The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-15


ness, he backed away with an unconscious
door with a hand behind him, backed
through and closedit. Thecaptain wasstill
sitting up against the bedhead, and stared
after the mutinous petty officer, wonder
ingly, himself softened-a humbled, though
by no means broken man.
He looked thoughtfully at the revolver
on the dresser. Its mute evidence of the
sailors sincerity, heinous though his offense
had been, decided him for the time being.
On board ship. Whittier would be virtually
a prisoner until a port was reached, and by
that time he would have resolved on
proper procedure. It had all been a sort of
realized nightmare, an extraordinary ex-
perience, and one well worth having under
gone for the novelty and the disciplinary
lesson involved in it. So thinking, and
being of nature not given to wasting time
and energy in useless worry, he turned his
face to the wall and In five minutes was fast
asleep, not waking until a messenger boy
raped on his door at eight O'Clock. The
boy brought position slip from the navi-
gator AS this showed that the vessel was
yet far from Loomee, the captain made a
leisurely toilet and breakfasted, before
going on the bridge.
The promontory of islet Loomee was
sighted through the telescopes at fifteen
minutes before twelve, and at ten minutes
after two the WyontGh was heaved-to off
the reef. No vestige or sign of wreck was
visible for the length of the half-moon, and
no human form or signal showed on the
pinnacle of the precipice The crestfallen
executive officer, searching the reef, the
inside waters and the promontory tirelessly
through his binoculars, was rejecting
capriciously that, while it was wicked to
wish to find wreck, he was half hopeful of
discovering one, in view of his strenuous
controversy with the captain during the
night.
Looks as though we had been led
blind chase, sir, he observed to the captain,
with an apologize emphasis. But at
least we'll have clear consciences, which I'd
never have had again without this salts
faction"
Captain Monkaster never did anything
by halves or short measure Whether or
not he wanted to do it, if he did it, it was
done shipshape; and his judgment and in
sight, where maritime matters were in
volved, were standard in the service.
eve must have better satisfaction than
this, Mr.. Caseby," he remarked senten-
tiously. "Tnere are devils holes along these
South Sea reefs, and vessel breaking over
one of them might disappear as quickly and
utterly as the Rio Janeiro did in the Golden
Gate. If the people took to the boats, they
wouldn't try to land at the foot of that
cliff, you know; they'd naturally row, or go
in tow of their steam launch, around to the
south end and ride in on the surf. should
have thought they'd establish signal
station on the high point, but you can't ever
tell, and we'll take no chances on missing
them, now we're here. It's been matter
of two days, and if they're here they'll
probably be wanting refreshments, par
ticularly liquid. If she sank, she sank
quick, and they most likely got away with
out commissariat
"What do you propose to do, sir?"
Circle the island and let the dogs bark
Messenger, tell the ordnance gunner to man
the saluting rifles and commence firing
minute guns without further orders"
Whittier, on watch and coming thewheel,
outwardly calm, had for two hours been
listening to every word spoken by his
superiors with an alternately rising and
sinking heart, while, since their arrival, his
field glass played necessarily on the face of
Loomee and up its stony defles. As the
captain turned to give orders for the vessel
to go ahead, he caught the quartemaster
unawares, looking at him with the eyes of
a grateful dog, eyes so different from the
gray-steel bayonet tips that had menaced
him In his cabin twelve hours previously
A warm flush mounted In Captain Mon
kaster's russell cheeks and permeated his
stout little body-warmer and more gener-
Gus than anything he had ever felt before.
"Half-speed ahead, quartermaster," he
commanded bruskly. "Hard a-starboard
and steady with the reef abeam at about
this distance"
Close on the command, as the vessels
nose started swinging toward the rocks,
hollow roar came from the upper decks and
splintered In shafts of sound against the wall
of Loomee.
Forging slowly ahead, with the rocks
half mile of the port beam, with eight
hundred pairs of eyes scintillating land
ward, the expeetant silence broken only by
the crash at sixty-second intervals Of the
slender guns On the topside, the WyogstGb
soon cleared the western extremity of the
reef, and steadied to starboard of the white
crested rollers that broke on the mauve
sands Of lower Loomee. And then q hun
dred voices sang out hoarsely and stimuli
taneously: "Signal- Or