The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-04-10
The Story Of Mrs.
Rescue
By N. QUAD
Copyright. 1914, BY Associated Lit
erary Press.

We were between the Azores and
Madeira. bound for a port in the West
Indies. in the American ship Ben Joyce
when a curious thing happened one
morning about an hour before day.
light. | was digging my eyes and
fighting away sleep when a curious
sound from over the bows caught my
ear. As l listened to the noise the
only thing l could compare it to was
the noses Of sharks humping up
against a small boat. 1t would have
been ridiculous to call to the mate and
give him any such wild explanation.
but I finally called his attention to the
curious noises and left the cause to his
" perception.
There's a raft or a boat out there"
Ae said after a moment. land the noise
may be made by oars. I'll burn a port
Gre"
The port ire lighted up the sea for
q hundred feet around. and the first
thing we saw "a a ships boat within
forty feet Of us on the port bow. In
the bottom Of the boat were two hu-
man figures. and one of them was a
woman. and all around the boat tho
sea was alive with sharks. As soon as
We caught sight Of the boat the mate
ran to call the captain. By the time
the captain arrived the boat had drift
cd right down against 10. and one Of
the crew lowered himself into her and
made fast the painter. Then got
down to assist him. and We passed up
the bodies-the man first We might
Just az we'll have dropped him into the
sea. for be had been dead for twenty
-four hours at least. He was recognize
"a BY all % q sailor. Az We picked mp
the woman. having not q doubt that
she was dead also. she moved and Mt
tered q groan. We had her on board
after q couple Of minutes. and the
small boat which val q captain's GIG.
Dew and without q name. was later
hodstsd up.
The woman awoke 10 and herself
aboard Of . strange ship. With strange
men around her. She was Q handsome.
we'll formed woman. English In looks
and speech and about thirty years OF
aee. Her apparel was One md costly.
but she wore NO jewelry and had
neither . purse nor q cardcasa. When
asked how she came to b at ga In
the GIG. what her uame was. II she
had visited Madeira n the Asores, II
she lived In England, she could tell
soothing. She began q now life when
she opened her eyes In the cabin OF
the Joyce After three r four days
both cabin and f~o'castie came to the
same conclusion. which ~ this: The
saiIof must have been rowing the
woman or 10 q ship or from . ship
% shore at some Of tho islandA
That's the way No figured Il out,
and II looked reasonable enough. and.
Of course. the right thing to do was
b leave the woman at Trinidad and
report the case a. widely a. possible.
Queeriy enough, she fought and baf1ed
this plan. Our captain was \ good
hooking man. and. feeling that she
owed him her life and doubtless being
rather romantic BY nature. what did
she do but fall in love With him! That
h only half tho story. He fell head
ever heels In love With hef. The posi-
ton was most embarrassing for him.
however. All Of Us agreed that the
woman was u had been q wife,
though she had no finger ring to prove
Il. l think he saw things % an honor
able man should. and yet he could not
help loving her. When we reached
Trinidad he notified the English con-
sui. placed the woman In the house
hold Of q friend and then sailed for
the port Of New York.
The story Of our picking up the Nv
ing and the dead was published far
and wide. The publication of that
story all over the world did not solve
the mystery. No husband came for
ward: no relatives wrote.
When three years had elapsed and
still no news had come the two were
married. The woman had not recovered
one single point Of memory. She was
= atrnn9er IN hernelf. Hhe had no
country. no relatives, no name except
y chance. After marriage the cap
tain left the sea and went into the
ship chandlery business In Brooklyn.
One evening two years after the wed
ding the captain Of IN English tramp
stea ner just IN called to ask for some
Information He complained Of not
being we'll. and. one thing leading to
another, he finally related a tale Of
woe. Several years before, while his
ship was at the ASorea. bis wife. who
had been sent ashore In the morning,
attempted to return about nightfall
just as . squat was coming up. The
boat upset. and the occupants were
lost They found neither the boat nor
the bodies, but there was no doubt
Of the calamity. The loss Of the wife
% affected the husband that be was III
Of brain fever for months, and be had
never read q line Of her e IN mid