The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-08-07
By LOUIS TRACY,

than a minute. oh, Elsie, thought l
had seen the last of your
'Was it so bad as that% she MUIR
INJURED, great content soothing her
heart and brain at her lovers admis-
sion that he was thinking of her dur
ing the worst agony Of the fray. He
gave her a reassuring hug.
With her soul singing canticle Of
JOY, she passed from the bridge to the
lower deck. Mr.. Boyle was waiting
there. holding lantern.
"Huhw he growled when he saw
her. "P'raps you'll believe what tell
you before your hair turns gray. if not
sooner. Luck! Did any man ever
have such luck as the skipper? Why,
lf he fell off Mong Blong he'd find a
circus net rugged up to catch him."
Il agree with you so fully. Mr..
Boyle she whispered, that am 60
ing to marry him."
81 guessed as much" he answered.
"At any rate. fancied it wouldn't be
for want Of akin on his part"
1t was wan and broken spirited
Isobel whom Elsie led to her cabin, but
Notwithstanding her wretched state
her eyes quickly took in the orderly
condition Of the room.
81 left my clothes strewed all over
the floor" she said, with q nervous
ness which Elsie attributed to the
hardships she had undergone. "Why
did you trouble to pack them away"
Then Elsie told her of her hunt for
the powder box and was so obviously
unconcerned about any incident other
than the adventures they had both ex-
perienced since they parted that Iso-
bel questioned her no further. A bath
and a change of clothing worked mar
vels. Though thin and weak for want
Of proper food, neither Isobel nor Mrs.
Somerville had suffered in health from
the exposure and short fare involved
by life on the island. 1t was broad
daylight ere they could be persuaded
to retire to rest, there was so much to
tell and to hear.
Meanwhile the meeting between
Tollemache and Gray was full of racial
subtleties.
Tollemache, stepping forward to
grasp Gray's hand. felt it was incum-
bent on him to utter the first word.
"Had a pretty rotten time of it, ex-
pect?" said he.
Poisonous. And you"
ooh, fair Beastly close squeak when
you turned up" ~. 80. 'r
Gray became more explicit when
Courtenay met him in the chart room,
where the table had to be cleared Of
debris before some glasses and cou
pie of bottles of champagne could be
staged.
"When those blackguards cast off
from the ship" he said, 1--WE scudded
away in q sort of ocean mill race
which threatened to upset us at any
momentum fact we gave up hope for
a time-but, as the boat kept a1oat, Mr..
Malcolm and managed to stir up the
Chileans, and we got them to steady
her with the oars. Some time before
daybreak we ran into smooth water
and made out land on the port bow.
In q few moments we were ashore on
a pebbly beach in a place alive with
seals. When the sun rose we found
we were on barren island and. what
was more, that one of the ships life
boats had been upset on reef which
we just missed and had lost all her
stores, though the men had scrambled
into safety. With the aid of Our boat
and helped by fine weather we raised
the lifeboat and recovered some of her
fittings. The waller casks and tins of
food were hauled up by chap who
could dive well. We have been on that
lump OF rock until today, when final
ly persuaded the others that unless we
made for the land which we could see
in the G,m distance the weather would
break and our food give out The trou-
bic with The Chileans was that they'll
we're afraid of the natives hereabouts
and preferred to wait on the Off chance
Of a ship showing up. At last they
saw that Malcolm and were right,
but we missed the full run of the tide
and were some miles from the main
land. or whatever it is. when night fell
We pushed along cautiously, found the
entrance to the cove we had made out
before the light failed and were about
to lay to until dawn when we saw q
rocket and heard the fog horn. That
woke US up. you bet. The Chileans
pulled like mad. but when we came
near enough to discover that the ship
was being attached by Indians had
fearful job to get my heroes to butt in.
That fellow Gomez is q brick. He
Grated like politician, and finally they
got move on. From what have seen
since l came aboard I guess you were
hustling about that time"
EYES," said Courtenay, filing glass
with wine. rs he heard Boyle's step
without. He handed the glass to the
chief when he entered.
How manyT he asked.
Huh. We've slung fifty-three In
dams an six of the crew overheard. |
There's fourteen wounded natives an
five of our men in the doctors hands.
Two Alaculofs died Of funk when they |
set eyes on the niger who turned up
In the lifeboat They thought Well. |
u 81 T.