New-York tribune., 1921-05-01
A CONRAD
STORY

and ruin cf man. Father AID got him IN.
stairs somehow, and mother pretty ne,,l.
killed herself nursing him through brit,
fever"
The man in tweeds nodded at me srn,s.
cantly.
"Ah! there was nothing that could Be don.
with that brute She had devil in her."
"Where's your brother?" asked, expectdn.
to hear he was dead. But he was commsuosns
a smart steamer on the China coast, and nsv,,
came home now.
"She was a ravening BEAST" the man /,
tweeds started again. "old Colchester nut bis
foot down and resigned. And would you h.
lieve it? Apse & Sons jumped at the first nan
they could get to take her, for fear Of tn
scandal Of the Apse Family not being able to
find skipper. He was festive soul, BE-
lieve, but he stuck to her grim and hard. vii.
mot was his second mate. harum-scarum
fellow, and pretending to great scorn for m
girls. The fact is he was really timid. But
let only one of them do as much as lift her
little finger in encouragement, and there was
nothing that could hold the beggar.
SIT was said that one of the firm had been
heard once to express hope that this brute
of ship would get lost soon. I can hardly
credit the tale, unless it might have been M
Alfred Apse, whom the family didn't think
much Of You would have thought that
ship so full Of deadly tricks would run her
self ashore some day ont Of sheer cusssdness
But not she! She had nose to keep Of th,
bottom.
IA ship after pilots own heart, eh!n
jeered the man In tweeds. "Well. Wilmos
managed it. He was the man for 1t, but even
he, perhaps, couldn't have done the trick
without that green-eyed governess, or nurse
or whatever she was to the children Of Mr.
and Mrs. Pamphilius.
"Those people were passengers in her from
Port Adelaide to the Cape. Well, the shin
went out and anchored outside for the dsy
The skipper-hospitable soul-had lot Il
guests from town to farewell lunch. It was
5 in the evening before the last shore boat left
the side, and the weather looked ugly and
dark in the gulf. There was no reason fcr
him to get under way. However, as he had
told everybody he was going that day, be
imagined it was proper to do so anyhow. Be
gave orders to keep the ship under lower top
sails and foresail as close as she would HA
lodging along the land till the morning Thsn
he sought his virtuous couch. The mate was
on deck, having his face washed very clean
with hard rain squalls. Wiimot relieved him
at midnight
''The rain. drove in gusts on the sleepy VII
mot. The ship was then surging slowly to tAs
southwark, close hauled, with the coast within
three miles or SO to windward. There was
nothing to look out for in that part Of che
gulf, and Wilmot went round to dodge Che
squalls under the lee of the chart ROOM Whose
door on that side was open. And then he heard
a woman's voice whispering to him.
That confounded green-eyed girl Of The
Pamphilius PEOPLE had put the kids to bed
long time ago, of course. She heard eight bell.
struck, and the chief mate come below to turn
in. She waited bit, then got into her dressing
gown and stole across the empty saloon and up
to the stairs into the chartroom. She sat down
on the settee near the open door to cool her.
self, dare say.
Il suppose when she whispered to Wilmot Il
was as if somebody had struck match in the
fellows brain. I don't know how it was they
had got so very thick. l fancy he had met her
ashore few times before / couldn't make it
out, because, when telling the story, Wilmot
would break off to swear something awful at
every second word. We had met on the quay
In Sydney, and he had an apron Of sacking
up to his chin, big whip in his hand. A
wagon driver. Glad to do anything not to
starve. That's what he had come down to.
However, there he was, with his head in
side the door, on the girls shoulder as likely as
not-officer of the watch! The helnsman, on
giving his evidence afterward, said that hs
shouted several times that the pinnacle lamp
had gone out. 1t didn't matter to him, because
his orders were to sail her close
The truth was that at every squall the wind
hauled aft little, till gradually the ship came
to be heading straight for the coast without
single soul in her being aware of it.
. I think near breakers ahead sirv howied
the man on the lookout, and came rushing aft
with the rest Of the watch in the 'awfullest
binding deluge that ever fell from the sky
Wilmot pulled himself together in second, and
the right orders sprang to his lips without
thinking. They were to hard up with the
helm and shiver the main and mizzen topsails
'NNo use! She was too slow in going Of.
She seemed to stick fast. Then the hutter Of
the canvas above his head ceased. At this
critical moment the wind hauled aft again
with a gust, filling the sails and sending the
snip with a great way upon the rocks on her
lee bow. Her time had come-the hour, ths