The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-04-10
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BY AUGUSTA PRESCOTT.


work. too. for Edith talked to cropley,
ana listened To CrOpiey. and asked
Cropiey questions about the harbor, and
the FUNNY boats, and the pearl divers,
which questions. for the most part. he
had To either refer TO me or give up.
1T was beautiful morning ana the
goose seemed TO hang high for poor
cropley-so much so that his rival was
beginning TO look as detected as a man
in spotless duck. with a shining, fresh
~ shaVen face, can look, l. made up my
mind TO tell CropleX at the first oppor-
tunity not 10 push things too hard. or
the mother might resort 90 stringent
measures, and forbid Edith 10 talk TO
him at all. That was the danger which
l foresaw at that time.
But then Cropley suddenly burst into
blaze Of glory az hero.
I'VE were all standing at the stern
rail-fiVe OF us-looking at the small
craft below. A native seaman-a Las
car from some piratical part of the
Malay Peninsula-came skipping nim-
bly, along tho top OF the rail that was
TO hang i'm bights from spring hooks
for some purpose or other. He apollo
gized for disturbing us and passed on.
In less than "A minute after he had
passed we heard the cry, Man over
board! behind us.
"Of course il was the Lascar who had
dropped from the taffrail. Everybody
ran TO the starboard side OF the deck,
and there was the poor devils head
bobbng up and down ike cork, while
his shipmates were running every way
at once 10 get out life guoys
You see. there was no danger OF his
drowning. You can't drown "A Lascar.
unless you anchor him in ten fathOms
with a two-fathOm cable. The danger
was in sharks: that was why all the
IN Oh nd baf a
ding about within few yards OF the
man held off from him so. they were
afraid of being upset by the scramble
OF sharks that We're sure 10 come. And
then, you see the man was only Las
car. anyhow. A white man or "A high
caste native would have been different.
Just for one moment II was horrible
There was not ripple near the man
as yet, but we all expected 10 the rip-
Piles I'm another moment and then-the
end OF IL. Edith's mother drew her
back from the rail. We three men
semed momentarily paralyzcd.
Then, suddenly, young Cropley be-
gan getting his arms on tot the sleeves
OF his loose Chinese silk jacket. | shall
never forget the way ne set about it,
There was an expression on his face
which ! can only describe as pouting.
'Confound it, he said, Isuppose l
must GO
And the next moment he was over
the rail and lying. arms and legs all
spread out, through the air. down 10
the shining, swelling water where the
Lascar's head was bobbing up and
down.
What struck me aboht Il ai-was
the tone I'm which he said those words
'Confound IL, | suppose / must go.' 1t
was just az IL the bugle call had in
f.aI III t,.
ed him deeply. Things had evidently
began 10 lok bright for him, because
Edith was smiling, and | SUPPOSE he
thought IL a beastly bore, don't you
know for this fool OF "a Lascar TO go
and drop into that shark pond on this
particular morning.
"And / suppose Cropley had quite
made up his mind that there would be
no coming back for him. He was only
doing IL all, | believe. because il was
the thing to do and because IL would
be disgrace 10 the flag, III this Lascar
were eaten up like that without an at
tempt on the part of any Of the 'sahibs'
TO save him; and il did look for MtLie
time as if things were going that way.
But he was pleasantly surprised, $50
was l. 50 was Edith, SO. l believe. was
even Cropley's rival We had none OF
Us counted on one very simple fact In
natural history. namely, that sharks
with all their ferocity. are very timid.
The splash Cropley made as ne dropped
into the water saved two lives Prob
ably IL came just in time.
There was an answering sudden
swirl as ne dropped In. and even
thought / could see a long fin cutting
through the water going away from
the two men. The sharks were rushing
away from {. splash. as they always
DO. though they may BE- counted onto
come back as soon IS everything gets
quiet again. But before they could
come back one OF The ships boats that
had been moored at the foot OF the
companion ladder was alongside the
Lascar and the Englishman. They were
both pulled in safe.
THAT does illustrate what YOU were
saying about heroes not making heroic
speeches doesn't it?"
well. / don't quite know whether II
does or not" said the stout man with
the cigar But how about the girl?"
"Oh, the girl" Well. curious thing
about that affair. How do you suppose
ii ended?"
"She OF course, fell dead in love with
young Cropley--uo mistake at all about
IL this time. Then her mother tried 20
put a spoke i'm his wheel, in spite Of
the strong public opinion that sprang
up on board before We got as far as
Alden. For. Of course. Cropley immc-
diatelv became the hero of the shin. II
was the coffee planter himself who did
the trick FOR young Croplcy
"My prosperous frien first went and
bad an interview teuc-a-tete with NAM
ma. after which that lady treated
CrOpley with great deal more ur-
banity and consideration than she had