Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-08-17
THE LUMP OF COAL.
A Marine Episode That Thrills.

The cattle-boat Goshawks midday
sights had shown her to be in latitude
II degrees "a minutes south by SO de
grees AZ minutes west longitude
which meant that she was coming vi
to that dangerous collection Of reefs
and rocks known as the Abrolhos
Shoals. The chart which covered
them was from a French survey IL
1861, and as any amount Of unrecord
ed changes might have been wrought
since then 10y that minute mason OF
the deep, the coral insect, Captain
Grimshaw was very much on the gu
vive so long as his ship was in the
neighborhood. For, being wise mas
ter-mariner, he depended but little OIL
either the chart or the Abrolhos
Light itself.
But If the captain did not fancy this
particular patch of the sea for reas
ons relating to navigation, the third
engineer did fer purposes of his own
In short, ne hoped to earn the ships
insurance money and couple Of hun
bred pounds for himself somewhere In
the vicinity. 1t was an excellent To-
cality for plausible story about the
GOshawk running on some uncharted
shoal and sinking as she backed into
deep water. So when he was relieved
of his half watch ut 6 o'clock by the
chief engineer, he went straight to the
engine-room mess table for his tea
On aft1lIx- fnr0affinO hic 1,Ivrn io cly ~
where 1t hung on rail on the for
ward side of the engine-room bulk.
head. Having partaken hastily and
sparingly Of the bad tea and potato
hash supplied, he turned into his OWL
room, locked the door, and arranged
a pair Of trousers to hang so that one
of the legs might cover the keyhole.
Then he knelt, though not exactly in
prayer, beside his sea chest, and pro-
ceeded to unpack it, till ut length he
reached small wooden box with a
sliding top. At first sight it did not
appear why his hand should tremble q
little as he pulled the lid aside and
drew from it's well-wadded cradle q
very commonplace lump of coal.
1t was exactly like any other piece
of coal about the size Of large fist
say the mates-and it had all the jetty
sparkle and shine of the newly broken
article. The only difference between
1t and the other Jumps in the bunkers
was that 100000 worth and a few
mems lives lay in its nascent POSSIBLE
tiles.
On closer inspection, however, it re-
vealed one little popularity, a little
square projection such as any lady or
gentleman who does not use stem
winder may see in his watch any night
of the week. Tom Tudor's own watch
key, which he now tried upon it to
see If everything was in proper work
ing order, fitted it exactly as a matter
of fact.
Another hour and 1t will be pretty
nearly dark. That will be my time, y
he thought to Himself with anything
but a fiendish chuckle. AS yet he was
considerably removed from the villain
teres atque rotundus of sanguinary
fiction. OF a truth he was conscious
at the moment Of a. curious sickness
a tickling In his stomach which not
even the recent potato stew could ac'
count for. No, 1t was the thought OF
the coming appalling moment of flame
and death-and the captains daugh
ter. Curse the captains daughter
When he had entered into this nefari
GUS contract with certain unnamable
people at home, he had not counted
on this disturbing element. That he
hard-hearted and hard-headed scoun
drel as he was, should feel this i'm
mense tenderness for pretty ailine
girl, away with her father for a voy
age on account of her health, was ar
alteration beyond all calculation. Was
1t love? 1t worried and pricked him
and 1t awakened old unwelcomt
chords in the atrophied sense of fit
ness which had been his conscience
Yes, 1t was love, and-bless Alice, the
captains daughter!
eff she hadn't been so hard on me
last night / could never have done it,
ran his thoughts, waking fierce ten
derness in his sallow, handsome face
IA touch Of her hand and the Cos
hawk would have stemmed tn,
Thames River againl Suppose tn,
ship sank in couple Of minutes, be
fore they had time to lower the boats
There are sharks about! I don't mint
sending an old fireman or a trimmer
to hotter furnaces. But the flop of tn,
brutes round her sweet bodyi IT.
horrible. can't do 1t after air.
He bent his forehead against tn,
raised lid Of his trunk. But I'm talk
ing meeting house rot. The curset
thing is calculated to give the shiI
half IN hour. There'll be lots Of tim,
for everybody to get clear except tn
poor fellows who get blown to atom
from the stokehole. Then the wealth
,er's quiet, and were right In the traol