The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-11
THE WRONG BEARINGS.
BY ,. c. RUNNER

| O. l ,~,.,u-,gbt 1908. Daily Story Pub. Co.) I seven days in an open boat on that ,roracal sea Seven days or pifiless I ann. burning and charring our throats Il until the miserable pittance of water we had allowed ourselves had irrftated rather than satisfied and now that was | gone Seven days of biscuit soaked
 ,yith sea water. which made our terri ble thirst more unbearable. and all round us that peaceful sea. When I | thought of the awful storm in which the Iris had foundered and looked at | the calm ocean I thought of my sister of years ago. She like the sea would have her storms of anger and cry and break her toys and then go to sleep with iust such a smile on her face as the sea wore then. It was an odd thought for an old sea dog face to l face with death, but then I expect my mind was wandering on account of the thirst and heat. Four of us had leap | ed h the boat the night the bark went down and there were only two now. One had jumped overheard in delirium | the thwarts one morning. Mir. Pablo, | the mate. and I were left to die by thirst if no other way.
 Tt looks cool down there," croaked the mate, staring into the sea. No | wonder Hans jumped into it."
 For Gods sake, Mir. Pablo, don't get to thinking of that" I cried, for I had a horror of dying alone in that boat Queer, isn't 1t. that a man al- is dying"
 I've thought of it many a time. Bob." said he, and when I wasn't in a fix like this. I've been tired of living these fifteen years"
 He spoke in a calm way, but I thought he was losing his mind and shuddered again at the idea of being alone in the boat.
 I've never spoken of 1t to a mortal before" he continued, looking down into the water. ''and I don't know why | I'm going to do it now unless a man don't want too much ballast when he s going to die. I'm a Tyne man and | sailed in the North Sea trade. That | was fifteen years ago, and I used to look at a small cottage near Newcastle and dream about living there some day
 with a certain girl. You see yon wave where 1t curls. what a deep blue it is? Well. her eyes were just like that, and blame me if anyone could look into l them and lie to her. We were not en- gagged, but when one night l told her | how I loved her and she slipped her
 hand into mine and I looked into her eyes and didn't want any other answer.
 God. what a happy night that was!
 T stood we'll with the company and
 had my mates certificate. so 1t was only wait for a vacancy and then I'd
 be first officer and we could marry.
 Just then a fellow named Jack Bates. a distant relative of the family. came to live with them, and he and Bess became as thick as bees. They seemed to have some secret together. and would whisper and talk in a way
 which made me grit my teeth. Of course I got huffy and stayed away for awhile, but I couldn't stand 1t and lcame sinking back like whipped dog to its owner, only to have another dose of misery. Bess was pleasant to
 me and civil. but when I began to
 talk about Bates she'd laugh and be as close as an oyster. She was very dear
 to me, but many a night when I paced the bridge with a German ocean gale
 battering my face I cursed her and
 Bates in my bitterness.
 Things were in this bad shape when
 just as I came back from a voyage
 they sent for me from the company's
 office and in a half hour I was mate of
 one of the tidiest steamboats that
 fioated on the Tyne. Two months ago
 I'd made a course for the open coun-
 try and shouted at the top of my voice
 to heave over the joy that was in me and now I was as gloomy as a fog
 bank. What was the good of living,
 asked myself?
 After I'd thought awhile I made up
 my mind to go to Bess and tell her of
 my promotion and ask her flat to
 marry me. It was no good hanging in
 the rigging as I was doing, so I start ed for her house. I had turned a cor
 ner when I saw Bess and Bates com