Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-10-27
THE
Master Of the Mine.
by ROBERT BUCHANAN.

and a great ringing cheer, the boat was haul
ell nigh and dry, and We were safe.
NY first thought was OF Madeline. 1 lifted
hcr out In my strong arms, and carried her
into the shelter of the boat-house. Her face
and hands were cold as ice. and she was still
swooning. | called out for brandy; and,
thank God a man handed me a full flask.
Supporting her head upon my shoulder, |
moistened her lips with the raw spirit and
once more, In my wild anxiety, / breathed
her name.
Once more she opened her eyes and look
Ell upon me; still there was no sign what
ever Of recognition.
She looked VII, ~ round her, saw the rough
out kindly faces ~ every side, and muir
INJURED:
Where am !? Who calls meg,
You are quite safe" ] cried; safe, and
among friends"
Again she looked up into my face. As IL
stupeied. / held the flask to her lips. and
she seemed 10 swallow a little: then a shud-
DER ran through her frame, and she released
herself from my hold.
1 placed her on one OF the wooden seats.
and bent over her tenderly watching her.
Gradually | saw the color come back 10 her
cheeks tut very family.
Anita p she murnurcd. and looked round
as lf seeking some one.
The rough fellows, clustering in the boat
house, murmured ~ mpathiZingiy v; whispered
encomiums on her beauty passed from mouth
To mouth. And indeed she looked strangely
lovely, even in her desolation-her eyes
Frightening, her color coming and going. her
hair streaming over her shoulders. her neck
and arms and feet as white rs driven snow!
As her strength and consciousness return
ed, a new awe fell upon me, and / stood
timidly watching her.
She gaZed at me again.
Nov j understand" she said. ''TelI me
or the others; are they sayei?"
! told her the truth, and again she shud-
dered, half closing her eyes, as il to shut out
the picture OF the horrors OF the wreck. At
that moment some OF the life boats men ap-
poAred, leading with them the colored wo-
man, who, the instant she saw Madeline,
sprung toward her and knelt by her side,
Historically sobbing, and kissing her hands.
Madeline bent over her and addressed her
In some foreign Observation-Disclosures, | after
ward discovered. She answered volubly in
the same speech. | suspected the truth. that
this EEK girl was an attendant or waiting
maid OF some sort, and that Madeline was
her mistress.
Turning TO one OF the rescued sailors. who
had now approached and was phlegmatically
chewing n quid as II he had just been COM
fortsbly landed from a passing boat, | ques-
toned him concerning the lost vessel. She
was q large trading-steamer. he said, bound
from Demerara TO the port of London: her
name, the Valparaiso; her captain one John
Stetson, a good sailor, who had been killed
by the falling Of the foremost, and swept
overheard. Her passage across the Atlantic
had been smooth and pleasant; but the night
before she had experienced all the strength
of the great gale, and while c%ontendlng with
1t had broken her propeller. After that, she
had tried TO lie TO under sail, and had she
found sea-room would doubtless have been
able to weather the storm; but, as ill-luck
would have 1t, the rocks Oi Cornwall were
right under her lee, and the wind and sea
swept her down upon them.
| questioned him concerning that episode
OF the boat He explained that two OF the
boats had been smashed into fragments
when the ship first struck. The long-boat
remained, and at daybreak, after the cap
tain persisted, the first officer, ~fancying that
the ship was doomed, determined To make
for sh~e. All the crew followed him but
my informant and two others, who preferred
sticking by the steamer to facing certain
death. The men, in fact, were mad with
fright and drink combined, and for this rea-
SOL, perhaps, altogether forgot to wait for
Madeline, who had gone below.
SO the last boat left the ship. IL had not
gone far when Madeline reappeared. She
would have been swept away but for the as
sistance OF the sailors, who strapped her to
the mast as the only chance OF safety; and
as she stood there tcrror-stricken, she saw
the boat ingulfed with all It's crew, the same
sad sight which we had seen from land.
1t turned out, on further questioning, that
Miss Graham was the only passenger, and
occupied. with her colored maid, the cap
ain own cabin. Her father, a rich De-
merara planter, had died some months be-
fore she took passage, leaving her a great in
heritance. | had no time TO answer for my
self the many questions which crowded upon
my mind-Why Madeline had come 10 En-
gland? Whether she had any relations sur
viying In the old country? Whether any
living person, lover or friend, had the right
TO protect her? But | looked at her again,
and thought how different she was from all
the other women | had known, IN her queen
ly grace and warmth OF beauty. Beside her,
even my cousin Annie would have looked
coarse and common.
But there was no time to be lost, IL she
was to escape the consequences of that
nights exposure. She was still dripping
wet, and the morning air was bitterly cold.
You must not stay here" | said, APP
preaching her, "or You will catch your death.
Do you think you can ascend the cliffs? My
aunt's cottage is close by, and l should like
10 take you there Mt once"
She rose at once, shivering, and took my
arm. Half leading, half supporting her. l
guided her out OF the boat-house and up the
steec ascent leading to the summit of the
crag, my uncle helping her upon the other
side. Some Of the others followed, leading
the colored girl.
II was a steep climb; and before we had
gone far we found that her strength was fail
ing her, SO that we We're compelled to raise
her bodily In our arms; but she was light and
fragile enough, and, for my own part, l could
have carried her like a child.
Once on the summit, we rested again,
while some Of the men went in chase OF a
moor pony, one OF several grazing on the
moor hard by. Whom 1t was secured. and
bridled and bitted with q stout rope, l lifted
her upon IL, and placed the black girl by her
side; and tI.is, still holding her and walking
by her side, while the men followed behind
like o procession, i conducted her to onr cot
tage and handed her over to the care OF my
kind aunt
Thus God, in a mysterious fashion, had re-
stored to me the being who had been to Inc
Tor so many years a sweet memory and a de-
lightful vision. l felt strangely happy, yet
troubled; unable yet 10 realize what had
taken place. When my aunt had led Made
line to a chamber upstairs, where she tend
ed her with motteriy sympathy and tender
ness, ! sat In the kitchen, waiting and Won
dering, like one in n dream.
CHAPTER XIV.