Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-04-13
for The Term of His Natural Life
BY MARCUS CLARKE

>CUS CLARKE


and then honest old Pine, coming with
anxious face to inquire after his charge,
received the intelligence that there was
another prisoner sick. He had the door
unlocked and the man outside in an in
slant. One look at the flushed, anx-
ious face was enough.
who's that moaning in thereT he
asked.
1t was the man who had tried to call
for the sentry an hour back, and Pine
had him out also, convictism beginning
to wonder a little
Take 'em both aft to the hospital"
he said; "and, jenkins, if there are any
more men taken SICK let them pass the
word for me at once. l shall be on
deck"
The guards stared In each others
faces with some alarm, but said moth
ing, thinking more of the burning ship,
which now famed furiously across the
placid water, than of peril nearer home;
but as Pine went up the hatchway he
met Blunt.
We've got the fever aboard! Head
like a fire-ball, and tongue like strip
of leather. Don't 1 know it?" and Pine
grinned mournfully. "I've got him
moved into the hospital. Hospitall As
dark as VOLTS mouth. I've seen dog
kennels l liked better"
| Blunt nodded toward the volume of
lurld smoke that rolled up out OF the
glow. Suppose there Is shipload
there? | can't refuse to take 'em in"
NO" says Pine, gloomily. 81 sup
pose you can't. If they come, I must
stow 'em somewhere. Well have to run
for the Cape, with the first breeze, if
they do come; that Is all l can see for
it." And he turned away to watch the
burning vessel
In the meanwhile the two boats made
straight for the red column that uprose
like a gigantic torch over the silent sea.
The pull was long and a weary one.
Once fairly away from the protecting
sides of the vessel that had borne them
thus far on their dismal journey, the
adventurers seemed to have come into
new atmosphere. The immensity of
the ocean over which they slowly moved
revealed itself for the first time
The great sky uprose from this silent
sea without a cloud The stars hung
low in its expanse, burning in a violet
mist of lower ether. The heavens were
emptied of sound, and each dip of the
oars was re-echoed in space by a sue
cession of subtle harmonies. As the
blades struck the dark water, it flashed
fire, and the tracks of the boats resem-
bled two sea snakes writhing with silent
undulations through lake of quicksil-
yer. At last the foremost boat came to
sudden pause Best gave CHEEKY
shout and passed her, steering straight
into the broad track of crimson that al
ready reeked on the sea ahead
what is itY' he cried.
But he heard only a smothered growl
| from Frere. 1t was, in fact, nothing of
consequence-only prisoner "giving
| in"
Whats the matter with youT says
FrereS "Oh, you, is it?-Dawes! Of
course, Dawes. l never expected any
thing better from such a skulkng hound.
Come, this sort of nonsense won't do
with me. 1t isn't as nice as lolloping
about the hatchways, l dare say. but
you'll have to go on, my fine fellow"
He seems sick, SIR" said a compass
sionate bow.
"Sick! Not he. Shamming Come.
give way, now! Put your backs into itr'
And the convict having picked up his
oar, the boat shot forward again. But
for all Mr.. Frere's urging, he could not
recover the way he had lost, and Best
was the first to run in under the black
cloud that hung over the crlmsoned
water
keep wide," he said. "If there are
many fellows yet aboard, they'll swamp
us; and l think there must be. as we
haven't met the boats" and then raising
his voice, as the exhausted crew Law on
their oars, he hailed the burning ship.
She was huge, clumsily built vessel
with great breadth of beam. and a lofty
deck. Strangely enough, though they
had so lately seen the fire, she was al
ready wreck, and appeared to be COM
pletely deserted. The chief hold of tbe
fire was amidships, and the lower deck
was one mass of flame. The fire roared
like cataract, and huge volumes of
fiame-fecked smoke poured up out of
the hold, and rolled away in a low-lyinp
black cloud over the sea-
AS Frere's boat pulled slowly round
her stern, he hailed the deck again and
again. Still there was no answer; and
though the flood of light that dyed the
water blood-red struck out every rope
and spar distinct and clear, his straining
eyes could see no living soul aboard. As
they came nearer, they could distinguish
the gilded letters Of her name.
What Is it, men?" cried Frere his
voice almost drowned amidst the roar of
the flames. "Can you seeT'
Rufus Dawes, impelled, it would seem.
by some strong impulse of curiosity,
stood erect, and shaded his eyes with
his hand.
"The Hydaspesw
Frere gasped. The Hydaspesl The
ship In which his cousin Richard Devine
had sailed! The ship for which those
in England might now look in vain! The
Hydaspes, which Something he had