Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-07
NXVII.

poor fellow drifting about like that"
The speaker, a bluff, hearty skipper, whose
| sturdy craft had outridden one of the worst
storms of the season, pointed to our poor
friend Sweetwater, whose head could just
be seen above the broken spar he chung to.
In another moment a half dozen hands were
stretched for him, and the insensible form
drawn in and laid on a deck which still
showed the results of the nights fierce con-
fict with the waters.
On it! how ugly he isl" cried one
of the sailors, with a leer at the half
drowned mans face. Didn't please some
merry lass in saving him.! He's fit to poison
a devil fish,
But though more than one of them
laughed, they gave him good care for all
| that and when Sweetwater came t. life and
realized that his blood was running warm
again and that a gray sky had taken the
| place of darkness and a sound board sup
ported limbs which for hours had yielded
helplessly to the rocking pillows, he saw a
ring of hard but good-natured faces about
him and realized quite we'll what had been
done for him when one Of them said:
There! he'll do now; all hands on deck!
| We can get into New Bedford in two days if
this wind holds. Nor west, the skipper
shouted to the mar at the tiller. Well
sup with our old women in forty eight hours
at New Bedford!" 1t was the only word
Sweetwater heard. So, he was to get no
further away from Sutherlandtown than
that. Evidently Providence had not meant
him to escape. Or was it but trying his
fortitude? A mar as humble as he might
easily be lost even in a place as small as
New Bedford. 1t was his identity he must
suppress. With that u~nrecognized he might
remain in the next village TO Sutherlandtown
| uitbort faar os haipu calJad IN &c n uritn.,.
against Frederick. But could he suppress it.
He thought he could. At all events he would
try.
Whats your nance" were the words he
now heard shouted in his ear.
Jonathan Briggs was his muslbled re-
ply. Il was blown off a ships deck in the
gale last night"
What ship?"
1.-the Proserpine.' 1t was the first name
that suggested itself to him.
90, l thought it might have been the
Hesper; SHE foundered off here last night
"Foundered? The Hesper?" The hot
blood was shooting now through his veins.
Eyes. we just picked up her name board,
That was before we got a hold on you
"Foundered! The ship from which he
had been so mercilessly thrown! And all
on board lost, perhaps. He began to realize
the hand of Providence in his fate.
ut was the Hesper / sailed on. I'm not
just clear yet in my head. My first voyage
was made on the Proserpine. Well, bless
the gale that blew me from that deck"
He seemed incoherent, and they left him
again for a little while. When they came
back he had his story all ready, which i'm
posed upon them just SO far as 1t was for
their interest. Their business on this coast
was not just legitimate, and when they
found he simply wanted to be set on shore
they were quite willing to do this much for
him. Only they regretted that he had only
So or so and his own soaked clothing to give
in exchange for the motley garments they
trumped up among them for his present
comfort. But he, as we'll as they, made the
best Of a bad bargain, he especially, as his
clothes, which would be presently scattered
among half a dozen families, were the only
remaining clew that connected him with
his native town. He could now be Jonathan
Briggs, indeed. Only who was Jonathan
Briggs, and how was he to earn the din
ner for which he felt himself at that mo-
ment furnishing?
At the end of a couple of days he was
dexterously landed on the end of a long
pier, which they passed without stopping,
on their way to their own obscure anchor
age. AS he jumped from the rail TO the
pier and felt again the touch Of terra firma
he drew a long breath Of uncontrollable
elation. Yet he had not a cent in the world,
no friends and certainly no prospects. He
did not even know whether to turn to the
right or the left as he stepped out upon the
docks, and when he had decided to turn to
the right as being on the whole more lucky
be did not know whether to risk his fortune
in the streets of the town or to plunge at
once into one of the low-browed drinking
houses whose signs confronted him on this
water lane.
He decided that his prospects for a dim
ner were slim in any case, and that his
only hope for breaking fast that day lay in
the use he might make of one of his three
talents. Either he must find a fiddle TO play
on, a carpenters bench to work at or n
piece of detective shadowing to do. The
last would bring him before the notice Of
the police, which was just the thing he
must avoid; so it was fddling or carpentry
he must seek, either OF which would be
difficult to obtain in his present garb. Bus
of difficulties Sweetwater was not a man
to take note. He had undertaken out OF
pure love for a good man to lose himself.
He had accomplished 1t, and now was he
to complain because In doing so he was
likely to go hungry for a day or two? MOI
Amabel might laugh at him, or he might
fancy she did, while struggling In the midst
OF rapidly engulhng waters, but would she
laugh at him now? He did not think she
would. She was OF the kind who some-