The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-09

] 20 years old, were discharged in Val
 paraisO from the whaling bark GOlcon
 da, of New Bedford, with a hundred and ten dollars apiece in gold ''cOndOrs'
 in our pockets. All the romance of
 whaling in the South Seas and its at tendant dangers which had filled our imaginatiOns when we shipped as green hands at the ''190th lay" had been eff fectually dissipated by the greasy real ities of blanket and hawse pieces, cutting up in the "blubber room,'' down scraps" and trying out" SUD- plemented by ten hours pull in the boats every other day, poor food, and rough, if not brutal, treatment, from the officers.
 So, as we stood that morning on the jetty, clinking the money in our pock- cts and watching our old ship disappear in the Offing, we felt, indeed, "monarchs of all we surveyed"
 At last she was hull down. and turn ing away with sighs of relief, we clat- tered once more up the ill-paved street to the ConsuPs office, where we had been paid off, and inquired of him when we could take passage for home We learned, much to our disappOint- ment, that there were no ships in port bound for the States, nor would there be any, except an occasional whaler, for six months to come.
 We must resign ourselves to the in- evitable," said Jack, "and the next question is, Where are we going to stop?
 The Consul assured us that an Ameri can named Henderson kept the only decent place in town, outside of the rough sailor boarding houses, and rec commended us to go there. We found | Henderson a good fellow, who gave us large room with two beds in it, and after seeing our chests safely slowed away, we strOlled out to look at the town, and incidentally to get work.
 After walking about the city for an hour or two. we descended to the first or commercial street to look for work Being young, persistent and fairly well educated, we were lucky enough to find employment with two English firms branch houses of London and Liverpool l traders. Next morning we went to work, and for couple of months our lives moved on, tranQuilly enough. Tn the evenings after supper we smoked our cigarittOs, and managed, with the aid of an old grammar, to learn a little Spanish. Occasionally, on moonlight nights, we walked out through the town, but we never went far, as Hen GerSOn warned Us that it was no un- common thing for a stranger to be found in the outlying parts of the city with his pockets rif1ed and a dagger wound in his breast.
 One evening my superintendent dis covered that a mistake had been made in the outward manifest of the shin Lord Palmerston, and noting that she was lying of and on," with her a1- chor atrip, ordered me to board her as soon as possible before she squared away for old England, and rectifY the error. So, without delay, 1 hurried to the jetty, embarked, and in a half hour climbed up the side of the Palmerston.
 My business detained me longer than
 
 o'clock before l stepped to the side. As the tide was on the ebb, my bOatman had to land me at the nearest point, and figured that had about four miles to walk home.
 It was moonlight, but here and there the dark shadows seemed to invite the assassin, and as 1 hurried on. 1 cast many an anxious glance behind me. I had reached the outskirts of the city and was congratulatng myself, when suddenly, from under an overhanging "balc0n, woman darted forth and clutched my arm, crying out in piteous accents:
 "Por el amor de Dlos! Senor Amer icano! POr el amor de Diosr' For the | love of God. SenOr AmericanD
 Que quiere conmigO, Senorita ?' | (What do you want with me, lady0 I 1 replied, as l stepped under the soli- tary lamp on the corner and looked at | her more closely. She was dressed in somber black and the mantilla she wore was so drawn over her face that but one eye was visible: that single orb, however, shone with singular limpidity and beauty.
 She was evidently greatly excited, and as she went on in her voluble Span ish. I gathered from the little I knew of the language that her father was ly- ing at the point of death in house near by and she wanted me to go with her to his assistance. Why she wanted me to accompany her, l could not un- derstand; therefore I asked her why she did rot appeal to her own people.
 She replied that she and her father ere strangers, who had but recently come from Santiago, and that there were so many "ladrones," or robbers. among her own people that she dared not trust them, and in a still more urg- ent tone, begged me to go with her.
 Truly, "he who hesitateS is lost" for ls'I thought of Henderson's warning, the lateness of the hour, and the wom- ans singular persistence, and faltered, she dropped her mantilla, and in an instant every scruple had vanished The light from the moou H. umined a face perfect in Its classic beauty, and as innocent as that of the and as saw the girls tear stained cheeks (she was only about 16l and looked into her beautiful implo5 nx eyes, l threw caution to the Wt~AAL l