The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1913-01-09

been running in this line. Foolish
thoughts they must seem to n who
reads of them; worthy only to be
classed with the idle. superstitious
fears of young girls and old women,
and impossible to a well-balanced,
c~lear-headed man of Twenty-Five. 1t
may be that l was not we%ll-balanced
and clear-headed. And yet the Sc
Quel would tend rather to a contrary
conclusion.
Cameron was still reading the Her
aid, and I sat with a pair Of binocu-
lars at my eyes sweeping the waters
for the trailing smoke of a liner or
some object of lesser interest.
Presently the silence was broken
by my companion.
Il see," he began, dropping the pa
per to his knees, that China, is really
in earnest in her anti-opium cam
paign. Two Picking officials have died
from the effects of a too.hasty break
ing of the habit. Men do not die in
the attempt to obey mere paper re-
forms. The Chinese are a wonderful
old people, Clyde"
l lowered my glasses, all at once in
terested.
you've been in China?" I asked.
mo, l haven't" was his answer.
I've always meant to go; but when
l was nearest, Ill news drew me home;
and so l never got closer than Yoko-
hama on one side, and Srinagar, in
Kashmir, on the other"
you've seen something of them in
this country, l supposed"
mo. very little. l attended a din
ner once at which Ii Hung Chang was
the guest of honor; and I've eaten
chop suey in one of those Chinese
eating palaces they have in Chicago.
That's about the extent Of my person.
al Chinese experience. But l have
always been interested In the country
and it's people. L have read about
everything that has been published
on the subject. By the way, did they
ever find out who killed that boy of
Murphy's?'
"Not yet" I answered. They've
had some of his own kind under sur
VIGILANCE, but no more arrests have
been made"
Murphy was r~eleased!"
YES"
He took up his paper again and
once more I applied myself to sea-
gazing.
Far away to the northeast l made
out what appeared to me to be a sea-
going tug 6r pilot boat, steaming, I
thought, with rather unusual speed for
a vessel of her class. 1t was not
much of a discovery, but the waters
had been very barren that morning,
especially for the last two hours, and
insignificant as this, object. was l felt
in a manner rewarded for my vigil.
Half an hour later she had slipped
out Of sight and I was busy in an ef-
fort to pick her up again. when a cry
from the lookout forward directed my
attention to a floating speck possibly
two miles or more dead ahead, and
not more than a point off our course.
Come" I said to Cameron, "let's
go up on the bridge and have a look!"
And have u trouble for our
pains?" he returned, incredulously.
Its probably some bit of wreckage.
a box or a cask."
very WELL" l agreed, starting off
alone. Even a box or a cask is worth
while as a variation"
When on nearer approach the drift
ing object proved to be a fsherman's
dory, with a man, either dead or un-
conscious, plainly d~iscernible in the
bottom, l should hardly have been hui
man had l not experienced a degree
Of satisfaction over Cameron's failure
as a prophet. That, however, was the
least abiding of my sensations. In an
instant it had given way to anxiety
concerning the boats occupant and
interest in the business.like manner
in which Macleod, the stocky young
executive officer of the Sibylla, was
preparing to pick up our find.
The engine room had been signaled
h%alf-speed ahead, and already a sailor
with a coil of rope in hand was sta
toned at the forward. gangway. 1
have frequently seer river pilots make
landings that were marvels of clever
calculation, but l never saw any steer
ing more accurately gagged than that
by which Macleod, here in the open
sea, with the precarious swell and
surge of ocean to combat, brought the
yacht gliding within a bare three
inches of the rolling dory's bow.
I was leaning over the rail as we
came thus upon the castaway, and
saw clearly enough for just a moment
the huddled creature in oilskins, silent
and motionless in the stern, with
closed eyes and wet, dark hair mat
ted upon his forehead. Then a sailor,
dropping lightly iSto the boat, shut
off my view for a little. There was
a whir Of flung line; an exchange Of
quick-spoken, and to me unintelNgible,
words between the sailor in the dory
and a sailor standing beside me on
the yachts deck; and then, the line
was taut and %straining. and the dory,
which had sheered of astern, was be-
ing brought up slowly alongside.
Now, l realized for the first time
that our engines had stopped and that,
a v for the roll. We were almost sta.
tionary.