Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-04-05
s. e $z &z $:$ &B
CHAPTER I.

The MAN WITH THE STRANGE EYES.
Being more or less OF a dutiful son
1t is With no little compunction that
begin this narrative, for it nearly con-
Germs my father. and l fear he will
come none too we'll out of the ordeal.
Yet what have to relate is so remark
able that for it's singularity alone l
may hope to be pardoned any lack of
tllial piety. And perhaps, when all is
said and done, my father though he
may net cut an irreproac,able figure,
may appear not quite q contemplate
one. 1t must not be forgotten that
only knew the wreck of him; the stout
ship that had battled with so many
temUests IN so many seas was to me
practically unknown. Yet, from what
have since heard, there was a time
when the name of Captain Bob King
stop was respected in very strange
conpany-Whcn his mere entrance into
a public place caused men to nudge
each other and whisper low. when
frorn Hakodate down to the Torres
strait his name was common proper
II. But that was long ago. long before
the Terror lad seized him.
My personal knowledge of him up to
my seventeenth year was extremely
slight, for. With rare intervals, he spent
the whole OF that period at sea. Some
times he was away for two or three
years together, ana once he staid
abroad for five years at IL stretch. To
NE his absence meant little or nothing.
Had it not been for my mothers talk
OF him should have forgotten his very
existence. To my Imagination he seem
ed almost myth, a sort of Flying
Dutchman. who was forever battling
with stormy seas. But to her, Of course,
he was still the man to whom she had
plighted her troth, aud often had l
caught her porting over her album. in
which were at least a dozen portraits
of him. And though at first did not
know what her hasty closing of the
book meant, l have still vivid recol-
lection of her great. sad eyes as she
turned them up to me-eyes full of a
pitiful, inquiring pathos. Sometimes /.
thought the scrutiny satisfied her, at
others she turned away with a sigh
which l failed to read. Perhaps in
those days did not try very hard-for
what has boy to do with the inner
thoughts of women?-but it all comes
back how, and read the meaning of
those looks as would written page.
But. boy as l was, soon knew that
his long absences preyed upon her
mind. Never once did hear her MUIR
muir word against him, and whenever
she spoke Of him it was always with a
glowing satisfaction, just as one sees
\ face light up at the resurrection of a
pleasant memory. But it was faroff
memory and one charged with ineffa-
bic sadness.
1t was mainly through my Uncle
Jim, my mothers brother, that l first
learned to suspect my father Of not be-
ing the best Of husbands. But when l
broached the subject to. her she de-
elared quite angrily that it would be-
come Uncle Jim better if he were to
mind his own business. And yet this /
know he continued to believe was his
business, for he loved his sister. very
dearly. and so that he might be near
her he had lately taken a cottage on
She Maidenhead road, little the other
side of Slough.
We lived between Slough and Wind
.or> bit back from the road that
branches off to Datchett. Here father
had brought my mother shortly after
1heir marriage, and there l was born.
1here | lived during the whole of my
young life. and it was there my father
spent the few weeks be could spare
FROM the sea. l have but Slight recol-
lection of him at that time, for on the
occasion of his last visit to US | was
only 5 years old. know he brought
mother some laces and silks and me
some queer eastern toys-dolls from
Japan, idols and the like from Burma
and Siam and wonderful kite from
china which was the eneyy and admi-
cation of every boy in the neighbor-
aoou. Then l thought my mothers
1ace changed, and she looked young
and pretty again. Not that she could
ever have been anything but pretty
wlth her wonderful brown eyes, her
masses OF black hair and her soft,
sweet face. but I suppose the inward
happiness heightened the effect of the
mere physical beauty.
Then came the parting, and for days
before a melancholy fell upon the
house, while for days after she would
move about like one in dream.
At first the letters came with COM
mendable regularity, and with a glad
face she used to read extracts to me.
Now he was in Japan, now in Java
and DOW at Thursday island. It seems
be had a boat Of his own and used to
trade between the China seas and the
aorthern coasts Of Australia. That he
Mas q shrewd business man as we'll as
b capable sailor I had no doubt, for.
1oush We did not live in luxury, we