The Washington times., 1913-07-24

| mustered twenty-five men in watcn 10
1 fist a topsail.
Paul knew that vessels like this car
rted tremendous crews-sometimes hfty,
sixty and seventyfive, idlers and all-in
/ the days of their pride, when an hour
cut from a passage meant gold Ior
owners and masters. His mother father
had been master, and afterward owner
| of such ships as the Daphne. But he
had sailed under different nag thah
! hersT-a flag which had driven him, the
grandson. away from 1t, and to be
| marked wanderer.
This unpleasant personal thought
turned Lavelle aft. He entered the
cabin through the door on the starboard
side. Here he found three more state
rooms which opened of an alleyway
These rooms had been long given up to
storage purposes. One was filled with
barrels of -four and biscuits; the others
held cordage and bolts Of untouched
canvas. He carried, away bolt OF the
newest, whitest duck and a coil Of mar
line.
No tenderer hands could have given
the Daphne's master and mate to the
sea ;; no voice could have bespoken their
souls kinder Journey than the stranger
who shrouded and weighted them. He
sent them away with prayer and
heartfelt farewell that a friend who had
known them and loved them a lifetime
might have breathed.
Paul was near breaking down when II
came to the parting with william Ell
ston. Among the papers scattered
around the lad he found the first page
of a letter which the boy had started
to his mother on the day after the,
Daphne had put out from sydney. That
was the day after Christmas
IN be home in England-merry Eng
land-with you next Christmas, mother
mine
That was as much as he could read.
He put the crumpled sheet in the dead
boys hands, where he had already
over the berth. II was a picture OF a
simple, yine-covered cottage, such as
are to be met in the byways of village
and town throughout England. Clusters
of roses peeped and seemed to nod over
a hawthorn hedge in tn foreground: A
collie stood at the gate, head lifted,
ears cooked. and muzzle, searching the
distance as at a masters coming. On
the back of the photograph was written
in the hand which had kept the log:
NY Sussex Home. o..
In a fair ground-in fair ground
Yea, Sussex by the sea!
While the mystery which Paul met
at every turn beckoned him on in pur-
against giving any time except to neces-
sary things. He was compelled to give
his attention to the donkey boiler and
galley fires forward as well as keep
an eye on the suns ascension toward
noon..
The Daphne's position was the most
important thing to be ascertained. To
this end he searched high and low for
a sextant. The mates was missing;
the shippers. too. He found McGavock's s
room, where II had been thrown and
smashed A mercurial barometer lay
crushed beside 1t. Nor could he dis
cover the sailing chart of the bark 8
present voyage nor any other chart OF
the Pacific.
Abaft the companionway staircase he
came upon room which had escaped
his attention before. 1t opened upon
short alleyway into the laZarette. Here !
were slowed the ship'ls slop stores. A i
aft led into the skipper's room. He had |
noticed II when he had returned to get |
the ulster for Emily. Immediately op- |
posite was the entrance to a snug bath
room.
Paul took advantage Immediately OF
discovery of the slop-stores to levy upon |
them for an outfit OF clothing and shoes.
When he had found how plentiful was
the vessels supply OF water he had van
quished the dust and CRIME OF his ven-
ture into the forehold. The touch of |
the fresh clothing, rough though II was
was pleasant 1t was a link with the |
world again.
The while he dressed in the bathroom |
he observed many things which told OF !
4 wOman's presence-articles OF the toi- |.
let too fine and dainty for a mans use |
A leather dressing-case lay on a small !
stand. 1t contained a silver-mounted as
sortment OF brushes and screw-top bot
ties. He paused to examine them for a |
There was none but the Eng
ish sterling impression.
Another thing which to him indicated
that this room had known a woman's
presence was a tiny fern-basket which
swung over the bath. Similar baskets
hung from the skylight of each saloon,
and from the ceiling in the skipper's
room. Those meant a woman's watch
iulness and tender care.
Men who live and die by the sen
Irow no green-growing thfngs-no flow
ars The sea gives no flowers to its
children, no sweet odors for memory. |
L has gardens, but they are scentless,
and one may enter them only when
we'll that its fora Is without fragrance
At one moment Paul was convinced
hat a woman had been in the Daphne
,ut recently; the next he doubted it.
1e did not wish to believe II. He did
Tot wish to think that she had been
,arried OF in one Of those small boats.
rhe thought sickened him.
He crossed from the bath into the
kipper's room again. hoping that he
night have overlooked there some place
where a sextant or quadrant might be
tored. Alongside the deck he spIed a
liver frame II contained the photo
raph of a laughing. blond-headed girl
i not more than two and twenty-a
wholesome English type of face-just
uch woman as he imagined a man
Ike McGavok would go awooing and
AXE to wife. He regretted that he had
ot found II sooner. David McGavock
night have wished to take II with him.
Paul set II on top of the desk again.
Iom which II had evidently been
nocked and turned away. cudgling his
rain to suggest where he might carry
is search.
His glance picked up a knobless door
n the bulkhead to the right of tn,
esk He dimly remembered noticing Z
rhen he had taken the macintosh, and
king II In his mind at the time as the /
essel's medicine chest. 1t was fastened
L. It. a Il