Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-10-13
CHAPTER IV-contlnued.


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Beyond drawing heavily on his bank
and sending Drummond brief n0te'
Whitaker failed to renew communion
ton with his home. He sank into
state Of semi-apathetic content. The
Adventures was five months out OF
port before he began to be conscious
that he was truly accursed. There
came a gradual thickenihg of the
shadows that threatened to eclipse his
existence And then, one day as they
dined with the lonely trader OF an
isolated station In the D'Entrecasteaux
Islands, he fell from his chair as II
poleaxed. He regalned consciousness
only to shiver with the chill OF the
wind that's famed by the wings OF
death. 1t was impossible to move MIN.
The agonles of the damned were his
when, with exquisite gentleness' they
lifted him to a bed.
Ctark sailed In the Adventures be-
fore sundown Of the same day, purpos-
ing to fetch surgeon from Port
AIoresby. Whitaker said last farewell
to his friend, knowing in his soul that
they would never meet again. Then he
composed himself to die quietly. But
the following morning brought hap
chance trading schooner to the island.
and with 1t. in the estate of super
cargo, a crnpulous Scotch gentleman
,,who had been a famous specialist of
London before drink laid him by the
heels. He performed n heroic oper-
ation upon Whitaker within an hour.
announced by nlghtfall that the pa
tient would recover, and the next day
sailed with his ship to end his days In
some abandoned Australian boozlng-
ken--as Whitaker learned in Sydney
several months later.
In the same place. and at the same
time, he received his first authentic
news Of the fate Of the Adventures.
The yacht had struck on an uncharted
reef, In heavy weather, and had foun-
dered almost Immediately. OF her
entire company, solitary sailor mum
aged to cling to llfe-raft until picked
up. week after the wreck, by a tramp
steamship on whose decks he gasped
out his news and his life In the same
breaths.
Whitaker hunted up an account of
the disaster In the files OF local news
paper. He read that the owner, Peter
Stark, ESQ.,. and his guest. II. NJ. Whit
aker, ESQ, both of New York, had
gone down with the vessel. There
was also cable dispatch from New
York detailing Peter Stark's social
pnd financial prominence-evidence
that the news had been cabled home.
TO all who knew him Whitaker was
as dead as Peter Stark.
''There u a world outside the one you
know
To which for curiousness Ell can't
compare;
1t Is the place where wilful musings
20,
as we can testify, for we are there"
Kipilng's lines buzzed through his
head more than once In the course of
the next few years: for he was
''there." They were years of such
vagabondnge as only the South Seas
countenance; neither unhappy nor
Very strenuous, nor vet SCARED by rhe
tooth OF poverty. Whitaker had be-
tween four and five thousand dollars
In travellers checks which he convert
ed into cash while In Sydney. Me-
mory of the wreck Of the Adventures
..... .t....a. odfn,, fro,,, tho ,,at roIi n p,
mind; no one dreamed of challenging
the signature of a man seven months
dead. And as certainly and as quietly
as the memory, Whitaker faded away
Hugh Morten took his place, and sgd
ney knew him no more, nor did any
other parts wherein he had answered
TO his rightful name.
The money stayed by him handsome
ly. Thanks to n strong constitution In
tough body (now that It's malignant
demon was exorcised) he found It easy
to pick up living by one means or
another. Indeed he played many parts
In as many fields before joining hands
with n young Engllshman he had
grown to like nnd entering upon what
seemed a fOrlorn bid for fortune.
Thereafter he prospered amazingly.
When at length he did mike up his
ruind to 60 home, he wus In Melbourne
with Lynch, his partner. Whitaker
pissed old friends in the street. They
were George Presbury and his wife
Anne Forsythe that was-self-evidenl
tourists, looking the town over between
steamers Presbury. with no though
in his bumptious head Of meeting
Hugh Whitaker before the dny Of judg
ment. looked ut and through him with
Out.a hlnt OF recognition; but his wifi
wns another person altogether. Whit
aker could not be blind to the surpris
md perlexity that shone In her eyes
even though he pretended to be blln
TO her uncertain nod; long after HI
back alone wns visible to her he coul
feel her inqulring stare boring int
It
The Incident made him think; an
ne remembered that he was now
man OF independent fortune md I
idle hands as well. After prolong'
consideration he suddenly decide
told Lynch to look out for his inte
eats and expect him back when
snorld see hlm, and booked for Lond'
nv Royal Mail bont-nll in half
dny. From London Nir. Hugh Mort
CROSSED Immediately TO New York
the Olympic. landing in the month
April--nearly six years to day fr'
the time he had left his native land
He put up ut the Rltz-Carlton' p
cisely as any foreigner might be
pected to do. ahd remained Hugh NJ
ten while he prowled around the {
md found himself Now and again
the course of his wanderings he
countered well-remembered faces,
always without ellcitlng the slight
geam of recognition; c!rcumstnn
that only went to prove how II
oughly dead and buried he was In
estimation Of his day and generation
Nothing. indeed, seemfA as ne
membered It. But his ultimate and
g. n,xukeninQ to the Truth thut