Part 51 (1/2)
”Captain West's compliments, and he would be glad to see you in his cabin.”
”Thank you. My compliments and thanks to Captain West, and I shall call on him immediately.”
They exchanged bows; the officer turned, hesitated, glanced at the steward who stood by the port.
”Did you bring a radio message to Mr. Neeland?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Yes, I received the message,” said Neeland.
”The captain requests you to bring the message with you.”
”With pleasure,” said Neeland.
So the officer went away down the corridor, and Neeland sat down on his bed, opened the box, went over carefully every item of its contents, relocked it with a grin of satisfaction, and, taking it with him, went off to pay a visit to the captain of the _Volhynia_.
The bearded gentleman in the stateroom across the pa.s.sage had been listening intently to the conversation, with his ear flat against his keyhole.
And now, without hesitating, he went to a satchel which stood on the sofa in his stateroom, opened it, took from it a large bundle of papers and a ten-pound iron scale-weight.
Attaching the weight to the papers by means of a heavy strand of copper wire, he mounted the sofa and hurled the weighted package into the Atlantic Ocean.
”Pig-dogs of British,” he muttered in his golden beard, ”you may go and dive for them when The Day dawns.”
Then he filled and lighted a handsome porcelain pipe, and puffed it with stolid satisfaction, leaving the pepper-box silver cover open.
”_Der Tag_,” he muttered in his golden beard; and his clear eyes swept the starlit ocean with the pensive and terrifying scrutiny of a waiting eagle.
CHAPTER XIX
THE CAPTAIN OF THE VOLHYNIA
The captain of the _Volhynia_ had just come from the bridge and was taking a bite of late supper in his cabin when the orderly announced Neeland. He rose at once, offering a friendly hand:
”Mr. Neeland, I am very glad to see you. I know you by name and reputation already. There were some excellent pictures by you in the latest number of the _Midweek Magazine_.”
”I'm so glad you liked them, Captain West.”
”Yes, I did. There was a breeze in them--a gaiety. And such a fetching girl you drew for your heroine!”
”You think so! It's rather interesting. I met a young girl once--she comes from up-state where I come from. There was a peculiar and rather subtle attraction about her face. So I altered the features of the study I was making from my model, and put in hers as I remembered them.”
”She must be beautiful, Mr. Neeland.”
”It hadn't struck me so until I drew her from memory. And there's more to the story. I never met her but twice in my life--the second time under exceedingly dramatic circ.u.mstances. And now I'm crossing the Atlantic at a day's notice to oblige her. It's an amusing story, isn't it?”
”Mr. Neeland, I think it is going to be what you call a 'continued'
story.”