The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-03
The Returned Photograph,

down with blazing beams when those Oh
board endured. cursed or grumoled al
! according TO their various dispositions
The sensation of the day had been pro-
vided by Lascar stoker, who, rusnlng'
from the inferno OF the engine room. leap
ed headlong overheard. mad for one de-
licious plunge into GOODNESS after endur-
| ing the torment OF heat.
Man overboard.' rang out. Engines
! were reversed Ladies started from IAN
| guild redundancy. \ smooth-faceo suoaI-
/ tern offered a hundred TO one against
the niger being picked up" but no one
troubled 70 listen 10 him, for the water
| hereabouts is swarming with SHARKS.
/ However, Just as horror became subdued
/ into resignation, a black speck was seen
still swimming vigorously. boat was
/ lowered and the poor wretch was dragged
! back, collapsing utterly when certain Oh
| safety.
All this, however, had happened SIX
hours ago. Long before the dinner bell
rang the customary state OF boredom hao
again set in.
After dinner someone probably the ma
| jor's wife proposed dance, and pres
! entity the notes of q waltz rose and fell
Among the many who circled around
were the officer In command, Captain
! Assheton, and his partner. Miss Phylils
| Welsh.
The ladies' of the Dovecot denied that
Miss Welsh had any claims to the attrac-
! tive adjectives by which the men on
| board ship described her charming man
/ ners and face.
Whatever her character might really De,
/ tonight more men than Captain Asshetoh
thought Miss Phyllis Welsh looked ''un-
| commonly fetching" Her eyelids, heavy
! with dark lashes, dropped as though TO
i hide the exulting brightness of the eyes
! they shaded. while excitement restored
| the bloom which year spent IN indian
gayeties had somewhat paled.
AS she glided around she breathed
quicker than the heat Of the evening or
the motion Of the dance accounted for.
She wondered at her own sensation.
Once rising her eyes she met full a
glance from Captain Assheton. and thrill
I Of certainty swept away the last DOUBT
whether or not her love was returned.
Lets come and sit it out" said Cap
tain Assheton; then he added, Il want to
speak to you-to tell you. Phyllis. He
stopped abruptly on perceiving an order
ly coming up TO speak TO him.
We'll, what is it?" he asked pedempt-
| orily.
please. sir. the doctor says Private
! Robinson Is seriously Ill.
to his partner. II must leave you for a
few minutes. VIII you wait for me here?
l shall be back in five minutes"
Yes" assented Miss Welsh, leaning
back Iangudly in a deck chair. I'll wait
for you here if you're not too long"
Captain Assheton and the orderly strobe
away.
Custom had not yet steeled Assheton's
| heart against feeling a pang Of sorrow
whose dying words it was his duty when
officer in command to note and report.
When Tommy Atkins dies there is no
useless fuss made over the event No
loving hands clasps his to strengthen him
during the last struggle. No tears fall
| to tell him that even he. poor fellow, has
some one who will miss him. No! The
doctor merely reports him seriously ILL.,"
The officer on duty comes to stand by his
| bedside and note down whatever message
| Tommy" may choose to send TO mother
| or sweetheart waiting for him al home.
| Then a few hours later, if on land, Tom
my is buried in coffin, the price of
which the government stops out of his
pay, or. If he dies on board ship with
some shot tied to his ankles, overheard he
| is dropped TO sink out of sight and join
the weird company of shrouded corpses
| which stand upright, drifting and sway
|
/ tween the bottom and the surface of the
/ ocean.
On reaching the sitting deck where the
sick the wounded and the dying lay, the
| orderly stopped beside the berth of Pri-
vate Robinson.
Usually the officer in command knows
nothing of the man whose dying words he
| has to report, but, as it CHANGED. Asshe-
ton had heard something of Private Rob
| inson's career He knew that Robinson
was "a gentleman ranker," one of those
| ood-looking, reckless unlucky fellows,
against whom fortune seems to have a
spite.
AS Assheton came to the side of his
berth the dying man started up with a
curious expression of defiant despair
Above him, beside him. all around the
deck, lay other sufferers. listening and
| watching to hear what the poor beggar
had to say.
1t was hardly the place for condolences
and Assheton felt fully the embarra S.
ment of the position. Robinson, however
had reached the time when the wo3l1 re-
cedes into the background Of ones con-
seriousness. and what has to be done must
be done at once, or left forever unacc0m-
Dlished
He feebly strove to take something from
unuer MS pillow.
Can 1 reach that for your" asked
Assheton gently.
i've waited too long" said Robinson
81 intended 70 send this back myself, bu
somehow I've put it off from day TO day
l couldn't bear to part with it." HI
I stopped a minute as he succeeded in lift
| ing up an envelope. then he continued
I want to send this back to her and tel
her that though she sent me 10 the devil
loved her 10 the end" He ended a!
Assheton took the envelope containing tn
photo from him. The address is writer
on the back OF it,"
rs there nothing else can do for you?
asked Assheton, huskly.
Nothing Thank you. sir" replied Rob
inson. and Assheton felt he was dismiss
ed
re turned away IN silence and left tn
hospital deck.
As he again passed through the dancer
the waltz was Fastening 10 its conclu
-. / sion. and the laughing. talking COMPANY
we're dispensing IN search OF ices and com
: Portable seats.
PHYLLIS Welsh was still sitting wher
Ashton had left her.
. You weren't long" she said, smiling
, What did Tommy want 10 tell you
DO tell me all about It."
Something in her words grated sgains
Assheton-s feelings. He sat down and r.
pNe5 slowly: He asked ne TO return
photo to girl, and tell her that. though
she played him false, he loved her 10 n
end"
OH cried Phyllis. "how interesting 3
. soundsi Have you got the photo there
do show II 70 ne"
You must not ask me 70 do that. sal
/ Assheton graveiy.