The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1913-07-11
THE
CASTAWAY
By SUSAN YOUNG PORTER

cried the LOOKOUT.
was first officer Of the Helen Drew
and on duty. With my glass I swept
the waters as indicated and brought
within the field Of view a ships boat,
now raised high on the crest Of wave
and now sinking low In the trough.
Whenever it was inclined sidewise to-
ward me could see lying motionless
on the bottom the body OF woman.
| give an order to put the ships bow
toward 1t and when within a reasona-
BILE distance sent boat out for 1t and
Its contents.
On its return | ordered the boat rails
ed to the main deck. and the body was
Immediately lifted out It was that OF
n young girl not more than seventeen
years old The ships doctor at once
ma,le nm examination to determine II
she were dead and reported signs of
life she was removed to q cabin and
by the united efforts OF the doctor and
the stewardess was restored to con-
seriousness.
When she seemed sufficiently recov-
SICu w Ue uueSllOutu BIG WIS uShtu
how she came to be in an open boat at
sen. but could remember nothing about
her lonely voyage or any Of her past
life.
] made personal examination of
the boat in which she had come to us
In order to Identify the ship to which
II had belonged 1t was an old one
and had either not been painted for
some time or had been so weather beat
en- that the paint was very much worn.
The stern had been damned against
something; and but few Of the letters
of the name were legible. This was
many years ago. before It became the
universal custom to paint the ships
name on both sides Of the stem Of the
boat could make out the first,
fourth and eighth letters. The other
Ave were either partially or entirely
obliterated. Those I could read were
T s. think that II I had been
familiar with the names Of marine ami.
mails l might have hit upon the name.
We had started from Boston on a
cruise around the world, taking in the
! Cape OF Good Hope. Japan, the Ha-
waiian Islands. San Francisco and 9th.
er American Iorts. We picked up the
girl after having left the cape, and
since We were approaching countries
which were then barbarous there was
nothing to do but keep her with us. IN
couple of weeks she had recovered
her health. l,ut not her memory.
Being nearer her age than any other
OF the officers. became more compan-
ionable with her. There were only two
clews by which her identity might be
established--tAe three letters on the
stern of the boat in which she had
been picked ZIP and two letteRs on her
Undertaking. The boat had been
abundantly pr ovisioned. and the girl
md been well supplied with wraps.
From these fmcts l argued that after
an accident. Collision. fire or other dis
aster she had been put In the boat
WIN number Of others. She Was not
likely to have been TUNED adrift alone,
and the supply OF provisions had origi-
nally been sufficient Tor a numter of
persons This fe ,ture of the problem
mas never been solved. My theory Is
TINT some perso n or persons who had
the girl In civ rye. in order that she
might have all the provisions, after a
certain date committed suicide by
jumping overheard. Possibly such IN
net might have been the result Of de-
llrium.
IL IS to be supposed that q young
man : Il twenty-thees making voyage
arrow I'D the world with a girl Of seven
teS n would fall in love with her. Such
as the case with me. and the poor girl
was glad to have some one to lean upon
in her lonely condition. told her that
she need not fear for anything since
she belonged to me. AT the end OF our
voyage we would do I'LL in our power
to find out her identity and be guided
by the result.
We spent hours together working
over the letters on the stern OF the boat
IN which she had drifted. The captain
had dictionary among his books. and
we undertook to make a check against
every noun beginning with N. Having
the relative pos ition of all the letters
was great advantage. and having the
flrst letter was even greater help.
We found number Of words OF eight
letters beginning with N, but the one
TINT fitted the conditions exactly was
Nautilus, and 1t was the only one that
was proper word for the name Of q
ship. 1t must be remembered that
ships have often been named for a per
son. and these names are not to be
found In 4 dict onary. However. we
believed that Nautilus was the name
of the ship In question, and we would
learn of such ship on reaching oul
home port
We were not disappointed. The shil
Nautilus Of Providence, r. l., had sail
ed from there and had never beer
heard of afterward took the cast
away to that city to learn that her IA.
ther had been a sea captain, and, his
daughter Alice being in poor health. he
had taken her on a voyage with him
Since she war the only person saved