The San Francisco call., 1909-02-21

cling farther from her TO whose aid he
had rushed, impeiled by motives so hot
headed. so innately chivaIric. so un-
thinkingly gallant, SO exceptionally
idioticI
Idiot Kirkwood groaned with despair
of his inability to fathom the abyss of
his self-eontempt. There seemed to be
positively no excuse for him. Stryker
had befriended him indeed, had he per-
mitted him TO drown. Yet he had acted
for the best, as he saw it. The fault
lay in himself; an admirable fault, that
or harboring and nurturing generous
and compassionate instincts. But of
course, Kirkwood couldn't see it that
way.
What else could I do?" he defended
himself against the indictment of COM
mon sense. Il couldn't leave her to the
mercies OF that set of roguesl And
heaven knows was given every reason
to believe she would be aboard this
shipi Why. she herself told me that
she was sailing. I"
Heaven knew, too, that this folly Of
his had cost him a pretty penny, first
and last His watch was gone beyond
recovery, his homeward passage for
warded; he no longer harbored illusions
as to the steamship company presenting
him with another berth in lieu Of that
called for by that water soaked slip of
paper then in his pocket-courtesy Of
Stryker. He had sold for a pittance. a
1.-THE Of it's value, his personal jewelry
and had spent every penny he could
call his own With the money Stryker
was to give him he would be able to
get back TO London and his third rate
hostelry, but not with enough over to
pay that one weeks room rent, of
"Oh. the devill" he groaned, head in
hands.
The future doomed wrapped in up
speakable darkness. lightened by no
least ray of hope 1t had been bad
enough to lose a comfortable living
through a gigantic convulsion of ma
ture: but to think that he had lost all
else through his own egregious folly,
TO find himself reduced to the ken
nelsi
So Care found him again in those
weary hours-came and sat by his
side, slipping a grisly hand in his and
tightening its grip until he could have
cried out with the torment of IT. the
while whispering insidiously subtle.
evil things in his ear. And he had not
even hope to comfort him; at any pre-
vious stage he had been able to distil
a sort Of bitter-sweet satisfaction from
the thought that he was suffering for
the love of his life. But now-now
Dorothy was lost. gone like the gla-
mour of romance in the searching light
of day.
Stryker. emerging from his room for
breakfast, found the passenger with a
hostile look in his eye and a Jaw set
in ugly fashion. His eyes, too, were
the abiding place of smoldering devils:
and the captain recognizing them. con-
siderately forbore to stir them up with
any untimely pleasantrfes. To be sure.
he was autocrat in his own ship. and
Kirkwood's standing aboard was nil:
but then there was just enough yellow
in the complexion of STRIKERS soul to
incline him to sidestep trouble when
ever feasible. And besides, he enter
tanned dark suspicious of his guest
suspicious he scarce dared voice even to
his inmost heart.
The morning meal, therefore. passed
off in constrained silence The can
tain ate voraciously and yociferously.
pushed back his chair, and went on
deck to relieve the mate. The latter.
a stunted little Cockney with a wizened
countenance and mind as foul as his
tongue, got small change of his at
tempts to engage the passenger in con-
versation on topics that he considered
fit for discussion. After the sixth or
eighth snubbing he rose in dudgeon.
discharged poisonous bit of inso-
lence and retired to his berth
leaving Kirkwood to finish his break
fast IN peace. which the latter did liter
ally, to the last visible scrap of food
and the ultimate drop of coffee, poor as
both were in quality.
To the tune of a moderating wind the
morning wearied away. Kirkwood went
on deck once for distraction from the
intolerable monotony Of It All, got q