Evening star., 1897-02-06

| to run away even with the exasperatins
| knowledge that they left their taskmastel
| undamaged behind them. So although thi.
| all-nation crew of the Sultan of Borne(
| dreaded the Spaniards much. they feared
Capt. Kettle far more. and by the time tht
! steamer closed up with the Island of Cubs
they mad concluded to follow out their skip
per's orders, as being the least of the twr
| evils which lay before them
Carnforth's way of looking at the matte,
was peculiar. He had all hearty man.
appetite for adventure, and all a prosper
GUS mans distaSte for being wrecked H.
had taken a strong personal liking for the
truculent little skipper. ard, other things
being equal, would have cheerfully helped
him, but on the other hand, he could not
avoid seeing that IT was to his own inter.
ests that the crew should get their way and
keep the steamer out of dangerous waters
And so when finally he decided to stand by
non-interferent, he prided himself a good
deal on his forbearance, and said SO 10
mariner quite agreed with him IT'S the
very best thing you could do. sir" he an
swered. 1T would have annoyed me ter
ribly to have had to shoot you out OF
mischief's way, because you've been kind
enough to say you like my poetry, and he
cause I've come to see, sir, you're gentle
man." II,
They came to this ARRANGEMENT on the
morning of the day ithey opened out the
secluded bay In the southern Cuban shore.
where the contrabandr Of war was to be
run. Kettle calculated his whereabouts
with niceness, and, after the midday oh
servation, lay the steamer ito for a couple
of hours and himself supervised his en-
gineers, whilst they gave good overhaul
to the machinery. Then he gave her steam
again and made his landau four hours af-
ter the sunset.
They saw the coast first as a black line
running across the dim gray of the night.
1t rose as they neared it, and showed a
crest fringed with trees and foot steeped
NJ hfoh %I,o
faint below of surf Captain Kettle. after
cast or two. picked up his marks and
steamed in confidently, with his sidelights
dowsed and three red lanterns in a trian-
gle at his foremast head. He was feeling
pleasantly surprised with the easiness of it
all.
But when the steamer had got we'll into
the blight of the bay, and all the glasses on
the bridge were peering at the shore in
search of answering lights, blaze of radi-
ance suddenly flickered on to her from
astern, and was as suddenly eclipsed, leav-
ing them for a moment blinded by its daz-
zle. 1t was long truncheon of light which
spouted from glowing center away be-
tween the heads of the bay, and they
watched 1t sweep away from them over the
surface of the water. and then sweep back
again. Finally, after little more dalli-
ance, it settled on the steamer. and lit her
and the ring of water on which she swan
like chip in lantern picture.
Carnforth swore aloud, and Captain Ket-
IL
crew who were on deck went below to
pack their bags.
We'll. SIR said Kettle. cheerfully, here
We are. That's Spanish gunboat, with
searchlight, all complete" He screwed up
his eyes and gazed astern meditatively-
She's got the heels on us, too, by about
five knots, l should say. Just look at the
flames coming out of her tunnels. Aren't
they just giving her ginger down in the
stoke hold. Shooting will begin directly,
and the other blackguards ashore have ap-
parently forgotten all about us. There isn't
light anywhere
forth.
Follow out Mr.. Gedge's instructions, sir
and put this cargo on the beach. Whether
the old Sultan goes there, too, remains TO
be seem
THAT gunboat will cut you off in quar-
ter Of an hour II you keep on this course ;"
With that extra five knots she can do
as she likes with us, so l shan't shift my
helm. 1t would only look suspicious
Good Lord" said Carnforth, "as If our
being here at all isn't suspicion itself"
But Kettle did not answer. He had, to
use his own exy ression. got his wits work.
ing under forced draft and he could not
afford time for idle speculation and chat
ter. 1t was the want of the answering
signal ashore that upset him. Had that
showed against the black background Of
hills he would have known what to do.
Meanwhile the Spanish warship was clos
cision was necessary. Anyway the choice
was poor one. If he surrendered he
would be searched, and with that damning
cargo of rifles and machine guns and am
all improbable that, his captors might
string him up out OF hand. They would
have right on their side for doing So The
irsurrectionists were not recognized bel
ligerents;" he would stand as a filbuster
confessed, and such would be due to
suffer under that rough and ready martial
law which cannot spare time to feed and
Jail prisoners On the other hand If he
refused to heave to. the result would be
equally simple; the warship would sink him
with her guns inside dozen minutes, and
reckless daredevil though he might be, Ket-
tie knew quite we'll there was no chance of
avoiding this. With another crew he might
have been tempted to lay bis old steamer
alongside the other and try to carry her
by boarding and sheer hand-to-hand fight
ing; but excepting for, those on watch in
the stockhold. his present set Of men were
all below packing their belongings into
portable shape. and he knew. quite well
that nothing would please them better than
to see him discounted. Carnforth was
neutral; he had only his two mates and the
engineer officers to depend upon in all the
available world; and he recognized between
deep drafts Of his cigar that he was in a
very tight place.
Still the dark shore ahead remained un-
beaconed and the Spaniard was racing up
astern. lit for battle, with her crew at
quarters and the guns run out and loaded
She leaped nearer by fathoms to the sec
ond. till Kettle could + ear the painting Of
her engines as she chased him down. His
teeth chewed on the cigar butt and dark
rings grew under his eyes. He could have
ragged aloud at his impotence.
The war steamer ranged up alongside,
slowed to some sixty revolutions so as to
keep her place. and an officer on the top
CT her chart house hailed in Spanish:
"Gunboat ahoy." Kettle bawled back,
You mrst speak English or I can't be
civil to you"
what ship is that?'
Sultan If Borneo, Kettle, master. Out
of Shields
Where forr'
1.-The Havana"
Promptly the query. came back, Then
what are you doiI e In here?
Carnforth whispered suggestion. Fresh
water run out; condensed water given all
hands dysentery. put In here to fill up
tanks. Il thank you, STR" said Kettle in
the same undertone. I'm no hand at lying
myself, or l might have thought of that
before" And he shouted an excuse across
To his surprise they seemed to give
weight to it. There was a short consulta-
tion and the steamers slipped along over
the smooth black waters of the bay on
parallel courses.
Have you got dysentery bad aboard?'
came the ext question.
Once more Carnforth prompted, and Ket-
tie repeated his words: Look at my