Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-09-20
The Argus Daily Short Story
The Nameless Yacht-By F. A. Mitchell.
Copyrighted 1910 by Associated Literary Press

fire. The old fire waS still smolder-
ing. The only thing we discovered
was that the yacht had undoubtedly
been made in England. All the max
er's marks on the finishing and furni.
ture were English. The upholstery
had been purchased of q well known
upholsterer in London.
Having satisfied ourselves that there
was no one aboard. we left the
nameless" and returned to our own
tessel. | Induced Wingate TO sit down
TO dinner-he would eat nothing-and
discuss the matter. He wanted TO go
ashore the next day and search the
coast This seemed TO me a useless
| expenditure of time. / had come ori
for a cruise ana did not like the pros
pect OF waiting while n search party
beat the beach in a desolate country
| where there was nothing but wild
moose or caribou. But Wingate sug
gested that the party on 1.-The nameless"
might have gone ashore for hunting
purposes. and at last consented that
the next day he might take three of
the crew. go ashore and spend twelve
hours in looking for the deserters Of
| the yacht.
But overnight something occurred
| to render this inadvisable. We set
| light on the nameless" and left one
| man to watch on our own vessel,
which was all that was necessary since
we were at anchor in small bay in
good weather One man watched till
eight bells. midnight, when another
man took his place. Wingate wished
me to put a man on 1.-The nameless."
| and l did
at two bells in the morning Wingate.
who had slept little during the night,
| looked out OF the portfolio in his state
room for the yacht. Not seeing her
and suppOsing that he was not on the
right side to see her. be got up and
went on deck. The nameless'' was
nowhere to be seen. He came to my
room to announce the fact. 1 asked
| him what the watch reported about
the disappearance. and he said that
he had found the man sound asleep.
Putting on n bath robe. l went on
| deck. The first watch said that 1.-The
nameless" was in position when he
was relieved. so she must have pulled
out during the second watch. l asked
| If anything was known of the man
| who had been stationed on her, but
was told that he had neither been
heard of nor seen since he had been
| put aboard. He had disappeared with
| the mysterious vessel.
Among my crew there were several
I ignorant. superstitious men-sailors Of
| low rating-who were paralyZed with
terror. They rushed without orders to
| pull up the anchor. but stopped them,
| though I feared they were going to
brain me with capstain bars they
had taken up. I didn't propose to take
| any action till / had received further
| information and had consulted with
| my guest. Alec Wingate. One of my
men said that during the night he
thought he heard the sound of oars.
Wingate was very much agitated
over this part of the mystery. Indeed,
! he seemed more disturbed at the dis
| appearance than he had been at the
discovery of the yacht. ! suggested
| that he make a accommodating trip
| ashore. as had been intended. but with
a different purpose. He might find
traces of people having been there.
| He followed my advice, but the keen
/ est eye III lD6 COulu OlSCOhCI AO
indications of human beings. For my
| part / believed 1.-The nameless" had
| been taken possession of by shore des-
| peradoes; that they had been in hid
| ing somewhere near by; had gone
| aboard in the night. surprised the man
| on watch. killed him and towed the
yacht out of our hearing with muffled
| oars; then they had lighted the fires
and steamed away. There was moth
| ing against this theory except the fact
| of Wingate's having found one of his
wife's dresses aboard. But took no
stock in this, for Wingate had suffered
so much at her loss that probably his
mind had become afflicted and he had
himself created the remembrance Of
| this dress.
| After consultation with Wingate.
whom I told that 1 would adopt any
| course he wished. IL was determined
that we get mp the anchor immediate
| ly and 60 out to the open sea with
view to discovering if 1.-The nameless"
was in sight. This we did. running
directly southeast in a direct line from
| the coast. but Notwithstanding that
we had clean sweep either way and
excellent glasses we saw nothing of
her. / believed she had got too much
start. but nearly all of my crew by
this time considered her phantom.