The record-union., 1898-09-05
THE PHOTOGRAPH.

|
A hundred miles from Alden her ma
| jesty's troopship Idena steamed along
bound for home.
] All day the fierce sun had streamed
!, down with blazing beams which those
on board endured, cursed or grumbed
/ at, according to their various DISPOSE
| tions.
! The sensation of the day had been
provided by Lascar stoker, who,
rushing from the inferno Of the engine
room, leaped headlong overheard mad
| for one delicious plunge into GOODNESS
after enduring the torments of heat
Man overheard rang out. Engines
were reversed. Ladies started from
Ilanguid redundancy. A smooth-faced
subaltern offered a hundred to one
against 1.-The niger being picked up
but no one troubled to listen to 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 A boat was lowered and
the poor wretch was dragged back,
collapsing utterly when certain of
safety.
All this, however, had happened six
cussed, commented on and capped by
similar cases, and long before the din
ner bell rang the customary state of
| boredom had again set in.
After dinner, when the sun had fin
| ally disappeared, and the stars shone
out of the wonderful luminosity OF a
| nj
Majors wife) proposed a dance and
presently the notes of a waltz rose and
fell, alluring with it's languorous lilt
of melancholy sweetness even those
who vowed they didn't dance" to seek
| out partners.
Among the many who circled around
We're the officer in command Captain
Assheton, and his partner, Miss Phyllis
Welsh.
The ladies of the Dovecot denied that
Miss Welsh had any claims to the at
tractive adjectives by which the men
on board ship described her charming
manners and face. They emphaticallv
agreed among themselves that the only
epithet she deserved was that of being
an outrageous flirt.'
Whatever her character might really
DS' lo-hisHl more men tnan Captain
Assheton thought Miss Phyllis Welsh
looked ''uncommonly fetching" Her
eyelids, heavy with dark lashes. droop-
ed as though to hide the exultjn2
brightness of the eyes they shaded.
while excitement restored the bloom
which year spent in Indian gayeties
had somewhat paled.
AS she glided round she breathed
quicker than the heat of the evening
! or the motion of the dance accounted
for. She wondered at her own sensa-
tlons. TO experience the delight. fear
rapture and doubt which 1t had amused
her to make others feel, half terrified
half charmed her.
| once raising her eyes she met full
a glance from Captain Assheton. and
thrill Of certainty swept away the
last doubt whether or not her love was
| returned
Let's come and sit it out" said Can
tain Assheton; then he added. 'I want
10 speak to you-to tell you. Phyllis'
- He stopped abruptly on perceiy
ing an orderly coming up to speak to
| him. =
We'll, what is it," he asked peremp-
torily. ia
/ Please, sir, the doctor says Private
Robinson is seriously ill''
| captain Assheton turned apologeti-
caliy to his partner. II must leave you
for few minutes. Will you wait for
me here? I shall be back in five min
utes"
YES" asserted Miss Welsh, leaning
back languidly in a deck chair. "Ill
walt for you here II you're not too
long" s.4siAs
Captain Assheton and the orderly
strode away
Custom had not yet steeled Asshe-
| tons heart against feeling a pang of
| sorrow when called to visit the, poor
| Fellows whose dying words 1t 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 hand clasps his to strengthen
MIN during the last struggle. No tears
fall to tell him that even he, poor fell
| low, 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 at home. Then a few
hours later, II on land, Tommy" is
buried in coffin, the price of which
the Government stops out of his pay.
or II he die on board ship, with some
shot tied to his ankles, overheard he
is dropped, to sink out Of sight and
| JOIN tnat weird company of shrouded
corpses Which stand upright, drifting
and swaying in the currents Of the SEA.
half way between 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 Private Robinson,
| Usually the officer in command knows
nothing of the man whose dying words
he has to report, but, as it CHANGED.
Assheton had heard something of Pri-
vate Robinson's career. He knew that
Robinson was "a gentleman ranker. I"
one OF those good looking, reckless. un-
lucky fellows against whom fortune
seems to have a spite.
| AS Assheton came to the side of his
perth the dying man stared up with a
curious expression of defiant despair.
Above him, beside him, all around the
deck lay the other sufferers listening
and watching to hear what "the poor
| beggar" had to say.
1t was hardly the place for conf
dences, and Assheton felt fully the en-
| barrassment of the position. Robinson.
| however, had reached the time when
| the world recedes into the background