The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-04-01


to work. too, for Edith talked TO Crop
ley, and listened to CropIey, and asked
Cropley questions about the harbor. and
the pearl divers, which questions, for
the most part, he had to refer to me or
give up.
ut was a beautiful morning, and the
goose seemed to hang high for poor
Cropley--so much SO that his rival was
beginning to look rs detected as u man
In spotless white duck, with shining.
freshly shnven face. can look. l made
up my mind to tell Cropley at the first
opportunity not to push things too
hurd, or the mother might resort 70
stringent measures. and forbid Edith 70
talk to him ut nll. That was the dan
ger which fOrSaw at that time.
But then Cropley sud emily burst into
blaze of glory as hero.
eve were standing at the stern rail-
five OF us--looking at the small craft
below us dancing onrthe light swell. a
native seaman---a Lascur from, some pl-
ratlcal part of the Malay peninsula
came skipping nimbly along the top OF
the rail that was to hang In blghts from
spring hooks for some purpose or other.
He apologized for disturbing US ana
passed on. In less than q minute after
he had passed we heard the cry Man
0VerD0ard. Denlnu US.
"Of course II was the Lascar who had
dropped from the tnffrail. Everybody
RIM to the stnrbonrd side of the deck,
and there was the poor fellows head
bobbIng up and down. like a cork. While
his shipmates were running every way
ut once to get out life buoys.
You see, there was no danger or MS
drowning. You can't drown Il Lascar.
unless you anchor him In ten fathoms OF
water with -fathom- cable. The
danger was In sharks: that was why all
the dlngheys and sampanS that were
padding about within u few yards or
the man held off from him so. they were
afraid OF being upset by the scramble
Of sharks that were sure TO come. AND
then, you see, the man was only Las
car, anyway. a white man or hlgn
caste native would have been different.
Just for one moment 1t was horrible.
There was not Il ripple near the man as
yet, but we all expected TO see the rip
pies In another moment. and then-the
end OF It. Edith's mother drew her back
from the rail. We three men seemed
momentarily paralyzed.
Then suddenly young Cropley began
getting his arms out Of the sleeves or
his loose Chinese silk Jacket. shall
never forget the way he set out about
It. There was an expression on his
| face which can only describe as pout-
ing.
'Confound It." he said, I suppose I
must 60
And the next moment he was over
| the rail and flying. arms and legs all
spread out. through the air, down to
the shining. swelling water, where the
Lascar's head was bObbing up and
| down.
What struck me about it all was the
| tone in which he said those words Con-
found IT,. suppose must go. 1t was
just as IL the bugle call had interrupted
| him In n game that Interested him
deeply Things had evidently began
to look bright for him. because Edith
was smiling. and I suppose he thought
| 1t a beastly bore. don't you know. for
| this fool Of Lascar to go and drop
into that shark pond on this particular
| morning.
"And suppose Cropley had quite
| made up his mind that there was no
coming back for him. He was only
doing 1t all. / believe, because it was
the thing to do, and because 1t would
be disgrace to the flag II this Lascar
| were eaten up like that without an at
tempt on the part Of any of the 'sahibs'
to save him, and 1t did look for 4 little
time us IL things were going that way.
But he was pleasantly surprised, 80
was /, so was Edith, So I believe. was
even Cropley's rival. We had none of
us counted on one very simple fact In
natural history, namely. that sharks.
with al their ferocity. are very timid.
| The splash that Cropley made as he
dropped into the water saved two lives.
Probably 1t came just in time.
There was an answering sudden
swirl as he dropped in. and l even
thought / could see long fin cutting
through the water, going away from the
two men. The sharks We're rushing
away from the splash as they always
do. although they may be counted on
to come back as soon as everything gets
quiet again. But before they could
come back one OF the ships boats tina,
had been moored at the foot OF the COM
panion 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, I don't quite know whether i,
does or not" said the stout man with
the cigar. But how about the Girl?'
"Oh, the girl! Well, curious thing
. | lIl'il INV w SOu SuppoSe
1t ended?"
"She. of course, fell dead In love with
young Cropley-no mistake at all about
1t this time Then her mother tri0d &c
put spoke In his wheel in spite OF the
strong public opinion that sprang up or
board before we got as fnr Us Alden
+ For. of course. Cropley Immediately be-
came the hero OF the ship. 1t was tho
coffee planter himself who did the trick
" for young Cropley.
My prosperous friend first went and
had an Interview tete-a-tete with nam.
ma, after which that lady treated Crop.
ley with q great deal more considera.
ton than she had been doing. And be-
. fore we all separated at Southampton
Cropley told me his rival had Offered
him n one-t third interest in the coffee
plantation II he (Cropley) would cut tn,
army and go back to Ceylon to manage
things there for him. so that the middle
aged planter might retire and live a
ease In Europe"
!. did Croplcy take the offer?" asked
"Indeed. he did" said Clarence. "Ant
. he took Edith. too"