Oxford Democrat., 1916-01-18

they had left in q hurryiwas also evi|
dent. An auger had been left In the
side Of the ship below the watef line
indicating that IN attempt to sink ths
vessel had been interrupted Then
too, al the EfeboatS except ono had
been left In their places There wert
blocks for eight boats, IN the block
being filed save one set, and at this
point the davits were swinging out, In
0icating that q boat had been lowered
There were two cabins astern, ons|
evidently the captains. In the othei
women's clothing was found. In that
belonging to the captain from q httlt
drawer In a locker Graham took out d
daguerreotype-photorap were moi
st that time common-of girl somt
eighteen or twenty years old Ther
was something very attractive IN thii
young and innocent face among such
.frightful surroundings. Graham put
the picture in his pocket not only foi
the purpose Of identifying the ship
but because he wished It for himself
Before sinking the derelict Graham
returned to the Winfield Scott and re-
ported to the captain. Another boai
was sent to the derehct to make fur
ther examination, but the pirates ha<
taken care to possess themselves Of thu
log and everything else by which the
vessel might be identified. Though
they had evidently left her In a hurry
they had taken time for such removal
Nothing remained but to make noti
lof the latitude and longitude In which
the derelict was discovered, at thai
time favorite region for pirates.
That night before turning in Horace
Graham took out bis daguerreotype
opened the case and feasted his eye
on the likeness within. It had beer
nearly a year since he had seen {
woman Of his own race, and those o,
Asia were not attractive to him. +
!. seemed to him that this girl was th
spirit of innocence risen from the hor
rors of. massacre. Placing it where
he could turn hts eyes upon It, he took
out his record Of the name on the
stern Of the derelict, or, rather, the
remains Of it, and began to try to I'LL In
the letters erased Fortunately the
pirates had either neglected this Tea.
ture or thought the name illegible and
had not taken the time or the trouble
to eradicate 1t.
Horace Graham worked till late
on filing In the missing letters, now
and again looking up at the likeness.
NJ G RE UR ON.
From the position Of the letters pre-
served he knew he possessed the first
and last letters, M" and an" Ships
were there and are now named FOL
women, and Graham fancied this was
a case in point. BY trying different
letters successfully In the first part
Of the name he finally obtained Mar.
g-a-r-e-t He felt quite confident that
the name Of the ship was the Margaret
-. Though he puzzled long over the
last name, he failed to make it out.
The next morning as he was mount.
ing the companionway to the deck be
heard the lookout shout:
'Lifeboat on starbOard Quarter!"
Reaching the deck. he saw the cap
tain raising his glass. Graham ran
down for his own glass and soon de-
scried a ships boat rising and falling
with the waves, but could see nothing
in 1t. Meanwhile the ship had been
put of her course to point to the boat.
When the Scott came near enough
woman's figure was seen lying In the
bottom Of the boat, and q man, evi-
dently dead, was leaning over seat:
A boat from the Scott was manned
and took the other In tow. When
alongside the ship the woman, who
was either dead or unconscious, was
hoisted on to the vessel.
Almost as soon as Graham saw the
face Of the woman he recognized in It..
though much changed by suffering
and hunger, the original Of the da.
guerreoUpe. A spoonful Of broth was
given her, and she revived. After TAX
ing more she opened her eyes and look
ed wildly about her. But seeing that
she was on the deck Of vessel, the
wild look subsided, and she asked what
had happened. After being told she
was questioned, but everything except
the horror Of drifting on the oceans
bosom had passed away from her.
Here was a disappointment to Ora
ham, for as soon as he recognized her
as the original Of the daguerreotype
he believed he would receive an ex-
PLANTATION Of the mystery Of the Mar
garet -. The likeness was shown
her, but It failed to excite any mem.
ory whatever. Other means were tried,
including mention Of the Margaret
-, but without avail. At last all
attempts to draw from her informa-
ton as to what had happened were
given up Unfortunately at that Pc
Rod it was not universal custom to
paint the names Of ships on their life
boats, 80 that even this information
was not forthcoming. The only thing
known about the girl was that she
spoke the English language with
Yankee accent.
The rescued girl received every at
tention and very soon was able to 60
on deck. She tried everything that
was suggested to bring about a return
Of memory, but without avail. There
was no other woman aboard, 80 that
she had no companion Of her own sex.
Graham was so devoted to her that
gradually all others gave way to him.
The Scott was homeward bound, and
as soon as she came into port be was
deputed by the captain to examine the
shipping records with a view to gain
ing any information attainable about
the derelict.
Armed solely with the record he had
taken from the wrecks stern, he ran
over the names Of American ships till
he came to the Margarets, Of which
there were several The Margaret
Thurston fitted his record. This was
q great gain. He soon learned that
the ship had been named for a favor
ite niece Of the master and that she
was aboard the vessel In Chinese wa
ters at the time she was discovered
BY the Scott She had not been heard
from since leaving Hongkong and was
overdue.
The rescued girl was thus known to