Evening Star Newspaper, August 20, 1898, Page 16

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1898-24 PAGES. Sie ee WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING STAR BY CUTLIFFE HYNE. (Copyright, 1898, by Cutliffe Hyne.) ———— —— ‘able trouble and risk lifeboat up alongside, but ted that she was very un- at had blown them out into the - had mode certainly, though there was still a considerable breeze blowing. but the se unning as high as ever. all Captain Kettle’s skill was fequlred to prevent the boat from being In- dd and the two ntly, but the boat | ly swampe © bailed inc oggcd. In fact, | nstitutional ¢ ts, she had made wet weather of it all through the | Diow. It was r to have borne a@ n and given the t a lee in which Bhe could have keen more readily handled, and th times the r sel made an att to do this, but without avail. Three times she worked round in a wallow- ing circle, got to windward and distributed @ smell of farmyard over the rugged fur- Yows of ocean, and then lost her piace agai she could drift down and giv the aft shelter. Three times did the cr>w of the Hfeboat, with maritime point and fluency, curse the incompetence Of the rust-streaked steamer and ail her tle, savagely, after re they all farmers had put b, The Look ‘re nursing her in the engi at the way they for 7 ed. “Why didn't th joard of her before s! of port? By water and victual I'd beat back a James ling with every angry waste of in mongst be staying r bridge to run officer holding nand of that | ing to miss us this | w it.* were going to soss | * said MeTodd, and ; and boots. t skillfuP ing off his coat = = this time had more { to windward | trough, the f sight one stumpy, hed smokestack | g heaved up} eture of cupper ee McTodd. fifteen di per surged s up 2 | her jag from eggs ywa by the hai up the ruste from under- at their heels. ho had been as- orted them “get some our firemen t ‘ou a bunk. T'll tell the steward t % you along a tot of rum directly.” He clapped a friendly hand o} Y's shoulder. “Bo's'n,” 4 yentieman to the » one of 1 give him a ne han id hav eaptal nd I'll fix hings outside and we have any u're very po- up on to the the skipper ed had his way, I y bh seen your boat at He said it was suicide to try and pick you up with such a se it the second mate and I pu talk, and so he just had to do It. Here's the | companion. Step inside, and I'l! shut the | door.” “Pretty sort of captain to let his mates toss him. “Quite agree with you, @gree with you all the way. , But ths what's done on this ship, and there's no getting over it. It's not to my liking, either: I'm an old Conway boy and vy rought up to respect discipline. However, dare say you'll see for yourself how things fun before we dump you back on dry mud again. Now here we are at my room, and there's a change of clothes in that drawer beneath the bed, and underwear below the Settee here. You and I are much of a build, and the kit's quite at your service till your own is dry again. The mate was beck again in ten minutes, captain; qu $e, WONT OOOO WON OWEN WOWO THE WRECK OF THE CATTLE BOAT. AC IW OWOWOW ONS OE DCC | man; | tention, and the ste | should have | He VONOMLON, biness more years than I care to think about; but you've a way of carrying them that makes them look weil-fitting and quite new. Well, I tell you, I'm pleased to see a spruce man on this ship. Come into the cabin now and peck a bit. I ordered you a meal and saw the steward as I came past the door trying to hold it down in the fid- dies. The old girl can roll a bit, can’t she?” “I should say your farm yard’s getting well churned up.” “You should just go into those cattle decks and see. it's just hades for the poor brutes. We're out of the River Platte, you know, and we've carried bad weather with us ever since we got our anchors. The beasts were badly stowed, and there were too many of them put aboard. Fhe old man grumbled, but the shippers didn’t take any notice of him. They'd signed for the Whole ship, and they just crammed as Sheep and cows into her as she'd hold. “You'll have the cruelty to animals peo- ple on board of yéu before you're docked, and then your skipper had better look ou “He knows that, captain, quite as well | as you do, and there isn't a man more sor- ry for himself in all the western ocean. Hell be fined heavily and have his name dirtied, so sure as ever he sets a foot ashore. Legally, 1 suppose, he's responsi- ble; but really he’s no more to blame than you. He is part of the ship, as the table- Spoons are, and the mates and the whole bag o’ tricks was let by wire from Liver- Pool to a South American dago. If he'd talked he'd have got the straight kickout from the owners and no further argument. You see, they a © bits of owners.” “they re the worst sort.” loesn’t matter who they are. per's got to do as he's told” * SHIP- Pei. said Kettle with a sigh, “I know “Well,” said the mate, “you may t your best little star that you're oie as a passenger. The grub’s beastly, the D stinks, the cook's a fool and every- S as uncomfortable as can be. But ahead of you, to try and cheer. up the other thi there's one fine amusement and that’ fide passenger, if you can one being mug enough to book foul, cattle-loaded tramp like a room on this. Ss. But I guess it was because she was hard up. She @ gov or some- thing of that sort, in Buenos Ayres, lost be he 2 Wanted to get back again ‘ap. I guess we could afford to cut rate: and make a profit there.” i “Poor lac “I've nc 3 seen much ef her myself. The econd mate and [ are most of the crew of this ship, as the old man objects to our riving the regular deck hands, and when ere Rot at work we're asleep. I can't stop and introduc You must race name’s ¢ e.”" ibe Miss Carnegie” Kettle repeated. “That sounds familiar. Does she write postry?” The mate yawned. “Don't know. Never rnegie. ked her. But perhaps sh looks ill enough.” PY SRO does. She The mate went off to his room then, turned in all standing, asleep. Kettle, with memories of the past refreshed, took paper and a Scratchy pen and fell to concocting. verse. He wondered, and at the same time he halt Greaded whether this was the same Miss Carnegie whom he had known before. In days past she had given him a commis. sion to ltherate her lover from the French penal settlement of Cayenne. With infiniie danger and difficulty he had wrenched the man free from his warders, and then, find. ing him a worthless fellow, had by’ force married him to an old Jamaican negress and sent the girl their marriage lines aa a token of her release. He had had no word or sign from her since, and was in some dread now lest she might bitterly resent io Tty he ha cs i a the Hberty he had taken in meddling so far However, like it or not, avoiding the meeting now, and so he went on (somewha feverishly) with his writing. The squalid meal entitled tea came on and he had to move his pap A grimy Steward spread a dirty cloth, wetted it lib- erally with water, and shipped fiddles to try and induce the table ware to keep in and was promptly there was no place despite the rolling. The steward men- tioned that none of the officers would be down, that the two passengers would meal together, and, in fact, did his best to be affable; but Kettle listened with cold inat- d began er the side whence he had Cees a The laying of the table was ended at last. The steward put on his jacket, clanged a beil in the alleyway, and then came back nd stood swaying in the middle of the cabin, armed with a large tin teapot, all reany fo commence business. 80 heavy as the roll that at times he had $ hand on the floor for supp: pect) Capt. Kettle watched the deor with a seard face. He was beginning to realize that an emotion was stirred within him that had no place in his system. told himself sternly that he was a married man with a family; that he had a Geep affection for both his wife and chil- dren; that, in cold fact, he had seen Miss Carnegie in the flesh but once before. But there was no getting over the memory that she made poctry, a craft that he adored, and he could not forget that she had al- ready lived in his mind for more months than he dared count. His conscience took him by the ear, and sighed out the word, love. On the instant all his pride of manhood was up in arms, and he rejected the imputation with scorn: and then after some thought formulated his liking for the girl in the term interest. But he knew full well that his sentiment was something deeper than that. His chest | heaved when he thought of her. Then in the distance he heard her ap- proaching. He wiped the moisture from the mate's pocket handker- chief. Above the din of the seas and the noises from the crowded cattle pens out- side he could make out the faint rustle’of draperies and the uncertain footsteps of some one painfully making a way along hand over-hand against the bulkheads. A bunch of fingers appeared round the jamb of a door, siender white fingers, one of them decked with a queer old ring which he had seen just once before, and had pic- tured a thousand times since. And then the girl herself stepped out into the cabin, swaying fo ti_a roll of the ship. She nodded to him with instant recogni- tion. “It was you they picked up out of the boat? Oh, I am se glad you are safe." Kettle strode out toward her on his steady sea legs, and stood before her, still not daring to take her hand. “You ‘have forgiven me?” he murmured. ‘What I did was a liberty, I know, but if I had not pop eg so well I should not have dared to do it.” Gripping, cheerful, hospitable. “Holy Tail ors!" said he, “how you do set off clothes: Those old duds came out of a slop-chest She cast down her eyes and flushed. “You re the kindest man I ever met,” she said. ‘The very kindest.” She took his hand in qace, and I've been ashamed of their shab- both bers, and gripped it With nervous foree. “I shall never forget what you did for me, captain.” The grimy steward behind them coughed and rattled the teapot lid, and so they sat themselves at the table and the business of tea began. All of the ship's officers were either looking after the work entailed by the heavy weather on deck, or sleeping the sleep of utter exhaustion in their bunks, and so none joined them at the meal. But the steward incessantly hovered at their elbows, and it was only during his fitful absences that thelr talk was anything like unrestrained. “You said you liked poetry,” the girl whispered shyly when the first of these op- portunities came. “I wrote the most heart- felt verses that ever came from me over that noble thing yeu tried to do for a poor stranger like me.” Capt. Kettle blushed like a maid. “For one of the magazines?” he asked. She shook her head sadly. “It was not published when I left England, and it had been sent back to me from four magazine offices. That was nothing new. They never would take any of my stuff.” Kettle’s fingers twitched suggestively. “I'd like to talk a minute or so with some of those editors. I'd make them sit up.” “That wouldn’t make them print my poems.” “Wouldn’t it, miss? Well, perhaps you know best there. But I'd guarantee it'd hinder them from printing anything else for a while, the inky-fingered brutes. The twaddling stories those editors set up in type about low-down pirates and detective bugs are enough to make one sick.” It appeared that Miss Carnegie’s father had died since she and Kettle had last met, and the girl had found herself left almost destitute. She had been lured out to Buenos Ayres by an advertisement; and, sick at heart, had bought, with the last of her scanty store of money, a cheap passage home in this cattle boat. She would land in England entirely destitute; and, al- though she did not say this, spoke cheer- fully of the future, in fact, Kettle was torn with pity for her state. But what, he ask- ed himself with fierce scorn, could he do? He was penniless himself; he had a wife and family depending on him; and who was he to take this young unmarried girl under his charge? They talked long on that and other days, WY elen fore her. It was all part of this strange new feeling whicgs hadagome over him. He gripped hi: impulses tight, and went and sat pr. She welcomed him cordially. ie no secret of her pleasure at his But her talk just now jarred upot Like other people who s2e the ee its traific merely from the amat Ss , she. was able to detect romance “her=present dis- comforts, ends! pouring into his ear her scheme for it. the foundation of har most ambit! In Kettle’s mi a groundwork nation. He vit sent id an epic on such ing short of profa- thd/fea, seamen and sea duties with an fpti eye; to him they were common anf uni in to the furthest degree; no trick bf language could elevate their meannesses; He pointed out how she would prostitute,her talent by laying hold of such an unsa¥ory subject, and extolled the beauty of hts own ideal. “Tackle a cornfield, miss,”~he would say again and again, “with its butter-yellow color, and its bobs of red _poppies,.and the green hedg2s all round. You write poetry such as I know you can about a cornfield; and farmers, and farm buildings with thatched roofs, and you'll wake one of these mornings (Itke all poets hope to do some day) and find your- self famous. And use why, you want to know? Well, mfss, it’s beeause corn- fields and the country, and all that, are what people want to hear about, and dream they’ve got handy to their own back door- step. They’re so peaceful, so restful. You take # from me, no one would even want to read four words about this beastly cruel sea, and the brutes of men who make their living by driving ships across it. No, by Ja—. No, miss, you take it from a man who knows—they’d just despise it.” And so they argued endlessiy at the point, each k2eping an unchanged opinion. Perhaps of all the human freight that the cattle boat carried, Mr. McTodd was the only one person entirely happy. He had no watch to kesp, no work to do; the mess room was warm, stuffy and entirely to his taste; liquor was plenty, and the official en- gineers of the ship were Scotch and argu- mentative. He never came on deck for a whiff of fresh air, never knew a moment’s tedium; he lived in a pleasant atmosphere to. of bread dialect, strong tobacco and toast- THE THREE CLUNG TOGETHER. 1 always avoiding vital questions; and mean- while the reeking cattle boat wallowed north, carrying with her (as it seemed) a little charmed circle of evil weather as her constant accompaniment. Between times, when he was not in at- tendance on Miss Carnegie, Kettle wa! d the life of the steamer with professional in- t and all a strong man’s contempt for k commander. The ‘tween decks was aceldama. In the heavy weather the an cattle pens smashed, the poor beaSts broke and were The cat- one another, rible melees. their legs, gored surged about in h tle men were half incapable, whoily muti- nous. They dealt out compressed hay and water when the gangways were cleansed, and held to,it that this was the beginning and end of their duty. To pass down the winch chain and haul out the dead and wounded was a piece of employment that they flatly refused to tamper with. They said the deckhands could do it. The deck hands, scenting a weak com- mander, said they had been hired as sailor- men, and also declined to meddle, and as a consequence this necessary sepulchre busi- ness was done by the mates. In Kettle’s first and only interview with the cattle boat's captain he saw this opera- tion going on through a hatchway before his very face. The mate and the second mate clambered down by the battens and | went along the filthy gangway below, drag- ging the winch chain after them. The place was cluttered with carcasses and jammed with broken pens, all surging to- gether to the roll of the ship. The lowings and the groans of the cattle were awful. But at last a bight of rope was made fast round a dead beast's horns, and the word was given to haul. The winch chattered and the chain drew. The two men below, jumping to this side and@ that for their lives, levered the carcass free of obstacles, and at last it came up the hatch, a bat- tered, shapeless rag, almost unrecognizable. A mob of men, sulky, sullen and afraid, stood round the hatch, and one of these, when the poor remains came up, and swung to the roll of the ship over the side, cut the bow line with his knife and let the carcass plop into the racing seas. The chain clash- ed back again down between the fron comb- ings of the hatch and the two mates below went on with their work. one offered to help them. No one, as Kettle grimly noted, was made to do so. “Do your three mates run this ship, cap- tain?” asked Kettle at la: “They are handy fellow: “If you ask me, I should call them poor drivers. What for do they put in all the work themselves when there are that mob of deck hands and cattle hands standing round doing the gentlemen as though they were in the gallery of a theater?” “There was some misunderstanding when the crew was shipped. They say they never signed on to handle dead cattle.” “Ive seen those kind of misunderstand- ings before, captain, and I've started in to smooth them away. “Well?” said the captain of the cattle boat. “Oh, with me,” said Kettle, truculently, “they straightened out so soon as ever I began to hit. If your mates knew their bus- iness they'd soon have that crew in hand again. “I don’t allow my mates to knock the men about. To give them their due they want- ed to; they were brought up in a school which would probably suit you, captain, all three of them; but I don't permit that sort of thing. Iam a Christian man and I will not order my fellow men t be struck. If the fellows refuse their duty, it lies be- tween them and their consciences.” “As if an old sailor had a conscience,” murmured Kettle to himself. ‘Well, cap- tain, I'm no small piece of a Christian my- self, but 1 was taught that whatever my and findeth to do to do it with all my might, and I guess bashing a lazy crew comes under that head.” “{ don’t want cither your advice or your theology. “If L wasn’t a passenger here,” said Ket- tle, “I'd like to teil you what I thought of your seamanship, and your notion of mak- ing a master's ticket respected. But I'll hold my tongue on that. As it is, I think I ought just to say I don’t consider this ship's safe, run the way sh? 1s.”" The captain of the cattle boat flushed darkly. He jerked his head toward the ‘lad- der. “Get down off this bridge,” he said. “What!” “You hear me. Get down off my bridge. If you've learnt anything about your pro- fession you must know this ts private up here, and no place for blooming passen- gens.” : Kettle glared and hesitated. He was not used to receiving orders of this description, and the innovation did not please him. But for once in his life he submitted. Miss Car- negie was sitting under the lee of the deck bouse aft, watching him, and somehow or other he did not clioose to have a scone be- t T ing oil, and thoroughly enjoyed himself; though when,the moment of trial came, and his thews and energies wera wanted for the saving of human. life, he quickly showed that this Capua had in no way sapped his efficiency. The steamer had, as has been said, car- ried foul weather with hervall the way across the Atlantic from the River Platte, $s though it were a:curse inflicted for the cruelty of her stevedores. The crew for- got what it was like to wear dry clothes; the after guard lived in a te of bone- weariness. harder captain would have still contriyed to keep them up to the tark; but the man who was in supreme command was feeble and undecided, and there is no doubt that vigilance was dan- gerously slackened. A fog, too, which came down to cover the sea, stopped out all view of the sun, and compelled them for three days to de- pend on dead reckoning; and (after the event) it was said a strong current set the steamer unduly to the westward. Anyway, be the cause what it may, Ket- tle was pitched violently out of his bunk in the deep of one night, just after two bells, and from the symptoms which loudly advertised themselves, it required no ex- pert knowledge to tell that the. vessel was beating her bottom out on rocks to the accompaniment of a murderously heavy sea. The engines stopped, steam began to blow off noisily from the escapes, and what with that and the cries of men and the clashing of seas and the beating of iron and the beast cries from the cattle decks, the din was almost enough to split the ear. And then the steam siren burst out into one vast bellow of pain, which drown- ed all the other noises as though they had been children’s whispers. Kettle slid.on coat and trousers over his No one séemed to be in command. A dim pajamas, and went and thumped at a door at the other side of the alleyway. “Miss Carnegie?” “Yes.” “Dress quickly.” “T am dressing, captain.” “Get fmished with it, and then wait. I'll come for you when it’s time.” It is all very well to be cool on these occasions, but sometimes the race is to the prompt. Captain Kettle made his way up on deck against a green avalanche of water, which was cascading down the com- panionway. No shore was in sight, the ship had backed off after she had struck, and was now rolling heavily in a deep trough. She was low in the water, and every second wave swept her. Ught showed Kettle one lifeboat wrecked in davits, and a disorderly mob of men try- ing to lower the other. But some one let go the stern fall so that the boat shot down perpendicularly, and the next wave smashed the lower half of it into splinters. ‘The frenzied crowd left it to try the port quarter boat, and Kettle raced them across the streaming decks and got just to the davits. He plucked a, greenheart belaying pin from the ral} and.laid about victously. : “Back, you scuvy,”" hg'shouted, “get back or Tit smanh Injeveye Good Lord, isn’t ; left on this stinkii off all this two-l They fought on, the ing waist deep. amon; em with every roll, the siren bellowing help overhead, and the ship sinking under their feet; and gradually, with the frenzy of despair, the men drove Hetie bagk against the’ rail while others of them Cast off the falls of the quarter boat's tacltles preparatory to jetting -her drop? But then out of the darkness up camp MeTedd and the steam- bot him face among you. ‘ber: iy mate or a man farifyara, Am I to keep ed GAttle by myself?” lack water swirl- rewd hitters, and men to their skill, and once more the tables were tyrned. Tha other quarter had been lowered er’s mate, net afraid and swamped; thjs bogt was the only one remaining. al 5)! “Now, Mac,” sala Kettle, “help the mate take charge, and. murder every one that in- terferes. Get the boat in the water and fend. off. I'll be off below and fetch up Miss Carnegie. ,.We- must put some hurry in it. The old box hasn't much longer to swim. Take the lady ashore and see she comes to no harm. “O, ay,” said McTodd, ‘“‘and we'll keep a seat for yersel’, skipper.” “You needn’t bother,” said Kettls. “I take no man’s place, in this sort of tea party.” He splashed off across the stream- ing decks, and found the cattle boat's cap- tain sheltering under the lee of the com- panton wringing his hands. “Out, you blitherer,” he shouted, “and save’ your nangy life. Your ship’s gone now; you ‘can’t play hash with her any more.” After aos mane nt speech he workee his ih below,. | ; swimming, “wading, an once more beat against Migs ” door, Even in this moment he did not dream of in * Bhe came out in’ alleyway, fully dressed. hope?” she ed. ““We'll get you ashcre, don’t you fear. He clapped an arm around her waist and drew her strongly on through th> dark and the swirling water toward the foot of the companion. “Excuse me, miss,” he said. “This is not familiarity. But I have got the firmer sea legs, and we must hurry.” They pressed up the stair, battling with great gr2en cascades of water, and gained the dreadful turmoil on deck. A few weak stars gleamed out above the wind, and showed the black wave tops dimly. Already some of the cattle had been swept ov2t- board, and were swimming about like the horned beasts of a nightmare. The din of surf came tc them among the other noises, but no shore was visibl>. The steamer had backed off the reef on which she had struck, and was foundering in deep water. It was indeed a time for hurry. It was piain she had very few more minutes to swim. Each sea now made a clzan breach over her, and a passage about the decks was a thing of infinite danger. But Kettle was resourceful and strong, and he had a grip round Miss Carnegie and a hold on some- thing solid when the waters drench>d on him, and he contrived never to be wrested entirely from his hold. But when he had worked his way aft, a disappointment was there ready for him. Th2 quarter boat was gone. McTodd stood against one of the davits, cool and philo- scphical as ever. “You infernal Scotchman, you'ye let them take away the boat from you,” Kettle snarled. “I should have thought you could have kept your end up with a mangy crowd like that.” “Use your ey2s,”” said the engineer. “The boat's in the wash below there, at the end of the tackles, with her side stove in. She drowned the three men that wer? lowered in her because they'd no’ sense enough to fend off.” “That comes of setting a lot of farmers to work a steamboat.” “Aweel,” said McTodd, “stzamers have been lost before, and I have it in mind, ceptain, that you've helped. “By James, if you don’t carry a civil tongue, you drunken Geordie, I'l knock you some teeth down to cover it.” “Oh, I owed you that,” said McTodd; “but now w2're quits. I bided here, Capt. Kettle, because I thought you’d maybe like to swim the leddy off to the shore, and at that I can bear a useful hand.” “Mac,” said Kettle, “I take back what I said about you're being Scotch. You're @ good soul—”’ He turned to th» girl, still shouting to make his voice carry above the clash of the se: and the bellow of the siren, and th2 noises of the dying ship— “It's our only chance, miss; swimming. The life buoys from the bridg> are ail gene. I looked. The hands will have taken them. There'll be a lot of timber floating about when she goes down, and we'll be best claar of that. Will you trust to us?” “TL trust you in everything,” she said. Deeper and deeper the steamer sank in her wallow. The lower decks were swamp- 2d by this, and the miserable cattle were either drowned in their stalls or washed out of her. There was no need for the three to jump. They just let go their hold, and the next incoming wave sw:pt them clear of the steamer’s spardeck and spurn- ed them 10) yards from her si They found themselves amongst a herd of floating cattle, some drowned, some swimming frenziedly; and with the inspira- tion of the moment laid hold of a couple of beasts which were tangled together by a halter, and so supported themselves with- out further exertion. It was no use swim- ming for the present. They could not tell which way the shore lay. And it behooved them to reserve all their energies for the morning, so well as the numbing cold and the water would let them. Of a sudden the bellow of the steamer’s siren ceased, and a pang went through them as though they had lost a friend. “Is there any Then came a dull, muffled explosion. And then a huge, ragged shape loomed up through the night like some vast monu- ment, and. sank swiftly straight downward out of sight beneath the black, tumbled sea. “Poor old girl,” said Me'Todd, spitting out the sea water, ‘they'd a fine keg of whisky, down in her mess room.” ‘Poor devil of a skipper,” said Kettle, “it’s to be hoped he’s drowned out of harm’s way, or it'll take lying to keep him any rags of his ticket.” The talk died out of them after that, and the miseries of the sitwation closed in. The water was cold, but the air was piercing, and so they kept their bodies submerged, each holding on to the bovine raft, and each man sparing a few fingers to keep a grip on the girl. One of the beasts they clung to quickly drowned; the other, strange to say, kept its nostrils above wa- ter, swimming strongly, and in the end came alive to the shore, the oniy four- footed occupant of the steamer to be saved. At the end of each minute it seemed to them that they were too bruised and numb- ed to hang on another sixty seconds; and yet the next minute found them still alive and dreading its su jor, The moan- ed around them, mourning the dead fleet of drowned cattle surged helpless! this way and to that, bruising them rude collisions; and the chill bit them to the bone, mercifully numbing their pain and anxiety. Long before the dawn the girl had sunk into a stupor, and was only held from sinking by the nervous fing: of the men; and then the men themselves were merely automata, completing their task with a legacy of will. When from somewhere out of the morn- ing mists a fisher boat sailed up, manned by ragged, kindly Irish, all three were equally lost to consciousness and all three were hauled over the gunwaie in one con- tinuous dripping string. The grip of the men’s fingers had endured too long to be Idosened for a sudden call such as that. They were taken ashore and tended with all the care poor homes could give, and the men, used to hardships, recovered with a dose of warmth and sieep. Miss Carnegie took longer to recover, and, in fact, for a week lay Very near to deata. Kettle stayed on in the village, making al- most hourly inquiries for her. He ought to have gone away to seek fresh employ- ment; he ought to have gone back to his wife and children, and he upbraided himself bitterly for ‘his neglect of these duties. But still he could not tear himself away. For the future—well, he dreaded to think what might happen in the future. But at last the girl was able to sit up and see him, and he visited her, showing all the deference an ambassador might offer to a queen. I may go so far as to say that he went into the cottage quite infatuated; he came out of it disillusioned. She listened to his tale of the wreck with interest and surpris>. She was aJmost siartled to hear that others, including the captain and two of the mates, were saved from the disaster besides themselves, but at the sam3 time unfeignedly pleased. And she was pleased also to hear that Kettie Was subpoenaed to give evidence before the forthcoming inquiry. “I am glad of tha’ she said, “because I know you will sp2ak with a free mind. You have told me so many times how in- competent the captain was, and now you a be able to tell it to the proper authori- es." Kettle looked at her blankly. was different,” he said. th2m what I said to you. “Why not? Look what misery and suf- fering and loss of life the man has caused. He isn’t fit to command a shi “But, miss,” said Kettie, “it’s his living. He's been brought up to seafaring, and he isn’t fit for anything else. You wouldn't have me send out the man to starv3? Be- sides, I'm a shipmaster myself, and you wculdn’t have me try to take away another master’s ticket? The cleverest captain afloat might meet with misfortun2, and he's always got to think of that when he’: put up to give evidence against his fel- lows.” “Well, what are you going to do, then?” “Oh, we've got together a tale, and when th2 old man is put up on his trial the mates and I will stick to it through thick and thin. You can bet that we are not going to swear away his ticket.” “His ticket?” “Yes; his master’s certificate; his means of livelihood.” “I think it’s wrong,” she said, excitedly; “criminally wrong. And, besides, you said you didn't like the man.” “I don’t. I disliks him cordially. But that’s nothing to do with the case. Tye my own honor to think of, miss. How’d I feel if I went about knowing I'd done my best to ruin a brother captain for good and always?” “You are wrong,” she repeated, yoehe- mently. “The man is incompetsnt by your ae saying, and, therefore, he should suf- er.” Kettle’s heart chilled. “Migs Carnegie,” he said, “I am p- pointed in you. I thought from your try that you had feelings; I thought you had charity, but I find that you ars celd,”” “and you,” she retorted, ‘‘you that I had set up for’ myself as an ideal of most of the manly virtues, do ten think I feel no intment when ear that are det tely proposing to be a are?" “I am no liar,” he said, sullenly. “I have most faults, but not that. This is differ- “But that “I can’t say to ent; zone not PT “It is not ‘0 defend one’s fellow-shipmaster ey inquiry board,” sa ‘The girl turtied to the pillow in ker chair "| Years old. and hid her face. “Oh, go,” she said, “go! I wish I had never met you. f thought you were so good and so brave and so honest, and when it comes to the pinch you are just like the rest. Gol Go! I wish I thought I could ever forget you!” “You say you don’t understand,” said Kettle. “I think you deliberately won't understand, miss. You remember that I said I was disappointed in you, and I stick to that now. You make me remem- ber that I have got a wife and family I am fond of. You make me ashamed I have not gone to them before.” He went to the door and opened it. “But I do not think I shall ever forget,” he said, “how much I cared for you once. “Good- by miss." “Good-by' she sobbed from her pillow. “I wish I could think you are right, bu’ perhaps, it is best as it is.” In the village street outside was Mc- Tedd, clothed in rasping serge and inclined to be sententious. “They've whisity here, he said, with a jerk of the thumb. “Irish whisky that’s got a smoky taste that’s rather alluring when once you've got over the first dislike. I’m out o’ silver mysel’ or I'd stand you a glass, but if ye be in funds I could guide ye to the place.” Kettle was half tempted, but with a wrench he said, “No,” adding that if he once started he might not know when to stop. “Quite right,” said the engineer, ou’re: quite (hicy right, skipper. A man with an inclination to Jevel himself with the beasts that perish should always be abstemious He sat against a wayside fence and pre- pared for sleep. “Like me,” he added sol- emnly, and shut his eyes. “No,"" said Kettle to himself, “I won't forget it that way. I guess I can manage without. She pretty well cured me herself, and a sight of the missis will do the rest. IN THE CHURCHES An appeal has been made by Mr. Dwight L. Moody, the well-known evangelist, for funds to carry on the work of the Christian commission among the soldiers in the vari- ous camps. Ii part Mr. Moody says: “Many things in camp tend to work against a religious life. Take the canteens, for example. I suppose those who have never visited the camp nave no idea about the tremendous pressure there is upon a man to drink beer. I fear that many a man is finding it irrestible. Then there are impurity and all the temptations that come in any sucn large body of men, idle mueh of the time. Gambling, profanity and foul speech abound on every hand. fo meet this need many of the chap- lains are doing excellent work and are a great blessing to the men. Then the army and navy Christian commission has been formed to help them. The purpose of this organization is to reach the men and lead them to Christ—to an open confession of Christ and an out-and-out Christian lif The great means that God has ordained tor dving this is the preaching of the gos- pel. We are therefore sending men to the different camps to preach. We have sent the best men we could find in the country— men of ability and experience in such work —such as General 0. O. Howard, Major Whittle, Mr. Sankey, Dr. Dixon, Dr. Wharton and Dr. Torrey. They have been preaching with wonderful resuit Whittle says he never as that now going on in Camp Thomas. Upward at this one camp have mac ie profe: sion of their faith in Christ. Nearly as many have profesed eonversion at Tampa. These men are coming out boldly and tak- ing a decided stand before their comrades. Hundreds take part in the meetings for testimony, and their changed lives and the changed moral atmosphere of many of the camps prove that the work is a true and deep one. commission. workers do not confine themselves to preaching. There are three other departments to the work, ail, how- ever, supplementary to the great work of preaching the gospel and with the same end in view. One of these methods of work is the erection of a tent in each brigade to serve as a reading room. The tents are equipped with the current newspapers, magazines, ete., and aiso furnish the men with writing, paper, envelopes, pen and ink and a comfortable piace to write their letters home. Then each tent has an ice water barrel—one of the mest effective ways founi for keeping men away from the beer canteens.” The directors of the Central Union Mis- sion in Washington have authorized the organization of a school to be known as the Bible Training School. Until the con- ditions warrant a change the school will be an organic part of the Central Union Mission, under the management of the board of directors, but its finances will be kept separate, until regulations are adopt- ed by the board, and the conduct of the school will be intrusted to a selected body of men, to be known as the trustees of the school, who will be designated by the mission board, to hold officé at the will of the board. ‘The school will offer four courses of study, as follows: (a) A course in the study of the English Bible. (b) A course in the church ‘history. (¢) A course in English composition and vocal eulture. (4) A course in practical methods of work, in- cluding practical experience. To these ends will be added training in special lines, as occasion may arise. The courses will cover two years of training, and those who com- plete them satisfactorily will be awarded certificates of graduation. The ministers and members of the Afri- can M. E. Church in Washington and vi- cinity have received notice that the com- mittee appointed to select a place of meet- ing for the general conference of 1900 have determined upun Columbus, Ohio, as the most suitable location. This general conference promises to be of great importance, as it will have many great questions to settle. Among these will be the management of the mission work in Africa, Porto Rice, Philippines and Cuba, together with the election of two home bishops and perhaps two African bishops, one for South Africa and one for West Africa. Then the financial part of the church needs remedeling, it is said, and to be put in better working order. miss The committee of arrangements is com- posed of Bishop B. F. Lee, D.D., LL-D., chairman, Wilberforce, Ohio; Rey. J. H. Jones, D.D., Columbus, Ohio; Rey. I. N. Ress, Columbus, Ohio; Rev. W. 8. Lowery, Pittsburg, Pa.; Rev. Charles Bundy, Cleve- land, Ohio; Rev. James M. Townsen@, Cin- cinnati, Ohio; Rey. W. J. Johnson, D.D., Springheld, Ohio; Rev. J. G. Gazaway, D.D., Pittsburg, Pa.; Mr. R. F. Williams, Coluinbus, Ohio; Mr. Sandy Carlton, Co- Ivmbus, Ohio; Bishop W. D. Derrick. D.D., ‘bairman; Bishop B. W. Arnett, D.D., sec- etary; Rev. M. M. Moore, D.D., treasurer, general conference commission. A prominent church worker of this city, who recently visited New York, said to a Star reporter: “Some Spaniards in Cuba are apparently determir<d to be amused, though otters starve. The American Church Missionary Society learns that its chapel and mission house in Matanzas, which it feared at one time might be destroyed by the bombard- ment, has been turned into a vaudeville theater, at which the attendance, until very recently, at leasi, was large. The chapel and mission house are located on St.-John-of-God street, and those who wor- aw such a r a mong the soldiers of 2,000, men ‘shiped in it before the war called them- selves the ‘Faithful-to-Jesus’ congregation. “The property was purchased e'even years ago, at a cost of $2,300 in gold, and the society expended 2,000 upon it. It was the first Episeopal church to be built in Cuba. There are four rooms in the upper story and eight in the lower, with a kitchen and store room. Originally at the back there were three large rooms. These were thrown into one, and a day school Was maintained in it. The school had about 150 pupils, and the congregation numbered 200. Until 1882 the Bibie was not circulated in Cuba. In that year the American Bible Society sent its first agents there. One of them was the Rev. Mr. Duarte, in charge of the chapel and school at Matanzas, until driven out by the war. The society is preparing to reopen its work and drive out the theater imme- diately Matanzas comes into American hands. « “It is said that the oldest Catholic sister in America belcrgs to the archdiocese of Baltimore. This is Sister Ellen Joseph of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, who is said to have lived more than a certury, She is now sick in Baltimore, but her con- dition is not considered serious. Her phy- siclan plement. Sree very strict or- Gers f ding all tors, and to prevent the occurrence in her presence of that would tend cs colored girls. Nobody has been more ac ive in the training of the children th Sister Elfen. She has been equa in deeds of charity outside of the For the last two years she has not left th building, and for some time before that she had not been able to take an a ° share in the duties of the communtty Most of her time is now spent in a wheeled chair in the room. Up to the present time the intellectual faculties of Sister Ellen have been won ler- fully preserved, and she has almost always @ most interesting fund of recollections relate to the members of the order and vi itors. She very much enjoys speaking of her early life and her experiences the war of 1512-14, when t Washington was burned by the Britis She was born in slavery in Marlboro’, Prince George's county, Md., 171, and, with her parents, was taken to Washi ton by the family of her master in 1814, 3 short time before the British arrived Alarmed by the approach of the British troops, they all fled by night, and from their place of refuge witnessed the burn- ing of the Capitol, the President's hove and the treasury. Sister Ellen remem: quite well some of the prominent peor Whom she saw ‘n Washington during girizood days, and especially Presiten Madison and Monroe. She was baptized in the Catholic faith in 1827 by Father Scriever, at old St. Matthew's Church, Washington, and about this time was given her freedom, and came to Baltimore with her parents. In 18383 she entered the Order of the Ob- late Sisters of Providence, being received into it by the founder, Rey. J. J. Toubert, and is the last survivor of the ba ceived by him at that time. He 4 1543, When the order was esiablished Baltimore its home was on avenue near St. Mary's street Jater it was moved to Geoi then to the corner of Richmc in Pennsylvania ago Sister Ellen her goiden jubilee, the ot her entrance the sis 5 after the sole sung. The occasion ¥ interest. Cardinal Gib! celebrated anniversary renew- ber of the reverend clergy and pumerous prominent laymen were present, Donations for Siblcy Memorial Hospital, Washington, D. C., are coming from friends both within and without the church. It is confidently expected that a’suificient fund will be contributed to car: on the work. Nearly all the last year's graduates from the National Training Schcol have been Bned to fields of labor. There 4s increased demand for deaconess konaergartens in the Mission Work. A party at twenty-five children were recently taken trom the Baltimore Kindergarten to Ocean Grove for a twelve dvys’ visit. Rev. Dr. F. J. Grimk> of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, this city, he accepted an invitation to deliver a course of lectures be: the Phelps Hall Bible Training Schvol. This schooi is conducted in connection with the Tusk>gee, Ala., Col- lege, and offers unusual tes to young wishing to me > steadily growin and for an educated coiored ministry. The teaching here is wholly un- denominational, the aim bein de ations and to antago: i Dr. Grimke, Bishops Clinton, B. T. Tanner and Rey. Dr. € Beoth have consented xg the year. ing School is fre. many tri y will be glad to h ne of a chapel, pnial from American and English ad- mirers of the great evangelist, was laid at on to v. the § ere of Mr. D. ar that the ¢ L. r which is to be a tes- Northfield, Mass., a few days ago. Work upon th? chapel was commenced lest September, and is now nearing com- pletion, Mr. Moody says he never before heard of the laying of a corner one 7 the building was up, but the innovation vas his own, as, wishing to wait until his English friends could arrive for the August conf2rence before formally laying the cor- ner stone, he had it placed in the struc- ture loosely, so that it could be taken out and at the proper time replaced with due ceremony, and’then permanentiy fastened. The money given to the chapel was pre- sented to Mr. Moody on his sixtieth birth- day. The contributions of the friends in ngland Were raised by the Rev. F. B. Meyer of London, who is intimately ac- quainted with Mr. Moody, and in this coun- try the funds were in charge of H. M. Mcore of Boston, president of the North- field Seminary trustees. The buiiding is on th? most commanding spot on the campus of the Moody School, emptafion Hill.” The eminence was facetlously named by those who had ob- served that whenever Mr. Moody wished to preduce upon a liberal visitor a most faver- abie impression he would lead the stranger ground, from which the view of unusuul beauty. The chapel faces the ea t. It is 110 feet Icng and 44 feet wide. ‘here are five Gothic windows and a v ibulz on each side. There are galleries on ali sides, so that, with the floor capacity, Une building will hold 1,500 persons. When Hnished, $40,000, The centennial celebration of Church, which is located se scuth of Anacostia, took place during the first three days of this week. Bunday Bish- op Curtis, chancellor of the archbishop of Baltimore, pontificated, and a large num- ber of clergy from Baltimore and Washing- ton occupied places within the sanctuary rail. Monday last Rev. Edwin Devitt of Georgetown University officiated. Tues- day Kev. John Abeil Morgan, rector of Ley ola College, Baltimore, celebrated mas: for the benefit of the decsased members of the parish. The music was by combined Baltimore choirs. Whea St. Thomas’ Manor was first visit- ed by missionaries the surrounding coun- try was the hunting ground of the In- dians. The corner stone of the preseut chureh of St. Ignatius, according to the inscription, waselaid August 7, 1708, by Bishop Carroll. Though a century old, it Was not the first place of worship at the Manor, being preceded by the small build- ing now used as a sacristy, while the origi- nal place of worship was on the Chapel Point, « short distance aw: Many years ago the old church and residence were de- Ftroyed by fire, at which time the parish records were burnt. Although many in- teresting facts hav2 been since gathered, a ccmplete record has never been compiled. This is being done at present by Rev. Ed- win Devitt. The Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor of the Gunton Temple Prosby- terian Church held a very pleasant mid- summer social at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Snow Tuesday evening. Rey. S. S. Estey of Indep2ndence, Kan, who has been filling the pulpit of the Gun- ton Temple Presbyterian Church during this month, will leave for the west next week. Rev. A. S. Fiske, D.D., pastor of Gunton T2mple Church, writes that he is enjoying his trip in Europe. He will be home in three weeks. — + A Dude Hero. From the Argonaut. When the attack was made on Sidon, dur- ing the war with Syria, it became neces- sary for the British troops to advance across a long, unprotected bridge in the face of a battery of six guns, which com- pletely commanded the approach. The men were unwilling to expose themselves to cer- tain death, when Arthur Cummings, care- fully dressed in full uniform, stepped for- ward to the middle of the bridge. It was immediately swept by the fire of the bat- tery. When the smoke rolled away tuere stood Cummings intact, carefully brushing the dust from his boots, after whieh he stood erect, fixed a single giass in his eye and looked back at the men. This was too much, and they captured that bridge and batt ery with a whoop. ns (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishicg Company.) he building will cost, t. Ignatius miles