The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-02-24

mix, won't you?"
"Oh, can't; Pm married, you know"
"Oh, yes-thats true; l forgot it for the
moment"
'But Nannev'
"Nannie?" Well, you can tell her, if you
like. No; wait. On the whole think I'll
let her find it out by accident. If should
look little like an act of the good fox of the
fable. A weak child of luxury cannot, with
a good grace, suddenly declare himself to be
a giant virtue to one who has always been
giantess. She has long been above me, Tom,
and hope that night of meditation will
put me into fit state for presentation to her
tomorrow. Good by"
He disappeared. Mr.. Townsend went
home and told his wife that there was hero
ism in the world.
At dusk Miss Mamie sat alone in her gar
den with her plaid drawn up about her shout
ders and neck. Her head hung down, and
she wept in silence. This sense of solitude
and desertion was new to her, In the day.
time the gay sunlight had furnished her with
distractions; but now she was in the dark,
listening to the dreary roar of the waters and
the still more dreary murmurs and upbraid-
ings of her heart,
At 8 O'Clock man appeared before her; it
ground.
There was shrek. But it was nobody
but the Daphne's sailing master. He was in
search of the owner. Miss Mamie replied
that she did not know where he was. The
man made a gesture of surprise, which did
not escape the young lady's notice. He inti-
mated that he had come here because he had
been successful in all his previous searches.
This was innocent on his part, but Miss Nan
IL l,oI uoI -, 41,A IL Low
about to retire, when Miss Mamie asked him
what his errand was
This led to telling her of the attempted
transfer of the yacht to Mr.. Ponder.
Miss Mamie sprang to her feet.
but Mr.. Ponder, mem, won't take the
boat, nor have anything to do with her be-
cause four of the men have gone off into town
and there bent enough left to sail her to-mor
row.
Miss Mamie excited beyond measure, fired
half dozen questions straight into the mat
ter.
Then did the yacht still belong to its old
owner? Yes. Was it certain he could be
found in time to rectify matters? The cap.
tain shook his head. Then, unless the men
were secured and brought back, the race
would be lost? Emphatically, yes. Where
were the men, in all likelihood? In some of
the liquor shops of the town. Were there
many OF these places? About five hundred.
Would the captain assist her to find the run.
aways2 with admiration.l Yes.
To this pass, then, had she come! In a
manner infused with iron, she ordered out her
coachman, and then her pony phaeton and
light spring wagon; then she ordered her
coachman into the latter, and babe him follow
where she and the captain led in the other We
hicle.
Thus arranged, the party made search for
the recreants. They descended into the low
ermost and tie vilest parts of the adjacent
city, and Miss Mamie with her skirts gathered
in front of her, pushed, without the smallest
hint of recoil into the dens which she saw.
When she appeared, brawling ceased, men
put down their liquor, and the proprietors adj
vanced and asked respectfully what she want
ed. The first of the crew she saw was lying
like log upon the floor of foul back parlor.
The captain and coachman took him by the
heels and shoulders and placed him in the
wagon. Miss Mamie redeemed his cap for
one dollar, Che had pawned it to the barkeep-
er for ten cents worth Of some terrible drink,
aud then she drove on to the next place, four
doors off. The next sailor with Daphne's
uniform was about engaging in fight. He
had already been knocked down, and was
covered with blood. He dropped instantly as
Miss Mamie pointed him out with her whip
anu oiO Ald6 SSotlClCA olCutlys Ills CdpbuIC
staggered to the wagon of his own accord.
Then the hunt went on till midnight. At
that hour all the bars were closed, and yet
there remained quite hundred unsearched.
Despair? They paused in the dark and de-
serted streets. The coachman was surly, and
it began to rain. Suddenly the fighting sal
lor, probably grateful for his salvation from
thrashing, suggested, "Station 'ouse, num-"
They drove there in a hurry. Law had
seized upon fifty individuals. Miss Mamie,
with her head swimming with sickness, de-
and searched the motley and noisome crowd.
The two sailors were there. They were in a
drunken sleep, and they were lifted bodily
and taken to the wagon, where they rolled
and groaned with the other two.
Thus triumphant, the cotrege returned to
the neighborhood of the beach and the boats.
The captains yawl lay beside a pier, and into
it two of the sailors were lifted. The captain
rowed them off TO the yacht, whose light
was to be seen in the distance. In twenty
minutes he came back again. Then the re-
naming two were deposited in the boat.
Miss Mamie then climed down into the stern
sheets. The coachman and the captain Won
dered. She addressed the first: "Drive
home and say that shall sleep on the Daph
ne tonight" Then she addressed the sec
ond: II am going to make sure that no
other mishaps occur. Give way, please, Eve
got the tiller-ropes."
All that night she sat, Argus-eyed, upon
the damp deck, careless alike of the fog and
the land-swell. She fondly believed that she
was preventing mischief. She did not sigh
or nod, but at every creak of the cordage, or
flicker of the lantern over her head, started
up to look. She would not have known it if
the yacht were sinking, or drifting ashore,
but it pleased her to watch all the same.
She often half wished that George would row
up and catch her sitting there, and she fout-
ed the ignoble desire only to make room for
it to return again. She was full of heroics.
Her courage swelled with every one of the
dismal hours. She was changed woman,
so she decided. Her little burst of enegy had
filed her with valor. What could she not
do? She ignored her speeches of the morn
ing. and thought Polly had been silly soft
with her.
But where was George?
Supreme anxiety and sense of supreme
worth exercised his spirit, and she longed for
daylight in order that she might "do."
At meridian, or Whereabouts, on the next
day, the great race of 1878 was coming home
with a northeast breeze, and all Springtde
was mad. The hills were covered with
throngs of gazers, and the waters were packed
with boats and barges, which were packed in
turn with ladies and the critics who did not
yacht. The wide course was clear, and the
Judges sloop alone seemed to block the way.
The six racers were bearing straight down
two miles off. Artillery doomed, bands play
ed, and the throngs on the outermost high
lands began to breakup, and to stream to-
ward the goal in order to see the finish.
Like great Damon, hard upon the moment,
a wherry dashed out from the shore and
made for the judges boat in spite of the cries
and commands Of the water police.
Townsend and his fevered, sweet compan-
ionssaw it.
''Hurrah Here's Georgew
Twenty hands were stretched out to help
him up. In light of the whispers which,
since daylight, had been circling about the
town concerning the Daphne, and Miss Nam
ME and himself, he was the incarnate mys-
terry. He was in a blaze of excitement. He
took Townsend's arm. "How could help
coming back, Tom? I smeIled the eastern
wind from the ocean twenty miles in the
country, and turned my horse around d.
rectly. Look at that STRIP Gle pointed to
the race) "Who says that is unworthy of
manly admiration % He put number of
rapid questions. Tom protested great igno-
rance. All that he found out at the moment
was that all the yachts, the Daphne and the
Petrol among them, had sailed as had been