The Portland daily press., 1897-10-26

If this happened he was to do that: If
that happened he was to do this. In case
of serious need he was to communicate
with me by the swftest means available.
for neither the width of the earth nor the
wealth of the world, nor the loss of all
chances of health or yet life, should keep
me from Fastening home II the one hope
of my heart was in peril. Wenman had
smiled a little as If in pity ofthe morbidity
that ran out to meet SO many dangers. I
did not heed his good-natured compassion
or contempt, whatever 1t was, for I knew
he had no childran. l had reconoiIed
myself in some measure to my absence
from home, and before my little man was
awake in the morning L was gone from
the house.
1t had been arranged that l should go
to Morocco. Wenman had suggested that
country out of regard to the freshness Of
Its life and people. The Fast in the West,
the costumes of Arabia, the faiths of
Mohammed and of Moses, a primitive
form of government, and a social life
that might have been proper to the land
OF Canaan in the days of Abraham-such
had seemed to him and others to be an
atmosphere of novelty that was likely to
bring an elasticity to the overstretched
mind and nerves Of victim of the
civilization of our tumultuous century.
But not In all the world could fate have
ferreted out for me q scene more certain
to develop the fever and fret of my
fallen on any other place, any dead or
dying country, and corner of Gods earth
but that blighted and desolate land
All, bear with me, bear with me-.
L sailed to Gibraltar by P. and o.
steamer from Tilbury, and the tender
that took my wife back to the railway
pier left little in my new condition to In
mo Wow h-,,< ,1n4 / a.
England in search of health. If hope is
before you, regret is behind. When
stood on the upper deck that night alone,
and watched the light of the Eddystone
dying down over the dark waters, it
seemed to me that success had no solace,
and fame no balm, and riches no safety
| or content. One reflection alone sufficed
to reconcile me to where was-the work
that had brought me there was done
neither for fame nor for riches, but at
the prompting of the best of all earthly
passions, or what seemed to be the best.
Life on the ship was what had found
1t before. The first inspections, the
secret inquiries as to who was who, the
| salutations, the little playful facetiae,
the gaps at table as the wind freshened
and the sea rose, the watching Of the
chart which recorded progress, then the
quoits on deck in the morning sunshine,
the smoking and joking and banjo playing
in the deck house at night, the ladies and
the piano In the saloon at tea time-I
| had seen 1t all score of times already.
1t had no interest for me now, and in my
| indifference to my surroundings I must
| have been but moody comrade to my
| companions of the voyage.
Thus three days passed, and beyond
| casual words I had spoken to no one. But
on the fourth day, as we sailed within
sight of Finisterre in calm sea, having
crossed the bay with comfort, the word
went round that storm signal was
hoisted on the Cape. No one who has
gone through an experience such as that Ia
likely to forget It,. Everybody on deck,
the blanched faces the hushed voices, the
quick whispers, the eager chances around
the interrogations of the officers onsduty,
| and their bantering answers beliedi by
| their anxious looks, then The darkenine
sky, the freshening breeze, the lowering
horizon, the tingling gloomy atmosphere
creeping down from the mast-heads, and
the air of the whole ship, above and be-
low, charged, as it were, with sudden
electricity. It is like nothing else in life
except the bugle call In camp, telling
those who lie smoking and drinking
about the fires that the enemy Is coming
and is near.
| ITO be continued \