Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-06-04

minished his disgust.
ASK him to ascertain il the Indians
believe the white men are still living"
he said. A fresh series of grunts and
clicks elected the fact that the smoke
column seen the previous day on Guam
AGO hill had not been created by the
tribe Suarez begged the senior captain
to remember that he had spoken truly
when he declared that its meaning was
he now learned the girl who threw in
her lot with the sailors had built a fire
there
Courtenay turned on his heel and
quilted the cabin. Christobal, well
knowing how the demons of doubt and
despair were affecting Courtenay, fol-
lowed him to the upper deck. Boyle
was in the chart house, and Tolle-
mache. Each man noted the captains
troubled face.
Courtenay obtained a telescope.
With the tact which never failed him,
even in such a desperate crisis as this,
he handed the doctor his binoculars.
Then both men looked at the summit
of Guanaco hill. Though it was high
noon and the landscape was simmer
ing in the heat mist created by the I'M
usual power and brilliance Of the sun,
they distinctly saw a thin pillar of
smoke rising above the trees. Courte-
nay closed his telescope. He made to
approach Boyle, evidently for the pur-
pose of giving some order, when Chris
tobal said quietly:
wait! l have something to say to
you. You ought to remain on the ship.
Let me gor'
Your
eyes, /. After all, it is only matter
of taking command. One man cannot
go alone. He could not even pull the
lifeboat so far; hence what you can
do can do, and have no objection to
dying in that way
"Why should either of us die?''
you know better than / how little
chance there is of saving those men.
You may deem me callous if / suggest
that the reasonable thing would be to
4Ol SCI ttlO l4lSClAQiC StttCAACAl yVu
have just heard Oh, please hear me to
the end. / am not talking for your sole
benefit, believe me- Greatly as l and
all on board are beholden to you, / do
not propose giving my life in your
stead because of my Astounding admi-
ration for your many virtues. Well,
then, since you are so Impatient, as to
be almost rude, / come straight to the
point. If you take command of a boats
crew and endeayor to save the men
imprisoned over there, you will almost
certainly throw away your life and the
lives of those who help you. In that
event a lady in whom we are both in
terested will suffer grieyously. On the
other hand, if l were killed she would
weep little, because she has a large
heart, but you would console her. And
the odd thing is that you and / are
fully aware that either you or must
go off on this fools errand. There is
none other to take the. vacant place.
Now. have / made myself clears''
while l command the Kansas I am
responsible for the well being of the
ship, her crew and her passengers.
could never forgive myself if / left
those men to the mercy of the Indians.
cannot permit either you or Tolle-
mache to take a risk which | shirk
Boyle and Walker must remain on
board-lest | fail. Now, Christobal,
don't make my duty harder. Shake
hands! / am proud to claim you as a
friend
Huh, said Boyle. strolling toward
them. "What is tia bet?"
Yes" laughed Courtenay, from
whose face all doubt had vanished, "a
bet indeed, and you hold the stakes.
Have you seen the smoke signal yon-
der?' And he pointed across the bay.
Eyes Tollemache found it again
twenty minutes since"
ut means that eleven of our men
are there, expecting us to save them.
Hoist the ships answering pennant
from the main yard swung out to star
board. Build small fire on the poop
and throw some oil and lampbiack on
it. If they don't recognize the pennant
they will understand the smoke. Get
some food and water slowed in the
lifeboat and offer IS head to six men
who will volunteer for trip ashore"
81 go in charge, of course, sirY' said
Boyle.
''You remain here and take command
during my absence. ] want two re-
volvers for a couple of the crew, and I
shall take my own gun. Please make
all arrangements promptly. | am 60
ing to my cabin for five minutes and
shall start Immediately afterward."
This was the captain speaking. His
tone admitted of no contention. Boyle
hurried off, and Courtenay went into
his quarters.
what do you think of it?v Chris
tobal asked TolIemache as the latter
appeared to be sauntering after the
chief officer
"Courtenay is a hard man to STOP =
said Tollemache, vanishing down the
r7t.1 1880 1o<k