Evening star., 1921-05-01
word. 1 saw in the patch OF light lot
Of loose fair hair down there"
He shuddered again.

word. 1 saw in the patch OF light a lot
Of loose fair hair down there"
He shuddered again.
X X \
ga FrER the tide turned poor Mag.
"A gie's body had foated clear OF
ono Of them big mooring buoys." he
explained Il crept aft. feeling half
dead. and managed to send rocket
up-to let the other searchers know
on the river. And then I slunk away
forward like a cur. and spent the night
sitting on the heel of the bowsprn
so as to be as far as possible out OF
Charley's way"
Poor fellow I murmured.
Yes. Poor fellow" he repeated.
musingly. That brute wouldn't let
him-not even him-cheat her OF her
prey. But he made her fast In dock
next morning. He did when the last
rope was fast he put his hands to his
head and stood gazing down at his
feet as if trying to remember some
thing The men waited on the main
deck for the words that end the voy-
age. l spoke for him. 'Thatll do
men,
Il never saw a crew leave a shin so
quietly. They looked our way. but
not one had the stomach to come up
and offer to shake hands with the
mate. as is usual.
Il followed him all over the empt V
ship to and fro. here and there will
no living soul about but the two Of
u.s. because the old shipkeeper hal
locked himself up in the ralley-both h
doors. Suddenly poor Charley NUT
ters. in a crazy voice: I'm done here.
me at his heels, up the dock. out at
the gate. on toward Tower HILL
"All at once he stops short. turns
round. and comes back straight at
mo. Ned. says he. I am going home
I had the good luck to sight a four
His legs were beginning to give way.
In our hall he fell down on a chair.
anu I'll never forget fathers and
mothers amazed. perfectly still faces
as they stood over him.
blubbered out Maggie got
drowned. yesterday. in the river
Mother let out a little cry. Father
looks from him to me. and from me
to him. Nobody moved; and the poor
fellow raises his big brown hands
slowly to his throat. and with one
single tug rips everything open-col-
lar. shirt. waistcoat. into rags-a per-
feet wreck and ruin Of a man. Father
and got him upstairs somehow. and
mother pretty nearly killed herself
nursing him through brain fever"
The man in tweeds moulded at me
significantly.
'Ah! there was nothing that could
he done with that brute. She had a
devil in her
where's your brother" l asked.
expecting to hear he was dead. But
he was commanding a smart steamer
on the China coast. and never came
home now.
"She was a ravening beast" the
man in tweeds started again. "Old
Colchester put his foot down and re-
signed. And would you believe it?
Apse & Sons jumped at the first man
they could get to take her for fear
being able to find skipper. He was a
festive soul. I believe, but he stuck to
her frim and hard. Wimot was his
second mate. A harum scarum fellow,
and pretending to A great scorn for all
girls. The fact is he was really timid.
lift her little finger in announcement.
her little finger in announcement.
and there was nothing that could
hold the beggar.
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 Mr.. Alfred
Apse. whom the family didn't think
much of. You would have thought
tnat d snip SO 1uli OF deadly trlckS
would run herself ashore some day
out Of sheer cussedness. But not she b.
She had nose to kaap off the
bottom.
"A ship after a pilots own heart.
eh?" jeered the man in tWeeds. well.
Wilmot managed it. He was the man
for it, 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 we're passengers in
her from Port Adelaide to the cape.
Well. the ship went out and anchored
outside for the day. The skipper
hospitable soul-had a lot of guests