Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-04-02

y
as be went down the passage.
"Well. sir, it was just dusking in as
| they weighed AID stood up towards
| Port William, the wind blowing rrettF
| steady from the southland Atabout ten
| minutes to seven o'clock it blew IN in
Sudden little squall-nothiag to men.
ton; the fishing boats just noticed it
and that was all. But it was reckoned
that squall capsized the Queen of Sheba.
She never reached Port William. and
no man ever clapped eyes on her after
twenty minutes past six, when Dick
| Gregg declares he saw her off the
| Blowth, halfway toward home, and go
| ing steady under all canvas. The
affair caused lot of stir, here and at
Fort William, and in the newspapers.
| Short-handed as they were, of course,
| they'd no business to carry on us they
| did, specially as my wife declares from
| her looks that Mrs. Blake was feelin'
faint afore they started. She always
seemed to me weak, timmersome wo-
| man at the best; small and ailin' I'd
| look at"
And Mr.. Blake?"
"oh! he was strong-made gentle.
man; tall, with a big red beard"
1.-The SOM"
TOOK after his father, only he hadn't
any beard; a fne outstanding pair"
And no trace was ever found of
| theme"
Not a stick nor shred"
Bat about this visitors book. You'll!
swear they took it with them? See,
there's no: stain of salt water upon
| It,"
No, there isn't; but I'll swear young
Mr.. Blake had it in his hand as he wen,
from my door"
said: Mr.. Job, I've kept you al
| ready too long from your dinner. Go
| and eat, and ask them to send i'll some.
| thing for me Afterwards want Won
| to come with me and take look at
my yacht that is lying just outside of
the haven"
AS we started from the shore Mr..
Job, casting his eyes over the Siren,
remarked: That's a very pretty yawl
| of yours, sir" AS we drew nearer he
| DCSGH w Cyt liSi
''She has been lengthened some five
or six feet" said; "she was cutter to
begin with"
| Lord help us!" then said Mr.. Job, in
q hoarse whisper. "Shes the Queen of
Sheba. I'd swear to her run anywhere
-ay, OR to that queer angle of her
hawse-holes."
A close examination confirmed Mr..
Job that my yacht was no other than
the lost Queen Of Sheba, length
ened and altered in rig. 1t per-
suaded me, too. I turned back to
Plymouth, and leaving the boat in
Cattwater, drove to tao Millbay station
and took tickets for Bristol. Arriving
there just twenty-four hours after my
interview with Mr.. Job, made my way
to Mrs. Carlingford's lodgings.
| She had left them two years before;
nothing was known Of her where
abouts. The landlady could not even
tell me whether she had moved from
Bedminster, and so / had to let the
matter rest.
But just fourteen days ago received
the following letter, dated from a
workhouse in one Of the midland
counties:
| DEAR SIR: I TN dying woman and shall
| probably be dead before this reaches you
| The doctor says he cannot give me forty
| eight hours. 1t is angina pectoris, and suffer
| horribly at times. The yacht you purchased
| of me is not the Wasp but the Queen Of
Sheba. My husband designed her. He was q
| man of some property near Limerick; and he
! and my son were involved in some of tho Irish
| troubles between 1881 and 1854 1t was said
| they had Joined one OF the brotherhoods and
| betrayed their oaths. This an sure was not
| true But it is certain we had to run for fcar
| OF assassination After year in Liverpool
we were forced to fly south to Port william,
where we brought the yacht and lived for
| some time in quiet, under our own names.
| But we knew that could not last and had taken
| measures to escape when need arose. My
| husband had CHANGED while at Liverpool upon
| an old yacht dismantled and rotting In the
| Mersey, but Of about the same size as his
| own, and still. Of course, upon the register.
| He bought her Of her owner, Mr. CARING
| ford, and stranger, for very few pounds
| and with her-what he valued far more-her
| papers; but he never completed the transfer
at the custom house. Ills plan vas. if pressed
| to escape abroad and pass his yacht of as the
| Wasp and himself as Mr.. Carlingford. All the
| while we lived at Port William the Queen Of
| Sheba was kept amply provisioned for voy-
! age of at least three weeks when the ne.
| cessity overlook us quite saddenly-the name
! of man, Macguire, in the visitors book of q
! small inn at Penleven. We left Penleyen OF
| dusk that evening and held steadily up the
coast until darkness. Then we turned the
| yachts head, and ran straight across for Nor
laix; but the weather continuing fine for q
| good fortnight Jour f1rst night at sea was the
! toughest in ell this time), we changed cur
minds cleared Ushant and held right across
| for Vigo thence, after rcvctualing. we
| cruiscd slowly down tho coast and through the
straits. finally reaching Malaga. There we
staid and had the yacht heightened. Ny hus-
| band had sold his small property before ever
| we came to Por5 William and had managed 70
| invest the whole under the narno of CARING
ford. There vas no difficulty about letters OF
| credit. At each port on the way We had shown
! the Wasps papers, and used the name OF
Carlingfori. and ct Lisbon we read in an Eng
fish newspaper about the supposed capsizing
of the Queen Of Sheba Still We had not only
to persuade the officials at the various ports
that our boat vas the Wasp we knew that
cur enemies were harder to delude and our
next step was to make her as unlike tho
Wasp or the Queen OF Sheba as possible. This
ne did by lcngthening her and altering her
rig. But it proved useless as I had always
feared it would. The day after we sailed from
Malaga n misunderstanding seaman whom we