The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-01

1 renewed vigor, and presently that ship,
 with one-third her people dead, sheered
 off to leaward, both her main and mig
 zen masts going before she had run ten
 minutes
 AS the smoke began to clear away, both | fleets were seen in confusion. The | Achilles, without a spar left standing,
 was among the French vessels but the l Thunderer and the Dublin were edging off | to cover her.
 | Le Temperaire, with all her spars gone,
 struck to the Warspite. The Caesar had
 taken Le Pluton by boarding after fear
 full fire. 1 Both fleets were sadly damagedAso
 much so that neither admiral desired to
 renew the conflict. The French permitted 1 the Achilles to escape and the English
 contented themselves with the two prizes
 they had, although two other French l ships were 80 badly mauled that they |, seemed ready to fall into their hands. | The Carnatic, however had managed to secure the crippled Le Scipio, which had left the fleet before the action began. | Crippled-but victorious the fleet steered
 for England-but on the Caesar flew what
 never before was known to fly from warship. At her fore she showed the red flag of Sir Gervaise Oakes, and at her
 mizzen flew the white flag of the rear admiral. From that time forth the Cae- sar was known as the double flagship;
 and thus she bore to England the two friends-sir Gervaise Oakes sitting by the side of his dying, lifelong partner, Dick Bluewater.
 Bluewater had fallen in boarding Le
 Fulton. Forty-eight hours after sailing from the cove under Wychecombe Head, he was being carried gently up the bluff again and laid down in the signal keep CTS house. whither he had requested his friend to take him.
 It required all of Oakes' fortitude to bear up under the blow, single, childless. accustomed to each other almost from in fancy, the two veterans had come to re- gard themselves as merely isolated parts of the same being.
 It was almost relief to him when one of his captains entered with the an- | nouncement that he had something to tell that Bluewater ought tos know before he i died. The rear admiral, who was quite calm and peaceful, asked him to speak, and he informed his chief that he had been witness at marriage of Bluewa- ter's brother, Lieutenant Bluewater, some 20 years before, the bride being Agnes Hedworth, sister of the Duchess of Clan ! organ. The marriage had been secret because of the opposition of the brides powerful relatives.
 At the mention of her name, there were two similar ejaculations-one from the
 Rear Admiral and one from Mrs. Dutton. My darling Agnesl' cried Bluewater. You know, Oakes, how you and 1 both admired and loved that distant little kins- woman of mine. She was as a sister to me! I knew that my brother Jack and she
 were in love, but when he fell in battle | always thought that he died bachelor;
 and Agnes died so soon afterward that I
 never saw her again after his death.". Thank heaven!" cried Mrs. Dutton,
 coming forward at this moment. Thank
 heaven that know at last that my dear
 mistress did not die in disgrace and shamei"
 Hurriedy she explained that she had once been employed in the Hedworth home
 and had learned to love Agnes, as did all
 who knew her. One day, after her own marriage to Dutton, and while he was at sea, Agnes apepared at her house i'll and
 fainting The distance between them, by
 birth and station preventing any confi-
 dences, and when Agnes died after se- ries of fainting fits, leaving behind her a.
 baby girl, Mrs. Dutton concluded that her
 patron had been disgraced. ! To save her reputation, she had simply
 informed the family that Agnes had died
 in her house. On Dutton's return home she had passed the child off as hers. Mildred" cried Bluewater my in-
 stinct was not unfathful. I felt drawn to
 you the moment saw you. did not realize that it was your resemblance to our Agnes then. But felt so much love for yAN that before sailed from Wyche-
 combe Head I made my will in your fa- vor, determined since I had no kin, to
 obey the voice within me, though did not
 understand Its meaning"
 The girl sank to her knees by his bed side, and he put his arms around her
 and kissed her gently. Then he called
 to Sir Gervaise and whispered to him. He had learned that the young Virginian,
 Wycherly Wychecombe. was in love with
 Mildred and that she had refused him
 only because she felt that her absolute father made an alliance with them an
 uniting one for the great family of the Wychecombes.
 That difficulty being happily out of tho way now, the rear admiral desired that they be married before he died. This was done. Then he sent them all out of the
 room, with the exception of his friend,
 Sir Gervaise Oakes. Do you forgive me, Gervaise?' whis- pered Bluewater.
 "Name it not-name it not, my best friend" said Oakes, huskily May God
 forgive all my sins as freely as l forget your error!'
 r God bless you, Oakes, and keep you the same simple minded, true-hearted man you have ever been," said Blue water.
 Sir Gervaise buried his face in the bed clothes and groaned. A benignant smile cleaned on the face of the dying man. His placid face turned to the window
 and his glance rested on the Ceasar, anchored just below look of great love came into his eyes when he saw the flags of the two admirals still flying from