The Demon Cruiser

R. L. WHEELER.
Copyright, 1909, by James Sullivan. All Rights Reserved.
Published by THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A.
(Printed in the United States of America)

The ship Maxwell , Captain Roberts, homeward bound from Australia to New York, was bowling along upon her course under full sail.
It was a dark night, unrelieved save by the phosphor gleam of the seas around the vessel, and the light of the two lanterns hung up in the fore and mizzen rigging.
The Maxwell had one passenger—a gentleman named William Manton, who, having accumulated a fortune at Australia, was now returning to the United States, where his wife had died during his absence, but where he expected to find his daughter, Mary, and a young man of nineteen years old, living with an aunt in New York.
In an iron box the passenger carried his fortune—gold pieces, amounting in all to five hundred thousand dollars.
He kept the box locked up in his chest, which was provided with a patent lock, so arranged that it could not possibly be opened without a great deal of noise.
Occasionally Mr. Manton would go to this chest, and, taking out his money, look at it to see that all was safe. He was by no means either greedy or miserly; but he felt very anxious and careful about this money intended for his beloved child. That his death was not many years distant, he felt sure, as he had long suffered from an incurable complaint of the liver.