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The Mystery By: Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958) |
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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!" Without any particular haste, as it seemed to the watchers, the hulk was
shouldered out of the water, as by some hidden leviathan. Its outlines
melted into a black, outshowering mist, and from that mist leaped a
giant. Up, up, he towered, tossed whirling arms a hundred feet abranch,
shivered, and dissolved into a widespread cataract. The water below was
lashed into fury, in the midst of which a mighty death agony beat back
the troubled waves of the trade wind. Only then did the muffled double
boom of the explosion reach the ears of the spectators, presently to be
followed by a whispering, swift skimming wavelet that swept irresistibly
across the bigger surges and lapped the ship's side, as for a message
that the work was done... Continue reading book >>
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