The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-06
BY CUTCLIFFE HYNE.

last of her coal into the lighters along
side. had cast off from the mooring
buoys. and was steaming out of the
baking heat of Suez harbor on her way
down toward the worse heat of the Red
sea beyond.
A passenger, a young man of or 8
and 20. lounged on a campStool under
the upper bridge awning, and watched
the Parakeet's captain as he walked
briskly across and across, and present.
~, when the little sailor faced him, he
nodded as though he had decided some
thing that was in his thoughts.
well, sir?" said Captain Kettle.
81 wish you wouldn't look so anxious.
We've started now. and may as well
make up our minds to go through It
comfortably"
Quite So" said Kettle I'm think
/ ing out how we are to do this business
| in comfort and safety" and with that
he resumed his walk.
The man beside him had introduced
himself when the black workers were
carrying the Parakeet's cargo of coal in
| baskets from the holds to the lighters
alongside, and Kettle had been rather
startled to find that he carried a letter
of introduction from the steamboats,
owners. The letter gave him no choice
! of procedure. 1t stated with clearnesS
that Mr.. Hugh Wenlock, solicitor, had
laid his wishes before them, and that
they had agreed to further these wishes
Through the agency of their servant,
Captain Owen Kettle) in consideration
of the payment of e200 sterling.
The Parakeet was a cargo tramp. and
carried no passenger certificate, but a
letter of recommendation like this was
equivalent to direct order, and Kettle
signed Mr.. Wenlock on to his crew list
as Doctor" and put to sea with an
anxious mind.
Wenlock waited awhile, watching
squalid Suez sink into the sea behind,
and then he spoke again.
Look here, captain" he said, chose
South Arabian ports have got lot
worse reputation than they really de-
serve. The people down there twenty
years ago Were a pack of pirates, I'll
grant you, but nowadays they've got
and that's a wonderful civilizing power.
l tell you. captain. you needn't be
frightened; that pirate business is eX-
ploded for now and always"
Il know all about the piratical han
kerings of those South Arabian niggers,
sir" said Kettle, stifiiy. land I know
what they can do and what they can't
do as well as any man living. And 1
know also what I can do myself at
push, and the knowledge leaves me
pretty comfortable But if you choose
to think me frightened, I'll own that I
am. It's the navigation down there
that gave me cold shivers the first mo-
ment you mentioned it."
why it's no worse than the Red sea
here, anyway"
1.-THE Red seas bad, but you can get
good charts of it and can rely on
them. South Arabian coast is no bet
ter, and the charts aren't worth the
paper they're printed on"
Il wouldn't like TO wreck the steam
er down there. 1t might be awkward
for me getting back"
Quite So" said Kettle. You're
thinking of yourself and 1 don't blame
you. I'm thinking of myself also. I'm
a man that's met with a great deal of
misfortune, sir, and from one thing and
another, I've been eight years without
a regular command. l had the luck to
bring in a derelict the other day and
pocket a good salvage out of her, and
my present owners heard OF it, and they
put me as master of this steamer, just
because of that luck. L am not anxious
to pile uD this steamboat on some IN
chartered reef"
I'm as keen as you are not to get
the steamer wrecked, and if there's any
way she can be kept out of a danger
Gus area, and you can manage to set
you say, and I'll meet you all l can.
But at the same time, skipper, if you
don't mind doing a swap, you might
give me a good deal of help over my
matter in return"
Il haven't heard your business yet,
sir. All you've told me is that you want
to be set down in this place, Dunkhot,
and be taken off again after you've
stayed there our-andtwenty hours"
We'll, you see / don't want it talked
over beforehand. If the newspapers got
hold of the yarn, and made a lot of fuss
about it, they might upset a certain
marriage that I've very much set my
heart upon"
Capt. Kettle looked puzzled. Il don't |
seem to quite follow you, sir
You shall hear the tale from the be-
ginning: We have plenty of time ahead /
of us just now. You remember the |
wreck of the Rangoon?"
She was coming home from East In |
dian ports wasn't she, and got on fire |
somewhere off cape Guardafui? Only |
about ten Of her people saved, if 1 re- I
member"
That's about right" said Wenlock: !
its twenty-five years ago now. Among
others lost was a Col. Anderson and :
his wife and their child, Teresa, aged !
four, and what made their deaths all |
the more sad was the fact that Ander- |
sons elder brother died just a week |
before, and he would have come home ,
to find a peerage and large estates |
waiting for him"
Il can feel for that man." said Ket- |
tie.
II can feel most for the daughter" /
said Wenlock.
How do YOU mean, sir?''
We'll, Col. Anderson's dead and his |
wifes dead, but the daughter isn't, or |
q ~ fn CHI nnI, q live
twelve months ago, that's all. The |
whole lot of them, with others, got into !
one of Rangoon's boats, and after J.
fr!zZling about at sea till they were
nearly starved, got chucked on that |
South Arabian coast, which you say is
so rocky and dangerous, and were
drowned. All, barring Teresa, that is.
She was pulled out of the water by the
local niggers and was brought up by !
them, and I've absolute certain infor-
nation that not year ago she was liv-
ing in Dunkhot. as quite big person
age in her way"
And she's my lady now, if she only
knew?"
well. not that The title doesn't de-
scend in the female line. But Col. An
derSon made q will in her favor after
she was born, and the present earl,
who's got the estates. would have to
shell out If she turned up again."
My owners, in their letter. mention
ed that you were a solicitor. Then you
are employed by his lordship. sir?''
Mr.. Wenlock laughed. Not much
he said. I'm on my own hook. Why,
hang it all, captain, you must see that
no man of his own free will would Aa
idiot enough to resurrect a long-forgot-
ten niece just to make himself into a
beggar''
Il don't see why not, sir. if he got to
know she was alive. Some men have
and even a lord, 1 suppose,
is a man."
This present earl has far too good