The Minneapolis journal., 1904-12-24


friends were often piqued especially
the womeh-as to an implied romance s
in the captain Is earlier life. Tt was
known he supported two old maid sis
ters, the Misses Hadow, the impover-
ished daughters of his first commander;
fortune this drain on his resources
seemed scarcely the reason of his re-
nunciation.
He was in command of the Infexible
battleship. one of the Australian squad
ron, when she developed some defects in
ordered home to England by Admiral
Lord George Howard for overhaul. The
captain Is heart beat little faster as he
realized his course would take him south
Of the Societies: He spread out the
chart on his cabin table and sighed as
his eyes and saw the basaltic cliffs, the
white and foaming reefs, the green, still
forests of that unforgotten island He
was boy once more. with flowers in
his hair, wandering beneath the palms
with Tehea. How often had he, thought
that had left him gray and old, the
years that had carried him unscathed
thru SO many dangers in every quarter
Of the world. For him she was still in
time, radiant princess in her radiant
isle. waiting by the shore for his re-
turn. It shocked him to remember she
was not far short Of Ca fat old wo-
man, perhaps, married to some strap
ping chief, and more than likely with
ss1sSble sreSMbb shulassn b saemed # her own How in
Dawn was breaking as he slowed
down to leeward off the island and
watched the shadows melt away. It was
Sunday, a day Of heavenly calm, fresh
yet windless, with a sea SO smooth that
a ho orrla aPo Far oil
and one could, hear, from across the
hushed and shining water, the coo Of
pigeons in the forest, Under bare steer
age way, with the leadsman dreaming in !
the forechains, the ship hugged the
shore tH and ;4 steamed at a snai'a pace /
With every mile the bays and wooded /
promontories grew increasingly familiar {
as Sir John was born toward Lihua, tho
scene Of his boyish folly.
1t was like a homecoming to SEQ all
fore him: He looked at his hands, his
thin, veined, wrinkled hands, and it
came over him, with a sort of SURPRISE
that he was an old man.
THAT was forty years ago., he Said
to himself. "Forty, years agol"
AS Lihua opened out and he per-
thatched houses set deep in thu shade
Of palms and breadfruit trees, he felt
himself in the throes Of O str5nge and
painful indeeision. He paced up and
down the bridge; he lit cigar and
nre threw W., IT away again; e!, he Twice s ap-
to give an order, and then, still in
doubt, turned shamefacedly on his heel.
! "Byathe deep ninel' came the hoarsei
murmur of the leadsman.
It lay With him to stop the ship or
not-a word and she would come shiv-
I1,1N ~ rkr I~<Sn H.. = \ I,
boatswainl would pipe away his gig and
the crew would be running to their
places. His heart ached with the desire
to land; but something-he knew not
what-withh held the order on his lips.
Did he not owe it to her to keep the
promise of forty years, a promise given
in the flush Of youth and hope, and
sealed with scalding tearsa
- His resolution was taken. He ordered
Commander Stillwen to stop the ship
and lower a boat.
's'I am going to treat myself to a run
ashore,' he said by way Of explana-
tion.
He was landed at little cove where
in bygone days he had often whiled
away an hour waiting in charge of Ha-
dow's boat. It gave him singular SEN
sation to, feel the keel CRATE against
the shingle, and to say to himself that
as he looked about and noticed how un-a
changed it all was.
It came over him with a start that
the village was empty: Then he remem-
a bered Il that it sp was s$1nday, an and they they
were none to watch him, no prying, GU
rious eyes to disturb his thoughts. But
they would soon be out again, and it
behooved him to make the best use Of
his solitude while he might: He struck
inland, his heart beating with a curious
nx/ 70 +. ri Hn hhfI lIc1
breath and he would turn quickly and
look back with haunting sense that
Tehea was near him; that perhaps she
was gazing at him thru the trees. He
approached his old home thru over
grown plantations. It awed him to
drawing near at every step to the only
house he had ever called his own. As
he heard the splashing Of the waterfall
he stopped, not daring for the moment
mounted the little hill, he found no
weeds, man high. He moved about here
and there, up to the armpits in ver-
dure, in Consideration at discovering it
gone.
, He had forgotten there were any rocks
on the hill. He moved along and his
foot struck again. He. pressed the
weeds back and looked down.
He saw tomb Of crumbling cement,
: green with age and buried out Of sight
under the tangle. 49,
; It had never occurred to him before
that Tehea might be dead. .
| He held back the underground again
, and peered into the depths. Yes, ID
was The grave Of chief or q woman
of rank. He laid both hands on the
thick stem Of a shrub and tore it out
of the ground. He seized another and
j, dragged it out with the same ferocity.
It was intolerable that she should suf-
l focate under all this warm, wet jungle
that intruded itself, like horrible
canaille, where there were none to drive
it back. He would give her air and
! sunshine, she that had loved them both ;
he would uncover the poor stones that
= marked her last restingplace; he would
r lay bare the earth that wrapped her
s dead beauty.
e He worked with desperation until his
g hands were bleeding, until his eyes were
t stung and blinded with the steaming
Y sweat. Dizzy with the heat, pafched
with thirst and sick with the steam
}, that rose from the damp ground, he
was forced again and again to desist
0 and rest. He cut his waistcoat into
2 slips and bound them round his bloody
), hands; he broke the blades of his pen.
Q knife on recalcitrant roots that defed
D the strength of his arms; he labored
with fury to. complete the task he had