, 1897-11-20

- III ~
Joyce. These things all came to us on
deck, because the case was a mystery
Il because the more it was talked over
the sooner a solution might be found.
After three or four days both cabin and
fo'castle an,e to the same general con-
clusion. which was this: The sailor
must have been rowing the wor,on off
to a ship or from a ship to shore at some
of the islands. The gig had just been
bought by a merchantmen. and her
name had not yet been painted on. The
boat had been driven ahead Of a gale
for three or four days, and she had not
a biscuit or n drop Of water aboard.
She must have sighted a score of ships
in that great highway, hut yet was not
picked up. One would lave thought
the sailor would have borne up better
than the woman, but he may not have
been in good health.
That's the way we figured it out, and
it looked reasonable enough. and of
course the right thing to do was to
leave the IONA at Trinidad and report
the case as widely rs possible. Queerly
enough, she fought and baffied this
plan. Our captain was a good looking
man, and. feeling that she owed him
her life and doubtless being rather ro-
mantle by nature. what did she do but
fall in love with him! That is only half
the story. He fell head over heels in
love with her. The position was most
embarrassing for him. however. All of
US were agreed that the woman was or
had been u wife, though she had no fin
ger ring to prove it. The chances were
that she had a husband somewhere. And
wouldn't the man search the whole
world over to find and regain her? Cap
tain Clark would not dare marry her
under the circumstances 1t was crimi.
nal even to love her. l think he saw
things as an honorable nan should, and
yet he could not help loving her. When
we reached Trinidad. he notified the
English consul, placed the woman in
the household of Il friend and then sail.
ed for the port Of New York.
The story Of Our picking up the living
and the dead ~as published far and
wide. First and last IT must have ap
peared in 500 newspapers, and sailors
talked of it in a Thousand ships Three
months passed oeture We Io.lrned to
Trinidad. but no one had identified the
woman. She had to have IL nnme. and
they had given her that Of Mrs. Rescue
She was we'll and happy and glad to see
her lover. aud talk and argue as he
would he could not convince her that
any other man might have q claim CD
her. She simply repudiated the past.
We got a charter for France. went to
London in ballast and thence got a
freight to Demerara. While the ship
was discharging cargo Captain Clark
went up to Trinidad. There was no
news and no change. The publication
Of that story all over the world had not
solved the mystery. No husband had
come forward no relatives had written.
As our ship had been chartered to run
between New York and Liverpool. Cap.
tain Clark decided to take Mrs. Rescue
home with him. and this was done, and
she was placed in the family of his sis
ter on Long Island. never saw her
after the trip across. but ] can tell you
what followed.
When almost three years had elapsed
and there was still no news. the two
were married. The woman had not re-
covered one single point Of memory.
She "a a stranger to herself, She had
nc country. no relatives, no name *
cept by chance. After marriage the cap
tain left the sea and went into the ship
%chandlery business in Brooklyn. One
evening. two years after the wedding,
the captain of an English tramp steamer
just in called to ask for some infornla.
ton He complained of not being we'll.
and, Ii thing leading to another. he
finally related q tale Of woe. Several
years before, while his ship was ct the
Azores, his wife, who had been sent
ashore in the morning, attempted to re-
turn about niRhtfall and just as a squall
was coming up. The boat was upset and
the occupants lost. They found neither
the boat nor the bodies, but there wasn't
the least doubt Of the calamity, The
loss of the wife 90 affected the husband
that he was ill Of brain fever for mouths.
and he had never read a line Of her res
u in midocean. There was the hus-
band at last, and Captain Clark realized
that be had rights before him. He hao
married the woman OIL chance. and
chance had gone against him. They
were alone in the Office, and perhaps he
thought of killing the man who had
come to break up his happy home. 1t
was only a step to the edge Of the slip,
and perhaps he thought Of suicide as
the best way out. The climax was q
curious one. but in keeping. The strange
captain. who had given his name as
Burke, was looking at Captain Clark in
q puzzled way and wondering why he
should be so affected by the story when
q yacht anchor swinging from a beam
above his head parted its fastenings and
fell upon him and crushed him to the
floor. and though he did rot die for two
or three days he never spoke again.
&. B. LEWIS.
Making II Clear.