Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-01-06
DAILY SHORT STORY
DARKEST BEFORE DAY.

John MARYLAND. ordinary seaman, be
Ing one OF the night watch of the brig
antine Amphitrite, stood peering GU,
nothingness. The sky was overcast and
the air murky. The vessel was dip
ping and rising in black and oily wa
tiers. There was no visible horizon
Instead the vessel seemed to be sailing
| within a globe of indefinite magnitude.
MARYLAND was but nineteen years
old. Two years before he had been
graduated at the high school of the
coast town in which lie had been born
His love for the ocean was his ruling
passion. From his earliest boyhood lie
had played in its breakers and sailed
| upon its bosom.
There was another passion which
struggled with his love for the ocean
that was his love for his classmate,
| Marjorie Sanford. When he went to
| sea lse wished TO be engaged to her.
| Her parents smiled at the proposition
| Of a boy of seventeen, going off before
| the mast, being engaged TO their daugh-
ter. They raised no objection, not an
| ticipating that he would be able to
marry any one before the youthful at
tachment had faded away
The young sailor had spent two years
| at sea and had studied navigation un-
der the captains own instruction, but
he was now putting into the home port
still an ordinary seaman. 1t was this.
coupled with the fact that Marjorie
! was still as far from him as ever. that
made his world look as black, as void
as the world he looked into from the
deck OF the Amphitrite.
MARYLAND, lay aloft and fix that
clew line OH the maintops;iil yard,
said the mate.
AYE. aye, SIR The young mans
somber thoughts vanished for the mo-
ment. and he sprang up the ratlines.
working his way out TO the extreme
end of the yard. Giving tug at the
clew line. his hand slipped. He clutch
ed with the other, but too late. In an
other moment he was in the water.
When he rose to the surface he saw
white ring floating near him, which he
recognized for Il life buoy. He grasped
it. but his main concern was that he
might see the ship hauled to the wind
ship ut all. Then he listened for the
sound OF oars. Nothing disturbed the
appalling quiet. When half an hour
had passed and that quiet was still the
same he gave up all hope of rescue.
Rising and sinking monotonously
with the waves, the heavens dark
above him, the waters black about
him. MARYLAND passed the night. If he
was ever sure about anything during
his life it was that he was doomed.
The world of life seemed to him to be
so far from him that he had no part in
il. Suspended, as it were. in the center
of an inorganic universe, he could take
u comprehensive view of his past con-,
nection with the organic universe.
What had it all been worth? Even his
love for Marjorie now seemed Il past
condition to him, such as an exhilara
ton. a fit OF passion, an absorbing
dream.
Before morning he became drowsy.
He had already got the life buoy under
his arms. and there was nothing TO
keep him awake. He sank to sleep or
to stupor, fancying that he was dying
and that it was by no means an un-
pleasant sensation after ALL
Hi there
He certainly heard the words spoken
by a human voice and, opening his
eyes. discovered that it was day. With
in n few yards of him was boat
pulled by sailors and in the bow a man
ready to reach for him. Within a hun
dred yards was bark. and MARYLAND |
noticed that her foretOpmast was gone. |
Z Ix.As TIT. fal-
to the ship. which he noticed as soon |
as he stepped upon the deck had re- |
Gently gone through a gale. ! number |
Of sailors were at the gangway. crowd |
ing together to see the castaway, not |
an officer appearing to keep them in |
their places.
Take me to your captain" said |
MARYLAND
We've got no captain. mate. We're |
In hard luck. The first mate died Of
the yellow fever at Panama. the sec
Dnd mate went crazy and killed him.
SELF and q week ago the captain was
washed overheard in storm that car
ried away the mainmast The ship |
sprung leak that keeps half of US
pumpin' day and night, and we hain't
got a man in the crew as can navigate.
| see by your toys that you're an ordi-
nary seaman yerself. and, 1 tell you
plain. mate. If we'd "a knowed 1t we
"a picked you up. We wants
4 navigator"
I'll navigate your ship for YOU"
said MARYLAND, but just now / want
some dry toys and something to eat"
The men standing about gave
shout. and in another moment every
,ne Of the crew knew that the deep
lad given them a navigator.
MARYLAND found that the chronome-
er had been wound and the instru-
nents and charts were in good order.