Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-09-08

lifc-belts in succession whirling astern.
and he was standing by to assist i'll
towering the nearest life-boat, should
that be the order given.
Now, under a Gear sky. the course
adopted by the captain of Il steamship
is To make a semicircular sweep mt fun
speed, and trust to the lookout man TO
keep his eye upon the swimmer. This
is a far quicker method of regaining
the spot where The man fell THAI re-
versing the engines and goiEs astern.
But. in u fog. the only possible chance
is TO slow down. lower boats and trust
to Providence for the result. OF course,
the victim cannot swim.
Not an instant was lost either by tie
commander or his perfectly-trained
officers. The engines ceased TO re
volve, and even before they could safe
ly be reversed, two well-manned life
boats had been left astern in the mist.
The news quickly spread that the
missing man was Major Deane. and
! Stephen was overwhelmed with kindly
sympathy. The lawyer was CHASTITY TO
behold. and stood staring into the fog
rs though striving to discern the strug-
Cling form of his brother. The first
officer came up to him.
"Is he a strong swimmer he asked.
eagerly. There Is no sea to speak OF,
and the boats stand n chance of pick
ing him up, If he can keep afioat for
half an hour"
stephen shook his head gioomily.
'He is a poor swimmer" he made an
swer. Il have heard him say sc fire.
qucntly."
Then, God help himp rejoined the
mate. But he may, of course, have
come across one Of the ~life-buoys.'
For upwards of half an hour the Teu-
tonic lay motionless, indicating her
whereabouts to the boats by frequent
~screeches from her siren. Then the
commander gave up hope and sounded
the recall signal. Presently the boats
returned unsuccessful. Not even n
life-bu0y had been recovered. The fog
showed no signs of lifting, and the leu
tcTic proceeded upon her course
stephen was the only witness of the
catastrophe. and his statement. as en-
rered in the ships log. was simple
enough. He was reclining in a deck
chair. chatting with his brother, who
had seated himself upon the rail-a
somewhat dangerous practice to which
he was addicted. His pipe slipped
from his fingers, and, in attempting to
recover it, he somehow overbalanced
himself and fell into the sea. Being
himself n very bad swimmer, Stephen
resisted his first impulse to plunge In
after him, as being utterly futile. and
had TO content himself with giving the
alarm, which brought the quartermas-
te. to his side.
His close relationship to Oscar was
held by the purser to justify his taking
possession of the formers effects: and
thus, heayily-encumbered with lug
gage. he proceeded to London, via
Holyhead. He scarcely knew how TO
reply TO his mothers telegram. not
wishing her to hear Of Oscars death
until he might himself break the news
to her. At the same time he deemed il
advisable to prepare her in some
measure for evil tidings. So he dis
patched the following message: Meet
me Euston Hotel tomorrow, before II
il possible. Have bad news.-Deane."
THAT will puzzle her. be thought,
las she won't know whether it's from
Oscar or me. She'll guess, too, that
something has happened to one OF us.
fFhereH be the deuce of a scene, OF
course, when she learns the truth: but.
at all events. it won't come to her as a
complete surprise. And | daresay she
viii come round all right, after the
fist outburst, and when she reflects
that am now Sir Stephen Deane of
DeanShurst."
This was now the all-engrossing
thought that filed his brain. He was
Sir stephen Deane of Deanshurst. He
had reached his goal at last. Did he
pat.se to count up what it had cost him
to arrive mt this goal? Not he. From
the moment when he had fired the fatal
shot in Rramham Woods, every stake
he had yentured in the game had Eeen
an added dishonor or an additional
crime. He had lost, time after time:
he had been beaten until 1t seemed as
though he could prolong the am no
more. And yet, he was Sir Stephen
Deane of DeanshurSt. Remorsa?
Pshaw. Time enough TO think OF that
when he was weary of the prize he had
won-if yer that hour should arrive;
certainly remorse troubled him little st
the commencement of his triumph.
lie was by instinct a gentleman, in
the narrow sense of the word which
prohibits yulgarity. Yet he could not
resist the temptation of acquainting
the steward of the channel boat with
his rank-just to hear his hardly
gained title from the mans lips. BY n
genial traveller in soft goods (whom he
also casually enlightenedD he was .'Sir
Stephen'd" to his hearts content dur
ing the railway journey from Holy
head. And not even the utter bad
taste of the proceeding could restrain
him from registering his name ut the
Fusion Hotel as Sir Stephen Deane,
Deanshurst!
CHAPTER XVII.