Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-01-30

Wolverine moved slowly" believing for
they thought they heard a distant
shout of response, but there was no
repetition.
Probably doesn't carry any fog
horn,' said Carter bitterly, voicing a
general uneasiness.
mo log; compass crazy; without fog
signal; don't like that craft. Barnett
| ought to have been ordered to blow
| her up as a peril to the high seas"
wen pick her up in the morning
surely" said Forsythe. This can't
last forever
Nor did it last long An hour before
midnight a pounding shower fell, lash
ing the sea into phosphorescent white
| ness. 1t ceased, and with the growl
| of a leaping animal a squall flu
| riously beset the ship. Soon the great
steel body was plunging and heaving
| In the pillows. 1t was a gloomy COM
| pany about the wardroom table. Upon
each and all hung an oppression OF
spirit. Captain Parkinson came from
his cabin and went on deck. COnstitu-
| tionally he was q nervous and pessf-
mistic man with fixed belief in the
| conspiracy of events. banded for the
undoing of him and his. Blind or du-
bious conditions racked his soul, but
real danger found him not only pre-
pared, but even eager. Now his face
was a picture of foreboding.
"Parky looks as if Davy Jones was
! pulling on his string" observed the
tiippant Ives to his neighbor
Worrying about the schooner. Hope
Billy Edwards saw or heard or felt
that squall coming" replied Forsythe,
| giving expression to the anxiety that
all felt
Hes good sailor man. said Ives,
''and that's a stanch little schooner by
the way she handled herself"
"Oh, it will be all right" said Carter
confidently. 1.-The winds moderating
now"
| But there's no telling how far out
| of the course this may have blown
| him.
| Barnett came down, dripping.
/ L
| The navigating officer shook his
| head.
Nothing. But the captains in a
state of mind" he said.
| whats wrong with hing
| 1.-THE schooner. Seems possessed
with the notion that there's something
wrong with her."
Aren't you feeling a little that
| way yourself?' said Forsythe. 81 am
| in
He left behind him a silent crowd
His return was prompt and swift.
| Come on deck" he said.
| Every man leaped as to an order
There was that in Forsythe's voice
which stung. The weather had cleared
somewhat, though scudding wrack still
blew across them to the westward
| The ship rolled heavily. OF the sea
naught was visible except the archine
waves, but in the sky they beheld
| again, with Il sickening sense of disaS
ter, that pale and lovely glow which
had SO bewildered them two nights
| before
''The aurorav' cried MCGUIRE, tbs
paymaster
"Oh, certainly replied Ives, witt
sarcasm. Dead in the west Com
mon spot for the aurora. Particularly
on the edge of the south seas, wher,
they are Thick
| Then what is it?"
Nobody had an answer Carter has
tened forward and returned to report
Its electrical anyway" said Carter
"The compass is queer again"
| Edwards ought to be close to the
solution of it," ventured Ives. "Thi.
gale should have blown him just abou
| to the center of interest,"
IF only he isn't involved in it." saii
| Carter anXiously.
what could there be to involve
him." asked Mcclure
| ~ don't know" said Carter slowly
Somehow l feel as if the desertion o.
the schooner was in some formidable
manner connected with that light
| For perhaps fifteen minutes the glow
| continued. 1t seemed to be nearer a
hand than on the former sighting. Blu
it took no comprehensive form. TheI
it died away and all was blacknes!
again. But the officers of the Wolver
Inc had long been in troubled slumbe
before the sensitive compass regainet
Its exact balance, and with the shiftin;
| wind to mislead her, the cruiser hat
wandered by morning no man nigh
know how far from her course.
| All day long of June the Wolverine
baff1ed by patches of mist and moving
rain squalls, patrolled the empty sea:
without sighting the lost schooner
The evening brought an envelope Of
fog again, and presently light breeze
came up from the north. An hour OF
it had failed to dispense the mist wher
there. was borne down to the warshiI
a tapping sound as of great wings
The tapping grew louder-waned-
ceased-and from the lookout came :
| hail.
ships lights three points on the
starboard quarter"
| What do you make it out to beY
came the query from below.
Green lights all 1 can see, SIR