Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-10-13

Is III POSSIBLE tudI your I1OIncE was
English?"
"By blood, yes" she answered, smil-
ing. But Spanish. or. rather, Cuban.
otherwise, for she was born and
reared in Havana"
Now, I call this bit of news" ]
said, with lively interest. $50 you
are the same as my countrywoman?
This, to be sure, accounts for the color
of your hair, which L have all along
| thought rather extra ordinary for a
! Spaniard. But Jeremiah Hope? sup
| pose I must be wrong. yet-nay,
think I have heard the name. Let US
see what the captain has to say. Capt.
Sellinger,' called to him, shave you
IN acquaintance with one Jere1Aiah
| Hope? He lives in Havana"
why" was the answer, the captain
! looking up in little surprise, mo ac-
| quaintance, but he is the person to
whom am carrying the letter. mean
| Capt. Torrycorn's letter"
! 1t was instantly clear to me. Of
course 1 had heard the name, and it
was a wonder | had not recognized it
before. I fastened to explain why 1
had asked the question. and added
| what the senorita had previously told
| me.
| Naturally my companions were as
| greatly surprised as I, and we
all agreed that we had seldom heard
! OF more singular circumstance.
| Then" said Sellinger, as we con-
| cluded, sit may come to it that we
shall carry MI. Hope his niece as well
| as his letter, for otherwise it would
be much the same as cutting her
adrift.''
ITO which l say amen" said I, very
heartily. At other times I had been
wont to let Mr.. lynn speak first, but
now I did not wait.
Both Mr.. lynn and Mac Ivrach, as
might be expected, were prompt to
agree with US.
''This being our decision" said I,
| greatly pleased, "I will make it known
to the senorita. She cannot fail to be
relieved by it,
| 1 returned to her with the news &C.
cordingly, and had the great satisfac-
| ton of finding her as rejoiced and
heartened as I had anticipated. In
| deed, she was deeply moved and CRATE
| full, and in her touching manner of
+, saying SO fairly brought the tears to
my eyes.
| This matter, then, being so well set
| tied. we addressed ourselves anew to
! the business of continuing the voyage.
! We had decided, should say here, to
| run first for Buenayentura, which Sell
| linger thought was not much above a
hundred leagues distant. From there,
should need require, we could make
| further voyage in the boat, but we
| hoped to light upon some way of con-
tinuing in a larger craft. Once in one
Of the important southern ports, and
we could not fail to find ship sailing
to the Atlantic side of the continent.
The next day and the next passed
without Incident, and we continued to
work slowly but steadily south. The
third day something rather important
happened, for the wind. which had
hitherto SO greatly favored US, quite
abruptly changed. 1t was now almost
dead from the southwest, and at once
reduced our speed at least three parts.
In fact, with our shoal keel and high
bow we could make no more than a
knot an hour. This was rather dis
conraging, but the captain said it was
to be anticipated, for we had now come
| to the region where there were pre-
vailing southwesterly and southerly
| winds, and these, we should find, con-
tinued to the equator. This was more
| philosophical than comforting, but we
could do no otherwise than make the
best of it, and so the noon of the third
day drew on. was at the helm, which
I had recently taken, and was shak-
| ing out k:nk i'm the mainsheet, when,
happening to glance to windward, I
saw that which instantly suspended
my operation and brought me with
| leap to my feet. Low down on the
water line, but perfectly distinct, was
| the white, unmistakable canvas of
ship.
| I did not wait for a second look, but
| bawled out, as though 1 had been at
! the masthe read, sail boi"
| d. They all sprang up, like so many
| puppets in a show.
Where away?" cried the captain
and Mac Ivrach together.
| Mr.. lynn, who was on the other side
| of the boom, scrambled under. aud we
all stood in a group.
| "Yonder," 1 said, pointing at the
/ speck. THANK God, she is not from
| the direction of Panama."
mo, she cannot be a buccaneer, COM
ing from that quarter" said the cap
| tain, with a breath Of relief.
'SFhe next thing is to determine her
! course" said Mr.. lynn. Would we had
glass!"
1--WE maun max it UP in patience"
| observed Mac Ivrach, "whilk is no a
| satisfactory substitute
We agreed with him, and sat down to
wait for the Unreasonable speck to
grow.
Very slowly. as it seemed to our i'm
patience, it swelled and whitened. AT
! last we got the square of the upper
sails, and could be sure she was bound