The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-02
Eoening Story
When the Ship Sailed.

BY II. LOUIS RAXBOLD.
Marian Wetherby sat crouciled amid
the lavish cushions on the broad lanai.
her face buried in her hands. her
shoulders shaking convulsiyely. Above
and about her the soft Hawaiian
night spread its beauty. but Marian
had no eyes for the velvet starred sky.
no ears for the droning chant of the
Pacific beating on the reef beyond the
harbor. Rather the loveliness of the
surroundings accumulated her grief.
her loneliness.
THE last evening we might have
spent together. Jim.'' she murmured
tbroken1y, land you did not comet"
For on the morrow the girl, obey
| ing her uncle and guardians decree
and whoever hisobeyed even a wish of
Henry C. Winthrop, millionaire sugar
| planter and important citizen of Homo
lulu was to leave with her aunt on
the Esonia for a prolonged trip in the
states.
| Marian, resentful, already homesick
in anticipation, knew that her uncle's
chief reason for banishing her was to
break up the friendship between his
niece and James Elliot Calendar
q The sound of heavy footsteps
startled the girl. Jim? No, that was
not Jim's step. She had dared give
way to her tears, thinking the lateness
| of the hour rendered interruption un1
likely. 1t proved-to be- her uncle,
whom she had supposed asleep long
ago.
| Up the step he came, a broad, mas
sive man, with a half-smoked cigar
gripped tightly between his teeth. For
a moment he regarded his niece, not
unkindly and yet without sympathy,
| as she stood up making futile dabs
Should he tell her or not? 1t would
certainly be better for her to leave
| hating that COMPOUNDED Calendar in
stead of fancying she was heartbroken
over him. 10
The sooner she got over her infatua-
ttion the sooner would she prove amen
able to his plans-plans eminently well
calculated to advance her interests
and his.
Resolutely he fIicked the ash from
| his cigar and laid his hand on the
girls shoulder. MY dear" ne said
without preamble, "just where do you
/ suppose your precious Jim is wasting
his time?''
! He paused a moment as the girl
| aised startled eyes of inquiry. then
continued: 1T had occasion today to
ride out to the Wai1oa Ditch. On my
way 1 passed Sam Lutong's place and
there sat young Calendar with one
|
putting wreaths about his neck!"
With a gentle pressure of his hand,
Winthrop passed into the house.
| Marian's first thought was that-her
| uncle, whom she knew to be a believer
| in the principle that any means justi-
fled a good end, had cooked up the
| story as a final weapon against Jim.
| For well she knew her uncle was bent
upon a match between her and the son
of w. Laurens, owner of the Oahu
| pineapple plantations. Such a mar
| rage would effectively unite the busiS
ness interests of the Islands two
| greatest corporations.
land yet-Jim hadnot conesto say
i goodby. His absence in itself was al
/ most confederation of her uncle's
story. With a heavy heart, the girl
entered the house.
Meanwhile Jim, all too we'll aware
of the bewiiderment his absence must
| be causing the girl he loved, sat
| flower-crowned among group of
| dancing, chanting ukuiele-playing
Hawaiians. And with fierce hatred
he hated his stolid, phlegmatic, half
Chinese, part native, part white, all
heather host, who had steadfastly re-
fused all day to give his answer.
| Yet Jim smiled and bowed and
flirted with the girls, knowing in his
heart that only by possessing his soul
in patience could he gain his ends.
And>just about the time that Marian
was falling into a troubled sleep
wherein sheIdreamed of faithless men,
Jim had~b reward.
''Sure ting. Mist Callen'-I buy
! Tousan' dolla' down. Fixee up lest
bime by"
| The following morning, the Esonia' S
smokestacks were flinging their sig
nails of departure into the smiling Ha-
waiian sky. Ropes of flowers stretch
ed from the crowded dock to the decks
where the Messengers, gorgeously
wreathed with leis of brilliant flowers.
smiled and waved farewells to those
h left behind
Among them, standing silent. SOM
ber-eyed, one slender, girl waited un-
smiling But her glance wandered,
searching continually the people on
| the dock. Nor did they brighten as
4 they fell upon the complacent figure
! of her uncle. whose very attitude in
dicated satisfaction at a deed well
done
And indeed he had cause to pat
himself approvingly on the back. In
two minutes more the vast Pacific
| would begin to stretch between his
j rebellfous niece and the man of her
choice-but not of his. Yet great
deal can happen in two minutes.
Just as the native band changed
from its martial music into the plain
tive Hawaiian Aloha, whose minor
| cadences never fail to awaken in the
hearts of those who listen strange.
melancholy regrets and warnings: just
as the last wreaths were thrown and
the sleek-bodied young Kanakas made
ready at the rails for their bold dives
after coins thrown by the passengers
above; just as the deckhands reached
for the gangplank ropes, a commotion
at the rear of the crowd commune
lcated itself to the rest.
The gangplank stayed its withdraw
al while a hatiess youth elbowed his
way thru. AS he passed Henry Win
throp he pressed a note in to his hand.
The next instant he was aboard and
the gangplank was drawn in.
/ Jim Calendar Wrathfully, Win
throp WANTED to leap the widen
ing distance as the boat pulled out,
and haul the fellow back. But all he
4 could do was to watch-watch help
| lessly as the chains of flowers parted.
1 scattering their petals on the ehurned-