Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-05-04
ON THE SOUTHERN SEAS,

other in their worthless misery as the
wind died away aud the tattered rem
nants of the sail hung motionless after
a last faint flutter. The thing that sat
aft-for surely so grotesquely horrible
n vision could not be a man-pointed
with hands like talons of a bird of prey
to the purple outline Of the island in the
west, and his black. blood-baked lips
moved, opened and essayed to speak.
The other being that, with bare and
skinny arms clasped around its bony
knees, sat crouched in the bottom of the
boat, leaned forward to listen.
"Ducie Island, Enderby, said the first
In a hoarse, rafting whisper; mo one
is on it; but water is there . and
plenty of birds and turtle, and a few
~cocoanuts."
At the word "water" the listener gave
Q curious, gibberish chuckle, unclaped
his hands from his knees, and crept
further toward the speaker.
"And the current is setting us down
to it, wind or no wind. / believe we'll
see this pleasure trip through after all"
and the black lips parted in a hideous
grimace.
The man whom he called Enderby
sank his head again upon his knees, and
his dulled and bloodshot eyes rested on
something that lay at the captains feet
the figure of a woman developed from
her shoulders down in a ragged, native
mat.
The black-wiskered man who steered
looked down for a second upon the face
beneath him with the for
others born of the agony of thirst and
despair. and again his gaunt face turn
ed TO the land. Yet she was his wife,
and not six weeks back he had expe-
rienced IA cold sort of satisfaction in the
possession of so much beauty.
He remembered that day now. En-
derby, the passenger from Sydney, and
he were walking the poop; his wife vas
asleep in a deck chair on the other side.
An open book lay in her lap. AS the
two men passed and repassed her, the
n noted that the other would glance
in undisguised admiration at the figure
in the chair. Aud Enderby. who was
as open as the day, had said to him,
Langton, that the sleeping Mrs. Langton
made a beautiful picture.
The sail stirred, filled out, and then
dropped again. and the two specters.
with the sleeping woman between, still
sat with their hungry eyes gazing over
toward the land. As the sun sank, the
outlines Of the verdureclad SUBMITS and
beetling cliffs became enshrouded in
t%enebrous night.
Another hour. and n faint sigh came
from the ragged mat. Enderby, for
ever on the watch, had first seen a white
hand ~silhouetted against the ~blacknes:
OF the covering. and knew that she was
still alive. And as he was about to call
Langton, who lay in the stern sheets
muttering in hideous dreams, he heard
the woman's voice calling him.
Thank God, you are alive. Mrs.
Langton. Shall | wake Captain Lang
ton? We must be nearing the land"
mo, don't. Let him sleep. But /
called you, Mr.. Enderby. to lift me up.
/ want to see where the rain is coming
from"
Enderby groaned in anguish of spirit.
Rain? God has forgotten us. /"
and then he stopped in shame at be-
traying his weakness before a woman.
With hot tears of mingled weakness
and pity coursing down his cheeks he
raised her up.
"Why. there it is, Mr.. Enderby-and
the land as well! And it's a heavy
squall. too" aud she pointed to a NOV
ing, inky mas that half concealed the
black shadow of the island. Quick.
take my mat; one end Of it will hold
water"
Enderby pressed the woman's hand
10 his lips and kissed il again and again.
Then with eager hands he took the mat
from her, and. staggered forward to the
bows, stretched the sound end across
and bellied it down. And then, the
moving mass that was once black, and
was now white swept down upon them
and brought them life and Joy.
Langton, with an empty beef tin in
his hand, stumbled owe his wife's fig
ure, plunged the vessel into the water.
and drank and drank again.
~Curse you. you brute!" shouted En-
derby through the wild noise of the hiss
ing rain. Where is your wifea Are
you going to let her lie there without
. drink"
Langton answered not, but drank
once more. Then Enderby with an
oath, tore the tin from his hand. filled it
and took it to her. holding her up while
she drank. And as her eyes 10. ked
gratefully into his while he placed her
tenderly back in the ste~rn-sheets, the
madness Of a moment overpowered him,
and he kissed. her on the lips.
ConcarpaA onhy with thu nactar in thu
mat, Langton took no regard of Ender-
by as he opened the little locker. pulled
ont a coarse dungaree jumper. and
wrapped it around the thinly-clad and
drenched figure of the woman.
She was weeping now. partly from
the Joy Of knowing that she was not to
die Of the agonies Of thirst in an open
boat in mid Pacific and partly because
the water had given her strength 10 re-
member that Langton had cursed her
when he had stumbled over her to get
at the water in the met.
She had married him because Of his
handsome face and dashing manner
Her ideal Of a happy life was to have
her husband leave the sea and buy an
estate either in Tahiti or Chile. The
first was her birthplace. aud between
there and Valparaiso and Sydney her
money-grubbing old father had traded
for years.
Mrs. Langton cared for her husband
In a prosaic sort OF way; but she knew
no more of his inner nature and latent
utter se~lfishness q year after marriage
than she had known a year before. Yet
because Of the strain Of dark blood In
her veins-her mother was o Tahitian
half-caste-she felt the mastery Of his
savage resolution In the face Of danger
in the thirteen days OF horror that bad
elapsed since the ~brigantine crashed on
an unchartered reef between Pitcairn
aud Ducie islands. and the other boat
had parted company with them. taking
most of the provisions and water.
But that savage curse sill sounded
IN her ears, aud unconsciously made
her think nj Enderbv who had .lvwsva