Evening star., 1921-09-04

do no good. She's unconscious. Don't
make a contact Of the only real man
on the ship. sir"
Again the presence that was aboard
stood between them. and waved away
the bar of rank-ship rank. that Is
more rigid than anything ashore. The
stewardess spoke as woman to man.
The captain looked the. stewardess
straight in the eyes. -
IF you get out of this. and I get
out of 1t. I'll make something Of you.
and that will be sailors wife," he
"Yes, SIR" said the stewardess. '"The
passengers are coming out from din
ner, sir"
Out upon the flaming blue Of Port
Torres harbor, the liner lay-far out.
a mile from shore. She would lie
there for a week. and then she would
steam on (as IL nothing had happened
on board) for her next port of call. She
was in the strictest of quarantine: not
a canoe was allowed to run within a
hundred yards of her tall. gray sides.
not any boat from the town must ap-
proach her-except the doctors. which
was free to come. but did not make
use of the freedom. DR.. Coster. the
man with the two beautiful black
eyes. and the marvellous white teeth.
and the musical, clipped accent-Dr.
Coster had said 1t wasn't necessary.
The captain could signal for him II he
was wanted. And he was very busy at
present on shore. He was; he had 10
take his own temperature every nour,
and look at himself in the glass every
time he was left alone. And he had
to do a good deal of Bible-reading-
Dr. Coster, once Da Coster. had been
brought up at a mission school In
India, and was religious. especially
since the day before yesterday. Wnen
he had examined a dying little girl
looked at a bead of saliva in his mi
croscope and pitched the slide and
the instrument into the sea-
HE had hardly nerve to give the
IL necessary directions. but he gave
them, saw the boat start from the
side of the ship, saw a thin, canvas
parcel plunge from the rail (the stew
ardess, with perfectly calm counte-
nance, and no help from any one. had
lashed little Agnes up in piece Of
weighted sail-cloth the moment the
breath was out of her body), and then
made for the township himself In his
launch. sweating with terror. Half
skinned with disinfectants, he kept to
his house till next day. alternately
reading up tropic diseases and saying
his prayers. In a week. his piety re-
laxed; in ten days, 1t had faded like a
hibiscus bloom plucked from the
stalk. Ten days was more than
enough. And his duty to the township
Che was very certain) absolutely de-
manded that he should expose himself
to no more actual risk.
OF the liner there Is little more to
say; She lay for the prescribed time;
making no signals to the shore and
telling no tales. What went on on
board, when the three hundred and
eighty colored fourth-class passen-
gers realized that they were shut up
on a plague ship with sixty or sew
enty whites, death grinning in their
faces. and land and safety ESQ they
thought) just mile Of blue water
away. is not in this story. But 1t was
well for the whites. and for the ship
and for the township Of Port Torres.
that the captain was not after ALL
The boat that went away from the
ships side was steered straight for An
island that lay two or three miles out
to sea: q low, long island. not ten
feet above high water at any point;
a glaring barren island Of sand and
stunted palms. with two new. plain.
weatherboard one-room houses stand
ing on the highest point. 1t was the
quarantine island. used heretofore by
Port Torres for tho isolation Of dys-
till now occupied by whites:
1t was strange boatload that giided
over the coral gardens Of the inner reef.
and through the jade-blue passage into
the green lagoon water. The boat was
badly rowed: there were no sailors in
it. only a few man passengers. Mrs.
Arthurs, Mrs. Waite. the stewardess
and a steward. All were Of those who
had come In and out to sec, or to walk
On, little Agnes. They were contacts" :"
and. as such, ordered into banishment
For DR.. Coster. who at least knew his
kbacteriology, had pronounced the dis
ease to be plaSue-pneumonic plague,
the horror that slays with 100 per cent
Of victims. and something like so per
| can't Of those who come into direct con.