Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-02-08

into food of tears and was led by Wal
worth to q cabin near by, where, when
his torrent had worn itself out, the poor
little chap fell fast asleep.
"Now," said Patterson as soon as the
lieutenant had finished his meal, "per'
haps you will tell me your story?"
"It won't take long to do that" the
officer began. 81 am the first lieutenant
of her majesty's cruiser Asiatio. We
were sent out from Singapore last Sat.
urday in pursuit Of this very yacht, If J
mistake not. As you know, we almost
picked you up in the fog, but when II
lifted your superior steaming power en-
abled you to escape u.s. Then the ty'
phoon caught us, and in looking afte,
ourselves we lost sight of you altogether.
We rode out the storm safely enough,
but just at suntime yesterday she STRUCK
an uncharted rock and went down with
in five minutes
He stopped for moment and covered
his face with his hands.
"This is terrible newsI" cried Patter'
son, while we all gave utterance to ex
pressions of Mortified astonishment
"And was yours the only boat that got
awayr'
"I'm very much afraid so," he re-
piled. s.'At least ! saw no other. Yes,
you araEght; it is terrible, and he,
majesty has lost a fine vessel and 6
splendid ships company in the Asiatic. u
When the poor fellow had finished
his story, he was-silent for some min
utes. Indeed, 30 were we all. 1t seemed
almost incredible that the great vessel
we had admired and feared only the day
before should now be lying, with the
majority Of her crew, deep down at the
bottom Of the ocean.
"We are fortunate in having been
able to pick you up," said Patterson
after awhile. IAN hour later and We
should have changed our course an6
have been many miles away"
"In. that case we should have been
dead men by nightfall, " was the reply.
GAS it was, we lost one man"
"How did it happen?''
"The poor devil went mad and jump
ed overheard. Remember, we had nc
water and nothing to eat, and so yor
may imagine it was heartbreaking worh
pulling in that Hking sun. The miracle
to me is that thSboy stood it as we'll al
he did,"
"Poor little chapl It must have beer
terrible experience for him."
"And what do You intend doing with
us?" asked the officer, after little
pause. "For, of course, we're your pris
oners."
"That I cannot say" Patterson an
swered. "It does not lie within my
province However, you'll hear soor
enough-never fear. By the way, ! sup
pose you will give me your word thai
you will not attempt to play us any
tricks. You must remember, please, thai
to all intents and purposes we are al
war!"
81 will give you my word. Is thai
enough?"
"Quite enough. And now that yor
have done so I make you free Of on,
wardroom and its contents.
All the time Patterson had been speak
ing had noticed that the lieutenant,
whose name, it transpired later, waE
Thorden, had been staring at his face al
If trying to recall some countenanoe Il
reminded him of. Just as we were pre-
pairing to go on deck again his memory
seemed to come back to him.
81 hope you will excuse what I an
going to say. and stop me if I am recall
ing any unpleasant memories, he blurt-
ed out, "but ever since came aboard
I've been wondering where we have met
before. Aren't you Gregory, who was
commander of the gunboat Parsifal In
the Egyptian business Of 1879"
Patterson fell back against the wall
as if he had been shot. For moment
his face was as white as the paper am
cow writing upon; then, with great
effort, he pulled himself together and
answered:
81 have quite forgotten that / had
any existence at all in 1879. May 1 beg
that you will not recall the fact to my
memory?" Then, as if to change the
subject, be continued: 81 expect you
would like to rest after all your trou-
bles. Pray let me conduct you to a
cabin"
"Many thanks" said Thorden, and
with that they went along the alleyway
together, and I returned to the deck to
think out what I had heard. 1t was, OF
course, no business of mine, but ! was
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