Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-04-11
CHAPTER TX

bic boat he could get hold of, and put
to sea- 1.-The could obtain any sort Of
small craft carrying sail-and this
would not be difficult he had little
doubt that he would be able to make
the distance across to Vladivostok
about three hundred miles. A favor
ing wind would be provided by his
patron saint, to whom he would erect
shrine and before whose icon hel
would keep light burning perpetual
w.. He ought to have little food and
some water, for 1t Is not pleasant to he
becalmed in the ocean without water;
but perhaps even these would be pos.
sible. Things go very smoothly when
ones saint is propitious His greatest
danger lay, in the likelihood that the
Teijo Maru was lowering in the off
ing.
But even So" he reflected, Il seem
to have made very mysterious dis.
appearance If I am not seen here On
shore, the captain will, take for grant
ed that something happened to the
dory that we were all three drowned
If + steal sail-boat, that will cause
suspicion and they will take. after me
But, with this breeze. should be far
away before daylight, y
1t. was beginning to blow. The
storm was springing UP which had
nearly swamped CORTLAND Hardy in
his cabin and had driven the Shikoku
upon q rock.
Romanoff was very tired. He had
called on the reserves Of his youth
perfect health and great strength
and well-nigh exhausted them. He was
strongly tempted to lie there in the
warm sand, famed by the sweet lull.
ing breeze, and sleep till morning. He
yawned and nearly dozed off, but
awokc himself by sheer force of Will.
ut would never do" he thought;
they know l starteu to swim ashore
and they are not sure that the boat
foundSme. They may come here TO
look for me and shall surely be
caught. I am in Japan, but here at
my feet is the sea, everybody's terri
tory. A mile out may come on a
Russian ship and be in Russia"
He rose and started for the fisher.
village, the inhabitants Of which were
, sleeping peacefully. AS he approach.
ed he noticed, to his extreme satisfac-
ton, that numerous boz is were pulled
up on the beach and that here and
there small sailing craft was an
| chored. He waded out to one of these.
It was about what he desired, but
he foundva Japanese lad of twelve Or
fourteen sleeping in the bottom. COW
cred withaa tarpaulln. He bent over
| the lad for a moment, reflecting. He
must kill him, of course. 1t would
be impossible to raise the sail and get
away without waking him. Even
SHOULD this be accomplished, the lad
would be a nuisance. Romanoff drew
his knife and pulled back the tar.
| paulin gently. He held the point
about an inch above the boys heart
and hardened his muscles to shove
the blade home. AT that moment the
lad smiled, stirred in his sleep and
muttered something. Out of pure
curiosity Romanoff listened. The bd
muttered again, repeating a girls
name. The Russian stood for mo.
ment longer, with his knife at the
sleeper's heart; and then he stole
away.
after ALL" he reflected, II might
just as we'll take boat with nobody
| in it. | have no objection to killing
another Jap, but why break up a love-
AFFAIR.""
He waded over to another boat, a
short distance away, and found 1t un.
occupied. He commenced hasty pre-
parations for sailing, when it occurred
to, him that he ought, at least, to give
some thought to the matter Of provi-
sions and water. He looked about and
observed an isolated hut short dis
/ lance from him. He determined to
raid it. There sureiv must be some
cooked rice and q jug of water in II.
He ran to the hut and peeped in at
the square hole that did duty as a
window Again Saint Nicholas was
with him, for there was no one at home
save one old woman, asleep on a mat
R0Hanof cautiously worked the slid.
door open and entered. He found
some raw millet, a jar Of cooked rice,
some preserved lily root, some drie,l
fish and q water bucket, about half
/ full. He dumped the food all together
into crock and tiptoed from the nut
with the bucket and the provisions
without waking the old woman.
Five minutes later he was in mis-
boat, putting out to sea with the aid
of rising wind bowling off shore Ha
had not gone far, however, before lie
became fearful that storm was rising
which his clumsy boat would not re
able 20 weather. He was not much OF
a sailor, and the storm at last broke
on him SO suddenly that he had nc
time to get down his patched canvas
4 which was ripped from top to bottom
i and whipped to tatters. This. of course
served the boat from being overturned
and he was now scudding along under
bare poles. AS the storm increased
in fury, Romanoff intrusted himself &c
the care of the Virgin and all the
saints, crossing himself again and
4 again. 1t was their aid. he firmly be
lieved to the end of his days, that pre-
vented the little boat from laundering
i Certain it is that the smallest craft
will sometimes outride the severesl
i storm
4 The Russian was pitched about roI
hours, heaved one moment to the tor
of watery crest, swooped the mex,
i to the bottom of the abyss, with The
waves towering above him. But the
storm subsidized as suddenly as it haG
Il came I'm and at seven o'c1nelS he wa