Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1891-12-12

on the conclusion of that meal I re-
newed my proposition to go on deck.
81 we'll had 1 played the part OF q
dinlomat-for had made up my mind
tn Atom the eloplng couple at Shiers'
Landing in some way or Other-that
soon we were seated together on the
INNER deck. on the port side OF the
nilot- house, with the Spaniard pick
ING delightful strains from bis guitar.
Aside from my knowledge that an
-elopement was in progress and that
one of the parties thereto was quite
entertaining as musician, there was
no romance to the Situation. Dark
ness had enveloped all things, the asth.
matte churning of the boats engine
answered by the swirling swish of the
stern wheel were the only noises that
broke the stiffness of the night, while
the two basket torches on either side
of the forward part of the boat sent
gruesome shafts of light across the
narrow, winding stream, to disappear
in the darkness, of the forest on either
hand. There was no moonlight, no
sparkling waters and no songs Of
birds. In fact, ''tedious" would have
been exactly the word to express the
experience had it not beenfor Dego-'
lado's guitar and the fact that my
mind was in active operation trying
to devise some scheme whereby /
might circumvent the music teacher.
I weighed the chances of picking a
quarrel with him, Of having him ar
rested, of bribing the captain to put
him ashore and of various other
plans, but I abandoned all of them to
subside in a condition of logged pa
thence, determined to take advantage
of whatever pretext or opportunity
might present itself. Knowing Miss
Eastman thoroughly and confident
that her susceptibility and impulsive-
ness had been made use of in a most
rascallYnmanner by Degolado, I was
to go to almost any extreme
to save her from a life of regret.
The opportunity came suddenly and
Unexpectedly, for as DegoladO was in
the midst of a performance Of a
dreamy waltz, there came direful
creaking of the old crafts crazy up
per-works, accompanied by an omin-
Gus shock as she stopped abruptly,
sending a great tremor from stem to
stern and causing the frail, flat-bot-
toned thing to list in a very disa-
greeable way.
simultaneously with the Captains
bell to STOP. the engineer ceased its
working, the fussy splutterings of the
wheel were silenced and as l assisted
Miss Eastman to regain her feet, I
heard her calculate in suppressed
undertone filed with disgust: 1.-THE
coward!" Not under
the cause of such speech
at a time, I glanced astern just in
time to see Degolado, picture Of
fear, running furiously away from us.
Meanwhile, the bow holding fast in
the sand, the boat, carried by the cur
rent of the stream, swung her stern
around until her wheel was among
the branches Of huge, half PROSTATE
sycamore on the bank. AS she did
this a gust of wind caught the fire
in the basket torch, sending out a
great flare of light and in the brill
fancy of the illumination we-Miss
Helen and myself saw the terror
stricken figure of Degolado, as, with
a flying leap, it launched out over the
paddle wheel, landing dry and safe
upon the luxuriant bush of the tree
and but few feet from the red clay
bank below.
'sIt strikes me tibet this yer end o.
this yer boat hez got there!" said
Capt. Medler quietly as he stepped
from the pilot house to 60 below, San
while we're shiftin' the truck aft to
float 'er of, ~yOu-aH better take our
small boat an go ashore fer that
Their id fool over yon," pointing
toward Degolado, who was labori-
ously finding his way from the tree
branch to the ground. Meanwhile
Miss Eastman, very pale and much
agitated, sliced me by the arm, say
ing, ''Take me to the cabin, please"
did as requested and no sooner
had the young lady reached the COM
parative seclusion of the cabin, than
throwing herself upon a much worn
settee, she bust into tears moaning:
80, what a coward! what wretched
coward"
Not being an adept at handling
women in tears and for the want of
better in the way Of
speech, 1 remarked: "You can stay
here while I'll go see what can do
toward getting Degolado
slack, if you lift finger toward
that man back on to this
boat, I'll never speak to you as long
as live!" said Miss Helen with an
born of instantaneous
and absolute composure. 'Pve made
a wretched exhibition of myself and
- ~,o,, e., ha1v> mn hooly IN MN