The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1898-03-31

began a new life at that point. All the
previous 20 years were blotted out as if
they had never been.
The woman awole to find herself
aboard strange ship with strange men
around her. She was a handsome, we'll
formed woman, English in looks and
speech and about 30 years of age. Her
apparel was fine and costly, but she
wore no jewelry and had neither a purse
nor cardcase. When asked how she
came to he al sea i'll the gig, what was
her name, whether she had visited Ma
deira or the Azores, if she lived in Eng
land, she could tell nothing, absolute
ly nothing. She began new life as she
opened her eyes i'll the cabin Of the
Joyce. These things all came to us on
deck, because the case was a mystery
and because the more it was talked over
the sooner a solution might be found.
After three or four days both cabin and
fo'castle came to the same general con-
clusion, which was this: The sailor
must have been rowing the woman off
to a ship or from 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 gale
for three or four days. and she had not
a biscuit or a drop of water aboard.
She must have sighted a score of ships
in that great highway, but yet was not
picked up. One would have 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 woman at Trinidad and report
the case as widely as possible. Queerly
enough, she fought and baffled this
plan. Our captain was 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 wife, though she had no fin
ger ring to prove it The chances were
that she had husband somewhere. And
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 think he saw
things as an honorable man 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 friend and then sail
ed for the port of New York
The story of our picking up the living
and the dead was published far and
wide. First and last it must have ap-
peared in 500 newspapers, and sailors
talked of it in thousand ships Three
months passed before we returned to
Trinidad, but no one had identified the
woman. She had to have name, and
they had given her that of Mrs Rescue.
She was well and happy and glad to see
her lover, and talk and argue as he
would he could not convince her that
any other man might have a claim on
her She simply repudiated the past.
We got 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
svN4 70 oq Sc ,ss
ter on Long Island. l 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 was stranger to herself. She had
no country, no relatives no name ex-
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 informa-
tion. He complained of not being well,
and, one thing leading to another, he
finally related a tale of woe. Several
years before, while his ship was at the
Azores, his wife, who had been sent
ashore in the morning, attempted to re-
turn about nightfall 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 WASH t
the least doubt of the calamity. The
loss of the wife so affected the husband
that he was i'll of brain fever for months,
and he had never read line of her res
cue in midocean. There was the hus-
band at last, and Captain Clark realized
that he had rights before him. He had
married the woman on 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 step to the edge of the slip,
and perhaps he thought of suicide as
the best way out. The climax was a
curious one, but in keeping. The strange
captain, who had given his name as
Burke, was looking at Captain Clark in
puzzled way and wondering why he
should be so affected by the story when
yacht anchor swinging from beam
above his head parted its fastenings and
fell upon him and crushed him to the
floor, and though he did not die for two
or three days he never spoke again.
G. B. LEWIS.
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