The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-03

on b0af1- ana the girl nad Deen nana
ed down TO US. We pulled off a few
/ fathoms and lay TO, swinging up and
down on the sluggish surges.
j ''The moon had reached the zenith
when we were all embarked. The last
boat was riding Just below the rail of
the quarter deck. In it were half a
dozen passengers and Alexander and
Honoria Mclean. The Captain s IN
struments were in the stern-sheets. a
seaman held the chronometer on his
lap, and the captain himself was star
ing up at the tangled rigging with an
distracted, mournful look Then. with
determined and manly gesture of res.
ignation. he stepped briskly over the
rail, dropped into his place, and the
boat drove away.
- cable S length from the wreck,
the boats came together for orders.
The captain gave his plans. L II keep
the lead and show light at night.
he said. The course is east by north.
God bless US ALI Give way, menu
'sHis boat swung up to the one
Plieott and | were in, and the captain
leaned out to speak to the second mate,
who commanded it. In that instant
Honoria rose slightly in her place, and
| heard Plieott draw a long breath.
Before one of rs could raise a finger. he
had bent out, caught Honoria s white
hands, and with a vast effort heaved
her into our boat.
cit was so suddenly done that the
captain did not catch the purport of
our ordinations. When he saw
Honoria beside Plicott, he seemed on
the point of saying something; instead
he stared at Alexander, who stared
back at him with eyes blazing in his
contorted visage. But the moonlight
was deceptive, and the captain listened
for him to speak. l suppose that that
moment, which seemed long to us, was
really a second of time. In that in
slant Plicott had called out, loud and
eommandingly, Give way, ALI and
our sailors instinctively had driven
our boat ahead. [ think the captain
cried out sharply, though m not sure,
for the very next thing (our eyes were
fixed on Alexander), Mclean stood up,
snuff box in hand, as we could plainly
see, and with his other hand drew
small pistol from his pocket, which he
fired piont- blank.
"The report had not reached us be-
fore the second mate roared out an
order to pull harder, and our boat rush
ed off, out of range of the madman s
weapon. It must have been several
minutes before we felt safe, and the
second mate, whose name was Gridley.
gave the order to lie by. We looked
back and saw nothing, the moon, now
past the zenith, being in our eyes. We
heard hail, quite faint. One of us
answered it. Then came silence, and
Gridley ordered the sailors to fall to
their oars again. What did that man
mean9' he demanded angrily. No one
replied, and he bent over his compass.
When he had found the course and fix
ed a star in his mind, we started slowly
and painfully out to the eastward.
cit must have lacked but a couple
of hours Of dawn when we left the
bark, for, as we went along, listening
occasionally for the voices of some in
the other boats, or peering out to pick
up the light that the captain had
promised to show, the eastern horizon
grew white. Later there ap-
peared around the declining moon a
great circle of darkness; the stars fad
ed Then ribbon of fire famed on
the edge of tbs sea, and in a moment
the sun burst up. When it was high
enough for US to see under its beams,
the other boats were not in sight. We
thought to discern the spars of the
Golden Gate far astern, but that was
all. Gridley was much put out. I'VE
were set wrong by that mad fellow
shooting at u.s. he exclaimed. and
the other boats pulled directly east
ward. They are ahead of US. Wen
keep the course and maybe overtake
them in a few days
"An appalled, voice came from a
man forward: fThe water-cask has
leaked sir, An examination showed
that Mclean s bullet had clipped one
of the wooden hoops of the cask, cut
it in two, and allowed the slaves to
open up slightly. Of the hundred gal
Ions of fresh water we had started
with, we might have dozen left. We
accepted this growlingly, but the mate
assured US that we must soon pick up
the other boats and from their casks
we would replenish our supply. In the
sailor carefully stopped the
cracks in the cask with strips of cloth
in order to prevent further loss.
"During that day and the following
night we failed to sight the other
boats. The sea had swallowed them
up. Gridley refused to alter the course
to search for them, alleging that it
might delay us in reaching the land.
And an hour may mean life to some of
us, he said grimly.
s'The third day our water was ex-
hausted except for few ounces apiece
for the ten of us. Our plight, now that
we had lost track of our companions,
was desperate. Gridley, observing
strong current setting to the south
ward assumed that it was the action
of this that had parted US, and he said
that we might now do well to follow
the current, doubling our speed, in
hopes of sighting some land. These
are uncharted seas he told me. IF
that reef was there without having
been discovered, it is possible we may
find an island He changed the course.
"The horizon still presented a fault
less rim when our thirst had mounted
high. In our growing misery we look
ed askance at Plicott and Honoria.
10