The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1917-01-11
CHAPTER iv-continued'

pevond drawing heavily on MS oanA
and sending Drummond pr'ei -
whitaker failed to renew commune
lion with his home. He sank ih,u
state of semi-apathetic content 80
AAuon+,,ress was five months out OF
mort before he began to be conscious
that he was truly accurseu' ~
came gradual thickening VI
ahadows that threatened to eclipse "is
existence. And then, one day as .neS
dined with the lonely tracer VI a.
isolated station in the D'EntrecasteauA
Islands, he fell from his chair do -
poleaxed. He regained consciousn g.,
onlv to SILVER with the chill OF inc
wind that's famed by the wings VI
death. 1t was impossible to move I'M, ~.
Tho aponies of the damned were iiiS
when, with exquisite gentieness' 'ne'
lifted him to bed.
Stark sailed in the Adventures W
fore shutdown Of the same day. puipoS
inc tn fetch a surgeon from Foi.
Moresby. Whitaker said last 1a,e tSat
to bis friend, knowing In his soui 'No.
tnov would never meet again. Tnen nc
comnosed himself to die quietly. ou'
tho Following morning brought nap
CHANCE trading schooner to the islanu'
and with it, in the estate Oh SUPP
cargo, a crapulous Scotch gentiein"n
who had been famous speclailst "
London before drink laid him by the
heels. He performed heroic opel
otion upon Whitaker within an hour'
announced by nightfall that the pa
tient would recover, and the next uaS
sailed with his ship to end his DAYS ~
some abandoned Australian boozlns-
ken-as Whitaker learned In oSuneS
several months later.
Tn the same place, and at the same
time he received his first authen'ic
news of the fate of the, Adventures
Tho Yacht had struck on an uncharteo
reef. in heavy weather, and had 1oun-
dorod almost Immediately. Of ner
entire company, solitary sailor man
aged TO cling to life-raft until picked
nm week after the wreck, by tramp
steamship on whose decks he gaspeu
ont his news and his life In the same
breathS. 20
Whitaker hunted up an account ol
the disaster in the files OF local news
MINER He read that the owner Peler
stark. ESQ, and his guest, II. M. WMt-
oker, ESQ.,, both Of New YORK, nau
gone down with the vessel. Inere
was also a cable dispatch from ne"
York detailing Peter Stark's sociai
and financial prominence-evluehce
that the news had been cabled nome
To all who knew him whitaker was
as dead as Peter Stark.
srhere is a world outside the one you
To which for curiousness Ell cant
compare;
It is the place where wilful musings
go,
p AS we can testify, for we are there
Kinling's lines buzzed through MS
head more than once In the course OF
the next few years; for ne was
"there." They were years OF sucn
vagabondage as only the South Seas
countenance; neither unhappy mol
vorv strenuous, nor yet SCARED by the
tooth of poverty. Whitaker had be
tween four and FIVE thousand dollars
in travellers checks which he convert
cd into cash while In Sydney. Me
mory of the wreck of the Adventures
was already fading from the Australian
mind: no one dreamed OF challenging
the signature of q man seven months
dead. And az certainly and as quietly
"a the memory, Whitaker faded away
Hugh Morton took his place, and Syo
new 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 strong constitution IL
a tough body (now that its malignant
demon was exorcised) he found 1t easy
to pick up a living by one means Oh
another. Indeed, he played many parts
In as many fields before joining hands
with a young Englishman he had
grown to like and entering upon what
seemed a forlorn bid for fortune
thereafter he prospered- amazingly.
When at length he did make up his
mind to go home, he was In Melbourne
with Lynch, his partner. Whitaker
nassed old friends In the street They
were George Presbury and bis wife
Anne Forsythe that was-self-evideni
tourists, looking the town over between