Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-19
CHAPTER XII,

After strenuous battling with seas
flogged by the trade, the Wangaroo
steamed up once more to her station
off the African coast, and hooted i'm
pressively on her siren to announce
arrival. That enormous siren, re-
placing one of the normal caliber for
seven hundred and fifty ton boat
was an extravaganza which Captain
Kettle almost coyly had wheedled out
of the steamboats, canny owner before
leaving the Tyne.
A stained red ensign on the top Of
pole which was perched on the
crown of a striped sand dune blew out
by way of answer, but the boat did not
come out on that day or any Of the
three succeeding days At intervals
Miss Chesterman said she heard firing,
but her brother, who prided himself on
knowing q gun shot when he heard
one, said that the noise was caused
by the surf on the Astounding reefs
The black haired Miss Dubbs strained
her eyes toward the shore till black
shadows grew beneath them, but what
opinions she had on the matter she
kept to herself.
On the twelfth day the surf boat
came out, handled very dashingly I'M
der sail, ran with much smartness
alongside, and emitted spruce and
sun-scorched Captain Kettle.
After salutations had passed, a
meeting was called In the privacy Of
the chart house. ...
Miss" said the little sailor. "Tm
free to own I'm sorry to see you. I've
been hoping all these days you'd have
h., In nd
now, sir, the best advice I can give
ia that we run back and leave Miss
Violet where she ought to be-"
whats wrong with the Norman
Towers?"
Gust this, sir. The Moors think
she's their ship"
"And you're going to let it rest at
that?"
Captain Kettle, as far as the action
of the sun on his complexion would
allow, flushed II thought, sir, you
knew me better. The Norman Tow
ers is your ship, and you're going to
have her to realize on, as per contract,
but there may possibly be little
trouble before we get her out, and
thought better that Miss Violet should
be spared the seeing it,
Danger, captain, do you mean?"
mo, miss. prefer to call 1t
trouble
"Well, if you're appealing to me, my
answer is that I shan't 60 back And
| if you're trying to influence my broth
err, he will tell you he's attempted ever
since I was in short frocks to make
me do as he liked, and has invariably
failed. So unless you've other and
stronger arguments to bring to bear,
I'm afraid you must still continue to
put up with me as a member of your
crew. Stewardess, aren't I, by the
way, the same as Du-on the same Of
fetal footing mean, as Miss Dubbs?"
81 didn't see any other capacity
which to sign you on, miss. The
board of trade is very strict in these
matters, and if you don't conform in
the proper way and put in the fool
entries they want on the crew sheet,
and can go to sleep over, there's a
correspondence started that'll last a
ships master half a life time
Hadn't you better tell us exactly
what you did find ashore?"
THAT would be the best way, sir.
Well, to begin with, what you see
from here is not the coast, but chain
of small islands and reefs and sand
banks running along parallel to the
edge of the mainland, sometimes a
hundred yards away from it, some
times two miles. The space between
where we are now and the, main Is
dotted with sand and humps of stone
Just about as thick as the black
squares on draught- board, but not a
bit regular How the old Towers blew
in there without touching-or, IL she
touched, without breaking up is
more than can tell you. If was an
Imaginative man should say that the
simplest explanation was that she
grew wings and flew in over the top.
Is I'm not that, the only thing ! can