The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-18

the cylinder heads. He called out i'm
mediately from below:
90 Miss Annesley, you must not
come down here" He came up the lad
der quickly and stepped out on deck.
Great beads of sweat hung upon his
forehead and he was painting.
co." she said, really you must go
slower. Haste is dangerous in this eli
mate, and it is going to be a very hot
day"
YES" he answered dryly, II should
MT wonder-very hot. But let us go up
to the bridge"
He looked into the pinnacle ard
found that the steamer was drifting
with her nose to the northwest. This
just suited his purpose. He pnlashed
tie wheel and told the girl to hold II
where it was while he went below
again assuring her that as soon as
steam went into the steering gear the
little wheel then so stiff would be easy
to move. And then he ran off, leaving
her standing comfortably under the
awning, grasping the spokes. He was
gone a long time, and she wondered
what he was doing. But presently the
funnel of the tramp began to yibrate
like an immense drum, and to belch
forth smoke. And suddenly the wheel
became as pliable as toy, and she
realized that the boat was moving slow
ly through the water. At the same
time Wade came running back to me
bridge. He was stripped to the waist
and with his upper clothes had gone
the last vestige of his ceremony. lie
took the wheel and swung 1t over sew
eral points.
There" he said, "the course is to the
westnorwest See, now, If you move
this wheel to the right-so-her nose
will turn to the left-so-her nose Will
turn to the right-there, see that. so,
keep her here, at this point, until l
come again. But if anything goes
wrong-if another vessel comes in plain
sight, call me at once through this
tube" And without further ado he ran
below again.
1t was a long morning to the girl on
the bridge. At first there was the nov
city of feeling that the great moving
mass under her was completely suDser-
Went TO her command, and several
times she could not resist the tempta-
ton to prove it's subserviency by max
ing the steamer veer to port or to star
board and back again to the course.
The glare of the water hurt her eyes
and made her head ache. The hours
dragged by YEARLY.
But if the morning seemed long to the
CINE itself should have had all his time,
but having gone over it once with oil
and waste, he was compelled to leave
ii to the mercy of the steam-oiling ap-
paratus, for the fires needed his con-
slant attention. His knowledge of boil
lers and engines was confined to what
he had picked up on this very vessel
and having established certain danger
limits on the gauges he was careful to
III x,fr ,Cf 6x-
ertion was not likely to work the me-
chanism up to the smashing point. The
real danger lay to himsef. So he adopt
ed a rule of action to keep within
bounds. He opened the bunker doors
and let the coal stream out on the
floors, where he could get at it more
easily. Then as the fire doors opened
out of the ends of the cube formed by
the firebox, he made 1t a point to
charge twice around the cube, working
door after door between each look at
the engine. He worked naked most of
the time, and, after each round of the
fires, he turned on the hose from the
water tank and sprayed himself from
head TO foot.
And thus in the terrible heat he
dragged through the morning. At noon
he turned off his drafts and stopped
the engine, dressed himself and went
on deck. He found the girl terribly
concerned over the wheel, which had
suddenly refused to act with its ac-
customed ease. He pegged off their po-
sition on the chart, and then went to
| get something to eat. During the meal
he told her that they were about 20
miles nearer the coast than they had
been at dawn.
After dinner they rested four hours
to get by the heat of the day. dividing
| the time between sleeping and watch
ing. They went back to their work re-
freshed, and when sunset took with it
| the glare and the heat of the sea they
decided to keep at it several hours
longer. He lighted the side lamps and
turned on the electric lights to mini
mize the chance of collision, and while
she sat up under the stars playing
| with the wheel, he went below decks
again to deal with the fires. At 10
o'clock he told her to go to bed, but at
3 they were off again, for they found
| it more prudent to lie to in broad day.
light and do their running in the even
| ing and early morning. At 8 o'clock the
| girl was so exhausted that Wade let
her sleep until sunset. Then they hur-
ried on again, but this time the trick
told on him, for after he came on deck
after the run he made several incohe-
when she replied to them he got very
angry indeed. and ordered her to bed.
| Now the girl had only a vague conf
ception of his strenuous life below
deck, and 1t hardly accounted for his
| sudden change of manner. She was
surprised, indignant, and withal, some
what frightened, and when she retired
she was careful to lock the door of her
room. She got little sleep that night.
In the early morning, however, he
seemed to have recovered. He made
no reference to his words of the night
before, and by daylight they were I'M
der way.
Now they had gone over three hun
| bred miles to the westward, between
the 10th and Goth parallels, or just
south of the regular sailing route by
way of the trades, and he had told her
that morning to look out for land and
notify him at once, for he reckoned
they were nearing the Windward ISL
ands. With this in mind. she whistled
| joyfully down the tube when the morn
ing was half over to tell him of a deep
haze which lay off the port bow. He
| Gid not answer the call, and later,
when she saw plainly that 1t was land,
she whistled again. Yet he did not re-
| ply. Once again did she call, without
result, and then, with a foreboding of
something wrong. she left the wheel
to take care of itself and ran to the
door of the engine room. She called
again, and waited, and then climbed
70 the running floor He was not there