Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-01-22
THE PHANTOM BOAT
nY HERo srRoNe.

wonderfully good humor, and the
good ship Augusta sailed merrily
on.
Capt. Albert Gray sat alone in
the cabin, marking his exact lati-
tude and longitude in the log
book, a chart spread out before
him, and his well-colored meer-
schaum between his lips.
Graves, the first mate, thrust
his head in at the open door.
"An open boat off to the lee
bow, sir"
"Adrift from some steamer.
probably" returned the captain;
mot worth altering our course
for. But, stay; how far to the
leeward?"
Not above half IA mile, sir"
Bear away for it, then. 1t may
contain our everlasting fortunes.
Graves"
Graves laughed and returned
to the deck, whittier capt. Gray
Immediately followed him.
The Augusta was quite near the
boat by this time-near enough
for all to see that The craft was
empty. The hclmSman was
swearing to himself over the
trouble of having altered the yes
sells course, and Capt. Gray was
turning to 20 below again, when
faint low cry rang over the wa
terS. II was like nothing any of
them had ever heard, and chilled
the very marrow i'm the bones Of
the Superstitious mariners.
Every eye was fixed on the boat.
as slowly mp from ms shadow
arose Il tall fgure-thc figure of
a woman clad in green. with mass
es of floating yellow hair. and q
face pale as the wrcathS of foam
which seethed and eddied around
the sharp prov of her boat. She
stretched out pair of white, i'm
ploring hands to Capt. Gray, and |
then the boat and what it con
tanned faded into thin air. and the |
wondering crew of the Augusta
looked around them and beheld-
nothing,
Capt. Gray went below to think |
the strange matter over by him
self. and the sailors gathered
about in little knots and discussed
it. All agreed that it augured no
good for the ship, and each one
had his own little marvellous story |
to tell of occurrences similar to |
this, which had in every case been |
followed by death and destruction
TO those who had beheld the phan.
tom vision.
Gloom and fOrcboding fell upon
the ship. and the men moved about |
their duties with sullen faces,
and glances frequently cast over
their shoulders. An air of expec.
tatiOn and dread pervaded every
thing. The weather continued |
fine, and the breeze prOpitiOus all !
the next day, and toward night the
sailors had thrown off their re-
straint sufficiently to be cracking |
jokes and spinning yarns as usual.
At sunset, Capt. Gray, sitting |
alone in his cabin, permitted his
thoughts TO 90 back over the past
four years, and linger for Il little |
upon the bright dream of one beau
tiful June, the time he had first |
met Agnes ArmOr. He was angry
with himself for thinking Of her
proud, false-hearted, enchanting
little hirt that she was, But with |
all the wild passion OF his heart he |
had loved her. and for one brief |
week stolen from the JOY of HeaV-
rn he had been happy, having
heard her sweet lips confess that
the loved him.
Then fate had stepped in and
parted them. Agnes had been
won by Il wealthier suitor-so her
lady mother told him-and he.
hot-headed, and desperately an
CRY, had written hera scathing let
ter and sailed away to India.
Twice since he had been ON his
native shores, but he had not
heard her name mentioned
neither had he wished to. She was
another mans wife now, and he
hated her. He said so great
many times. and he tried hard to