Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-17

girl had only vague conception of his
strenuous iifei below. deck, and 1t hardly ae-
counted for his sudden change of manner
She was surprised, indignant and withal
somewhat 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 day
light they were under way.
Now they had gohe over three hundred
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 Wind
ward Islands. With this in mind, she whis-
tied Joyfully'fdownn the tube when the
morning wasohaf over to tell him of a
deep haze which lay OFF the port bow. He
did not answer the call, and later, when
she saw plainly that it was land. she
whlstied again. Yet he did not reply. 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 fearfully down the ladder
that led to the running floor. He was not
there. She halted by the great piece OF
mechanism, awed by it's stately movement.
Then she started to walk around 1t. sud
den Missing of steam from cock sent her,
In panic, half way up the ladder. 1t
stopped, and she came down again, Won
dering where Wade could be- She saw an
iron door in the wall. 1t was caught by
an iron lever resting in a cleat. She lifted
the lever, and the door swung open. A
blast OF air hot as flame almost knocked
her down. She peered within, shielding her
race with her hands. She heard the roar
OF the furnace, and saw its black doors
outlined by the flames which leaped
through the cracks. While she was trying
to see into the surrounding blackness one
OF the doors blew open. and in the sudden
light that flooded the room she saw Wade
lying prone on the floor. She cried out and
stepped back, frightened by the sight and
the heat. but, nerved to deeds by the ex-
perlence OF the past few days, she grabbed
a long climber hook lying by the man
hand, and, inserting it in the handle of
the fire door, pushed it shut with all her
might, and then, catching Wade under the
arms she dragged him into the engine
room and closed the bulkhead door.
He was still alive, but she knew that the
slight spark that was left in him would
go out If she did not Immediately get him
to the deck. Again and again she lifted
him up the first steps of the ladder, only
to fall back exhausted each time. And she
was making final try for it when there
came shock that made the whole ship
tremble, and sudden lurch pitched her
head foremost on the body OF Wade.
crushing him to the floor. Dazed and
thoroughly terrified. she ran UP the ladder
and out on deck. They were close inshore.
but they were not moving. Left to herself
the steamer had poked her nose into mud
bank. and her engines were striving hard
to keep her fast aground Other vessels
lay at anchor in the roadstead. and boat
loads Of men from a white ship nearby
were hurrying toward the tramp
One day about six months after the above
events took place South American steam
er on the way to New York dropped an
Choir in the harbor of San Juan, Porto
Rico On her deck stood a young girl and
a prematurely aged man.
There is the place, father" cried the
girl, pointing to where a spar buoy swayed
with the tide about mud bank. THAT is
where We ran aground. The transport
from which the boats came lay over In
this direction. They had not far to go,
but the sailors said that five minutes more
and they would have been too late to save
the boilers, and the ship would have been
blown out of the water. Only think Of It,"
Il do not want to think of it, replied
the man. Il would much rather think of
the glorious things that happened after
/, Ward-frSt, the quaShing of that indict-
ment and then alb this money for bring
ing In the ship. You are indeed a Won
derful girl, Mary,
The credit is not mine father 1t was
fate: just fate"
Strange, l cannot place that man
MOP Well. father, his real name was
Gadsford."
''Gadsford! Why. that Is the name Of
the scoundrel WHO. ..'s"-
Yes. 1 knew, father" interrupted the
girl. softly. But. he is at rest in the
cemetery back of San Juan, and it was
from his delrfum, as he died in my arms
that day I gained the information that
helped your case SO much with the attor-