Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-12-27
"Mnsters-Gideon Masters"

"Mnsters-Gideon Masters"
"In commando"
well, yes, in a way. / reckoned
you'd want the whole story, an tibet
things he'd better be explained afore
yer went below"
"Of course; but first a question or
two, Mr.. Masters. What has become
Of my companions?
''The lady was sent into the cabin,
sill, and given a stateroom where she
could. fix herself up a Bit" he answered
soberly. "The other Teller had a heap
Of a lot to say, an seemed to have
some sorter grudge against you. II
hadn't any time to listen to his yarn,
so l naturally turned him over to the
bosum, ter have tibet eye dressed. He
must have got a peach O a swipe, sir"
81 had to hit him-yes; but we can
talk of that later. Where is he now|
SIN the galley, sir, where they're
heating some water. After they get
him fixed up, is he to go aft, or for
rard?"
|AAes IL SOu llUSC 1OOlI I SDllS ~
is no sailOrman, but a millionaire from
New York; he has money to burn"
The fellow looked at me With his
mouth wide open, his glistening eyes
almost l%aughable.
"The devil you say, sir; he don't1ook
the part to my notion. You was all
part of a yacht party?"
eyes, the Esmeralda, a steam yacht,
owned by Gerald Darlington of New
York. We We're run down about u
hundred miles east OF Montauk by a
big liner, which must have been out OF
her course. She cut us square in two,
but, excepting us three, all living on
board got away in the boats. BY acct
dent we were left, and escaped later in
the dinghy"
"What became of the liner?''
"She picked up the boats, and, think.
ing they had all the survivors, went
on. She was Il mail boat, likely. The
yacht went down five minutes after
we left her; we've been afloat ever
since. Now, Mr.. Masters, that's II
story in brief. What's the trouble
here?'
I'll tell yer enough to make it clear,
SIR he said slowly, although there is
others OF board who can explain more
in. detail. You're a seanlan--or was
, oncG-so you'n see easily the sortcr
= fix were in. I'm the only officer left
on the hooker. an / couldn't navigate
q SNIP il you'd give it to ME. In only
7 the CHIEF engineer, an my assistant is
: ia The fo'cas!!e with q broken lee. ycu
see tibet rifle lor-rard, sir? WGl!, II
o WIS lightning did That. Two bolts, *,
! the crew says, fer / wus down bHi3H',
an never knew Whut happened Till thu
electrics all Went out. Then | shut Off
;, steam, and clWmb out on deck. LORD,
but it wus a black night. raining cats
and dogs, but no wind to speak of. 1t
WIS the rain What saved us, for fire.
started yonder-yer can see where it
burned-but it died out of itself. When
morning come we saw what we was UP
\ against; it looked a lot sight worse
4 then than it does now. Them bolts of
A lightning he'd knocked the foremost
a into smithereens, killed the wheels.
III AietA tAAN u LIN SlCCA1AS SSdA nun
"A out O. commission. Then the top
mast an spars just naturally wrecked
"A the bridge. and charthouse, an the
a whole mass caught fire. The second
"A officer was in the wheelhouse, sir, an
. never knew what hit him, an both the
4 captain an the first officer wus 8
. standin' tergethcr on the bridge. The
top mast crushed the life out of 'em
There WIS six sailormen hurt the sam
way, IN four of 'em died. 1t wus the
81 darndest mess 1 ever saw at sea, SIR
. bad enough, surely; when did thi:
happen?"
might afore last; we've cleaned W
a bit since, but the crew won't worl
much under me- an we're short
handed. i rugged UP this wheel aft, 81
4 Us to keep an engine going, and huns
: on, waiting for something to turn spp
,e There wasn't nothing else j could do
mo I presume hat,' and my eyes
rested theughtfully on the for
= ward. 'tTIow lis the th~uh-sounda 10,
le seem sunk deeply"
That's cargo, sir; full to thu
matches. The ships dry as q bone
have had the well sounded every three
ct hours"
"And what about the crews"
Just so, so; a crimp brought then
drunk, an we were not at sc,
&c long enough for the mates to whil
them into shape when this thing hap
- - 'pened. I'm no deck officer, Mr.. Hollis
~ and they don't take orders from M
" very well. I call 'em a ID hurt
II lot"
" I made no comment, %endeavoring t.
q turn oil these facts over in my mind
and reach some decision. It was >evi
~ dent enough what was wanted, ant
how I could best serve; but would the.
!" be satisfied with the offer which I fel
willing to make? It was far from m.
= desire to assume command Of the In
y. diorrChinf opsl r,,sdo 10, doc&fnfoo N,