Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-31

thoughts | said in my heart, If Baraka asks
for husband. what will she say If | an
swer. Behold am the man, if you are salts
fed This was my thought
She was appeased at once: Tor she saw
nothing extraordinary in his suggestion She
looked at him quietly and smiled; for she saw
her chance. " It is emptiness she said: Il
will have a man who has no other wife.
Precisely. Logotheti answered, smillng.
Il never had one.
Now you indeed hooking mel! she
said, bending her sharp drawn eyebrows
No. Everyone knows it who knows me.
In Europe, men do not always marry very
young. 1t is not a fixed custom
Il have heard So Baraka answered, her
anger subsiding; but it is very strange. IT
it be SO, and if all things should happen as we
aid,-which Allah avert and if you desired
me for your wife, l should marry you without
doubt. y on are great man. and rich, and
YOU are good to look at, as Saad was. Also
you are kind; but Saad would probably have
beaten me. for he beat everyone, everyday,
and | should have gone back to my father
house. Truly. she added in thoughtful
tone. you would make desirable husband
for Baraka. But the man | seek must marry
me if l find him alive; for | gave him the
riches of the earth. and he gave me nothing, and
departed, leaving me to die. l have told you
and you understand. Therefore, let us not
jest about these things any more What Will
be. will be, and if he must die, it is his portion
and mine also though it is pity
Thereupon the noble little features became
very grave and she leaned back IN her chair
and folded her hands in her lap, looking out
at the violet light on the distant volcano
After that at dinner and in the evening, they
talked pleasantly She told him tales OF her
own land. and of her childhood. with legends
of the Altai. of genii and enchanted prlncesses;
and he in return told her about the great
world in which he lived; but of the two she
talked the more. no doubt because he was not
speaking his own language. Yet there was
bond of sympathy between them more natural
and instructive than any that had ever drawn
him and Margaret together.
WHEN the sun was up the next morning
y" and Logotheti came on deck to drink
his coffee alone. he the magic strait not
many miles ahead in an opalescent haze
that sent up vapor OF pure gold to the pale
blue enamel of the sky He had been just
where he was now more than once before, and
few sights of nature had ever q ven him keener
delight. On the left, the beautiful outline OF
the Calabrian hills descended softly into the
still sea; on the right the mountains OF Sicily
reared their lofty crests; and far above them
all, twice as high the highest. and nobler IN
form than the greatest Etna lowered to the
very sky. and vast cloud OF smoke rose from
the summit. and unfoded itself like standard
in vast draperies which streamed westward as
far the eye could reach
Let go half-speed Captain" said Logo
theft, as his sailing master came up to bid him
good morning. Il should like my guest to
see the straits
Very good, sir. We shall not go through
very fast in any case for the tide is just turn
ing against us"
Never mind Logotheti answered. The
slower the better to-day, till we have Etna
well astern"
Now the tide in the Straits of Messina is as
regular and easy to calculate as the tide in
the ocean, and at full and change of the moon
the current runs six knots an hour, flowing or
ebbing; it turns so suddenly that small freight
steamers sometimes get into difficulties and
no sailing vessel l have ever seen has chance
of getting through against it unless the wind
is both fresh and free. Furthermore, for the
benefit of landsmen, it is we'll to explain
here that when a steamer has the current
ahead, her speed is the difference between
her speed in slack water and that of the cur
rent or tide; whereas, If the latter IS with her.
its speed increases her own.
Consequently though the Erinna could run
sixteen knots she would be able to make only
ten against the tide; for it CHANGED that it
was a spring tide the moon being new that
very day Similarly, the Lancashire Lass,
running her twenty-four knots like torpedo
boat, would do only eighteen under the same
conditions. In order to understand all that
happened after the two yachts sighted each
other, those simple facts must be remem
bered.
To be concluded next Sunday