The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-30

on shore and then he heard the sob Of woman, going, perhaps, to spend 1 her life in land where she would never see her loved ones again. He himself had nothing to leave ex- cept darkness. but the tenseness Of parting on board liner is magnetic and even the loneitest soul throbs at the touch of it.
 Then suddenly he heard voice that
 he knew--just few words to cabin steward about some luggage. He, did not turn round, or speak. or even move. But his hands gripped the
 iron rail as though he would tear 1t from the deck.
 It was the voice of Sir William Tank erlane.
 Tankerlane was not aware of Shils presence on the ship until she was | two days out from Southampton. Head winds and rough sea in the Channel | soon sent him to his cabin in the throes of sea-sickness. and for forty eight hours he did not leave his bunk. Then he happened to peruse the list of
 passengers and saw the name of MT. | John Shil.
 His first impulse was to remain out I of sight in his cabin, and then he re- membered that Shil could not see him,
 and he resolved to merely keep out | of the blind mans way. He had only
 
 to him. and all would be well. He | did not know that Shil had already l heard his voice. It was indeed most I unfortunate circumstance which had brought them together on the same steamer. But there could be no vfo- | lent scene between them if they did not meet. Tankerlane was not afraid of a l blind and helpless man, but he knew | that long months of loneliness and gloom might have driven John Shil to ! the verge of madness.
 ! Shil, on the other hand was well l aware that Tankerlane was on board. and the circumstance did not make for that peace of mind which was one of the main objects of his voyage. Martin" he said to his secretary. when they were alone in their cabin, "there Is passenger on this ship whom I know. for I heard his voice. His name is Sir William Tankerlane. want you to find out whether his wife | is on board where he is going to. and all about him. You must do this with out attracting comment. Get into con versation with him, if possible, but do
 so at once. before he finds out that you have any connection with me" The faithful Martin. although he was nothing of a detective. accomplished his ! task and Shil learned that Sir Will liam Tankerlane was going to Africa Ito shoot big game. and that Lady Tankerlane was not on board. These two simple facts provided ann | pie food for thought. and John Shil. who had left Black Hall to seek dis traction from his thoughts of the wc- man who was lost to him. was conn pelled, by cruel chance, to think of her from morning to night. He wondered what had happened. Perhaps Laura
 had left her husband for good and all.
 Perhaps she had gone down to Essex. At any rate, they had parted, and prob ably for a long time.
 He turned these thoughts over in the
 darkness. and they tormented his mind, | till he almost resolved to send for Sir William Tankerlane and ask for the truth. But he was apie to control him. self in this hour of uncertainty. and he Kept silence. He knew that Tank erlane must be aware of his presence on the boat. and that the man was pdrposely avoiding him. The voyage would only last three weeks. It would | be better that he and Tankerlane should not meet. He could find out all he
 wanted to know when he returned to England.
 | And so, every day, the two men pass ed each other on the deck; and Tank, erIane showed no signs of recognition,
 and Shil did not even know that his enemy was near to him, for he had told Martin never to mention the mans name dRaln, anu 1d0keTfane NOiCc
 never came to him 5ut of tiie chatter and laughter of the passengers. Yet each man was tortured by knowledge of the others presence, and 1 Tankerlane shrank from the very sight 1 of the man whom Laura loved. And John Shil lived in a hell of suspicion and uncertainty. Every footstep and every laugh might mean the approach of TanKerlane. He detected the pres ence of the man in every sound, in the scent of every cigar. The whole att mosphere of the ship seemed foul and | loat hsome. and even the salt breath of the sea choked him. There would be no pure air on the Canewdon Castle till the vessel reached Capetown. And all the time the great ship ploughed her way southwards inex- orable as fate. and as regardless of the loves and hatreds of the passengers as
 the circling of the earth itself. Her huge iron hull and her gigantic en- zines, took no account of the small black ants which clustered between her decks Southwards and ever south wards she drove through the calm seas between two long furrows of foam the embodiment of all the life that hu-
 man skill and labor can fashion out of dead steel and iron-a thing almost
 with soul, and with moods of her
 own. as many sailor could have tes-' titled. v
 The weather was glorious and even
 Tankerlane would have enjoyed the
 passage under happier circumstances. Smooth seas and blue skies and soft
 breezes combined to make the voyage
 deligh tful to a crowd of laughing and flirting passengers. There were no dangers ahead, no rocks no sandbanks,
 no narrow channels; nothing but the
 broad deep sea. safe and smooth as high road
 Yet there was death lurking in those
 safe and peaceful waters death that
 comes neither on the wings of the
 storm, nor in the snarl of waves. nor
 in the threatening overhang of dark
 crags and boiling surf, but 8 death
 that lies silent. unmarked, and unseen.
 Two months previously the Thora, an
 outward bound ship of 2,000 tons. had
 been overtaken by storm, had become
 water-logged. and had been deserted
 by her crew. She had carried a cargo
 of timber and iron rails. and whereas
 the iron tried to sink her. the timber
 just kept her afioat. and she lay in
 the sea. without masts and with the >water awash of her deck-as solid as a
 rock and nasty thing as any ves-
 sel could expect to meet in the dark
 ness.
 Concluded TOmOrrow.)