The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-11-22

| patterns, anu tnSg cAiS'e"' cN"e''
fully but simply, in the governors
| veranda, and when he came out they
sang at him. If you have lost seventy
thousand pounds worth of pearls, your
pay, your ship and all your clothes,
and have lived in bondage for eight
months beyond the 0intest p~retenses
| of civilization, YOU know what true In
dependence means, for you become the
bappiest of created things - natural
man.
The governor told the crew they were
| evil. and they asked for food. When hc
saw how they ate, and when he remem
bered that none Of the pearl patrol
boats were expected for two months, he
sighed. But the crew of the Haliotis
lay down in the veranda and said that
they were pensioners on the governors
bounty. A gray-hearded man, fat and
Dald-headed, ms n garment a green
and yellow loin cloth, saw the Haliotis
in the harbor and beloved with JOY.
The men crowded to the veranda rail,
Kicking aside the long cane chairs.
They pointed, ~gesticulated and argued
freely without shame. The militia reg
iment sat down in the governors gar
den. The governor retired TO his ham
mock. ii was as easy to be killed lying
as standing, and his women squeakcd
from the shattered house.
"She sold?" said the gray-bearded
man, pointing TO the Haliotis. He was
Mr.. Wardrop.
nc good" said the governor, shak-
ing his head. "No one come buy"
Hes taken my lamps, though" said
the skipper. He wore half a pair OF
trousers and his eye wandered along
the veranda. The governor quailed.
There were cuddy campstools and the
shippers writing table in plain sight.
They've cleaned her out, o. course"
said Mr.. Wardrop. "They would"
"We'll go aboard and take an inven-
tory. See!" He waved his hands over
the harbor. "We-liye-there-now.
Sorry?"
The governor smiled a smile of relief.
Hes glad of that" said one of the
crew, reflectively. II don't wonder"
They flocked down to the harbor
front, the militia regiment Gathering
behind. and embarked themselves in
what they found-it happened to be the
governors boat. Then they disap-
peared over the bulwarks of the Hall
otis and the governor prayed that they
might find occupation inside.
Mr.. Wardrop's first bound took him
into the engine room, and when the
others were patting the well-remem-
bered decks they heard him giving God
thanks that things were as he had left
them. The wrecked engines stood over
his head untouched; no %inexpert hand
had meddled with his shores; the steel
wedges of the storeroom were rusted
home; and, best of all, the hundred and
sixty tons of good Australian coal in
the bunkers had not diminished.
81 don't understand IL" said Mr.. War
drop. "Any Malay knows the use o
copper. They ought to have cut away
the uipes. And with Chinese iupks
coming here, too. Its a special inter-
position o. Providence"
"Yeu think so ?" said the skipper,
from above. There's only been one
thief here, and he's cleaned her all out
our side"
Here the skipper spoke less than the
truth, for under the planking of his
cabin, only to be reached by u chisei,
lay a little money which never drew any
interest - his sheet anchor To wind
ward. 1t was all i'm clean sovereigns
that pass current the world over and
might have amounted TO more than a
hundred pounds.
Hes left me alone. Let's thank
God repeated Mr.. Wardrop.
Hes taken everything else-look!"
The Haliotis, except as to her engine
room, had been systematically and
scientifically Quilted from n end to
the other, and there was strong evil
dence that an unclean guard had
camped in the shippers cabin to regu-
late the plumber. She lacked glass,
plate, crockery, cutlery, mattresses,
cuddy carpets and chairs, oil boats and
her copper ventilators. These things
had been removed. with her sails, and M
much of the wire rigging az would not
imperil the safety of the masts.
"IIe must have sold those" said the
skipper. The other things are in his
house, | suppose"
Every fitting that could be pried or
screwed out was gone. Port, star
board and masthead lights; teak graf.
ings; sliding sashes of the deck house;
the captains chest of drawers, with
charts and chart table; photographs,
brackets and looking glasses; cabin
doors; rubber cuddy mats; hatch irons;
half the funnel stays; cork tenders;
carpenters grindstone aud tool chest:
h~olystones. swabs, squeegees, all cabin
and pantry lamps; galley fittings EN-
bloc, flags and flag locker; clocks, chro-
nometcrs; the forward compass and the
ships bell and belfry were among the
missing.
There were great SCARED marks on
the deck planking, owe which the cargo
derricks had been hauled. One must
have fallen by the way, for the bulwark