The times., 1899-07-09

The cattle-boat Goshawk's midday sights
had shown her to be in latitude IL degrees
81 minutes south by 3s degrees AZ minutes
west longitude, which meant that she was
coming up to that dangerous collection of
reefs and rocks known as the Abrolhos
Shoals. The chart which covered them
was from French survey in 1861, and as
any amount of unrecorded changes might
have been wrought since then by that min
ute mason Of the deep, the coral insect,
Captain Grimshaw was very much on the
qui vive SO long as his ship was in the
neighborhood. For, being a wise master
mariner, he depended but little on either
the chart or the Abrolhos Light itself.
But If the captain did not fancy this par
ticular patch of the sea for reasons relat-
ing to navigation, the third engineer did
for purposes of his own. In short, he hoped
to earn the ships insurance money and a
couple of hundred pounds for himself
somewhere in the vicinity. 1t was an ex-
celient locality for plausible story about
the Goshawk running on some uncharted
shoal water. So when he was relieved of
his half watch at o'clock by the chief en-
gineer he went straight to the engine
room mess-table for his tea, carefully for
getting his blue jacket where it hung on
rail on the forward side of the engine
room bulkhead. Having partaken hastily
and sparingly of the bad tea and potato
hash supplied. he turned into his own
room, locked the door. and arranged
pair of trousers to hang so that one of
the legs might cover the keyhole. Then
he knelt, though not exactly in prayer, be-
side his sea chest, and proceeded to un-
pack 1t, till at length he reached a small
wooden box with a sliding top At first
sight it did not appear why his hand
should tremble little as he pulled the lid
aside and drew from its well-waded cradle
a very commonplace lump OF coal.
1t was exactly like any other piece of
coal. about the size of large fist-say the
mate's-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 e4O,-
600 worth and a few mems lives lay In its
nascent possibilities
On closer inspection however, ii revealed
one little popularity, little square projec-
tion such as any lady or gentleman who
does not use q stem-winder may see in
his watch any night of the week. Tom
Tudor's own watchkey. which he now tried
upon 1t to see if everything was in proper
working order, fitted it exactly as a mat
ter of fact.
ly dark. That will be my time he thought
to himself with anything but fiendish
chuckle. AS yet he was considerably re-
moved from the villain teres atque rotun-
das of sanguinary fiction. OF a truth he
was conscious at the moment of a curious
sickness, 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 fame and
i .-a-x
the captains daughter! When he had en-
tered into this nefarious contract with GER
tain unnamable people at home. he had
not counted on this disturbing element.
That he, hard-hearted and hard headed
scoundrel as he was, should feel this i'm
mense tenderness for pretty ailing girl.
away with her father for a voyage On ac-
count OF her health. was an alteration be-
yond all calculation. Was it love? 1t
worried and pricked him, and 1t awakened
old unwelcome chords in the atrophed
sense of fitness which had been his con-
science. Yes, it was love, and-bless Alice,
the captains daughter.
'If she hadn't been so hard on me last
night l could never have done IT, ran his
thoughts, working fierce tenderness in his
sallow, handsome face. "A touch of her
hand and the Goshawk would have stemmed
the Thames River again, Suppose the ship
sank in couple Of minutes, before they
had time to lower the boats! There are
sharks abouti l don't mind sending an
old fireman or a trimmer to hotter fur
naces. But the flop of the brutes around
her sweet body! It's horrible. By heav-
ems, I-cant do II after ALL"
He bent his head against the raised lid
OF his trunk. But I'm talking bethel rot.
The cursed thing is calculated to give the
ship half an hour. There'll be lots Of time
for everybody to get clear except the poor
fellows who get blown to atoms from the
stokehole. Then the weather's quiet and
we're right in the track Of ships-certain to
be picked up within forty eight hours
He dandled the black mass on his fing-
ers.
Five turns OF the key. and then five
minutes before the explosion. every turn a
minutei II 1 push the Job through III
never tackle another. God of heaven
wish we were all safe in the boats,''
He replaced the grim handful of doom
in its cradle again. replaced it in its box,