RED HAIR fe
and /W\y
BLUE SEA
STANLEY R. OSBORN
?C ILLUSTRATIONS BY HENRY JAY LEE
COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES SCRJBNER"S SONS
WHAT M VPPEN'KD e.EFOKK
i\ l?v s.vitii: ,t ham] thrust through
?tf iurl -.f h- r r.iiitn Jnuke* ;t se?-ret
'? -? ->r . ci i .? <n .if' ?I:jsc.>v?-rs , itow.i" She
liciiiixiintfil in hr* mild .ipiw-.ir.irv- nn>I
h ; m - ? sh*1 ;*??#*?* i T;in n . ? , shr-1'iii*'
huo.1-m.in with -i ten in. h knli'e held I-*- i
;-A?-n ?? lip*' Murk*- th?? Mow iw ?y.
.?xi.liins rh.-.t it is a i*.k- Cut I'siliiiyrn ?.*? 1
*h:i ?<???! tl.-iy. Mil *"???* -i nd the brown
r.i:m ?? up on ih a Tiie *tnwnwiiv oncer-,
nuns r i ? with wld * ??!?*?? >>f an adventure
? .-in- ; * ? -which his listener* refuse to be- j
!>** "! x *rt read on!
CHAPTER III.
K N K M I ES? A N D FRI E X OS
Some sixteen days later in Mrs.
Crawford's cabin a conference was
under way.
"But. my dear, my dear." Palm
yra's mother was protesting, "how
can you <ny everything's going right,
when Palm spends most of her time
listening to that, that miserable stow
away; that ? human toad. Her fath
er is beside himself with anxiety."
The man niadeQ a deprecatory
sound.
"Events.'* said the hostess impres
sively. "have only too well shown
that I. that we intervened just in
time. Y >ur daughter was <>n the
verge < f falling in love with John
Thurston."
The father uttered a protest.
"I don't see we've gained any
thing//
"But where are your eyes?" de
manded the hostess. "As I said in
California. Van, with his refined
personality, fits into the yacht's cab
in like The Young King Charles' in
to a gilded frame. Thurston, on the
contrary, is a great, robust being.
He looks well enough ashore, but
here, in these little compartments,
on thi narrow deck, his hands and
feet seem in the way.
She paused to smile at them reas
suringly.
"Surely, with *!<)hn at his worst,;
Van it hi- !?es'.? need we fear?'*
>i ,nwhil -, i'< nstance Crav ford
wa- forwar;! at the Rainbow's bow,
sailing through ;ne tropic nr.ut iron
enchanted waters.
When J: Vm Tl>j;r.-t. n presently
joir.fd < i' ir.j'ce. she Uo!:>''i u:? with
a 1'vown. "l was just thinking," she
t\}!tned. "thai I "aim Ire" dosen't ,
at all rea :::e whut Pmrke may be get
ting ir * ? i'is mind, ie neiieve the lit- (
tie i'raM's ? ; t. it -,'ufK' 1 up over the I
idea 1. i's mad > something of a con
quest."
Thurst >n answered rather aosent
ly. "Anyho.v," he said. "Hurke's
over the sid ? at Honolulu an<i gone
forever."'
She assented.
John was silent for some time.
Then: "Pd like to g>o, too,*' he burst
out. "I. I've been tr*'; ' ? tell you
I've taken your advice: asked her to
become my wife."
"Yes," she answered without mov
ing, "I know."
"She told you?'* he exclaimed. j
"No. You did."
He was chagrinned. "Suppose I
do look like that," he .said.
"On the contrary. Yon*ve been
splendid." She glanced up friendlily.
"But I still think it was the right
thine: to do. A week or two hence ?
absolutely no hope. Oh. why didn't
you speak in California? She origi
nally liked you best. I'm sure of it.
Does still, if she only knew. Or."
Constance added ruefull** " would if
they'd let her alone."
laughed with some bitterness.
"Oh. I know what you mean."
Ho fell into a sudden petulance.
When Thurston spoke again it was
apparently in an effort to get into
a more cheerful vain.
"Seemingly," he said,#" I have an
other well-wisher aboard."
With a pocket flashlight he made
visible for her a small object of wo
ven fibre: a bark cord wound rourd
a packet perhaps two inches square.
"When I came on deck this morn
ing," he explained, "Olive incarnalcd
himself before me. Looked about
furtively, jctkeu my cojat-iails un,
fastened this round my wrist. Th?.n
he gave me a friendly grin and van
ished."
"E5ut," she puzzled, "what is it?"
"Inside there's a bit of fine mat,
seven hairs and a tooth," ? a good
luck charm.
"But, but why. .
"How should I know?"
She was thoughtful. " At any
rate," she said finally, "he seems to
he wishing you good luck."
She examined the amulet again
with an absent attention. Then, the
smile fading from her lips: "John,
promise me you will not leave the
Rainbow at Honolulu."
The yacht was pushing on at h?r
best pace, setting up such a lively
stir at her prow as to achieve the
small, private rainbow for which she
had been named. i
Burke and Palmyra were x.n deck
Burke wji- quizzically regarding the
pensive Palmyra.
As t h- utrh defining her very (
thoughts, he spoke
"Excuse me, Miss." he said. "Those
others ? a sligmly contemptuous
gesture. "They're tame. That's
what ? tame. But you? Why. you're
different. Y'sure wasn't intended
for their l:t tie ol* birdcage kind of
life. Nature meant y'for something
lively-like, something: up and doing."
The tfirl laughed. "Nature," she
said, "meant me for a pirate. It's in
my blood." she affirmed. "First, a
Norseman ravaging the coasts of
England. Then, a British admiral
ravaging everything ?????;. And lastly,
old Captain Ebenezer. with John'
Paul Jones, descending once more
upon the coasts of England."
Burke grinned in admiration.
The girl turned to go; then paus
ed. laughing hack at him over her
shoulder. "You, Ponape Burke."
she said, "you and I ? I'm afraid
we were born too late."
At the rate the Rainbow was sail
ing, it was evident the yacht must
soon make a landfall. Indeed, nn
ready eyes were *>eoring through
powerful glasses seeking for the
first shadowy silhouette of the peeks
of Oahu.
As the Rainbow raised the pano
rama of dead craters that stands ;
rather barren, above the verdant
town of Honolulu, none upon her
decks was so expectant as Palmyra |
Tree. For from the chaff of Ponape
Burke's narration she had winnowed
the clean grain of beauty and ro
Palmtree understood. For there in
the advertisement was a palmtree.
The upraised hand had symbolized
1 the palm ? herself Olive had sought
to give her a ring with her name
upon it.
When the hour of leavetakfng
came, however, he seemed to have
re-entered the silenee, and the fare
wells devolved upon Ponape Burke.
As this little stowaway reached
her in his round he achieved a sim
ple eloquence of feeling. "You've
been kind t'nie miss," he said. I
ain't a-going t'forget it. Nor you."
She shook hands with an unas
sumed friendliness. "I'm sure,"
she said, "we shall see you again."
Sharply he glanced at her, as if
eager to know whether sh?* really
had such a hope. Then ho
shrugged, isiv.nd-wisc. "It*-* :t large
ocfean lady. With yon an. I mo it's
just lights passing in the daik; a
hail, and then? ncth>?;g "
A minute later I*almyra'a pirates
were swinging over the side into
their boat.
Burke raised his head jauntily. But
it was at the savage tin* girl
looked. Over the white man's shoul
der he seemed to be watching h^r to
the end with chat strangely expres
sionless but intent stare.
Palmyra faced abrubtly away and
snatched the rin.* her fiiU'c-J.
"Yes," she whisnered, "I I'm certain
ly glad to have seen the last of him."
One short week ashor" mid the good
ship Rainbow was at sea again.
Bound she was now for the heart ??!
In the blinding roar, ail she knew was that Van's arms
were round her, that he held h er safe. Never did she suspect
it was another pair of arms s he owed her life.
ma nee that is the life of this island
world of the palm tree. Her imma
gination \Vas a -glow.
Through the gateway of Honolulu
j she was to sail on into this world
where happiness is queen.
She was to sail across the track
[ less sea as those brown mariners of
old.
As the girl, thus deep in reverie,
stood watching the distant ~eaks,
she became aware of a presence at
her side. Turning, she started upon
encountering the brown man Olive.
, He gave tongue to a few syllables
(paused perplexed, then fell back up
on pantomime. The hour of depar
ture had come. Soon Burke and he
would go over the side and, forever,
into oblivion.
Palmyra smiled. She tried to ov
ercome her aversion, to respond to
his attempted farewell. As he had
done, she moved to speak, found her
self helpless, returned the smile.
The brown man, thus countenanc
ed, laid the square finger upon her
own breast. Having thus identified
the girl as the being of the drama he
raised his hand , with extended arm,
straight over his head. She thought
he invoked One above. But she
gave this up when she saw that he
waggled, fluttered the fingers.
When she shook her head, regret
fullv. he abandoned the upraised
hand as futile He brought out a
rir Palmyra Tree had never seen
such a ring: tortoise shell inlaid with
silver: There were letters on it;
seemingly one word, thrice repeated
and separated by discs ? the word
Olive pointed to the letters, then
to the girl and once more held aloft
the hand with the moving fingers.
But again she shook her head.
The brown man stood baffled.
Then, grinning anew, he hurried
away forward.
The savage, presently returning,
thrust into the girl's hand a litho
graph, an advertisement of Egyptian
cigarettes.
He pointed to the silver letters of
the ring and pronounced the word
"Ni," then to her with a second "Ni."
and to the picture with a third. He !
dropped the ring into her fingers. I
At last the girl who was named
, Oceanica, the Equatorial isles of
Micronesia. As the yacht was to put
John Thurston aboard a Philippine
transport at Guam, only a little
southing;. said the hostess, would
take them in among: the Gilberts,
the Marshall?, the Carolines, that
Milky Way of atolls along the line
of which Ponape Burke had talk
ed so alluringly.
What Mrs. Cawford did not ex
plain was that the rial duty, as she
saw it, lay in depriving Turston's
long legs of a chance, in this less
cramped setting of Honolulu, to
snap back to perspective.
By rejecting: both her lovers ?
Van shortly after John ? Palmyra
had gained a reprieve from that
question as to whether she were in
love with one man or just dandy
good pals with two.
The peaks of Oahu sank back into
the moana, the deep, deep ocean,
whence they had risen One day,
two days, four, six upon a tempera
mental sea; a whole week of heavy
skies and rain and storm seemed to
have carried the girl no further.
A second week came and went; a
week of summer sea and lusty trades
and flying yacht. But still no an
| swer.
The third week came- and neared
] its end. Intermittent now the
j for they touched the equatorial zone
| of light and variable airs. A whole
I day through, perhaps, the Rainbow
I would scarcely move.
Slowly, unconsciously, Falmyra
I had been responding to the condi
j tions created by the wily Mrs. Craw
j ford. As the breeze, with each knot
, of westing, had been sinking more
j dangerously into the doldrums, the
j breath of her on feeling had stirred,
j risen fresh, fair, constant, until it
i reached the deep sweep of a mai
' den's first acknowledged love.
Gladly she was confessing it now,
this belated recognition of^ love for
the man of her parent's choice, Van
Buren Rutger.
i And she must have treated John
| Thurston abominably. With each
. moment that she gave herself more
convincedly up to live, her pity for
I Thurston grew
But when, on the twenty-second
evening out frum Honolulu ? tomor
row they were to sight their first
atoll ? the hour came for the formal
announcement of her betrothal, the
girl was radiantly happy.
True, at the moment when Mrs.
Crawford spoke, it was upon the face i
of John Thurston that Palmyra's
eyes rested, and she could hut wince j
?it the flash of pa n there revealed. |
But no girl in love, can on her be- ,
trothal night. long be unhappy over
the face of a rejected suitor.
So it was. that night, as Palmyra
lay asleep in her stateroom, her body
gently moving with the lift and fail
of the yacht in the mid-Pacific
aim. there was a tender smile upon
her ljps.
And the tender smile was ^st ill
lingering, in an alluring warmth and
sweetness and beauty, when the
Rainbow, caught all unaware by a
sudden squall, came down with a
c rash upon the teeth of a reef ? that
should not have been there.
On a craft such as the Rainbow
interest naturally centers about the
navigation.
What better then for Mrs. Craw
ford in her amiable intrigue than
to set up Van Buren Rutger as a
"entleman navigator? How more
pleasantly important than, hand
some, graceful, jaunty in his white
uniform he poised with sextant to
take the sun or bent over the charts
with Constance and the Wampolds
and Palmyra?
In so featuring Van as a yachts
! man ? he was no more than a fairly
competent amateur ? the hostess had
meant that Pcdersen in the back
ground should unostentatiously check
up on his work at every point.
Bllt. . ;
The sailing master was a man
vain, self-important, jealous of his
prerogatives, touchv as to his dig
nity.
Not understanding Mrs. Craw
ford's motive, he chose to regard
the arrangement as an imputation
upon his seamanship, his fitness ?
which he himself doubted ? longer
to command.
Van soon discovered then that this
sick and sulky old man was only
making an outward show; in reality
having nothing whatever to do with
the navigation, leaving the fato of
tihe yacht absolutely in Van's own
hands.
A certain inability to take a stand
in anything unpleasant, difficult, to
make up his mind and act in an
emergency, kept Van at first from
telling the hostess. Later he contin
ued with an object. He knew she
did not truly rely on him in this
showy fraud of navigation; he sus
pected Palmyra was not deceived.
Knowing his own weakness, he had
the weal; man's fear of seeing that
knowledge reflected in the fact., of
others. Therefore, he would,, with
out aid, sail the Rainbow ttl and
through the Line island groups. And
then, when at last he told the girl,
she could not but admire his perfor
mance
On the night of the wreck, Van ?
really heroic in persisting against a
quacking unconfidence that kept him
often awake ? had stolen on deck in
the mid-watch to reassure himself.
His first glance told him the clouds
were gathering for a squall.
Like most unadventuresome per
sons, Van rebelled at being thought
timid. Before rousing the watch he
paused to make sure the clouds
meant wind. As he studied the sky
he gradually became aware of a low
sound as of an express train far
away. Startled, he swept the sea;
then laughed in self-contempt. More
than once lately in dreams or wak
ing he had sprung up at that fan
cied sound of surf. 'Hie yacht should
not have land aboard until late the
next day. To call out there was an
island, a-lee, if there were none,
would be to make himself absurd.
Staring now up at the blackening
sky, again off into the gloom of sea,
he stood, balanced in suspense be
tween his fear of storm and lee
shore. and his dread of ridicule. For
this first time Van heid life and
death in his hands ? and could not
uecioe WAat to do.
The sound of surf bein?
minimum after tw? d?M' p?"
first breath of the squall , '
tt-e yacht befor,- Van wa< . ?
on 'th? aCt'?? by ^'"Coverin^TS
?n the port bow. a dim t brt*
simethmg against th(. skv
h. uette of palms sk>? th? ^
I.ut even as the doomed f' , I
in the precious remainin..
ments a bewildered crew
execute incoherent orders ? ? J>
yacht was beaten down u?o? ,l
waiting coral. ' n til
Following the crash upon th- I
Thurston picked hims?lf '??
scrambled to the deck just ?,P *
came roaring aboard. Save, i""
spring to the rigging h, w?i, ^ 1
chance to reach I'edcrsen ^ 1
condition he had sensed
round! h"
or "crazy!" drU"k" he "0
7he ?^er quailed under <.* i
lig"ht in Thurston's eye. ^
^Get below."
'I 11 take charge," ThuM^n
nounced. *nurtk0n a*
The P.umps showed that the wnri
"?< taking water badly Such 1
as could be launched were got re3?
.... hf., m?n obeyed unquestioning!
The liked, respected Thurston if
knew little of ships but they rec*
nized in his voice the quality
command. M '"'
During the hours which follow^
l, "e" hav* seemed to P,T?
>ra that the wreck had been arranr
out th rr??U' ,)urpn:"" <>f brinp?
out tne difference between S?
Th"!?,on ?."d Van Buren Rutger
c? in * ? n was soon sodden win
cusing misery. Thurston's ,Dw!
nwh b,"oy,nn'- The man was screw,
methodical, busy. And he had v
tion at last; intense, vital. |n fipki l
tag to save the woman he loved hi I
could forget, for the moment .hi
he had lost her forever.
f-itiln7e TVi?n wns so,,n a?dedn win
eve^hour "e"ned frwh'"'
It had been decided to leave th.
women in the cabin where thev hid
been penned, rather than risk th.
companion' br0kC ab?Ut th" afl?
fr-J^. conscious .fn^t
of d^r hh? !,",r",h"'1 j" the hand!
Ol diath. that he must save her
He rushed toward the cabin 'com.
| aiiioinvav lief,, re anyone nottaj
in other V" v" "pt'" in thl' f:" 1 ?'
. A second later he mu
water. " 8teps l'-v th<' f'-dii*
.." I. and out again on th ? ch
? **'?!, at a warning cr\\ tli?i r*
L. perceive \vhit
I ,that , delivered the*
hint ,St"l'Pillg -hoi' he | o'.eJ
; ^ i lest reare.l above the
Sat 'T '!'"/ its,'lf lik'' <?*'?
horror "ri;t ' lh" >prin>-'- V:'?
stricken, stnruu one wu
1^ an io?."d f,'i>ZO" his tl !lK'
been uo " % 11 wou'<l
list in - ?m that sli!?>eiT
' '?> " !'oth mall and girl w?ok
boa^rr.tl:avebet,,c"Sed -
Viiuiing roar, r.li she k?r
that h ." l i" -S.arms wc,'e round h?,
that he helo her saf>. y?VPr did
she su pe t it was another Z
?f arms she owed her |.u
ut all these revelations. th.?
manifestations of the wenknes o'
John rT", Rut>rer- [l * strength (I
John 'huraton, the ^rl noted n,?
i j n'ffht of her betrothal sh?
T?U'd?;carce|y have been like, un
der an..- c ircumatancos, draw om '
parison?. And here .':,.' nels Z
'^fusion and ,l,e vol of
^ f yi\"ed witb Tliurcton him
self to h de the truth.
sto^n!'"yl ' '?ve we?-bered the
storm, unquestioning, serene.
fT.ntinued next week.)
: SPRING TIME IS BUILDING TIME
if you are going to build anything, it will pay
you to see us. We carry a complete line of all
i building materials. Have just received a car
load of Sheetrock, the famous wallboard, also
car of Red Cedar Shingles, Barretts roofing
and asphalt shingles, and car galvanized roof
ing.
See us for your wants. Our prices are right.
MOORE SUPPLY COMPANY
MURPHY, N. C.
, -