The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-09

in spite Of his brutal conduct. for which
drink had largely been responsible. he
was gentleman, and capable Of things
fine and high under the stimulus OF
some really great emotion. He had
come TO realize, TO put it mildly, what
an awful fool be had been, TO say moth
ing of his vilainy. What had led
him TO this realization had been the
remembrance of the hours nc had
passed with Katharine Brcnton before
the clouds had arisen which had culmi-
mated in that awful storm, tho recol.
lection Of which fairly made him sbud-
der. However he had deceived her by
pirofessed adherence to her wild theo-
Iies and impossible PHILOSOPHERS, he had
honestly loved her, and association with
her had been of benefit TO him. If
he only had not given away to his tom
per and his appetite! If it had not
been for his former obligation,
He had married his wife in mo-
mcnt of boyish infatuation. The union
had been impossible almost from the
first. She was little more than an ad.
venturess, much older than he. who had
entrapped him for his money There
had been separation on liberal iinan-
claI basis, to which the woman had
readily, even cheerfully, agreed and
he had no lingering remains Of affec.
ton to hold him back. Her death was
only relief to him. He felt that he
owed Teparatlon 10 Katharine Brenton,
and he was more willing to pay the
debt because be was honestly and gen.
mnely in love with h.r so far as man
OF his temperament could be in love
with a woman. He wanted to make
amends for his treatment He would
nave gwen anything he possessed TO
nave been able 10 say how ashamed he
was OF all that he had done and to beg
her to forgive him and marry him
she had vanished, however, from I'M
der the sun, and ne, no more than the
rest OF the world, knew her whereabouts
he did not believe that she was dead,
because he did not wish to believe it,
perhaps; and he would not believe that
she was dead until he had positive evil
dence of IT. He had figured out the
chances many times, he had discussed
! them pro and con with the veteran sea
man who commanded his ship, and be
was able shrewdly enough to forecast
to certain extent her movements. He
knew that she would run the boat as
fast and as far as the gasoline would
carry her, and then she would drift
He believed that with the empty gaso-
line tanks forward and aft the boat
was practically unsuitable. II was pos.
| slble that she could have driftcd upon
some island. She might be alive in the
South seas somewhere at that hour.
The death of his father and the ne
| cesslty for the administration of the
vast interests of the bonanza king s es.
tate prevented him from at once en-.
gaglng upon the search which he prom
ised himself he would make, but he
/ expedited matters. sometimes to his own
| loss, as rapidly as he could, and after
nearly a year stay in San Francisco,
he found himself in position TO under
| take his quest, For a year thereafter
| he and The Southern Cross traversed the
| unexplored, unyisited waters of the
| South seas. He landed upon island af-
ter island which he had examined with
! minute particularly. Some he had
| through interpreters ne had procured,
| he questioned unavaIingly. He ran
! across stray vessels trading among the
! islands, and through them with con-
! stantly increasing, ever widening me-
diums, he carried on his search. but
without result. In this sweeping the
| Pacific. he visited everything that was
charted, and all that he could find that
was not, and was now homeward bound.
! convinced that the launch must have
| foundered and that he would never
! solve the mystery of her disappearance.
So assiduously had he prosecuted his
search that the crew of the Southern
Cross, who knew nothing as 10 the
/ cause Of his eagerness, with the eNcep-
|
him as harmless visionary. They had
| been away so long and had visited so
| many islands with so much hardship,
! oftentimes with so much danger from
uncharted reefs in the unknown seas
that they were one and all wildly anx-
ious to return from the, to them, aim
| less wandering. If he had communi-
Gated to them at the first his quest.
they would have shared his eagerness.
but he kept it TO himself, as he had
kept his own counsel i'll San Francisco,
and he straitly charged his sailing
master to say nothing OF it.
Consequently the lookout on the fore.
| topmast crosstree on a certain summer
morning, catching sight of a dim, blue
haze on the horizon far of 10 star
J board, made no report Of il. What was
! the usel II would only delay matters
and they were within few weeks of
! Honolulu now, and another fortnight be
yond Hawaii would bring them back
TO the United States, for which they all
! lopged with the desire of men who had
been away from home and confined 10
! the narrow decks of Il cruising ship for
over a year.
Something's to whether it was
Providence or not he was somewhat
doubtful In his mind afterward-
brought Langford on deck before his
usual time for rising. The watch was
III charge VI I3lper sleepy. stupid sec
ond officer, unimaginative and unob.
servant. He had not noticed the land
which il was difficult TO see from the
dock AT any rate, especially rs it did
not lie between the yacht and the sun,
| and as it had not been reported from
the masthead, he knew nothing of it.
Langford had found sleep impossible.
! The year of search. the constant dis.
appointment, the pressing sense of mys.
terry, the feeling that his conduct was
indeed lrreparable had prcyed upon him.
lie was thin. worn. nervous and irri-
table. He walked up and down the
/ deck IN the cool OF the morning think
ing. For three years practically he had
had this woman before his eyes as the
goal of his efforts. Now she was gone,
and he must concentrate his life upon
something else, He gazed languidly and
indifferently about the horizon, his uu~
practised eye noticing nothing for
time. Suddenly, however, staring off to
starboard listlessly during a pause ia
! his steady tramp, he thought he caught
a glimpse of light. He looked idly in