Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-01-28
e. - a ~ 2 81 q
.W9UhDEDNAnE
BY
BRIG. GEN.0HA5KLNG, - -
IS o - VISA. ~ 9Sl
CHAPTER XII.
Copyright. 1899. by F. Tennysop Neely.]

tllnS IOr n6r lie anu GnaC OF every sOuA
aboard. Forging her way southwark,
she took the furious Bullets of the gale
on the starboard quarter-"the right
front" as Turnbull would have put it
had he not been too i'll to care zig
where she was hit and only wished she
might go down if that would keep her
still. Sea after sea burst over the drip
ping decks and tossed her like a cookie
she'll upon the waters. Time and again
the bows would plunge deep in some
rushing surge and then, uplifting, send
torrents washing aft and pour cataracts
from her Sides Long before the dawn
of day the red eyed commander had or
dered the southwark course abandoned
and headed his laboring craft for the
opposite shores. Harbor there was none
north of the deep sheltered bay of La
Paz, but there would be relief from the
tremendous poundings of the pillows
when once under the lee of old Califor
MIA. Obedient to her helm, the Idaho
now met "dead ahead" both wind and
sea. The rolling measurably ceased.
The pitching fore and aft continued,
but the passenger list by this time cared
no longer to discriminate. 1t was all
one to all but one of their number.
LOring of the engineers, thanks to
long weeks of illness of another sort,
was mercifully exempted from the
pangs of seasickness, but the sights and
sounds between decks were more than
could long be borne, and making his
way forward shortly after dawn he had
succeeded in borrowing a spare SOU
wester and pair of sea boots from the
second officer, and equipped in these
and a rubber coat, leaving nothing but
his nose and mouth in evidence, he was
boosted up the narrow stairway to the
shelter of the pilothouse on the upper
most deck-the Idaho had no bridge
and there he saw the sun come up to
the meridian and the sea go gradually
down as the steamer found smoother
waters under the lee Of San Ildefonso.
Only lightly laden, the stanch little
craft had well nigh Jumped out of her
boots" as the jovial skipper expressed
it, and now, all brine and beaming sat-
isfaction after his long hours of stormy
vigil, he clapped Loring on the shout
der, complimented him on his posses
sion of ''sea stomach and ordered
coffee served forthwith. They were
steaming slowly along at half speed
now, taking a breathing spell before at
tempting the next round, and the cap
tain waxed confidential.
whats wrong with that pretty lit
tie niece?' he asked. "She was bright
enough the day they came aboard on our
up trip. Now, the stewardess tells me,
she tainted dead away and has been
begging to be put ashore all night.
Loring couldn't say.
''But you helped carry her down,
you and TurnbuII. The stewardess says
you were both very kind to her, where
her own people neglected her didn't
fancy that scrub Escalante. Do you
know anything about him Or her own
people?"
"Nothing-to speak of, % said Loring.
Fernandez, one Of those young
Guaymas swells, says the mother was
own sister to De la Cruz-married
against his wishes when she was a
mere girl-died a few years later, and
that Don Ramon offered to adopt and
educate her little girl, but only lately
would the Escalante give her up. All l
know is that she's too dashed miserable
about something else to be even seasick
like the rest of 'em. You d "a been down
there with Turnbull if you hadn't just
had more'n your share of illness, add
ed he, with the mariners slight disap-
probation of the landsman who defes
the limitations of Neptune.
Every possibly" said Loring
1.-The purser tells me Escalante gave
him little packet belonging to her
very valuable-whicb he ordered kept
-, &Eo e. 10 oI,o II
for it at Frisco
"Indeedr' said Loring, looking up
in quick interest.
Fact" said the skipper Nov
have some more coffee. I'm going to
turn in for 40 winks. Let the steward
know when you want anything No
body else will. We've got TO face some
more rollers after awhile. / dasn't go
inside Carmen island.
But Loring had something more en-
crossing to think Of than breakfast or
luncheon. So there was a little packet
in the purser's safe, was there? Valua-
BILE and not to be delivered except to
their agent in Frisco. 1t was in Pancha's
name, yet not subject to Pancha's Or
der Why that discrimination? And it
was given the purser by Escalante-
brother of the Escalante-another broth
er of the accomplished sharper of San
cho's ranch. A precious trinity of blood
relations were thesel Small wonder Don
Ramon had opposed his girl sisters un-
ion with one of their number Now,
what on earth could that small packet
contain, and was it likely that the val
uables were any more valuable than
those snatched from his saddlebags the
night of the assault at ella Bend-the
watch and diamonds of the late Cap
tain Nevins, now vanished into thin air
annarentlv for not trace of him had