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Gap^riqhf" by EdK*w\Balm$r •>-- • -^J ,:m ..;' ' CHAPTER XIV ¥wv?*>'^y¥i-" ®urr #f *•*• *•"* ' It was in late November and while til* coal carrier Pontlac, on which he was serving as lookout, was in Lake ^Superior that Alan first heard of Jim sBuit. The name spoken among some other names In casual conversation by ia member of the crew, stirred and ex- 'dted him; the name James Burr, oo H erring on Benjamin Corvet's list, had •&"' "'borne opposite it the legend "All dlsk iappefs red; no trace," and Alan, whoso •* It (mitigations had accounted for all i ^ sothera whom the list contained, bad „ | . ibeen able regarding Burr only to verify 'iff the fact that at the address given too s4^ c . one of this name was to be found. He questioned the oiler who had mentioned Burr. The man had met 'Burr one night in Manitowoc- with other men, and something about the ^ -=>s viold man had impressed both his name v': fe-.'j.-. -and image on him; he knew no more P1* 1.' , than that. At Manitowoc!--the place Y'/tj from which Captain Stafford's watch , "•> had been sent to Constance Sherrill 5* 'V ^ "" and where Alan had sought for, but >^r ^ had failed to find, the sender! Had t >' f" - ^an stumbled by chance upon the one J? tW-*' w^om* Benjamin Corvet had been un- \ *•••*, * able to trace? Alan could not leave the Pontlac and go at once to Manitowoc to seek Burr; for he was needed where be was. It waft tally a week later and after M>e "Row long have you iWM SMlthe lakes?" Alan Inquired. mi pRfte ; MW. m •**&fire From No. 25?" D|*w Him Into Conversation. Pentlac bad been laden again and had |Mf«wed the length of Lake Superior Chat Alan left the vessel at Sault Ste. > Marie and took the train for Manitowoc. . * The dttle lake port of Manitowoc, which he reached in the late afternoon, was turbulent with the lake season's Approaching close. Alan inquired for the •eamen's drinking place, where his Informant had met Jim Burr; following the directions he received jbe made his way along the river bank until he found tt The proprietor knew old Jim Burr-- Burr was a wheelsman on Carferry Number 25. He was a lakeman, experienced and capable; that fact, some months before, had served as introduction for him to the frequenters of this place. When the ferry was in harbor and his duties left him Idle, Burr came up and waited there, occupying always the same chair. He never drank; he never 8poke to others unless they spoke first. to him, but then he talked freely about old days en the lakes, about ships which had been lost and about men long dead. •Ian decided that there could be no better place to interview old Burr than here; he waited therefore, and in the early evening the old man came in. He was a slender but muscularly built man seeming about sixty-five, but he might ,be considerably younger or older than that. His hair was completely white; bis nose was thin and sensitive; his face was smoothly placid, emotionless, contented; his eyes were queerly clouded, deepset and intent. Those whose names Alan hid fo^pd on Corvet's list had been of all ages, young and eld; but Burr might well have been a contemporary of Corvet on the lakes. Alan moved over and took a seat beside the old man. r "You're from Number 25?" he asked, to draw him into conversation. "Yes." Tve been working on the carrier Pontiac as lookout. She's on her way to tie up at Cleveland, so I left her and came on here.. Yon don't know whether there's a chance for me to get a plaee through the winter on Number 257" Old Burr reflected, "One of oar boys has been talking of leaving. I-don't know when be expects to go. You might ask." "Thank yon; I will. My name's Conrad--Alan Conrad." Be saw no recognition of the name In Burr's reception of It; but be had not expected that. None of those on Benjamin Corvet's list had ..had any knowledge <* Alan Conrad or had heard the name before. Alan was silent, witching the old man; Barr, silent too, seemed* listening to the conversation which came to them from the tables near by, where men were talking of cargoes, and of •hips and of men who worked sad •ailed upon them. "All my life." * "Do you remember the Miwaka?" Old Burr turned abruptly and studied Alan with a slow scrutiny which seemed to look him through and through; yet while his eyes remained fixed on Alan suddenly they grew blank. He was not thinking now ot Alan, but had turned his thoughts within himself. "I remember her--yea. She was lost in '95." he said. "In INS," be repeated. "Did you know Benjamin Corvet?" Alan asked. Old Burr stared at him uncertainly. "I know who he is, of concacl^I^' "You never met him?" "No." ' "Did yon receive a communication from him some time this year--a request to send some things to Miss Constance Sherrill at Harbor Point?" "I never beard of Miss Constance Sherrill. To send what tilings?" "Several things--among them a watch which had belonged to Captain Stafford of the Miwaka." Old Burr got up suddently and stood gazing down at Alan. "A watch of Captain Stafford's?--no," be said agitatedly. "No!" He moved away and left the place; and Alan sprang up and followed him. He was not, it seemed probable to Alan now, the James Burr of Corvet's list; at least Alan could not see how he could be that one. Among be names of the crew of the Miwaka Alan had found that of a Frank Burr, and his Inquiries had Informed him that this man was a nephew of the James Burr who had lived near Port Corbay and had "disappeared" with all his family. Old Burr had not lived at Port Corbay--at least, he claimed not to have lived there; be gave another address and assigned to himself quite different connections. For every member of the crew of the Miwaka there had been a corresponding, but diffe'rent ! name upon Corvet's list--the name of a close relative. If old Burr was not related to the Burr on Corvet's list, what connection could he have with the Miwaka, and why should Alan's questions have agitated him so? Alan would not lose sight of old Burr until he had learned the reason for that. He followed, as the old man crossed the bridge and turned to his left among the buildings on the river front. Burr's figure, vague in the dusk, crossed the railroad yards and made its way to where a huge black bulk, which Alan recognised as the ferry, loomed at the waterside. He disappeared aboard it. Alan, following him, gazed about. A long, broad, black boat the ferry was, almost four hundred feet to the tall, bluff bow. Alan thrilled a little at his Inspection of tne vessel. He had not seen close at hand before one of these great craft which, throughout the winter, brave Ice and storm after all---or nearly all--other lake boats are tied up. He had not meant to apply there when he questioned old Burr about a berth on the ferry; be had used that merely as a means of getting into conversation with the eld man. But now he meant to apply; for it would enable him to fiid out more about old Burr. No berth on the ferry was vacant yet but one soon would be, and Alan was accepted in iteu of the man who was about to leave; his wages would not begin until the other man left, but In the meantime he could remain aboard. 1 All that was known definitely about old Burr on the ferry. It appeared, was that he bad Joined the vessel in the early spring. Before that--they did not know; he might be an old Inkeman who, after spending years ashore, had returned to the lakes for a livelihood. The next morning, Alan approached old Burr in the crew's quarters and tried to draw him into conversation again about himself; but Burr only stared at him with his Intent and oddly Introspective eyes and would not talk upon this subject. A week passed; Alan, established as a lookout now on Number 25 and carrying on his duties, saw Burr daily and almost every hour; his watch coincided with Burr's watch at the wheel--they went on duty and were relieved together. Yet better acquaintance did not make the o!(! man more communicative; a Score of times Alan attempted to get him to tell more about himself, but he evaded Alan's questions and, if Alan persisted^ he avoided him. * On deck, one night, listening while old Burr talked, excitement suddenly seized Alan. Burr claimed to be an Englishman born in Liverpool. He had been, he said, a seaman in the British navy; be bad been present at the shelling of Alexandria; later, because of some difficulty, which he glossed over, he had deserted and had come to the States;" he had been first a deckhand, then the mate of a tramp schooner on the lakes. Alan, gazing at the old man, felt exultation leaping and throbbing within him. This life which old Burr was rehearsing to him as his own, was the actual life of Muuro Burkhalter, one of the men on Corvet's list regarding whom Alan had been able to obtain full Information! Alan sped below, when he was relieved from watch, and got oat the clippings left by Corvet and the notes of what be himself had learned in his visits to the homes of these people. His excitement grew greater as he pored over them; he found that he could account, with their aid, for all that old Burr had told him. Old Burr's stortes were not, of course, true; yet neither were they fictitious. They prickling and tng fast In his temples. How could Burr have known these Incidents? Who could he be to know them all? To what man. but one, could all of them be known? Was old Burr . . Benjamin Corvet? Alan telegraphed that day to Sherrill ; but when the message had gone doubt seized him. Benjamin Corvet, when he went away, had tried to leave his place and power among lakemen to Alan; Alan, refusing to accept what Corvet had left until Corvet's reason should be known, had felt obliged also to refuse friendship with the Sherrllls. When revelation came, would it make possible Alan's acceptance of the place Corvet had prepared for him, or would it leave him where he was? Would It bring him nearer to Constance Sherrill, or would It set him forereraway from bert*' face had look wae Was old that he was an ... i ««• %te«ly drawn, to remember Corvet? Alan ; i ~ ••a&ar ©WAPTIR xviAv;j.. <• 1 -- l; ;*"•/«> ,• i,'-y • A Ghost Ship."' Officially, and to chief extent In actuality, navigation now hadf Closed" for- the winter. Further up the harbor, beyond Number 25, glowed the white lanterns marking two vessels moored and "laid up" till spring; another was still In the active process of "laying up.** Marine insurance, as regards all ordinary craft, had ceased; and the government at sunrise, five days before, had taken the warning lights from the Straits of Mackinaw, from Ile-aux-Galet% from north Manitou, and the Fox islands; and the light, at Beaver island had but five nights more to burn. Having no particular duty when the boat was In dock, old Burr had gone toward the steamer "laying up," and bow was standlhg watching with absorption the work going on. There was a tug a little^ farther along, with steam up and black smoke pouring from its short funnel. Old Burr observed this boat too and moved up a little nearer. Alan, following the wheelsman, came opposite the stern of the freighter. "They're crossing," the wheelsman said aloud, but more to himself than to Alan. "They're laying her up here," he Jerked his head toward the Stoughton. "Then they're crossing to Manitowoc on the tug." "What*s the matter with that?" ai^b cried. Burr drew up his shoulders and ducked his head down as a gust blew. It was cold, very cold Indeed in that wind, but the old man had on a macklnaw and, out on the latfe,' Alan had seen him on deck coatless in weather almost as cold as this. "It's a winter storm," Alan cried. "It's like it that way; but today's the 15th, not the 5th of December!" "That's right," Burr argeed. "That's right" The reply was absent, as though Alan had stumbled upon what he was thinking and Burr had no thought yet to wonder'lft«ft. "And it's the Stoughton they're laying up, not the--" he stopped and stared at -Burr to let him supply the word and, when the old man did not, he repeated again--"not the--" "No," Burr agreed again, as though the name had been given. "No." "It was the Martha Corvet you laid np, wasn't it?" Alan cried quickly. "Tell me--that time on the 5th--it waa the Martha Corvet?" Burr Jerked away; Alan caught him again and, with physical strength, detained him. "Wasn't It that?" he demanded. "Answer me; it was the Martha Corvet?" The wheelsman struggled; he seemed suddenly terrified with the terror which, instead of weakening, supplied infuriated strength. He threw Alan off for an Instant and started to flee back toward the ferry; and Alan let him go, only following a few steps to make sure that the wheelsman returned to Number 25.' Because of the severe cold, the watches on the ferry had been shortened. Alan would be relieved from time to time to warm himself, and then he would return to duty again. Old Burr at the wheel would be relieved and would go on duty at the same hours as Alan himself. Benjamin lUelt t0 did not believe It could be that; again and again he had spoken Corvet's name to him without effect. Yet there must have been times when, if he was actually Corvet, he had remembered who he was. He must have remembered that when he had written directions to some one to send those things to Constance Sherrill; or, a strange thought had come to Alan, had he written those instructions himself? This certainly would account for the package having been mailed at Manitowoc and for Alan's fallare to find out by whom It had been mailed. It would account, too, for the unknown handwriting upon the, wrapper, if some one on the ferry had addressed the package for the old man. ., What could have brought back, that moment of recollection to Corvet, Alan wondered; the finding of the things which he had sent? What might bring another such moment? Would bis seeing the Sherrllls again--or Spearman*-- act to restore him? For half an hour Alan paced steadily at the bow. The storm was increasing noticeably in fierceness; the winddriven snowflakes had changed to hard pellets which, like little bullets, cut and stung the face; and It waa growing colder. From a cabin window came the blue flash of the wireless, which had been silent after notifying the shore stations of their departure. It had commenced again; this was unusual. Something still more unusual followed, at once; the direction of the gale seemed slowly to shift, and with It the wash of the water; Instead of the wind and the waves coming from dead ahead now, they moved to the port beam, and Number 25, still pitching with the thrust through the seas, also began to roll. This meant, of course, that the steamer had changed Its course and was making almost due north. It seemed to Alan to force Its engines faster; the deck vibrated more. Alan had not heard the orders for this change and could only speculate as to what it might mean. His relief came after a few minutes more. " r' ':i "Where a*e ws beading?*• Alan asked. -- s 0 "Radio," the relief announced.' "The H. C. Richardson calling; she's up by the Manltous." "What sort of trouble?" • • "She's not in trouble; it'* another ship." "i; "What shipr "No word as tofhats^-I Alan, not delaying to question further, went back to the cabins. These stretched aft, behind the bridge, along the 'upper deck, some score on each side of the ship; they bad accommodations for almost a hundred passengers; but on this crossing only a few were occupied. Alan had noticed some half-dozen men--business men, no doubt, forced to make the crossing, and one of them, a Catholic priest, returning probably to some mission in the north; he had seen no worneq among them. A little group of passengers were gathered now la the door of or Just outside the wireless cabin, which was one of the row on the starboard side, Stewards stood with them and^the cabin maid; within, and bending over the table with the radio instrument, was the operator with the second officer beside him. The violet spark was rasping, and the operator, his receivers strapped over his ears, strained to listen. He got no reply, evidently, and he struck bis key Again; now, as be IlBtened.'he wrote slowly on a pad. "What is It?" Alan asked the officer. "The Richardson heard four blasts of a steam whistle about an hour ago when she was opposite the Manltous. She answered with the whistle and turned toward the blasts.* She couldn't find any ship." JPhe officer's reply was Interrupted by some of 'the others. "The* f 4- . that was a few minutes ago * i ,• they heard the four long again. . , » . They'd tried to pick up the other ship with radio before. . . . Yes; we got that here. . . . Tried again and got no answer., » . . But they heard the blasts for half an hour. . . . They said they seemed to b« almost beside the ship once. . . . But they didn't see anything. Then the blasts stopped . . . sudden, cut off short in the middle as though something happened. . : . She was blowing distress afll right. . . . The Richardson's searching again now. . . . Yes, she's searching for boats." "Anyone else answered?",, Alan asked. ., "Shore stations on both side*" . , "Do they know what ship it is?" "No." "What ship might be there new?" The officer could not answer that. He had known where the Richardson must be; he knew of no other likely to be there at this season. The spray from the waves had frozen upon Alan; ice gleamed and glinted from the rail iaiwut ' aahU lighted a faoe en thajippotfte tf* , the door--a fact ha| Ega rd wttfe dreiUt^ ful fright Old Bart jMM4£*fcout a* Alan spoke to hla and more* alone; Alan followed him and seised his arm. "Whafs the matter?" Alan demanded, holding to him. "The four blasts!" the wheelsman repeated. 'They heard the four blasts!" He Iterated It once more. ' "Yes," Alan urged. "Why not?" * "But where no ship ought to be; M> they couldn't find the ship--they couldn't find the ship!" Terror, of awful abjectneas, came over the old man. He freed himself from Alan and went forward. Alan went aft to the car deck. The roar and echoing tumult of the Ice against the hull here drowned all other sounds. The thirty-two freight cars, tn their four long lines, stood wedged and chainod and blocked In placti; they tipped and toted, rolled Th« Man Had Never More Plainly Resembled the Picture of Benjamin Corvet. • and swayed like the stanchions and sides of the ship, fixed and . secure. Jacks on the steel deck under the edges of the cars, kept them from rocking on their trucks. Men paced watchfully between the tracks, observing the movement of the' cars. The cars creaked and groaned, as they worked a little this way and that; the men sprang with sledges and drove the blocks tight again or took an additional turn uoon the jacks. Alan saw old Burr who, on his way to the wheeihouse, had halted to listen. For several minutes the old man stood motionless; he came on again and stopped to listen. "You hear 'em?" Ban's voice quavered In Alan's ear. "You hear 'em?" •'What?" asked Alan. "The four blasts! Ton hear *em> now? The four blasts!" Burr was straining as he listened, and Alan stood still too; no sound came to him but the noise of the storm. "No," he replied. "I don't hear anything. Do you hear them now?" Burr stood beside him without making reply; the searchlight, which had been pointed abeam, shot its glare forward, and Alan could see Burr's face in the dancing reflection of the flare. The man had never more plainly resembled the picture of Benjamin Corvet ; that which bad been In the pic-, ture, that strange sensation of some-, thing haunting him, was upon this, man's face, a thousand times intensified ; but Instead of distorting the features away from aU likeness to tho picture, it made It grotesquely Identical. (TO BIB CONTINUED^ - 4 - • ,.v%K|iat Is a Picture Framerr v. Picture frames are frequently too ornate. The simpler they are the leas they attract attention from the picture Itself. They should become a part of the picture and not a separate picture in themselves. Color, however, may be used to advantage and any Blmple wooden frame may be painted In oil paint to match some tone of the picture. Ordinarily this is better than to have the frame harmonise with the woodvHfack «C t|ie room. iVof»7W*yf WW sK;. - .. '.i 111 fc-eVij*1' Delicious Raisin DO dais some morning and surprise tlj^r family: Serve hot raisin toast at break*. ';5 tut, made from full-fruited, luscious raisifc bread. Let your husband try it with his cofc Ite. Hear what he says. !>v / Your grocer or bake shop can supply till gipoper brad. No need to badee at home. Made with big, plump, tender, seeded Suifet «aid Raisins, and if you get the right :re's a generous supply of these detidotl^ fruit-meats in it. ^ Insist on this full-frutted bread and you*M/;! &|itve luscious toast. " ; Rich in energizing nutriment and iroo4»l (|fcat food for business men. Make most attractive bread pudding wtl| left-over slices. ^There's real economy in bra#: like this. 4 ^ . Tiy tomorrow morning. A real surprisak, ^Telephone your dealer to send a loaf today. - \ *i- .Sun-Maid f .Wed Raisins ea, "pudd Blut Paciaft • delicious bread, etc. Aak your grocer free book of teited redpes. Sw-kUM Raisin Giower% Mtmbmkip 13 jm D«Pt N-1S-12, Fresno, C*U& & "TOBBKT HAIR BALSAM akSkiai I «U mm. timt, - BTSPBBAD OtStASB S3 nwUl, •Mfr Russians 8titl Use Scythea. ...Soviet Russia manufactured 1,307,- 000 scythes and Imported 4300,000 last year. Grain raising Is carried on tn such a primitive way by the majority of peasants that the scythe is in general use for harvesting, especially since the shortage of labor-saving machinery began. WILD CREATURES DISLIKE SNOW it; It Was the |hlarth« Corvet 7" him. Could he be mistaken? Was that man, whose eyes turned alternately from the compass to the bow of the ferry as it shifted and rose and fell, the same who had sat In that lonely chair turned toward the fireplace In the house on Astor street? Were those hands, which held the steamer to her course, the hands whleh^bad written to Alan In secret fri/nr the little room off his bedroom and which pasted so carefully the newspaper clippings concealed in the library? Alan faced the wind with maekinaw buttoned about his throat; to make certain his hearing, h|s ears were unprotected. They numbed frequently, and he drew a hand out of the glove to rub them. The windows to protect the wheelunan had been dropped, as the snow had gathered on the glass; and at intervals, as he glanced back. Means Time of Misery and Hunger ta Bath Bird and Beast, and Thousands 8tarvsu Host Wild creatures abhor For the rabbits and hares U means that they must scratch down through the dull, frozen stuff before they can find their usual food. If the snow Is really bard the rabbits are reduced to eating the bark of the fences near the warrens. All the smaller \birds are cut off from their food supplies. Those that live on worms or Insects are particularly hard hit, and If the snow lies long the death roll among such birds ss robins is really terrible. In that winter ot 1617, when there ware a hundred days of snow and frost in England it Is estimated that the British isles lost about one-third of their small-bird popdlatlon. Water rats, shrews and othera *11 dislike frost and snow because socb weather makes food more difficult to obtain. Otters, as a rule, make straight for the coast in a hard frost, and Uvs on dabs and flounders In the nnfroaen estuaries. Bven rats, which can generally look after themselves, dislike snow because ft makes their dark bodies too conspicuous to tbelr enemies and prevents them from moving about as freely as they otherwise wfpl4,>. - l . . A Hard Llfa.^ "Why dtd^ movies?" "It was this why" sad the ex-film actor. "1 drove a motor ear at 00 miles an hour off a pier into the sea, swim out to a retained boat and rescued the herolnfe. Cfttrted her to shqgft and fought a bfttfe with three maMs-hielleve atpqgglers and when rST.JJpJTS .sm V . ••• ii-' a*. . VRjnijftr pro$ptyjr,» ,fr. ;^.- "No. * He Ilttle lnore action please.' Then f Age-Herald. OLD name; back in "Mary" and "Eliza" Again In Btyle, AfUff Having Suffered a Tem», porary Eclipse. * OM-fHSMoned names are agtftn in style, and the greatest of them all-- Mary--heads the list of present day Detroit brides, says Bert Maloney, marriage license clerk. "I have a passion for the name of Mary," sang Byron, and many a poetical Detroiter will experience a cuddly feeling at the news that the old names are back again. > The popular Sarahs Anns* Agneses and Janes of Byron's time gave way to the Ermentrudes, Clarlsses and Ysobels of recent yesterdays, but now they're coming into their own again. Of course, "Mary" never went entirely out. There's something elemental In It that defies banishment. It's an ancient name of many tongues, symbolically connected with motherhood, with Isis and the moon and with the regeneration of man. Detroit News. T6a cant sell the lessons of experience ; you cant even give them away. Ton never can tell what a woman Jury la going to do. Nor a m'an Jury. ----RADIO SETS-- BBild Year Owl RadfeHeeehiBg Set Hd raoelT* dai lr eoaoerta, oMitet report*, ete. POotaMipi MM* St iMportttpaeuM w<iMth Sdnar aRtoos dM eodt a41 o*-r Baesett Radio Supply C*. SeptT. Naawfc,B. J. MAMS MONKY SPAKE TIMJC KTINING8 at home malting circulars. Band 3Sc (or booklet which tella jrou how. Towns Agency, I31C N. California Ave., Chicago, IUtnoia. YOU CAN color yonr hair easily, quickly end safely tp "'I'^olor atoter. Safe te eee as water. Bahea yoe leek jroeas ageta. At all seed dreatate, IS eeitte. or direei from BXSSIO-KUJa.amleu.jUaphis.Vl** ^pxcetMnt^Adyie* "Never refuse to see what you do not want to see or which might gc against your own cherished hypothesis or against the views of authorities. These are just the clews to follow up, as is also and emphatically so the thing you have never seen or heard of before. The thing you cannot get a pigeonhole for is the finger point show* lng the way to discovery." This advice to scientists and othera was given in a lecture by Sir Patrick Manson, the celebrated British physician who discovered that malaria ie cawed, by mosquitoes. Sir Patrick died, a Itow Weeks ago.--Exchange. Back to the Simple Life. Back to his native hut, there recently sailed from England a Stoath tiea islander, a direct descendant of a line of famous Fiji chieftains. He graduated from Oxford university, England, in 1009, served as a cook with the R. M. A. corps in France In 1916 and later as a clerk with the Royal Scotch Borderers, earning a bravery claBp and being medaled by King George. He has returned to the Sooth Pacific, deserting civilization to lire among his fellow FIJI Islanders. If vanity falls to catch a one disguise It assumes another. ^ Vy. | %u will find in fiostami delightful and satisfying mealtim# with no dement which cai| harm nerves and digestion * wakafai nights and 4iyK. Your grocer has Poatum tit two forms: -----, „ postum (in tins) made instantly in the cap by tbr ; 7 . addition of boffing water. Foetum Cereal On pack* ' ages of larger balk, for those wbo prefcr to mdhsltup ; I drink while the meal is being pmpsrdd) mad* ft?' , . toiling for fully 20 minutes. -.>:V .* • i.H ~ ^ * ISndsbr Poet una Cereal Co., Inc., Dattf* CSpeeir, WScSi'