The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-10-16

FeTl.
TOW | was prisoner. ] said
mi didn't feel that blow on the
cheek. but as ! thought on it
it fairly scared h.e | hated
her. | hoped that-no, | might as well
be honest with myself | didn't care
how she treated me. how disdainful
were her words. how unjustly she pun
ished me, | loved her | couldn't help.
! didn't want to help it. | would kiss
the deck plank she hallowed with her
footsteps.
There was another side to my con
finement, and | presently took thought
on that. | swear that | was not think
ing of myself. but of her. was ever
thinking of her. | could see dangers that
beset her as perhaps no one else could
and my confinement added to her peril
She didn't realize that; nobody aft on
the ship realized it. There was peril,
imminent, menacing about to break.
cared.
You see. the fact that we were
treasure hunting had got about. ! had
not thought much Of the crew. includ
ing the vilainous looking boatswain
Pimball. We had shipped lot OF
smart seamen. about the average in
quality and above the average in
smartness. | decided as the days hadi
passed with nothing happening hui
Pimball had signed some could wish
mad been left ashore.
Her presence on the ship. too, was
a mystery. Alone in the little Rose
Of Devon with thirty men BY evil
mishap the maid she had brought with
her had died after a brief Illness two
weeks out. Captain Matthews and
we're for turning back. but she said no.
she would go on. We had lost too
much time already and her all was
embarked. We were now plowing the
blue waters of the Pacific. and |. mate
of the ship and the only other officer
TO be trusted locked up!
We were nearing the latitude and
longitude of the island Suppose the
men rose in mutiny. ground my
teeth in rage The men liked me well
enough. and had been particular to
keep them in good humor. passing over
many a thing for her sake that would
have followed with a blow had she not
been there. Captain Matthews had
complained once or twice of my lax
ity, but l knew things that he didn't,
and | had done what | deemed best
fer her. l pledge you my word that
didn't care farthing for the treas
ure. | had never given it much
thought | grew to believe in it less
and less as we got further from home.
and if had been stronger for my duty
and weaker in my love | would have
dissuaded her from the voyage, follow
ing Master Ficklins lead.
Now, that she was poor and alone
neglected and forgotten. had enjoyed
a foolish dream that could be com
paniOn to her-a life shipmate for
the captain was a rough. plain old sail
or. What a fool | was! And yet it
had worked in some way as | had in
tended. We had been thrown into
closer intimacy by the loneliness of her
position and my faithful and, until that
night, most unobtrusive. self effacing
devotion.
suppose it never entered her head
that could presume to love her, CON
sequently she was less careful than she
had been otherwise. and that very
night when had poured out my decla-
ration to her she had had no words
with which to meet it, | thought her
silence was consent. see now that
II was amazement. seized her in my
arms like the brute she must have
thought me, lifted her up and kissed
her fair on the lips and then on her
averted cheek. Arcester the black
guard, could have done no worse
will never forget how she stigmatized
me-"brute, coward, low born" don't
believe she had rallied at that scoun.
drel duke so 6ercely.
Well, | didn't care what she had
called me. Her safety, her life. her
honor demanded that | be released
That was the paramount concern.
listened. | thought | heard foot
tall in the outer cabin Could she be
there! / suppose that had been lock-
ed up FOR perhaps an hour Ave, on
the instant the bell forward struck
three. We kept man-of-war customs
at her fancy. The sound came to me
raintly as | listened. Half past 8
She could not have gone to her berth
yet She must be there in the great
cabin. l ventured 10 call
What 1t cost me any man can imag-
ine-and to humble myself. TO ask her
mercy too. | am a man of fierce tenn
per, as you have deemed, but can
control 1t ON occasion. and | did It
now. shook the door of the cabin
gently at first and then vigorously
and called once and again. There was