Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-12-10
DAILY SHORT STORY
His Last Voyage.
IOriginal.l


me to see you crying as if your heart
would break. Have l not told you that
this is to be my last voyage?"
Mary Perkins had Il preSentiment
that her husband would never complete
this last voyage Nevertheless, after
| his departure, she busted herself as
usual looking forward to her first letter
10 be sent from the first port he was to
touch. This should reach her in about
twenty days. She was Il favorite in
the town where she lived, and her
neighbors, knowing of her forebodings,
| did what they could to encourage her.
How nice it will be, Mrs. Perkins,
when John comes home to stay. l wish
my old man had the same prospect be-
fore him. But l fear he III be a sailor
all his days. God help him. Cheer
up. Mrs. Perkins. Remember this is
your husbands last voyage" In this
vein they talked till twenty days had
passed. Then. when there was no let
| ter, they said: wait. You can't expect
| him to write the minute he reaches
port, and if he does there is not likely
| TO be a ship coming back the same day
TO bring the letter" One, two, three
| days passed. and they were obliged to
change their differences. "They say the
winds have been dead ahead for ships
coming from that quarter. The mail
| has been delayed"
Months passed. John Perkins ship,
the Albatross. had not reached her first
port, nor second. nor her third. The
| kind hearted people invented all sorts
of stories for the captains wife, but in
L. u
gone to the bottom. and all on board
had been lost.
Il knew it, said the agonized wom-
an. Something within told me that
| there would be misfortune on this voy-
age. The ship is gone down. My man
will never come to Inc again" And
she wept in the midst of her children,
| who strOve to keep back her tears by
winding their arms about her and ca
ressing her. What a pity" the neigh
bors all said to each other, ito think
that he should have gone down on the
last voyage"
When four months had passed and
not word was reported of the Alba
| trOss, Mary Perkins neighbOrs ceased
| TO console her. There was no hope.
they said, and it would be better for
her to give up John Perkins for lost
| than to be continually looking for him
to return who would never return, to
be straining her eyes over the water
for days, then succumbing to parox-
ysms of grief; then watching again
| and breaking down again. If she did
not desist her mind would go. And.
oh, how her children watched and
waited and told their mother that they
had dreamed father had come back,
| and they had feeling" that the
dream would come true.
At last Mary's friends began 10 think
it would be no gain to her to have her
husband return. They feared that the
intensity of relief might either Kill her
or dethrOne mind so nearly worn out.
Had it not been that they felt sure he
would never come they would have
kept watch for him to prevent her
meeting him suddenly unawares. Mean
while her little ones, wearied of keep
ing her up with prophecies, mutely saw
her slowly fading away.
One morning little Billy, the yOun-
gest boy, aged four, threw his arms
around his mother and said:
"Oh, nanny, l dreamed last night
that the AlbatrOss came sailing into
the harbor, and papa stood on the
deck giving the orders, and they lego
the anchor, and papa came ashore and
kissed us ALL"
Such words had grown to have a con
trary effect from encouragement In
deed, they only induced a greater de-
spondency. Mary embraced the boy
in Il paroxysm of tears, and his elder
sister forbade him to tell his mother
his dreams again.
The spring came, the trees put forth
their leaves and the children begged
their mother to take them to spend the
day on their grandfathers farm, few
miles inland They drove there in
four seated wagon and after visiting
with the cows, the horses, the chick
ems, which all children love, in the
evening they started back. 1t was
dusk before they reached the village,
and in every house shone a light
"Oh, mamma" said little Billy, "see,
there's a light in our house! Maybe
papa has come while we've been
away"
Tears came to the mothers eyes, and
the eldest girl placed her hand over
the boys mouth.
But who had lighted their lamp? No
one had been instructed to do so.
Doubtless some neighbor had kindly
interfered to prevent their coming to
their home to find it dark. When they
drove up to the door a figure reached
out pair of strong arms to help them.
The light shining through the open
door was on his back, and his face was
left in shadow. Nevertheless Mary
Perkins uttered the cry:
john
Her husband bore her unconscious
into the house, clOgged by his children
clinging to him and endeavoring to
climb up to kiss him. He laid his wife
tenderly on a couch, and in a moment
she had recovered her consciousness.
Cases in which the brain suffers