The Opelousas courier., 1898-11-12
4 Terrible Dlomeqt


was. l shall never forget it, even
should 1 live to one Of those Won
drous ages at times recorded in the
papers. Moreover, it was not a thing
for a man to forget. Many events
may slip from our mind, but never
that moment when we stand on the
brink Of the grave, brought thither by
the probability of an awful death.
It happened in this way. I had been
in Australia for about five years, dur
ing which time I had amassed a toll
cradle fortune, when I began to long
to see the old country again-a desire
considerably strengthened by the fact
that the girl l loved, and who had con
scented to be my wife, was going to
England, and / could not bear the
thought of such an extent Of ocean be-
tween us; so I determined to 60 too,
and let our marriage take place there.
May Brodstone was the only daugh-
ter Of a well-to-do squatter, and the
prettiest, incest girl for miles round
the station, though, until l had become
acquainted with her, rather fond Of a
bit Of girlish Irritation. This vas the
worse for me, as it turned out.
Among her many admirers was one
Jacob Kel. Dark-haired, dark-eyed,
dark-consDlexioned, he was of that
class of men who feel strongly, and
who forget an i~nJury-like wild
cats, they are nasty customers to Of
fond yNnn Nov 7 foor hoI Ait.&o1
somewhat with Jacob Kiel, who, 1
really believe, loved the very ground
she walked on, though she declared
and I knew it was true-that she had
never given him the slightest hope.
It was about this time that I ap-
peared upon the scene; and she dis.
covered that she had found the right
man, as l had found the right girl.
May Brodstone instantly gave up all
her admirers, was as steady and quiet
as a gun-tree when no wind blows,
and finally said the eyes" upon which
my happiness depended.
Old Mr., Brodstone knew that the
match would be a good one, and read
lily gave his consent, SO that our en-
gagement was soon made public. l
was present when the news reached
Jacob Kiel. !, shall never forget his
face. His lips were compressed, his
dark eyes contracted; he looked from
May to me, and / felt If he could he
would do much mischief. Without a
syllable he quilted the place. A
cfuo nnn canoo%iop NON @A,rovvn1, n nc
he departed; and May told me that a
cold shudder had run through her
veins.
We did not see much of Kiel after
this, though we knew he was often
about the station on business; but the
man somehow threw a kind of shadow
over Mays and my happiness, and we
were not ut all sorry when we got on
board the steamer and steamed off
towards Old England. We had not,
however, got cleverly out of sight of
land when May, giving a little cry, put
her had on my arm, and, slightly nod
ding her head towards the lower deck,
said
ooh, Edward, look-he is here tool"
And so he was. Leaning quietly
over the side, watching the land ap-
parently, was Jacob Kiel-a passenger
for England, like ourselves. l will
own that I was considerably annoyed,
though when May, drawing neaner,
exclaimed, in a low, startled voice,
Edward dear, I don't know how it is,
but I dread that mani cannot divest
my mind Of the thought that he means
us HARM" | laughed, and tried to ban
ish SO absurd an idea. And certainly
1t appeared / had every right to do
SO. Save by a casual interchange of a
few words, Kiel never troubled US;
and we were making a capital jour-
ney, when, just as we were within
twenty degrees OF the line, we were
struck by a hurricane which. the cap
tain declared was almost a cyclone in
violence.
The vessel could not weather it. The
masts crashed overheard, taking sew
eral of the crew with them, and, be-
fore the wreck could be cut adrift, a
portion OF the broken spars, dashing
against the ship. had caused q leak