Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-02-04

vsys the impression of reality.
not fiction, is swift and alluring,
holding the interest Q, the reade,
a. with hooks Of steel.
CHAPTER I.
1.-The late afternoon sky Haunted
Its splendor OF blue and gold
n like banner over the Pacific
- across whose depths the trade
wind droned IN measured cadence. On
the oceans wide expanse q hulk wal
lowed sluggishly, the forgotten relict
ora once brave and slightly ship. pos.
sibly the sphinx Of some untold ocean
i tragedy. she lay black and forbidding
in the ordered procession OF waves.
Halt a mile to the east of the derelict
lowered a ships cutter, the turn Of her
crews heads speaking expectancy. AS
fur again beyond, the United States
cruiser Wolverine outlined her severe
and trim silhouette against the l,ori-
zon. In all the spread Of wave and
sky no other thing was visible. For
this was one OF the desert parts Of the
Pacific. 800 miles north of the steam
ship route from Yokohama to Honolu-
lu, 600 miles from the nearest land,
Gardner island, and more than 700
northwest of the Hawaiian group.
On the cruisers quarter deck the Of
flcers lined the starboard rail- Their
interest was focused on the derellct.
Looks like heavy job" said Ives.
one Of the junior lieutenants. .sThese
ioaters that lie with deck almost
awash Will stand more hammering
than mud fort"
wish they'd let us put some six
inch shells into her." said Billy Ed.
wards, the ensign. wistful expires.
sion on his big, round, cheerful face
I'D like to see what they would do"
Nothing but waste a few hundred
dollars Of your Uncle Sans money!
observed Garter, the officer Of the deck.
ut takes placed charges inside and
out for that kind Of work.
Barnett Is the man for her them
said Ives. Hes no economist when
II comes to getting results. There she
Scesr'
Without any particular haste, as it
seemed to the watchers, the hulk was
shouldered out of the water as by
some hidden leyiathan. Its outlines
melted into a black, outshowering
mist. and from that mist leapcd Il
GIANT Up, up, he lowered, tossed
whirling arms a hundred feet abranch.
shivered and dissolved into wide
spread cataract. The water below
was lashed into fury, In the midst Of
which q mighty death agony beat back
the troubled waves Of the trade wind
Only then did the muffled double boom
of the explosion reach the ears Of the
spectators. presently to be followed by
q whispering, swift sl1imming wavelet
that swept irresistibly across the big
1er sufges and Tapped the ships side,
~ for a message that the work was
done.
& Heresand there IN the sea CLINT of
silver. q patch Of purple or dull red or
= glistenlng apparItion Of black show
Cd where the unintended victims Of
the explosion, the gay hued open sea
hsh OF the warm waters, had sue
scumbed to the force OF the shock. OF
the intended victim there was no sign
save few fragments Of wood bobbing
IN swirl OF water. IA
When Barnett, the ordnance officer
In charge Of the destruction. returned
TO the ship Carter complimented him.
Good clean job, Barnett. She was
! = tough customer too"
What was she 2" asked Ives.
The Caroline Lemp, three masted
schooner. Any. one know about her?''
Ives turned to the ships surgeon,
Trendon. q grizzled and brief spoken
veteran, who had at his fingers tips
all the lore Of all the waters under the
reign Of the moon.
What does the information bureau
~ the seven seas know about II? n
Lost three years ago-spring OF 1901
got into fee field off the tip of the
Aleutians. Some Of the crew froze.
Others got ashore. Part Of survivors
accounted for. Others not. Say
they've turned native. Don't know
myself
The Aleutiansw exclaimed Billy Ed
wards. Great cats! What drift!
How many thousand miles would that
be r.
I Not as far as many another delelict
has wandered in her time, son." said
Barnett.
The talk washed back and forth
across the hulks of classic sea mys-
teries. new and old; of the City Of
Boston, which went down with all
hands, leaving for record only mel
nncholy scrawl on a bit Of board to
meet The wondering eyes Of a fisher
man on the far Cornish coast; of the
Great Queensland, which set out with
5til souls aboard. bound by route
unknown to a tragic end; OF the Ma.
ronic, with her silent aud empty life
boats alone left, drifting about the
open sea, to hint at the story OF her
fate; Of the Huronian, which ten years