The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-11

low knew no better than to take her at
her word. He was London bred, and /
don't suppose had ever heard of quar-
antine in his life.
''They tied their boat up to the pier,
and the first the doctor knew of their
being on the island was when he saw
them standing inside the door of the
marquee where he was helping the mig
ger attendant to lay out a seaman who
had just died of the fever, while two
other chaps who had an hour or so
longer to live looked on.
well, sir, you may imagine the doc
tor was angry. He jumped up and
pushed them both out of the tent, and
then he got hold of the young manager
and shook him, and asked him what he
meant by bringing young woman
fresh from home Gas he could see by
her COLOR to that place; and did he
know 1t meant certain death if she took
the fever? and SO on, and so on. And
then he told them they could not leave
the island now that they had got on it,
and it was his burden duty to keep
them on it. And all the time the young
man never answered a word, but got
whittier and whittier. At last he cried out
to his wife to run down to the boat and
he would follow her. She did what she
was told, sadly frightened, no doubt,
poor thing. The doctor called out his
niger from the tent, and was for run
ming after her, but the manager whip
ped out his revolver and swore great
| oath that he would shoot him If he did
not stop. The niger ran away, but
the doctor was a good-plucked one.
9TH die doing my duty!" he said. With
! that the young man put the revolver
back in his pocket, and ran at the doc
| tor and knocked him down, and then
! rushed down to the boat, where his
wife was, and jumped in. He cut the
| painter and hoisted the sail. But a
| lookout man on shore had seen their
| craft touch at the island, and by this
| time two white ten-oared boats were
| coming from Bridgetown as fast as the
men could row, to see what was the
matter. They were between him and
the shore, and he couldn't doubt what
| their object was, as they altered their
course to cut him off.
Now, sir, won't go into details; but
man dying Of yellow fever is not a
pleasant sight to look at, and I make
on doubt that if had been on board
| that boat myself, and knew that I and
my wife were likely to be brought back
| to Pelican Island and left there, for
months, maybe, would have done as
the manager did-put up my helm,
Stacked off the sheet, and ran away.
The trade wind was blowing strong,
and he could easily outsail the oars. /
suppose he thought, on that course, he
was bound to make some of the islands,
as they all lay to leeward." The cap
tain paused awhile and looked over the
stern at the foaming track of the
screw. We were light in the water
WELL" asked I, what happened
next?"
81 don't know, sir; don't know IT
is not every landsman who can steer a
boat running before the trades with a
following sea; perhaps she was popped
or he may have let her breach to.
Either way she would be pretty certain
to fill and sink, and I hope that was
what happened. Sometimes at night
when I am on deck, I think of those
two poor things in an open boat, with
no food or water, and no prospects be-
! fore them, even if they got safe to land
for of course he could never go back
to Barbados. He had his revolver, you
see! Next day a gunboat came into
Carlisle Bay, and she was sent to look
for the lost craft, but she never found
her. So the few who knew the rights
Of the story agreed to hush it up, and
most people thought the boat had been
| blown out Of the harbor, and SO
swamped. After all, there was no one
to blame; but 1t was sad pity-a sad
pity''
The short tropical twilight was
changing rapidly to the darkness OF
night. The captain walked forward
to see that the port and starboard
lights were burning properly, and
/ went below to try to get some sleep be-
fore reaching Castries. saw no more
of him till said good-by as stepped
into the harbor masters boat in the
warm, velvety blackness of the early
morning. AS I shook hands I asked
him how he happened to know the
story himself
ST was the skipper of the bark" he
said shortly. 81 was on Pelican Is.
land"
Half an hour later, as I was fighting
the mosquitoes and trying vainly to get
sleep in a chair in the odorous barroom
of the Castries hotel, I remembered
several other questions that l should
have liked to ask him; but never saw
him again. The little tramp steamer
was sunk while running the blockade
at Cuba with cargo of arms and am
munition for the insurgents. have al
ways felt that the captain did not tel
me quite the whole of the story--Maiol
t. Preston Battersby in Chambers
Journal.