Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1905-10-19
TheLaSt Watch
onthe empress"


Strained, tempest-buffeted leaking
at a dozen seams, her roretopmast
gone, her yards splintered, her sails
in rags, and with four feet of water
in her lower hold, the old bark
Empress, three weeks overdue with
a cargo of rice from Calcutta, came
lurcl&ng heavily into the lower har
Dor through the fog of the May af.
ternoon.
At her wheel stood the captain, and
amidships two Wearied Swedes were
pumping desperately. Brushing aside
pilot boats, tugs and quarantine
steamer, needless of the hoarse warn
ings screeched from a half-dozen met
al threats, she made straight for the
crescent of Hospital Bank, and there
ran hard and fast aground.
AS she settled she made a bed for
herself in the soft mud, so that when
the tide left her she stood nearly up
rignt
During the next week her rat-rd-
died cargo was liGhtered out. Then
her owners weighed it's fate in coun-
Gil and their verdict was, Strip and
burn" For five days more the swarm
ing riggers worked havoc with knife
and Ratchet and marlinspike, until
on Friday afternoon, the decks were
Uttered with food for the junk shop
and the oakum factory, and the three
masts rose bare of their fafa!!iar ira.
Gerry Of rope and spar.
At three o'clock on that very Fri
day, Emerson Hardy, just turned
twenty-five, licensed engineer of the
gasoline launch belonging to Smith &
Cutciiffe, the firm that owned the
bark, had finished cleaning up his
boat, after short trip, and had
moored it securely off the foot Of the
landing stairs The machinery need
ed some repairs, so for two or three
days his craft would be out of COM
mission.
He had not the slightest objection,
therefore, when his employers asked
him to act as Waterman for single
night in place of the colored steward
who had for the past ten days stood
grand over the vessel, but who had
that morning sailed on a fruit snip
bound for Jamaica. Smith & Cutcliffe
knew well that the bark was safe
from harbor thieves so long as the
engineer had charge of it.
1t was already dark, and a dense
fog blanketed the day, when the tug
Orion, on its way out to watch all
night for incoming vessels, steamed
up close to the Empress to set Hardy
on board. He scrambled up the low
side. and was on deck in moment.
Don't let the rats eat you up, En-
erson!" CALLED out the pilot, as the
tug swung away. "I'll give you call
in the morning on the way in, to see
if you are all there
Hardy flung back a jest in reply
The first things he did after the Orion
had vanished in the mist and it's dis
tant putting died down to an asthmat-
ic whisper, were to light his lantern
and load his revolver. Then he
Strengthened up and looked about
him.
The bark was entirely dismantled
Her ragged sails were bundled up,
the cordage lay along the deck in
coils and lines, extending from the
cabin top forward. In short, the yes
sci had been stripped of everything of
value in preparation for the final
trips Of the lighter. The only spot
above decks not covered with debris
was the roof Of the forcastle.
With the advance of night the fog
grew thicker. Back and forth paced
the engineer. He consulted his watch;
1t was eight O'clock. He came to a
stop near the end of the cabin, where
the ships bell hung tongueless.
The fancy came to him to strike
the hours upon it, as if he were
keeping watch during an ocean voy-
age; it would break the monotony of
his light. With a rusty iron marlin
spike, picked up from the deck. ne
beat out eight clear, silvery notes
from the sea-mellowed brass.
The night wore on. Every thirty
minutes Hardy paused near the bin
nacle, and the bell pealed out it's
warning beneath his vigorous arm
one stroke at half past eight, two
at nine, and so on.
But the hours moved slowly. He
was just on the edge of the channel
and up to midnight there was plenty
Of passing -passenger-bo freigh-
tiers, tugs towing lines of barges: he
could hear and tell them all, although
the fog hid them from view. Toward