The Mystery   By: Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958)

BY

STEWART EDWARD WHITE

AND

SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS

Illustrations by Will Crawford

1907

CONTENTS

PART ONE

THE SEA RIDDLE

I. DESERT SEAS

II. THE "LAUGHING LASS"

III. THE DEATH SHIP

IV. THE SECOND PRIZE CREW

V. THE DISAPPEARANCE

VI. THE CASTAWAYS

VII. THE FREE LANCE

PART TWO

THE BRASS BOUND CHEST

Being the story told by Ralph Slade, Free Lance, to the officers of the United States Cruiser "Wolverine"

I. THE BARBARY COAST

II. THE GRAVEN IMAGE

III. THE TWELVE REPEATING RIFLES

IV. THE STEEL CLAW

V. THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

VI. THE ISLAND

VII. CAPTAIN SELOVER LOSES HIS NERVE

VIII. WRECKING OF THE "GOLDEN HORN"

IX. THE EMPTY BRANDY BOTTLE

X. CHANGE OF MASTERS

XI. THE CORROSIVE

XII. "OLD SCRUBS" COMES ASHORE

XIII. I MAKE MY ESCAPE

XIV. AN ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT

XV. FIVE HUNDRED YARDS' RANGE

XVI. THE MURDER

XVII. THE OPEN SEA

XVIII. THE CATASTROPHE

PART THREE

THE MAROON

I. IN THE WARDROOM

II. THE JOLLY ROGER

III. THE CACHE

IV. THE TWIN SLABS

V. THE PINWHEEL VOLCANO

VI. MR. DARROW RECEIVES

VII. THE SURVIVORS

VIII. THE MAKER OF MARVELS

IX. THE ACHIEVEMENT

X. THE DOOM

ILLUSTRATIONS

"And you know a heap too much"

A schooner comporting herself in a manner uncommon on the Pacific

A man who was a bit of a mechanic was set to work to open the chest

Slowly the man defined himself as a shape takes form in a fog

"These sheep had become as wild as deer"

The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to any one else

With a strangled cry the sailor cast the shirt from him

"Sorry not to have met you at the door," he said courteously

PART ONE

THE SEA RIDDLE

I

DESERT SEAS

The late afternoon sky flaunted its splendour of blue and gold like a banner over the Pacific, across whose depths the trade wind droned in measured cadence. On the ocean's wide expanse a hulk wallowed sluggishly, the forgotten relict of a once brave and sightly ship, possibly the Sphinx of some untold ocean tragedy, she lay black and forbidding in the ordered procession of waves. Half a mile to the east of the derelict hovered a ship's cutter, the turn of her crew's heads speaking expectancy. As far again beyond, the United States cruiser Wolverine outlined her severe and trim silhouette against the horizon. In all the spread of wave and sky no other thing was visible. For this was one of the desert parts of the Pacific, three hundred miles north of the steamship route from Yokohama to Honolulu, five hundred miles from the nearest land, Gardner Island, and more than seven hundred northwest of the Hawaiian group.

On the cruiser's quarter deck the officers lined the starboard rail. Their interest was focussed on the derelict.

"Looks like a heavy job," said Ives, one of the junior lieutenants. "These floaters that lie with deck almost awash will stand more hammering than a mud fort."

"Wish they'd let us put some six inch shells into her," said Billy Edwards, the ensign, a wistful expression on his big round cheerful face. "I'd like to see what they would do."

"Nothing but waste a few hundred dollars of your Uncle Sam's money," observed Carter, the officer of the deck. "It takes placed charges inside and out for that kind of work."

"Barnett's the man for her then," said Ives. "He's no economist when it comes to getting results. There she goes!"