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these untoward persons. [I looked with
him. The person called Peaceful Henry
stood up and took a step forwar
the boat. He was a large, raw-boned
tho well-muscled man, one whom it
would be very dangerous to threaten,
I thought, and his countenance was
nothing less than ferocious to see.
“Look around you,” said he. “See if
there's any grub to be had.”
As he suid this he held up his right
arm and pointed fn the direction of the
Eskimo huts. He had no right hand.
In the place of it I saw a steel hook.
CHAPTER IX.
“PEACEFUL HENRY.”
almless maunderings of Bill Hines;
how he had insisted with the most pain-
ful emphasis upon describing a fierce
man with an iron hook for a, hand. I
now was aware that something more
mind for the apparition he had deline-
ated for me during that howling nigh
in the Delcasse house. mae
The man called Peaceful Henry was a
good six feet in his stockings and as I
the brawny muscles of ‘his
once. He was constantly talking to the
tmen, always in a smooth, kindly volce
but yet a votce that had just a lttle
~--and of returning to
bite in It, and never omitting the slight boat. they fell into a squabble that bade
fair to result in violence.
. ny men drew hig knife and brandished: it
serving this surprising arrival. ‘Neither another's "face. As
est detail of what he was about.
stood for a long time curiously ob-
Peaceful Henry nor: any of his
seemed to heed me at first so I was left’ @Wic
in silence to observe their carrying on.
1 had good: opportun: see the
strange ship, ti
had evidently passed thru some heavy
weather. Her three masts had been cut
Sway, but there was a great deal of
wreckage strewn about as I could see.
I pondered for # time over the rude
letterIng which named the ship as the
whose troubles had driven them to pe-
cullar pranks by way of killing time, and
yet the uncouth and violent demeanor
of those very nm indicated nothing
Playful. In the midst of these cogita-
tions, 1 heard the pleasant voice
Feaceful Henry. .
-*T take it,” sald,
stand a white man’s talk?
I turned and found Henry almost at
my side. “Yes, sir,” I said. “My name
is Canning. I'm a stranger in these
parts. ‘ :
“Why, now,” he sald, running his good
hand across his perspirfng brow, “that's
4 strange coincidence, after a manner cl
speaking, For we're all strangers here,
And a strange place it 1s, to .
"Yea," sald I, “I hardly expected to
find any white men about.”
,“Correct again,” said Peaceful Henry.
“It's hardly a place to find white.men in,
to be sure, So saying I'll introduce my-
self as: Henry Peace, seafaring: gentle-
man and master of arque, which
lying at anchor there.
Most times I'm called Peaceful Henry,
of
“you can under-
kr"
tude toward the works of Lord at
all times and places. Do you live round
ere?"
“Yes and no,” I sald. “I am stopping
with a fur trader a little down the
shore.”
After I had seen the character of the
im
yes and ears at
At all.events I didn't believe
could do Bill Hines much of a turn
about the sailors. .
“Well, now,” Peaceful Henry,
“that’s ver.
Snugged up on a
more could a gentleman ask?
much prefer to be snugged up on a lee
Shore than a-running before
wouldn’t you?
“I can't say ag to that, sir,” I replied.
“I've never had any experience on the
sea.” °
“Of course not, sir,” he agreed.
Mr, Canning, there’s dangers both at sea
and ashore and the best we can do fs to
t's my way of thinking,
Mr. Canning; put my trust In Heaven
“and do the best I can.”
He said this with such a deal of rev-
erence and solemnity that I was on the
point of believing him a most religious
man. - But somehow his face, which was
by far the most repellant and unwhole-
some ad ever looke:
that of Bill Hines himself, kept me from
entirely taking for granted the saint-
linea he professed. .
“Now as for me and my command, Mr.
Canning.” Peaceful Henry went on, “I'll
admit that we're a bit seedy from long
voyaging against the contrary winds. I
which -seafartng men. happen to be
blowed into this strange quarter?” °
I perceived that he was an exceedingly
tactful and diplomatic person for all his
seeming honesty an too good
care not to express any more concern
than was necessary; and yet I knew that
he expected some curiosity out of. me,
knowing I was well aware that his craft
had small business in Hudson Bay.
“Well, Mr. Peace,” said I, “I suppose
@ ocean storms occasionally play
strange tricks on ships.’
“Ay, that they do,” he replied quickly.
“That they do, Many-a ship has set out
CHICAGO LEDGER
“Is not to be trusted. Whenever they 1s on his Journey, eh, Mn Canning?.-Do
a heathen about you may be sure there- you
- . 2 A
is sin a-doing. Because I'll tell you, Mr,
Canning, that pagans puts their faith
in poisons and idols and in the shadows replied.
So you says to boat and spoke of making the trip up
gets the river and then walking the
agitated aboard of a ship: and they do der of the distance to the railroad.
the _would be a very dangerous trip without
ends
“Wo
mes at nights.
seafaring gentleman
that co
me that
that. our-very crew had
terrible misfortune of losing a loving.
comrade?!
From time to time he had cast glances ~
men
over’ his shoulder at the
boat.
fetching down smoked fish and other
sta.
“Well, as to that I couldn’t
“He came ashore
fri
Now I saw some of the Eskimos found,”
think our, loving.
rted?"_
and guid
uld he be
“But
shipmet . has
gay,” I
a jolty
remain-
It
es.”
Jost, think you?”
“Very easily so,” I sa!
y the lost in some part of the f
“He could be
‘orest and never
you don’t think, Mr. Canning,
“Writ to pr
from Bedford
a
pretty as a dotted Hne only to be blowed
NSTANTLY there came back to me the 2Way where no kind of dead reckoning
J ever fetch her out again.”
could
asked, with a
didn’t come out
“ entirely different port, as you might say.
to carry the name of
| Peaceful Henry, which {s a sort of rever..
viewed hire I could not help admiring Kindly habits, if I didn't tell
shouldn’t want
At this moment a hubub arose among
had been skirmishing
the huts of the’ Eskimos
the
round about
men. -Many
dangerously near
as a. wink
Peaceful Henry shot
way from
in the next. L ob-
served him in a
different from any
. tha, his gentle de-
meanor might have
suggested, With the
utmost dexterity he
thrust forth his
steel hook and
caught the armed
man in the back
f his collar and
back-
as he
did so he felled him
with a single blow
of his fist. Then he
stood. over him
with that . ugly,
vicious face of his
and calmly = sur-
veyed him,
“Losing of your
temper, ain’t -you,
Ranse Lynch?" said
he, in t e
“gentle tone he had
employed before,
“Losin of your tem-
per, ain't you? Is
hat any way fora
gentleman to eC
toward another gen-
tleman? A-drawing
of a knife and a-
threatening to do
violence? Do you
know what I intend
to do to you if you
don’t leave off them
stay broke; and I'll
tear you into little
Pieces so as you will
k . other
gentlemen are able
to do violence.”
Lynch staggered
wiped
fo q and I'could see their hands twitch as of
they itched to lay hold of their knives,
Peaceful Henry turned his back on them
reciting his troubles until I learned more and returned to me.
'y comfortable, indeed, isn't tt? their tempers and grow very insolent
hore and what When they’ve been cooped up aboard of
gently.
gales, admonish them, In a manner of speaking,
as a fond and doting parent when they’s
& ruction among the children.
Canning, there’s a deal of trouble in the
life a@ man given to reading of the
“But, Good Book and observing the-words of
the prophets.”
I told him I supposed that
ship was apt to grow irksom
“Harkee, Mr,
“they’s truth to that. am a
yearner after the Gospel and the Holy
Writ and I don't take no stock
what preaches about heathen supertiti-
when
tions. And
takes a-hold
upon, save only lowers after the Writ
such things.
r works.”
I scrutinized Henry upon this for he
was falling Into the
of heathens and
Bill Hines.
‘hen you're out of Bed
He fixed me sharply with his glance.
“Did I say Bedford, he
laugh,
"3 only a figure of speech,
than a dream was responsible in Btll's speaking. A-sailing out of Bedford was
only said so as to give an idea, like,
we
As for me, I trust in the
ect me against pagans and
mysterious things ag
T had a great desire to be
course laid
00, sat down and
the same.
filled it.
ford.”
Mr. Cannning?”
“Well, that were
ing a loving comra:
No,
of Bedford, but an L
might-say that a-los'
“Lost during a sto!
y to
after,
seafaring gentleman
when a
in the
& spot near their
One of the
4
has been had in thes
renner aunrion
A Battery of Riddles..
V YHAT were the five words
scratched ona tiny piece of
brass worth not more than ro cents,
which caused an American business
man, who had never seen it before in
his life, to leave Chicago in twenty
minutes? : .
What was the riddle of the Liao
Keng Ru?
IWhat was in the sealed wooden
box that brought death and violence
in its trail?.
How did a blind beggar that
tramped Tower square, Chicago, give
out a clew that unraveled a mystery
of international dimensions? ~~
J¥hat was the message that was
written on the white tiles of a Chi-
cago chemical laboratory at nineteen
minutes to
How was a penniless American
college student the key to a financial
operation involving $200,000?
All these and many more baffling
riddles come with surprise after sur-
prise in the Ledger’s big new story
of next weck, “The Box of Bewilder-
ment,” by Harry Stephen Keeler. If
you wish to read a story that will™
grip you like a play replete with
lights, actors and music, get the first
installment without fail. October 4
is the day!
Leieieiehiiemiibaemiemieemieera
i am
couldn’t hide
mentioned the
feet and
name
you tell Peaceful He:
the loving shipmet,
quire?”
little
Ay, Mr, names
“Mr. Pe:
Peaceful Henry,
Writs
in them him he was still ally
I
“Still alive?” he
than to subdue rit,
same rambling talk
‘0:
did, did he?”
the men in a very bad humor.”
Writs and ta u
heathen idols there’s apt to be trouble, ™ent had withdrawn to their huts and
> . now peered forth upon the scene from
jon’t s’pose, Mr. Canning, that word The sweep of sand was -
bare and exposed, The boat in which
man which had come ashore rocked .
rade and shipmet—Bill Hi 3
did you see him, eh, Mr. Cannin,
ace,” he said, “but
guard myself t,
a questioning, “The "tin
“Yes, sir,” he said, in. all calmness, as . prow
he found his tobacco burning well. “we them
had that very grave misfortune of los- men,
de. He wa:
might say, one of the lovingeést on board,
He was a great comfort to us all, and I
S, aS. you
ing of him has put
rm?” I inquired.
“Well, and you might say yes to that,”
he replied, puffing away so! -
it was a nasty night, at least shortly
lemnly. “For
was a victim of
of
kes to fearing
fe part about a sea-
ti
has been lost over-
re.
board'of his ship?”
“Well, now,” said I,
efore I could col-
lect thoughts,
“I wonder if that
could be Bill
Hines?”
Peaceful
e.
and stared at me,
The look of aston-
ishment on his face
Was such as to ren-
der that expanse of
stubble and hide-
ousness almost un-
believable,
lines?” he demand-
ed, shortly. Then he
controlled himself
hastily and putona
More composed air,
“I couldn’t help but
be excited and sur-
prised,” he said.
"Mr. Canning,
ave mé a distinct
start. you
saying that
name again?”
He resumed his
place on “the sand
before me. “I
asked,” said I, “if it
is possible that Bill
Hines is the man
you lost?"
“I always said it,”
he cried,
his
always said it; al-
Ways said that Holy
Writ will fetch
you to excuse
my
feelings. But
be-
man of the Gospel I
my emotions when
of that loving com.
Where
Canning? Could
nry where you saw
William Hines, Es.
. eatures were cio;
“Gentlemen of the sea is apt to lose one hand shook out of very eet
th tnoueht, and the steel hook was
rust into th
You'd a ship for a long time,” he said very to and fro. * Sand, where it jerked
"A skipper is like to have to “He was washed ashore from a ship.
wreck, I believe, Mr. Henr: or
Perplexed in my ‘choice ore a bit of liberty. asho:
: till there was silence,
I am called
because I take to
_and = Gospels. ashen’
from a@ shipwreck, you
Washed ashore
Say, eh, Mr. Can.
life aboard ning? Washed ashor :
e from a ship.
ie. wreck? A unhay
Canning.” he said, is he safe?" Py fate, dear me, And
I tried to
too close
last time saw
e,” I said.
Tenry’s eyes widened in apprehension.
said, "Was
there danger to the loving Shipmers
hastily.
se there’s a danger
Vv way of
The words snapped
here’
your head, sic, about the manner te 7% " from Peaceful Henry's 1
* ner in Heathens,” continued Peaceful Henry, he composed himself. “Wee 'h Instantly”
. , J e starting
. u
} L ——— tee ~ . _— »
f movecomentiapescon ensmcbonne ee
I was on the point
me from
of the beached
his hand.
* CHAPT:
advance toward us.
Jap Tanner, clutched his knife in
food and the men sat down in the sand you don’t think he has started, do you?”
and began eating. Evidently this was he said, leaning toward me anxiously,
reassuring to Peaceful Henry for he, “Do you really, Mr. Canning?”
motioned me t i
He drew out a vile pipe and neg:
~ ca
of answering in the
ative when a shout and angry growl
the men seated. about the
Then I saw
One of the
boat.
ER XK.
THE MUETING.
pected characters, t
Bay into which
that evéry new turn
strictly on my
Eskimos resident in
their doorways,
_the sailors
‘slowly to and fro i
gentle waves,
Out in ‘the
incited by. the
glanced up at Peace:
I had
guard; so
‘ < than apprehensive when I saw the rude
them superstitions fhat 1 pees oh And crew start up in our direction.
grog
c S such a wild stage setting and
filled with such strange
unex-
his nook in Bleak
made my way,
of affairs kept me
was more
The few
this squalid settle~
n the wash of the
bay the Joly Rogger rose
they drank, I
ful Henry and per-
ceived on his hideous face a,most hate-
ful grin.
He was looking steadily down
~‘at the sand and occasionally squinting
up as his companions drew nearer.
“Go aft, Mr. Cann
His tone was
_ent
guent as if he were
ing,” he said pres-
as smooth and un-
about to serve tea.
“Go aft and let me reason with the gen-
t 4 -
there would be little
about to come,
aceful Henry's tone
reason in what was
I walked backwards rather mechan-
ically, being fascinated by what I saw.
There had not been
a word spoken, but
re was in the demeanor of the men
something that betokened violence and
suppressed conflict.
silence of it all gave
approached sheer numbness.
Was too young to have
of what was passing
open eyed and stare.
me a sensation that
I believe I
a cogent idea
+ I could only stand
Peaceful Henry seemed not in the least
disturbed. At first I
be the result of fear;
‘futility of standing
ominous approach of the men.
wis disillusioned. W
leader, came within
Peaceful Henry he halted.
conjectured this to
that he realized the
out against this
hen
likewise, all Standing there glaring.
“Wh ” &
now,” said
his most gentle
note,
Peaceful Henry, in
“‘T'll be blowed if
this ain’t a very handsome sight; gentle-
men a-marching’
pretty fashion.”
This disabused
across the sand in such
any idea I had enter-
tained of fear in Henry's makeup. He
was by far
the most collected of those
about him; and certainly more collected
than
“the gentlemen have
as you might say;
conversation
&
that all's shipshape
Tanner took a m
knife.
underwent a swift
I, who stood speechless. .
“Perhaps,” continued Peaceful Henry,
ie
come for a confab,
and we're a-taking
re.”
I noticed that
ore firm’ grip on hig
ul Henry's attitude
change. ' He leaned
in
a 5.
‘Out with ft, Tanner,” he snarled like
dog.
One of the men be:
found his name was Steve Munro, poked ‘
hind Tanner, I later
Tanner from the rear and spoke in a low
tone. Tanner
hat did yo
ly jittle chat? What
“We took a vote,”
did you come to?”
Said Tanner.
, er.
“Why, now, that’s very pretty,” replied
(Continued o
nm Page 18.)
i:
}
I.