The Washington times., 1913-07-25

DurlnS the hau-nour preceding noon
| the swell had gone down considerably.
The breeze still continued steady from
the southwest. An aneroid barometer
which he had discovered in the lounge
when he had spread Emily's berth
there stood at an ordinary normal
bark lay until after luncheon. then get
under way, run before the wind for two
| hours and take another latitude.
As Paul turned away from the ba-
Emily came up through the companion
way. She wore a heavy blue flannel
| shirt such as he had told her to put on
and blue walking skirt which came
| to the tops Of pair of tan tennis shoes.
| She had plated her hair again and
| wound 1t round her head like a crown.
| The shirt was unbuttoned at the throat;
4 the cuffs rolled back.
She presented a figure of beautiful,
| efficient womanhood where she paused
| at the head of the companionway, her
| arms half raised as il seeking Pauis
| appreciation. Never since the first day
, he had seen her had she seemed so
| strongly feminine.
exclamation. He halted in the step
which he had taken toward her. Emily
| waited, her eyes half lowered. When
| his voice broke she looked up in sur
prise. She was pale, despite the soft
| tan with which exposure had busted her
face and throat. With an embarrassed
| laugh Paul went on: You would make
\ gunny-cloth seem like the finest silk
Never ship sailed the seas with such a
| chief mate"
| 1t was a disingenuous. awkward
| speech. Ill at ease, he hurried on to tell
her of the Daphne s position by the oo-
| servaticns he had just made; of the
plans he had formed. All the while he
| talked a thought, which had been with
him ever since the moment of madness
| in the gallery, and which had lashed
| him all through the morning, spr1nkIed
salt on the wounds In his conscience.
, 81 felt as If / were committing sac
rilege when / went into the little room
where the cedar chest is" Emily told
him as they went forward to prepare
luncheon: The chest is filled win Ia
| slip. 1 laid them away carefully ana
| shut the lid on them"
She looked at the sea with shuoder.
Paul realized that he must fight, too, 10
things. He quickly directed her
thoughts to the future, explaining the
| division OF labor that must be theirs
and the vigilance they must keep TO
win a triumph Of the sea; Her @ interess 5e
imagined It would be, for her thoughts
were busy with future which was call
ing in all the beauty of life.
Emily INSISTED upon preparing me
luncheon, permitting Paul only to shake
up the fire. She did ii well, and while
she was about it he took the oppor-
tunity to re-examine the Dapnnes log.
He hoped to CLEAN from 1t some things
which might aid him in the navigation
of the bark. 1t served, however, only
to deepen the mystery.
It was a clean record Of routine Tor
| two weeks after the departure from
Sydney. The crew had been received
| aboard on Christmas night. 1t was not
hard to visualize the condition Of the
lot on such a day-the sorriest day
in the year for an outward bound The
following morning she had sailed-three
months and eight days gone. or, as FL
ston had written at noon of the 18th:
"Our ninety-sixth day at sea from Sgd
ney." This was the ninety-eighth day.
The first thing to seize Pauls profess
sional eye Importantly was the absence
of any designation of second or third
mate. If the Daphne had sailed without
these officers then they must have been
recruited afterward from the forecastle
gang. There was no telling from the
names of the sixteen members of the
crew who these might have been. The
list comprehended every nationality un-
der the sun.
At the end of the first two weeks
three pages had been torn from the
books A week later another page was
missing. There was not week of the
ninety-siX days up to the hour of aban-
donment which was complete. OF
course, 1t was plain to Lavelle that the
man or men who had defaced the book
had done SO to destroy something that
had been written against him or them.
But why not have hove the book
overheard and been done with it?" Paul
asked himself He could not answer the
question.
The Daphne, had spoken no other
vessels; sighted no sail so far as the
log disclosed. Fair weather had at
tended her to the equator. which she
had crossed on the. fftieth day out
with a proper easting--longitude 11s
west This was in the track made by
sailing vessels bound from Australia TO
the west coast of the United States.
They had followed calms until she
had fallen in with the northeast trades
in latitude north. but there was no
word to explain why she thereafter
ward had been steered into this west
ern sea more than two thousand miles
off the course she should have held
Emily's summons TO luncheon made
Paul lay aside the log. 1t was a sur
prisingly good and substantial meal
that she had whipped together.
good woman's drilling in the details OF
working ship. On the island she and
Chang had filled in many dreary
minute with talk OF ships Chang had
and she was proud now, indeed, to ex-
hibit this knowledge, eager to put II to
use. Her experience in the boat had
Paul and made him proud of the in
telligence with which she was able to |
comprehend his explanations
You're bully =" he exclaimed finally, |
in admiration. You're a woman with |
an efficient brain"
This title speech made Emily glow |
with happiness. She had many a |
pretty compliment addressed to her by |
artists at that game. but never one
which gave her this pleasure. Some |
how she felt that thus he would have
spoken to another man whose work he
Wished to praise. She understood that |
paul Lavelle held order and efficiency
above everything else. She was eff. |
Gent in his sight She fairly ran when /
he gave her the word to go aft and |
stand by the wheel.
The donkey-boiler had made q fun |