Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-21
THE MYSTERY
sy STEWART EDWARD WHITE AND SAMUEL HOPKINS
~ cCIue.P Phillips Coz

fifty mfsfres. got one feeble sputter and a
tremendous bang which blew Nd his piece
leaving only the stock In his hand. 4 few
timed goods were edible. hut all the rest
was destroyed. A lot Of hard woods A
thousand feet ~ chain cable and a fairly
good anchor might he considered as prizes
As for the rest, ii was foolishness. but wa
hauled II up just the same until nothing AT
all remained Then we shut on the donkey
engine. and put on dry clothes. We had
been quite happy for the eight months.
IL wasSow well along toward spring The
winter had been like summer and with tina
exception OF a few rains NJ a week or So we
had enjoyed beautiful skies. The seals had
thinned out considerably, but were now re-
turning in vast numbers ready for their an
nual domestic arrangements.
Our Sundays we had mostly spent In rest
Ing or in fishing. There were many deep
sea fish to be had. OF great palatability but
small gameness: they came like so many
leaden weights. \ few OF us had climbed
some of the hills in half hearted curiosity.
but from their SUBMITS saw nothing to
tempt WEAKNESS. Practically we knew moth
ing beyond the mile or so of beach on which
we lived
Capt. Selover had made a habit of coming
ashore at least once during the day. Hs
had contented himself with standing aloof
but l took pains to seem 10 confer with
him 50 that the men might suppose that
L. as mate, was engaged in carrying out his
directions The dread OF him was my nost
potent influence over them.
During the last few days of our wreck
ing Capt. Sel6ver had omitted his daily
visit. The fact made me uneasy. that at
my first opportunity ! sculled myself out to
the schooner. l found him. moist-eye as
usual. leaning against the mainmast doing
nothing.
We've finished. sir" said l.
He looked at me.
VIII you come ashore and have look.
sr?' | inquired.
81 amt going ashore again." he NUT.
tered thickly.
WHAT iad
~ amt going ashore again" he repeated
obstinately. and that's all there is to il.
It's too much of strain on any man. Suit
yourself You run them. | shipped az cap
tain of a vessel I'm no dock walloper. I
won't do it-for no MANI
l gasped with dsmay at the mans COM
plete moral collapse. 1t seemed incredible
L caught myself wondering whether he
would recover tone We're he again to put to
sea.
My God man. but you must!' cried at
last.
Il won't. and that's fat" said he. and
turned deliberately on his heel and disap-
peared in the cabin.
l went ashore thoughtful and a little
scared. But on reflection | regained a great
part of my ease of mind. You see. had
been with these men now eight months.
during which they had been orderly as
so many primary schoolboys They had
worked hard without grumblng. and had
even approached sort of friendlness
about the camp fire. My first impression
was oyerlad. AS looked back on the voy-
age. with what took to be a clearer Wis
ion. / could not but admit that the Incidents
were in themselves trivial enough-a ltural
excitement by a superstitious negro. a little
tall talk that meant nothing 1t must have
been the glamour of the adventure that had
deceived me: that, and the unusual stage
setting and costuming. Certainly few men
would work hard for eight months without
a murmur. without a chance to look about
them.
In that. of course. l was deceived by my
ineXperience. l realized later the wonder
full effect Capt Selover threw away with
his empty brandy bottles. The crew might
grumble and plot during the watch below:
but wher" Capt. Ezra Selover said work.
they worked. He had been saying work
for eight months. They had. from force OF
simple.
(To be Continued Tomorrow