The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-01-02
Captain of the Ship
~ =

The barque Deliverance was almost
ready for sea. The last few cases OF
cargo were being swung aboard, the rig
gers were busily bending the great
sheets of canvas that, ere many hours
were past, would be swelling to the
thrust Of the Biscay gales. Her decks
were Uttered from stem to stern with
ropes, provision cases, odds and ends OF
refuse, and in and between all this
conglomeration the sweating stevedores
moved and swore f1uently, catching the
swinging cases deftly, guiding them to
the open matches, bestowing them in
orderly precision, ready to stand what
ever the future might be pleased to
show in the way of weather.
"I've got something rather important
to tell you, Flaxman," said Wenlock,
and had the skipper not been so taken
up with his own imaginings he might
have noticed a trace Of nervous excite
ment in the owners voice. You're not
to bring the Deliverance home again.
He tried to look the skipper in the face
as he spoke, but failed. His eyes
dropped Of their own accord to his feet.
"Tll see you ID first" said Flax
man. holly. "What, throw away my
ship? If you weren't my owner, I'd tell
you pretty plainly what 1 think about
you. Being that you are my owner, 1
tell you to your face that won't COM
NIT barratry for any man under the
sun, not If it meant drowning myself
first. And I'll tell you this, Mr.. Wen
lock, that If you so much as put your
hand to pocket and show me the color
of your dirty cash I'll throw it in your
facet"
ct isn't cash I'm going to show you"
sneered Wenlock. ''It's something else.
Look ~ He took out folded paper as
he spoke, and opened it before the skip
pers eyes.
"Read it," he commanded, and Flax
man, with horror tightening his heart
strings, read:
ION the 7th of August, 1901, prom
Use to pay Samuel Wenlock the sum Of
1000, value received, with interest at
the rate Of per cent per annum."
"See the signature?" asked the ship
owner. "That writing ought to be IA
miliar to you"
Eyes, 1 see it," gasped Flaxman,
hoarsely. He might well gasp, for the
promissory note was signed by his own
father.
Nineteen hundred and one," said
Wenlock, musingly. "And now it's '05.
Four years overdue, and never penny
of interest been paid ever since the be-
ginning. Do you know what that
means?" He had grown suddenly VI
cious, as weak men sometimes do. "It
means that I'VE only to lift my hand
to have your father thrown into gaol as
a debtor. 1t means that I've only to
close my hand as I now close it, to
have your father branded in the sight
Of men. Well, on the day I hear the
Deliverance is thrown away I'll burn
this; or, better, when you come and
tell me the ships lost I'll give it to you
to burn. What do you think Of the at
fair now, Capt. Flaxman?"
A hundred times day F1axman
went over his parting with the girl he
loved. He conjured up soul-stirring
visions Of her humid eyes which yet
shone with light of perfect faith.
Her parting words sounded in his ears,
above the rustling fret Of the canvas
and the booming Of the Atlantic gales
II know there's something worrying
you, dear, but remember that I love
you with all my soul, and perhaps that
will help to tighten the load"
What would she think If she knew
the cause of his worry? He could pic
ture the cold pallor Of her cheek, the
proud disdain of her scornful mouth.
and picturing them he writhed in men,
tai agony. For no man pursues villainy
for villainy's sake.
"But it's no use," muttered the cap
tain to that vision that would persist
in growing out of the night; 1--WE got
to do it, Elsie It's as much for your
sake as my own. l can't lose you, girl,
I can't"
Now that he had made up his mind
positively. he felt something of cheer
fulness enter into him. He tried to as
sure himself that he was not actually
committing a crime; the Deliverance
was old, she must come to her end
shortly, by the mere action Of Nature
He was forestalling the inevitable, that
was all. And so he whistled about the
decks. now and then he sang rolling
stave of some good old sea song; but
it was in the darkness Of his OWL
shrouded cabin that the full horror OF
what he purported came to him, and
then he saw himself face to face, with
out any pleasure in the sight.
It was then the vision came to him
the vision that brought him to his feet