The Osceola times., 1885-03-21

lights, hencoops, etc, and huge wave
which swept the Decatur fore and aft,
from her tatfrail to the heel of her bow
spirit washing at the same time poor
Francis Drury, who happened to be
standing under the break of the poop,
up and down amongst loose spars. un-
derneath the iron-bound windlass, dash
ing him pitlessly against wood and
iron, here, there, and everywhere, like
broken reed; till when at last, dragged
by Leslie out of the rolling, seething
water on the maindeck, the rowing,
eager spirit seemed at last to have found
rest and his friend, as he smoothed the
long fair hair from oil the blood stained
forehead. mourned for him as for a
younger brother.
The unfortunate man was speedily
ascertained to be nothing but mass of
fractures and terrible bruises. such as no
human frame under any circumstances
could have survived; and well the
sufferer knew it; for in a brief interval
of consciousness, in moments respite
from awful agony, he managed to draw
something from around his neck,
which handing to his friend in the semi
darkness of the little cabin, whilst
above them the gale roared and
shrieked, officers and men shouted and
swore, and the timbers of the old Deca-
tur groaned and creaked like sentlent
things-he whispered so low that the
other had to bend close to the poor
dlsiigured face to hear it; For Mother
and Maggie; | was going to tell YOU
about-it, and Good d-bye" and then
with one convulsive shudder, and with
the dark blue eyes still gazing implor-
ingly up to those Of his friend, his
spirit took its flight
The gale has abated, the courses are
clewed up, topsails thrown aback and
the starry flag flies half-mast high. as
they commit his body to the deep, to
he turned into corruption; looking for
the resurrection of the body, when the
sea shall give up her dead" A sudden,
shooting plunge into the sparkling
water, aid Francis Drury's place on
earth will know him no more. Gone is
the gallant spirit, stilled the eager
heart forever, and Leslie's tears fall
thick and heavy-no one there deeming
bellying canvas urges the ship swiftly
onward on her course.
Only Quandong stone, of rather I'M
usual size, covered with little silver
knobs or studs, and to one end of which
was attached a stout silver chain. Les
lie, as he turned il over and over in his
hand, thinking sadly enough of its late
| owner, wondered much what he had
been about to communicate when Death
so relentless stepped in. The value Of
the thing as an ornament was but a
triile, and TO try as he might, Leslie
could find no indication that there was
aught but met the eye; a simple Aus
tralian wild-peach stone converted into
triile, rather ugly than otherwise. as
is the case with so many so-called
curtos. Still, as his friends last thought
and charge, it was sacred in his sight;
and putting it carefully away he deter
mined on landing at Melbourne. now so
near, to make it his first care to find out
Drury's mother and his sister
'Drury, Drury! Let me see! Yes;
of course. Mother and daughter,
brother, too, sometimes rather wild
young fellow; always 'on the go some
where or other. you know. Yes; they
used to live here; but they've been gone
this long time; and where to is more
than | can tell you; or think any body
else about here either
SO spake the present tenant of "Aca-
cia Cottage, st. kilda," in response to
Leslie's inquiries ut the address, to OBJ
tain which he had overhauled the effects
of the dead man, finding it at the COM
mencement of a two-year-old letter from
his mother, directed to "Algoa Bay"
finding, besides. some receipts of dia-
monds sold at Cape Town. and letter
of credit on Melbourne bank for five
hundred pounds; probably, so Leslie
thought TO himself. that measured
smile of which the poor fellow had
laughingly spoken to him in the earlier
days of their brief companionship.
The above was the sum-total of the
persistent efforts. including fruitess
trip to Hobart rt-obtain of the family or
their whereabouts; so, deposting the
five hundred pounds at one of the
principal banking institutions, and in
serting an advertisement in the Age
and Argus, Leslie having but little
spare cash, and his own fortune lying
still in deepest shadow, reluctantly, for
time at least, as he promised himself,
abandoned the quest.
Kaloola was one of the prettiest
pastoral homesteads in the northwest
ern district of Victoria; and its owner.
as one evening he sat in the broad
veranda, and saw on every side, far rs
the eye could reach, land and stock all
calling him master, felt that the years
that had passed since the old Decatur
dropped her anchor in Port Phillip had
not passed away altogether in vain;
and although omnious wrinkles began
TO appear about the corners of John
Lesie's eyes, and gray hairs about his
temples, the mans heart was fresh and
unseared as when, on certain day
twelve long years ago, he had shed
bitter tears over the ocean grave of his
friend. Vainly throughout these latter
years had he endeavored to find some
traces of the Drurys. The deposit
in the Bank of Australasia had
remained untouched, and had by
now swollen to a very respect
able sum. indeed. Advertisements in
nearly every metropolitan and provin-
cial newspaper were equally without
result; even "private inquiry" agents,
employed at no small cost, confessed
themselves at fault. Many hard fight
with fortune had John Leslie encoun-
tered before he achieved success; but
through it all. good times and bad. he
had never forgotten the dying bequest
left to him on that dark and stormy
morning in the Southern Ocean; and