Fowr