Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
pitt a . .
matches. He used one to:strike alight and-ignite -
the wick of the candle. Then he shut the door
from prudent. motives. Tearing strips from the
spread, he. tied the rascal’s arms securely behind —
his back. “Then he gagged him’ with another
strip, and with a third bound his ankles .to-
‘gether. He lifted. the helpless man 6n to the
bed and tied his legs to the footboard.,
“Now I guess you’re safe enough,” said Fred.
. Opening the door, he looked out... The corridor
“was just as still and dark as ever. Closing the.
door after him, he locked it and put the key in
his pocket.’ After locating the stairs, he put out
the light and was about to descend, hoping to be
able to make his way to the street without op-
position, when suddenly a light appeared on the
floor below. A man with a lamp in his hand was
coming along the second landing. Fearing that
the newcomer. was coming upstairs, Fred re-
treated back along the corridor. Coming in‘ con-.
tact with a door, he tried the handle, but it was
locked. . The key, however, was in the lock. Fred
turned it, opened the door and entered the room,
which was dark as the ace of spades. He took the
precaution to remove the key from the outside,
lest through the cropping up of some unexpected
complication he might find himself locked in once
more. Then he struck a match to see what kind
‘of room he was in. It was a small bedroom sim-.
ilar to the one he had been a prisoner in himself. .
- On the bed, fully dressed, and unconscious of
his surroundings, lay a well-built man of middle
age. The heavy double-breasted peajacket, and
the mahogany hue of his countenance, proclaimed
him to be a sailor. but not a common one. He
looked more like the. mate or captain of some
vessel. On the table stood a bottle and two
nearly empty tumblers. Also an open pocket-
book, several letters, and papers. “It instantly
occurred to ‘Fred that this must be the sea cap-
- tain that-he had heard the rascal, whom he had
overcome, muttering about while he bent over
him prior to his break for liberty. This was an-
other. victim of the gang who inhabited the house.
and they had drugged and robbed him, and meant
to dump him into the river later on. Fred struck
another match and lit the candle he still held in
his hand.. He now took a closer look at the man
on the bed.” He anpeared to be between fifty and
sixty years of age, his face was heavily bearded,
of an iron-gray tint, and he had a thick. head of |
hair of the same-color. His hands were large,
thick and almost as hard as a rock. There was
an air. of almost-childlike innocence about him
that singularly impressed the boy.
- “He looks like an easy mark,” thought Fred.
“VIL bet he tumbled into the clutches of these
“rascals without giving them the least trouble.
. Yes, he’s been doped all right. Now how am I
roing to save him in that condition?” . —
It was evidently a tough problem, for he was
not so sure how he would be able to leave the
house himself, even with all his faculties-on the
alert. ‘He glanced at the table again. The nocket-
book looked as if it had held money.
“Whatever he possessed, they’ve. cleaned him
out completely,” thought Fred. at
Mechanically he picked up one of the letters.
“This will probably tell me his name,” mut-
tered the young banker, bringing the envelope.
A GOLDEN SHOWER
Amer a
fo
?
close to the candle and looking at the superscrip- L
mo
_tion.. This is what he saw; - . ately J key
--“Captain Ezra Storms, Ship Golden Hope, Care. _ stay
of Lazard Freres, Bombay, Hindoostan.”. - |... “: ‘and
“My Heavens!” gasped Fred, dropping the en--. | liev
velope from his trembling hand. “Dora’s father!” ! ano
- He stood. for’ some moments like a statue,’ < } thre
staring at the pocketbook and the other envelopes ‘ ;. the
beside it, then, as if waking from some unpleas-. poo
ant. dream, he. grabbed another letter and looked.» « tf for
at it. . / . - ot T
“Captain Ezra Storms, Care of Poindexter &:: a well
Co., 16 Crown Street, Capetown, South Africa,” “t - , doo:
and in.the corner, “Ship Golden Hope.” oop Rur
“That’s Dora’s writing, Ill swear,” breathed | | © bolt
Fred, excitedly: “This man on the bed seems to. -*:s, | helc
be her father past any doubt. Where has he {ano
been these two years since the Golden Hope left . j .the
Bombay for New York? What became of the |. of
Golden. Hope and her crew? “No word has ever 7) thre
reached either owners or consignees from the day i ~
she hauled out of the harbor and-set her sails to. |
the breezes of the Arabian Sea. Lost, of course,
somewhere along her trackless course. Probably ‘
she foundered: in one of those simoons of the In- + | | T
dian Ocean I’ve-read about. And yet here is her. | look
captain in Jersey City, after two years of mys- \ > 7%
terious silence. Clearly he escaped from the Pus
ewreck if no one else did. How did he. escape? ~~”: cha.
And how account for the fact that he’s been eo one
lost to the world for over twenty-five months?” | 4
That was another knotty problem. that would © } are
have to be solved later on when the captain , brol
recovered his senses and could explain matters.” | ney
His wife and daughter had not yet given up all hou:
hope that he might yet return to gladden their.) 7°
hearts—that Fred knew; but they were in that be -
situation where “hope deferred maketh the heart. } S24
sick.” — a op
The owners of the Golden: Hope, with officers | sey
near Hanover Square, had collected: the insurance ~’ | Ing
on vessel and cargo, settled all claims against’ © i) ““é
her, and closed: her account on their books. The: ..»7*+2ut
relatives of the officers and crew—every-one but : tron
Dora and her mother—had given up the men for .. | Who
dead, and the Golden Hope was reckoned one + hou:
that had. reached the port of missing ships, and , The
would never be heard .of more... Fred took up . | me,
the pocketbook and examined it. Captain Storms’ | S8y,
name was inscribed on the flap in silt letters. | they
If Fred needed indisputable proof of the captain’s agec
identity he soon found it in a small flap in the , am
‘shape of a photograph of Dora herself. Well, - and
there was only one thing to be done and that was _ ha
he must save the captain from the fate. these. “I
rascals had marked out for him. That was his to g
duty in the name of common humanity, without your
reference. to Dora ‘and -her.mother, and it was pect
doubly his duty for their sake. The question - “T
was, how was he going to save the drugged man?. ‘Fr & se:
He replaced the letters in the pocketbook and . ; the
put it in his own pocket. Then he’shook the cap-- j=‘. “é
tain roughly and succeeded in partially arousing j “3
him from his stupor. The moment he stopped. 4° of es
Captain Storms fell back into his former state. ~ .. into
“ll have to make my own escape, take note \ | ato
of the house, and tell the first policeman I meet » read
of the captain’s peril,” thought Fred. “I don’t - Me “T
see what else I can do under the circumstances.” > bec
As a precautionary measure he locked the skim \" | “E
\ cited
per of the Golden Hope in the room and put-the