Picture-Play Magazine (Oct-Nov 1915)

PICTURE-PLAY WEEKLY 21 they could be made, he found her i4 j ie at last — in the wireless cabin. The ri ; of Bagol were already far beJ and the sea was again smooth, unken, and empty in every direction, a s Irvessa's swift turbines were cleavtheir way cleanly on their race to nila. 3, ,|jow that he had found her, Pinckhesitated before Frances. Nicholas . told him something of what she I done during the trouble ashore, and tried to say some of the things he I prepared. But as he found her re at the key, sending the call for San Juan back over the sea to the :jn whom he had deserted, he stamred as he started to speak. If you would not stay, I can find out this way, at least, if he — if they, are e !" said Frances, without glancing from the signaling key. San Juan! Lieutenant Sommers ! i Juan!'' she called again and again, hundred times more, as the blank ,prs of that pitiless afternoon slipped she steadied herself to the task. Oh, I suppose there's no one else . _ board who can operate ! He must e been killed !" she cried. But as night began to fall and the j'ift little Irvessa was passing swiftly ■ond the reach of even wireless comnication from Bagol, there came an f.wer. j Irvessa — Miss Durant !" The now , niliar far-off touch had recognized fs. "Glad to report,'' the message rted steadily, bringing the blood to cheeks, "no serious casualty among " men ; and " JBut at this the girl sank beside her truments, crying joyfully: "He's e ! They're — he's safe !" j CHAPTER III. RIVAL MEN AND RIVAL GUNS. Ift. scratch high up on the shoulder, .anly cut by a sharp, steel bullet, is a I all thing for a proud father to pay | the price of the discovery that his 1.ld does not wince under fire. So, ien Pinckney went to see his host, r. Durant was not only slighting his 'n hurt, but was willing to look Jon the whole Bagol adventure with liency. I For the more or less serious injuries almost a third of the crew and for fc grave danger to all, Mr. Durant had >ly reprehension. But Pinckney was extraordinarily relieved to find that, instead of calling him to account for all, his host was disposed to dismiss him with a friendly scolding for his "recklessness and foolhardiness, my dear boy." Pinckney knew from painful past experience that his employer on occasion could show as human an outburst of temper, for all the millions of dollars that were as a pedestal that set him above his fellow men, as the average healthy individual when things go wrong; and he was glad to escape the "wigging" he had half expected. So he left his employer in a decidedly more favorable frame of mind than he could possibly have hoped for. But, as he was a wise young man and recognized that a cooler consideration of some features of this adventure might prove less favorable, Pinckney determined upon immediate and engrossing occupation for his host, in spite of his condition. Unfortunately, he found that he could not adjust things with Frances quite so easily. She shut herself up in her cabin, except when she was watching beside her father and the wounded men, and she made Pinckney's entrance an excuse to leave. But he promised himself that Frances would "come around" again very soon. If her father continued favorable, Frances, too, must surely "fall in line again." So his immediate object was to keep the father interested by plunging him at once into the vital business affairs which had brought him to the Philippines. Consequently, early on the second morning, and long before the lookout had sighted even Boca Grande — the great mouth of Manila Bay — Pinckney was in wireless communication with both the government and private stations at Cavite and Manila. The government stations promised that Mr. Durant's official friends would come to meet the wounded gun manufacturer as soon as the yacht should anchor. Pinckney's private messages commanded, besides ambulances and doctors for the wounded sailors, that Marsh, Durant's chief designer, who had been sent to Manila by a liner, should come to meet the Irvessa at once. For Pinckney knew that Marsh would have news of the affairs with which Mr. Durant was most concerned. Those affairs consisted chiefly of the acceptance by the government board at Washington of the new naval and coastdefense gun which Mr. Durant was to manufacture — the Rheinstrum gun which Mr. Durant was discussing so earnestly when Frances first found the San Juan by wireless. Pinckney himself had procured for Mr. Durant the patents and exclusive right to manufacture this gun from an obscure man known as Rheinstrum. If the government adopted this gun for their heavier navy and coat-defense armament, it meant to Pinckney the greatest coup in his career. For the manufacture of these guns alone would tax the entire force of the Durant plants for two years, and promised good profits, in spite of the extortionate royalty of six thousand dollars demanded by Rheinstrum on every sixinch gun manufactured, with an additional royalty of one thousand dollars an inch for every caliber inch over six. The government board's decision had been held up for some months ; but if it. had been made during the Irvessa's voyage, Marsh might have exciting news, indeed, for Mr. Durant. Exciting it was — to Marsh, at any rate. For he had come out with the quarantine doctors on the little tug with the yellow flag, which stopped the yacht far from the anchorage. "Mr. Durant! Mr. Durant!" The nervous little designer sprang up to the yacht's decks as the doctors examined the crew hastily and passed them. "1 must see Mr. Durant ! He sent for me. I'm Marsh, from the Durant works!" he explained to one of the crew who stopped him. "Beg pardon, sir ; but Mr. Durant's hurt, and still asleep. Orders, sir," protested the sailor, "is that any one's to be taken to Mr. Pinckney first, for " "Whose orders?" "Mr. Pinckney's, sir." "I guess so!' ejaculated the little man. "But I guess, too, I'll see Mr. Durant, or " "Oh, Marsh ! So it's you disturbing the ship at this time in the morning !" Pinckney's easy voice interrupted calmly, as he came from his cabin. He took the other cordially by the arm, and led him down the deck. "Mr. Durant is being dressed ; so he'll have to wait. But come to my cabin, Marsh." TO BE CONTINUED.