Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-04-24

, the most talkative OF the human race.
Likely enough he wanted to interest me
in Miss LIE Grand because Of my situa-
ton on board. A chief mate is a con-
siderable figure. If any mishap incapac-
itates the master, the chief mate takes
charge. We walked the poop, the three
Of us, in the violet shadow cast by the
awning. The colonel constantly directed
his eyes along the quay to observe if the
captain was coming. During this stroll
to and fro the white planks I got these
particulars, partly from the direct as
sertions Of the colonel, partly from the
occasional remarks of the girl:
Colonel Atkinson had married her Ia
theirs sister. Her father had been an
officer in the army and had sailed from
England with the then governor OF
New South Wales. After he had been
in Sydney few months he sent for his
daughter, whom he had left behind him
with maternal aunt, her mother hav-
ing died some years before She reached
Sydney to find her father dead. His ex-
oellency was very kind to her, and she
found very many sympathetic friends,
but her home was in England, and to it
she was returning in the White Star
under the care Of the master, Captain
Edward Griffiths, after stay of nearly
five months in Sydney with her uncle,
Colonel Atkinson.
Half an hour passed before the captain
arrived. When he stepped on board, l
lifted my cap and left the poop, and the
captain and the others went into the
cuddy.
Our day of departure came round,
and not little rejoiced was when the
tug had fairly got hold Of Us and we
were floating over the sheet calm sur
face of Sydney bay, past some Of the
loveiest bits Of scenery the world has
to offer, ON our road to the mighty ocean
beyond the grim portals Of Sydney
Heads. We were fairly crowded ship,
what with Jacks and passengers. The
steerage and tween decks we're full up
with people going home. In the cuddy
some Of the cabins remained unlet. We
mustered in all, I think, about 10 gen.
tlemen and lady passengers, one OF
whom, needless to say, was Miss Georgina
Le Grand
I had been busy on the forecastle
when she came aboard, but heard after
ward from Robson, the second mate,
that the governors wife, with Colonel
Atkinson and certain nobs out OF gov
ernment house, had driven down to the
ship to say goodby to the girl She was
alone I wondered she had not maid,
but afterward heard from bright lit.
tie lady on board, Mrs. Burney, one
Of the wickedest f1irts that ever with q
fash Of dark glance drew sigh from q
man, that the woman Miss LIE Grand
had engaged to accompany her as maid
to Europe had omitted to put in an ap-
pearance at the last moment, in perfect
conformity with the manners and hab-
its of the domestic servants Of the Aus
tralian colonies Of those days, and the
young lady having no time to procure
another maid had shipped alone.
At dinner on that first day Of our de-
parture, when the ship was at sea and l
was stumping the deck in charge, I OBJ
served, in glancing through the skylight,
that the captain had put Miss LIE Grand
upon the right Of his chair, at the head
of the table, a little before the luted and
emblazoned shaft of mizzenmast. Idon't
think above five sat down to dinner. A
long heave of swell had sickened the
hunger out of most Of them. But it was
q glorious evening, and the red sunshine,
flashing fair upon the wide open sky
lights dazzled out as brilliant and hos
! pitable picture Of cabin equipment as
tho sight coald wish.
I had full view Of Miss LIE Grand,
and occasionally paused to look at her,
SO standing as to be unobserved. Now
that saw her with her hat off / found
something very peculiar and fascinating
in her beauty. Her eyes seemed to fill
her face, subduing every lineament to
the full spiritual light and meaning in
them, till her countenance looked sheer
intellect, the very quality and spirit Of
mind itself. This effect, think, was
largely achieved by the uncommon hue
Of her skin. It. accentuated color, cast
ing deeper dye into the blackness Of
her hair, sharpening the fires in her
eyes, painting her lips with more fiery
tinge of carnation, through which, when
she smiled, her white teeth shone like
light itself.
1 noticed even on this first day, dur
ing my cautious occasional peeps, that
the captain was particularly attentive
to the young lady, in which indeed I
should have found nothing significant,
for she had in special degree been
committed to his trust, but for the cir
cumstances Of his being bachelor.
Even then, early and fresh as the time
was for thinking Of such things, I guess
ed when I looked at the girl that the
hardy mariner alongside Of her would
not keep his heart whole week, if in
deed, for the matter Of that, he was not
already head over ears.
He was good looking man in his
way; not everybody's type Of manly