Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-01-31

I had already found one of Dof
ville's friends, and before we had peeh
out two days / discovered another IN
the person of the b~ig-limbed James
Sweeney. When | first caught sight OF
him he was pacing the main deck ana
looking somewhat gaunt and
ous. by reason. / supposed, of his being
a bad sailor. He made no pretense OF
Disgusting himself. since. from his point
of view. why should he? He, no DOUBT,
knew me perfectly we'll, but how was /
TO know him?
We were on board a large trading
trading steamer and as we were 10
make straight for Auckland and not
cell at any intermediate port, L had
not the remotest chance of writing 10
Anguish or Nora, or of communicating
with any of my friends. There were
eight saloon passengers besides my
self. and some fifteen or sixteen in tf~
second class and the steerage, but as
nothing occurred on the run out that
has any bearing upon my story,
| shall omit any account of the voyage,
neither need / enter into wearisome
details of Auckland. Scarcely was the
ship berthed than a man came aboard
and asked for me, and handing me a
letter. bade me come below with him
and read it. The instructions in this
letter were very simple. 1t ram
AS YOU are on your trial you u
accompany the bearer Of this, who VIII
on no account lose sight of you, and
any communication you may wish to
make to n person whatever must be
made through him. If you fail in this
particular you will bring upon your
self instant punishment. For h very
short time you are in Auckland you
will live with the companion we have
chosen for you. He will tell you your
destination, and o you are to pro-
coed thither.
And most certainly the nan who
brought me this stuck closer to me
than a brother for the twenty hours
during which we remained in town.
At the end of this period we found
ourselves once more afloat in the trad
ing schooner Nightingale, bound for
one of the Fiji Islands, at which island
I was to disembark, and where the OBJ
ject of my journey would be fully ex-
planned, and I should begin to work
for the cause Could I possible have
shaken off my companion or given him
the slip I think l should have done so,
and have found some speedier craft to
take me to Fiji, but he watched my
every movement, and looking through
the windO as we sat at dinner to-
gether, I saw Sweeney and the other
man l knew walking slowly to and fro.
So I made no demur, but went aboard
apparently as cheerfully as though /
were on a pleasure trip, and / found
that Sweeney and the man with the
peculiar face were still voyaging with
me; indeed the latter had told me,
when we were on the Shannon, that he
was going on to Fiji.
And so in this remote corner of the
earth Providence had decreed that I
should meet the father from whom I
had parted in London; and the men,
cries that came to me were more ten
der than I can we'll say, and / prayed
to God for strength to play the man,
and to prove myself worthy Of my up
bringing and breeding.
The schooner had, in her day, been a
trim enough craft Of about $50 tons
burthen, and with a favorable breeze
n as much as could be got
on her, we went bowling north with a
daily and hourly accompaniment of
oaths from those who had to man the
pumps. for the N~ightingale's seams
were of the leakiest. But the weather
kept so fine that life would have been
bearable had I not been in such a state
- n-.s4
out of England with me In the Shan
non messed with myself and the cap
tain and mate. Sweeney lived for'ard
with some three or four other passen-
gers, and I saw very little of him.
Where was D'Orville, / wondered,
and what was he doing? In all proba-
bility, he had already reached Fiji, and
knew where my father was, and, no
doubt, had so arranged matters that,
in his opinion, he would be able to ac-
complish the sacrifice when the two
victims met. I felt a grim satisfaction
when I reflected that the said victims
were already aware of his amiable in
tentions, and that one of them at least
would have secured such help that the
tables would lie easily turned. Stin,
the CndnRe that DorVllle had made
with regard to the meeting place had
completely upset my plans. and so
closely had / been watched that it had
been quite impossible for me to even
as much as secure a weapon.
And so. or and on we went, farther
n farther north, while every day
brought US nearer to the final scene.
81 don't III the look Of the weather"
said the skipper to me, one evening:
and, truth to tell. landsman as I was. I
could read signs Of ill-omen in the
gloomy e d globe hat was dropping
behind a dark-gray bank of clouds,
and in the moaning wind that blew in
puffs, driving US at racing speed for a
few minutes, to leave US drifting Slow
ly until it piced us up again.
Wen get some Of the canvas of
her. Bates" said he to the mate. and
presently we lay under easy sail. with
everything snug allow and aloft, wait.
ing for the first real buffet OF the hur-
ricane.
I'll carry on as long as I can" said
the skipper; land we ought to fetch
up at Totoya In a very few days. IL
WA HnrEt rpn vn,,cx IA -, -