Evening Star Newspaper, May 1, 1921, Page 74

By Josep. A Desperate Tale [ | | | k Conrad “The Greatest Sea Writer of All Time " ILLUSTRATED BY C. D. BATCHELOR. ODGING ‘in from the rain- swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance with Miss | Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was ef- fected with extreme propriety. It isa shock to think that, If still alive, Miss Blank must be something over Sixty now. How time passes! Miss Blank was good cnough to say. encouragingly: “Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlor. with another gentleman I've never seen before.” I moved toward the parlor door. A voice discoursipg on the other side, rose so loudly that the concluding ] words became quite plain in all their “That fellow Wilmot fairly d:ushrd‘ too " her brains out. and a good job. This inhuman sentiment failed to do | as much as to check the slight yawn Miss Blank ‘was achieving behind her | hand | As 1 opened the parior door the| same voice went on in the same cruel | strain “I was glad when I heard she got the knock from somebody at last Sorry enough for poor Wilmot, though That man and I used v be chums At | one time. Of course, that was the | end of him. A clear case if there! ever was one. No way out of None at all." The voice belonged to the gentle- man Miss Blank had never seen be- fore. “1 was glad of it.” he repeated em- phatically. “You may be surprised at it. but then you haven't gone through the experience I've had of her. Of course, I got off scott free myself—as you can see. She did her best to break up my pluck for me. though. She jolly near drove as fine a fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. What do you say to that—eh™ Not an evelid twitched in Mr. Ston- or's enermous face Monumental! The speaker looked straight into my eyes “It used to make me sick to think of her going about the world murder- ing people. “T've seen her once. clared. with mournful “She had a house i * % ox % HE stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him surprised. “She had three houses,’ he corrected authoritatively. But Jermyn was not to be contradicted. “She had a house. 1 say.” he repeat- ed with dismal obstinacy. “A great. big. ugly. white thing. You could see it from miles away—sticking up.” “So vou could.” ented the other readily. “It was old Colchester’'s no- tion, though he was always threaten- ing to give her up. “I overheard once young Mr. Apse himself say to Mrs. Colchester con- fidentially: ‘T assure you, Mrs. Col- chester., I am beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she's getting for herself.’ ‘Oh. says she, with her deep little hoarse gh, ‘if one took notice of all the silly talk.' and she showed Apse all her ugly false teeth at once. ‘It would take more than that to make me lose my confidence in her, I assure you.' says she.” beg your pardon,” I interrupted. cxasperated. for he med to be ad- Aressing himself exclusively to me, ‘but who on ‘earth have you been talk- ing about ™ ‘T am talking ‘of the Apse-Family,” he answered, courteously. I nearly let out a.damn at this. But Just then the respected Miss Blank put her head in, and said that the cab ‘was at the door. if Stonor wanted to catch the 11:03 up. At once the senior pilot arose In h mighty bulk and began to strugg! t’ into his coat. with awe-inspiring up- heavals, and squeezed himself through | 1 1 i Jermyn de- indifference. i . another try about three hours after- ward. She swamped herself fore and aft, burst all the canvas we had set, scared all hands into a panic. and even frightencd Mrs. Colchester down there in those beautiful stern cabins that she was so proud of. When we mustered the crew there was one man miseing. Swept overboard. of course, without heing cither secn or heard, poor devil! . “Always something like that—al- ways. ' N the ports where she was| known.” he went on. “they dread- ed the sight of her. She thought nothing of knockins =bout twenty feet or so of solid stone fycing off a quay or wiping off the end of a wood- en wharf. She must have lost m the door in a great hurry. “Are you a sailor” I asked the, stranger, who had gone back to his' position on the rug. “1 used to be till a coup! #go. when I got married. this cormunicative individual. “T ~ven went to sea first in that very mhip we were speaking of when you of vears | answered | 1l hat ship®" I asked. ‘T never heard mention a ship.” \ just told you her name, my dear he replied. “The Apse Family Surely vou've heard of the great firm | of Apse & Sons_ shipowners. They| had & pretty big fleet. There was the, Lury Apse, and the Harold Apse, and' Anne, John, Malcolm. Clara, Juliet, | and 80 on—no end of Apses. | “This 1. one the Anse Family. the others. only she was to be still atronger. stili safer, still more roomy and comfortable. Everything af the best. The commodore captain of the employ was to command her, And they planned the acrommodation | for him ‘like a house on shore under a bix tall poop that went nearly to the mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchenter Wwouldn't let the old man give her up Why. It was the bast homé she ever had in all her married days. She had a nerve. that woman | “The fuss that wax made while that | *hip building’ Let's have this a ! little stronger. and that a littls heav- ier; and hadn't that other thing bet. ter be changed for somerhing little thicker. There she was growing | into the clumsiest. heaviest ship of her gize right before all their eyes without anybody getting aware o it somehow. She was to be 2,000 tons ' register, or a little over: no less on any account. But when they came to measure her she turned out 1.999 tons and a fraction. General consterna- tion! And they old Mr. Apse was %0 annoyed when they told him, that he ook to his bed and died. The old gentleman had retired from the firm twenty-five years before. and was. ninety-six vears old if a day. so his death wasn't. perhaps, so surprising Bl Mr. Lucian Apse was convinced that his father would have lived to a hundred. 8o we may put him at the head of the list. Next comes the poor devil of a shipwright that brute caught and squashed as she went off the w She snapped all her checks ! like packthreud. and went for the! tuge in attendance like a fury. Before anybody could see what she was up to ‘she sent one of them to the bot- tom, and laid up another for three | months' repairs. One of her cubles parted. and —then. suddenly—you “ouldn’t tell why—she let herseif be brought up with the other as quiet a3 alamb. “That's how she was mevar be You could) ure what xhe would be up | to mext. She was a wicked beast Or, perhaps she was onlv just insane “Eh' Why not? Why couldn't there be something in her bui in the lines corresponding to— t's mad- | ness? Only something just a tiny bit wrong in the make of your brain ‘Why shouldn't there be a mad ship— ] mean mad in a ship-like There are ships that steer wildly. ships that can’t be quite trusted al-| 8 to stay. others want careful watching when running in a gale; and again. there may be a ship that| will make heavy weather of it in every littie blow. But then you ex- pect to be always £0. You take it as part of her character, a8 a ship, just w8 vou take account of a man' culiarities of temper when you de with him. But with her vou couldn Khe was unaccountable [f she wasn't| mad. then she waus the most evil- | minded, underhand. savage brute that ever went afoat T've seen her run in 4 heavy gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach to twice in the same afternoon. The first time she flung the helmsman clean over the wheel, but as she didn't quite manage to kill him she had A | know—utterly. ta of chain and hundreds anchors in her time. When she fell aboard some poor unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job to haul her off again. And she never got hurt herse!f—just a few scratches or 0. perha They had wanted to ave her sirong. And‘so she was. And as she began eo she went on. From the day she was launched she never let a year pass without mur- dering somebody. I think the owners got very worried about it. But they wouldn't admit there could be any- thing wrong with the Apse Family. They wouldn't even change her name. ‘Btuff and nonsense, as Mra, Colches- ter used to say. I sure you. my dear sir, that she invariably did kill some one every voyage she made. 8he got & name for it far and wide.” 1 expres: my surprise that a ship with such & deadly reputation could ever get a crew. “Then you dol are, my dear si “Reckiessnes! The vanity of hoast- ing in the evening to all their chums 2 ‘ve just shipped in that there Apse Family. Blow her. She ain't going to scare us’ Sheer sailor-like per- versity: A sort of curiosity. Weli— a little of all that, no doubt “But I tell you what: (here was a ort of fascination about the brute. I always had a sort of horror of her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more than fourteen, the very first day—nay, hour—I joined her. Father came up to see me off, and t know what sailors i was to go down to Gravesend with us. 1 was his second boy to go to sea. My big brother wan already an officer then. We got on board about 11 in the morning, and found the ship ready to drop out of the basin, stern [ 8he had not moved three times her own length when, at a little pluck the {ug gave her to enter the dock gates, she made one of her paging starts. and put such a eight on the chock rop new six-inch hawser—that forwa there they had no chance to ease it round in time, and it parted. | saw the broken end fly high in ihe air, and the next moment that brute brought her quarter against the pler-head with a jar that staggered everybody about her decks. She didn't hurt herself. Not she' Bup one of the boys the mate had sent aloft on the mizzen to do something came down on the poop-deck—thump—right in front of me. He was not much older than myself. We had been grinning | at each other only a few minutes be- fore. 1 heard his startled cry—Oh!'— in a high treble as he felt himself going, and looked up in time to see him go limp all over as he fell. Ough' e “This migh{ have utterly spoiled a chap's nerve for going aloft, vou He fell within two cracking his head on a Never moved. Stone- feet of me. mooring-bi dead. Nice-looking little fellow he was_ 1 had just been thinking we would be great chums. However. that wasn't yet the worst that brute of a ship could do. T served in her three y of my time, and then I got transferred to the Lucy Apse for a year. The sailmaker we had in the Apse Family turned up there, too. and 1 remembered him saying to me one evening, after we had been a week at sea: ‘lan’'t she a meek dittle ship” No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse a dear, meek, little ship after getting clear of that big, ram- paging. xavage brute Well, | fioxhed my preaticeship in that’ jolly little ship 1 passed: and then, | got at break- fast a letier asking me the earliest day I couid he ready to join the Apse Family as third mate. 1gave my plate a shove that shot it into the middle of the table, and 1 went out bare- headed into our bit of garden, where 1 walked round and round for an hour. “When I came in again mother was last yoar of ap-| | out of the dining room, and dad had | shifted berth into his big agmchair. | The letter was Iying on thd fmantel- piece. ““Tt's very creditable to vou to get the offer. and very Kind of them to make it he said. ‘And I see also that Charles has been appointed chief mate of that ship for one voyage. “There was over leaf & PS. to that effect in Mr. Apse’'s own handwriting. ich I had overlooked. Charley w. ¢ big brother. “The firm, and I believe the whole family, had grown desperately touchy about that accursed ship's character. This was the case for answering ‘Ready now' from your very death- bed if you wished to die in their good | graces. - And_that's precisely what 1 did answer—by wire, to have it over | and done with at once. EE O "THE prospect of being shipmates with my big brother cheered me up considerably, though it made me a bit anxious. too. Liver since I remem bered myself as a little chap he had Leen very good to me, and I looked upoen him as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. No better| officer ever walked the k of a merchant ship. He was a fine; strong. | upstanding. sun-tanned young fellow. with his brown hair curling a little and an eve like a hawk. Though he had been in England three weeks aul- ready. he hadn't showed up at home yet, but had spent his spare time in Burrey somewhere. making up to Maggie Colchester, old Capt. Colehes- t nieee. “He roceived me with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think my THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO | never spoken of on board. Only once |on the homeward passage Charley eaid, incautiously. something about bringing all her crew home this time. Capt. Colchester began to look un- comfortable at once, and that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as though he had said some- thing indecent. Maggie sat completely mystified. opening her blue eyes very wide. Of course, before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me. “““How awful,’ she said. quite solemn. | 'So many poor fellows. 1 am glad the | voyage is nearly pver. I won't have |a moment's peace about Charley now.’ | * ok % % TEXT day we got the tug off | Dungeness; and when the tow | rope was fast Charley rubbed his | hands and said to me in an undertone: “‘We've baffied her, Neddy.' **‘Liooks like it T said, with g grin at him. It was beautiful weather, and the sea as smooth as a mill pond. We went up the river without a shadow of | trouble except once, when off Hole | Haven. the brute took a sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored just clear of the fairway. But 1 was aft. looking after the steering., and she did not catch me napping that time Charley came up on the poop. looking very concerned. ‘("lose shave,’ says he. Never mind. Charley.' T answered cheerily. ‘You've tamed her.’ “We were to tow right up to the dock. The river pilat boarded us be- low Gravesend, and the first words 1 heard him You may just as v were: “SHE WAS HOPPING OVER THE SHIP IN HER YACHTING SKIHT AND A RED TAM-0-SHANTER LIKE A BRIGHT BIRD ON A DEAD BLACK TREE.” of tons of{joining as un officer the greatest joke | well in the world. There was a difference of ten years between us, and I sup- pose he remembered me Pest in pina- fores. 1 wus a kid of four when he firet went to sea. ' 1t surprised me to find how bolsterous he could be “Now we shull see what you are made of. he cried. And-he held me off by the shoulder and punched imy ribs and hustled me into his berth. t down. Ned. I am glad of the ance of having you with me. Il put the finishing touch to vou, mw Young officer. And, first of ail, get it well into your head that we are not going to fet this brute kill anybody on this voyage. We'll stop her racket.’ “I perceived he was in dead earnest about it ' He gave me a regular lecturs on spccial seamznship for the use of the Apse Family; then, changing his tone, he began to talk ut large, rattling off the wildest, funniest nonsense. till my sides ached with laughing. 1 jcould see very well he was a bit above himaelf with high spirita. it couldn't Le because of my coming. But. of courke. 1 wouldn't have dreamt of ask- ing what was the matter. But it was all made plain enough a day or two afterward, when I hcard that Miss voyage, uncle was giving her a sea trip for the benefit of her health. “I don’t know what could have been wrong with her health. She had a beautiful color and a deuce of a lot of fair hair. She didn't care a rap for wind, or rain, or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She wams a blue-cyed, jolly girl of the very best sort. One ‘day in the men's dinner hour Charley sticks hix head into my cabin. 1 was stretched out on m k on the settee, smoking in peac ““Come ashore with me, Ned, he says, in his curt way. “1 jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and up George street. He strode along like a giant and I at his elbow. panting. it was confoundedly hot. ‘Where on carth are you rushing me to, Char- ley” 1 made bold Lo ask. “‘Here.' he s “‘Here' was a jeweler's shop. Hel |thrust under my nose three rings | which looked very tiny on his big, | bro wn palm. growling out: | For Maggie! Which?' couldn't make a sound, but I pointed at the one that snarkled white and blue. He put it in his waist- coat pocket, paid for it with a lot of Sovereign« and bolted out. When we got on board I was quits out of breath. ‘Shake hands, old chap,' I gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. ‘Give what orders you like to the boatswain when the hands turn to, says he; I'm off duty this afternoon.’ a while, but presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie, and these two went over the gangway publicly, be- fore all hands. going for a k to- gether _on that awful, blazing, hot day. They came back after a few hours looking very staid, but didn't seem to have the slightest idea where they had been. Anyway, answer they both made to Mrs. Col- chester's question at tea time. “And didn't she turn on Charley, man's. ‘Rubbish. Don't know you've been! Stuff and nonsense. You've walked the girl off her legs. Don't do it again.' “I think he a_bright bird on a dead black tree. The old salts used to grin to them- selves when they saw her coming along and offered to teach her Knmots or splices. # you may imagine, the diabolic propensities of that cursed ship were Maggie Colchester was coming for the | “Then he vanished from the deck for ! that's the! with her voice like an old night cab- : where | et Maggie have too much of her own way. She was hop- ping ull over that ship in her yacht- ing rkirt and a red tam o'shanter like take your port anchor at once, Mr. Mate.' “This had been done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the fore- castle head enjoying the bustle, and 1 begged her to g0 aft, but she took no notice of me. Then Charley. who was jvery busy with the Leadgear. caught ‘slnhl of ‘her and shouted in .big- gest voic et off the forecastel head. Maggie. You're in the way here.’ For an answer she made a funny face at him. and 1 saw poor Charley turn away, hiding a smile. She was flushed with the excitement of getting home again, and her blue eyes seemed to Bnap eléctric sparks as she looked at the river. A collier brig had gone round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop -her engines in a hurry to avoid running slap bang into her. “Any -other ship than that brute could have bheen coaxed to keep straight for a couple of minutes—but not he! Her head fell off at once. and she began to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed a cluster of coast-r: at anchor within a quarter of wile of us, and spoke to the pilot. ‘If you let her among that lot," I said, quict]y, ‘she will grind some of them to bits bhefore we get her out again.’ ‘Don't I know her! cries he, And he out with his whistle to make that bothered tug get the ship's head up again am-quick 24 possible. He blew like mad, waving his arm to port, and presently we could see that the tug's engines had besn set going ahead. Her paddles churned the water, but it was as if she had been trying to tow a rock—she couldn’t get an inch out of that ship. For a moment tug and ship hung motioniess, and then ‘the ferrific strain hat evil, stony-hearted brute would al- inboard Ways put on every thing tore the towing- chock clean out.” The tow rope surged over, snapping the iron stanchions of | the head rail one after another. It was only then 1 noticed that in order to have u hetter view over our heads Maggie had stepped upon the port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle deck. It had been lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had boen | no time to take a turn with it. I could see directly that the tow rope would sweep under the fluke in another'sec- ond. My heart flew right into my ‘throat, but not before I had time to yell out, "Jump clear of that anchor!" “But I hadn't time to shriek out her name. I don't suppose she heard mn at all. The first touch of the hawser against the fluke threw her down: she Wwas up on her feet again quick as light- |ning, but she was up on the wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and then that anchor, tipping over, rose jup like something alive: its great, rough jiron caught Maggie round the waist. seemed 1o clasp her close with a dr ful hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of iron, fol- lowed by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to stern—because tho ring stopper held ! ““With a most pitiful howl Charley was over after her almost on the in- stant. But, Lord! he didn't see as much as a gleam of her red tam o' shanter in the water. Nothing! nothing what- ever! In a moment there were half dozen boats around us, and he got pulled into one. I. with the boatswain the carpenter. let go the other anchor in a hurry and brought the ship up somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle head wringing his hands and muttering ito himself, ‘Killing women, now ! Killing women, now !' “Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch: and peering upon the river 1 heard a low, mournful hail, ‘Ship ahoy !" Two Gravesend watermen came along- side. They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the ship's side holding on to the ladder without a | and D. C., MAY 1, word. of loose fair hair down there. He shuddered again. * k * % ¢ A FTER the tide turned poor Mag- gie's body had floated clear of one of them big mooring buoys” he explained. “I crept aft, feeling half dead. and managed to send a 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 bowsprit 80 as to be far as possible out of Charley's wa “Poor fellow!” 1 murmured Poor_fellow.” he repeated, “That brute wouldn't let him—not even him—cheat her of her prey. But he made her fast in dock noxt morning. He did rope was fast he put his hands to hix head and stood gazing down at his fect as if trying to remember some- thing . The men waited on the main deck for the words that cnd the voy- age. 1 spoke for him. ‘That'll do men. “l never saw a crew leave a ship 8o quietly. They looked our way. but not one had the stomach to come up 2nd offer to shake hands with the mate. as is usual “T followed him all over the empty ship to and fro. here and there, with no living soul whout but us, because the old shipkeeper ha-l locked himself up in the galley—both doors. Suddenly poor Charley mut- ters. in a crazy voice: and strides down the gangway me at his heels, up the dock, out at! 1 had the good luck to sight a four- i wheeler and got him in just in time. His legs were beginning to give way In our hall he fell down on a chair, land T'll .never forget fathers and mother's amazed. perfectly still faces as they stood over him. I Dblubbered out ‘Maggie drowned, yvesterday. 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 rins everything open—col- lar. shirt, wadstcoat, into rags—a per- fect wreck and ruin of a man. Father and 1 got him upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly Killed hersel nursing him through a brain fever. The man in tweeds nouded at me significantly. “Ah! he done with that brute. She had a devil in her." “Where's your brother?’ 1 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 vou believe it? Apse & Sons jumped at the first man they could get to take her, for fear of the scandal of the Apse family not being able to find a skipper. He was a festive soul, I believe, but he stuck to her frim and hard. Wilmot was his second mate. A harum-scarum fellow. and pretending to a great scora for all girls, The fact is he was really timid. But let only one of them do as much as lift her little finger in encouragement, her little finger in encouragement. and there was nothing that hold the begzar. “It was said that one of the firm had been heard once to express a hope that this brute of a ship would get lost soon. T 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 that a ship so full of deadly tricks would run herself ashore some day out of <heer cussedness. But not she! She had a nose to ka:p off the bottom. “A ship after a pilot’s own heart, #h?" 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 were 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 got :The Strange Case of ‘ Dr. Jekyll and | Mr. Hyde.”” DWARD HYDE was a bad egg. Though most of us commit deeds both good and bad. and kid ourselves that the good will cause the evil to be overiooked. Mr. Hyde had no such illusions. He was the kind of burglar who stole capdy from a baby. went short on the market, pulled up young corn, or pushed a widow woman's biddies in i HE OFFERED FIVE H the creek. He crunched a diet of ten- penny nails and limped out to do his dirty work—limped, because his fee weren't mates. His gleeful occupa- tions of crime over, Edward Hyde slunk back intoa morbid, moldy habi- tation in Soho—a habitation that well housed his crooked, ill-shaped figure— and cursed his landlord. The latter was the only thing he did in common with respectable people. Not far away, in a well appointed residence, respected and beloved, lived | Dr. Henry Jekyll, famous for his chemical discoverics. But. Dr. Jekyll was growing moody. And when he made his will, providing that in case of his death or disappearance his worldly goods were to revert to one Edward Hyde, his friends, never hav- ing heard of Edward, became worried for fear his very life \vas endangered. Mr. Uraman, $ha Smne? owies Toew 192 I saw in the patch of light a lot When the last | the two of | m done here. with | there was nothing that could | could | )1—-PART 4 trom town to a farewell lunch. It was five In the evening before the | 1ast_rhore ‘boat left the side, and the weather looked ugly and dark in the gulf. Therg was no reason for him to get under w However. as he Rad!told everybody he was going thut day, he imagined it was proper to do so anyhow. He gave orders to keep the ship under lower topsails and foresail as close as she would lie dodging along the land till the morn- ing. Then he gought his virtuous couch. The mate was on deck. hav- hard rain squalls. Wilmot relieved him_at midnight. “The rain drove in gusts on sleepy Wilmot. The surging slowly to the southward, close hauled. with the coast within three miles or so to windward. There was nothing to look out for in that art of the gulf. and Wilmot went round to dodge the squalls under the lee ol that chartroom, whose door on that side was open. And then he heard « woman's voice whispering to him P of the Pamphilius {put the kids to bed a long time ago. of course. She heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come be- low to turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing gown and Istole across the empty saloon and {up to the stairs into the chartroom. She sat down on the settee near the n door to cool herself. 1 dare xay “1 suppose when she whisnered fo Wilmot it was as if somebody had ate, v Juies ks struck a match in the fellow's brain et nes ard Tower HIIL. rne|T don't know how it was they had got round. and comes back stemight atif0 very thick. 1 fancy he had met her me. ‘Ned. mays ho. ‘T am going noma- |FShore a few times before. I couldn't make it out. because. when telling the story, Wilmot would break off to swear something awful at every sec ond word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, and he had an apron of his hand. A wagon-driver. do anything not to starve. what he had come down to. “However, there he was, {head inside the door, on shoulder as the watch! The helmsman, on giving hix evidence afterward. said that he Glad to That's with his the girl's cle lamp had gone out. ter to him. b sail her close.’ ““The truth was that at everv squall the wind hauled aft a little, till grad- ually the ship came to be heading atraight for the coast, without a sin- gle soul in her being aware of it. ‘I think I hear breakers ahead, sir.’ howled the man on the’ lookout, and came rushing aft with the rest of the watch. in the ‘awfullest blinding del- uge that ever fell from the sky.” Wil- mot pulled himself together in a sec- ond, and the right orders sprang to It didn't mat- use his orders were to to hard up with the helm and shiver the main and mizzen-topsails. ‘No use! She was too slow in going off. She seemed to stick fast. Then kead ceased. At this critical moment the wind hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails, and sending the ship with a great way upan the rocks on her lee bow. Her time had come—the hour. the man. the biack night, the treacherous gust of wind—the right woman to put an end to her. The brute deserve nothing hetter. Strange are the instruments of Provi- dence. There's a sort of poetical jus- tice | tweeds looked hard at e man in me. “The first ledge she went over, #tripped the false keel off her. Rip The skipper, rushing out of his berth, found a crazy woman. in a red flannel dressing gown, flying round and round the cuddy, screeching katoo he next bump knocked under the cabin table. |the stern-post and carried away the rudder. and then that brute ran up a her clean tom out. till she stoped short, and the foremast dropped over the bows like a gangway. “Anybody lost>” T asked. ‘No ‘one.” Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn't come on till next day. dead from the west, and broke up that brute in a_surprisingly short time. Tt was as thougzh she had been rotten at heart.” | (Copyright, Doubledas. Page & Co. (Conrre rexerved.) All rights by Ant the will, one night saw fit to prowl the district of Saho. It was late. Most of London slept. The empty streets quivered vibrations to the slightest sound. heard a queer. uneven tap of foot- steps coming toward him A little girl, who had no business being up 5o late, anyway, ran from behind him and dashed on, into the grotesque shadow that made the pattering foot- steps. The little girl experienced all the sensations of a subway crash in New York. She was trampled and cursed, and the she had run into stood on top of her while he counted her out. out of the closed houses. A potential Iynching delegation assailed the man who had knocked her down. But he offered 500 berries if they would set- !tle it somewhere away from the near- est lamppost. and they agreed to call it square. The man tossed out the name of Edward Hyde, und a check signed by Dr. Harry Jekyll. * ok %k X MR- UTTERSON couldn't sleen that YL night for worrying over his friend Jekyll. tor. He called on the doc: “Harry,” he bespoke, “there's some- thing rusty and inethical here. You're being blackmailed by this scoundrel Hyde for something you did long ago in your youth. Come, let an old friend in on the deep stuff.” But -Dr. Jekyll only sighed., and defied his counsel to make him talk or_change his will. Two months passed. and Mr. Hyde remainad gnackve. il was Ruzy doas ing his face washed very clean with, the ship_was then| «'HAT confounded green-eved girl; people had | sacking up to his chin. a big whip in| likely as not—officer of | | shouted several times that the binna- | his lips without thinking. They were | the flutter of the canvas above his| like a! 1t also started | shelving, rocky shore, tearing her bot- | Suddenly Utterson | knocked down. | man | The child's screams brought crowds | | ADMIRAL BENSO { BY JOHN L. MARTIN. i DMIRAL William . Benson de- serves the title of Atlas of the American merchant marine Since June 5, last, when the Jones act establishing the Shipping Board on a peace basis went into ef- fect responsibility for protecting | Uncle Sam's $3.500,000.000 investment in ships and ship equipment has fall- en largely upon his shoulders. During A large part of this time he has be not_only the chairman, but the only member of the board Single handed. practica watched over the cradle fant American indusiry. When the country did not know that dangers lurked near. he was alert 1o discover {them and sound a warning. He ex- |posed the propagandas of foreign | shipping interests which were design- ed to discourage the building up of a |merchant marine under the Stars and Stripes. Admiral Benson has rendered a pa- triotic service to his country which the country is just beginning to ap- preciate. For several months he has gerved without pay. He has carved a miche for himself in the hall of fame. which in many respects without a paraliel. The #pecial session Congress cailed by President Harding was but @ few days old when Admiral Benson told me somthing of his hopes for the futurc of the Shipping Board. He ad- mitted frankly that the big task which had confronted him during the vear he had officiated as chairman of the board was to develop a fighting {morale in the personnel. a_determina- lion to succeed in spite of all obsta- cles, v, he f this in- has i of | | i | * ok % ok “The country minded.” he said. “The beginning to take a pride in the prospect of American goods shipped in American bottoms—in the prospect of America leading the world in commerce. The perilous days f the Shipping Board are over. Thers is much to be accomplished still. but the Amcrican merchant marine is here to sta At the time of my conversation with | Admiral Benson. he had received no i | 1s becoming ship- H people are to whether or not he would be named on the new Shipping Board. But it i evident that the Benson policies will make their influence felt, regardless of the personnel of the new board. Practical shipping men say that the commonsense interpretations placed by the admiral on the provisions of the Jones law will not permit of any far-reaching modifications. The fact that the President has called Ad- miral Benson into frequent confer- ences was ground for the belief that the Benson policies would play a strong part in the President's selec- tion of men to guide the destinies of the Shipping Board during the next few vears. Admiral | Benson is sixtv-five years ing served his country forty- vears. He stands about six feet and when vou enter his office shows a trace of his ®outhern training by his most gracious manner of greeting. Unconsciously he places you at a dis- | advantage if you are bent on an un- | friendly mission. and disarms you at {once by his utmost | the direct manner in which he tackles any subject. no matter how contro- versial it may be. When 1 asked Admiral Benson what he considered was the most important | accomplishment of his administration, { he promptly replied that his efforts ! to arous~ national patriotic interest ! in the development of a great Ameri- can merchant marine must be placed at the top of his endeavors. Without a proper sentiment back of it, the merchant marine would be a failure, he pointed out. He alluded to his success in reduc- ing the overhead expenses of the Ship- ping Board approximately 50 per cent |and in relieving congestion of rail- roads through a better distribution of shipping. e Jordan stunte. Mr. Utterson went to an- other lifetime friend of Jekyll's, Dr. on, and asked him about the doctor's will. Dr. Lanyon sniffed. | " “Don’t mention that scuttle-brain's name to me. grace 10 the profession. Some of th: days he'll break up the Old Gentle- men’'s Home with monkey glands.” Poor Mr. Utterson had to sleuth on alone, lacking another clew to the m; tery until Sir Danvers Carew was mur- dered unnecessary affair. A woman wit- neesed the deed, and described Fd- ward Hyde fully as the murderer. When Mr. Utterson reached the scene found part of the stick with which the well-known M. P. It was none other than a stick which Utterson himself had given to Dr. Jekyll. He went to Dr. Jekyil's home, |and Jekyll told him that last he had seen the folly of his way. He de- clared he would not on’ sneaking who would bean wmaker like Sir terms with IHB'ML an innocent old Danvers. Edward Hyde disappeared. Dr. Jekyll became more and more_disinclined ‘to see his friends. At last his valet called on Mr. Utterson and begged him to icome and see what alled his master. The doc o had been shut up in his | laboratury, zicaked in hix mes cried like & baby, and the faithful valet was afraid_the poor doctor had gone balmy. Mr. Utterson went to the house. Dr. Jekyll refused to open the door. They forced it. but too late. Before they got in, old Bike Loride had claimed another victim. Mr. Utterson looked down on the dead features, not of his | friend, Dr. Jekyll. but of the evil Ed ward Hyde. And though they dug |and searched, they could find nothing of the body of Henry Jekyll, whom they sulipected Hyde had murdered ‘wagere wemmitting suicide. s being | intimation from the White House as| | of age. and has the distinction of hav. | frankness and | His theories are a dis- | This was quite a shocking and | h-‘ had Leen shillalehed. | MER AWAY FROM THE NEAREST LAMP POST. HAS AROUSED PEOPLE'S INTEREST IN OUR SHIPS my query as to whether it will be possible in the future to reduce the cost of operating American ves {=els. 50 that they will be able to com- i pete with English ships, he replied enthusiastically in the aMrmative Probably the greatest eriticism that has been directed against Admira! Renson is the claim that he has had no business expericnce. Those who have made a study of his life. how= jever, smile when they hear this jcharge. If business success comes {from having a trained mind, he un- | questionahly they po quaiified nt out * % ox % on that score. His mind, thoroughly cducated in matters of naval concern, has been working for nearly half a century on problems of the sea. He has tackled every side of the ship construction problem and brought about a saving in £hip operation and repairs, as well As a $12000.000 xaving in salary cuts. which has been discouraging to those who would make a caxe against him | | | | on the ground of business ineMciency The first charge made against Ad- miral Benson came by wav of inter- ests representative of the port of New York. Early in the spring of 1920, a few weeks after he became chairman of the Shipping Board, he gave puh- lic utterances before a group of rep- resentative publishers to the big cen- . ~aought of his, administration which was that services should be extablished by the Shipping Roard with the view of relieving congestion |of railroads. He pointed out at that time that the monopoly of shipping heretofore held by the port of New York would be broken if he had his way and he promised to exert every effort in that direction. Naturally, representatives of the port of New York were up in arms and immediate- Iy the cry was raised, “Benson is no business ‘man.” But Admiral Benson did not flinch under the crit 'm and he began his fight to spread out shipping by reach- ing every commercial interest throughout the country that would be interested’in port development so as to get their co-operate effort in expanding the commerce of America. Various organizations fostering port development sprang into existence and there was an early noticeable in- «rease of shipments out of gulf, fouthern and Pacific ports as a di- rect result of the admiral's campaign Admiral Benson has stood fearless- {1y and squarely upon the policy that |the American merchant marine act. lapproved last June, has for its main | purpose the giving of national ad- I vantages to American ships in Ameri- can trade with foreign countries. He freqeuntly has declared that it pure- 1y is an American weapon intended to meet and offset the countless dis- criminations practiced by other na- jtions against American shipping. | In taking this position Admirai | Benson has antagonized some groups 1of American capitalists strongly in- | terested in the development of inter- [ national trade hy means of shipping | under foreign flags From this quarter also has come the jery that he is no business man | Friends of Admiral Benson, and they lare legion. in controverting the at- | tacks made upon his business ability. | refer to the fact that he did not lose ! his head during the trying period of i establishing the Shipping Board upon a sound basfs, when attack was being directed upon it from all sides. That he did not luse his nerve or his judg- ment is the best evidence of his sound horse sense. they assert. Admiral Bengn's contribution te American enterprise and development, say his friends, will be fully appre- ciated only when the country is able to take an unbiased restrospect of the early days of the Shipping Board and to realize that during the Benson regime the board not only was & target for national criticism and eign intrigue. but also was bootad about like a foot ball during congres- sional investigations and politiast charges. (Copyr ght, 1921, ! ington Star.) ¥ The Wa reaching home, Mr. took out the packet Utterson contalning Ox Dr. Jekyll's will and a hitherto un- * opened letter to him. It read. in effect: “Dear Utterson: “This has been a beastly, ghastly | joke, Old Top. If you hadn't seen all this in the motion pictures. you wouldn't have suspected that me and | Ed Hyde were the same lads all the time, only I'm his good and he's my bad. “You know. I always liked a high old time. and 1 was getting old | enough to know better. So in order to lead a real. up-to-date double-life, 1 mixed me a dope that changed my whole heing and appearance. In Hyde 1 was young again, and could start ! out unknown o do the thines that all old fogies would like to do, but hest- tate, because somebody might see them. At first the evil of me, Hyde, was small, dwarfish; but as he grew more athletic in crime, he became magnified until at last no medicine could change him back {o the nice dignified old Dr. Jekyll. And as he increased in power his crimes grew worse. From a mere morning hang- over at first, I began to awake with a haunting fear of the coppers. I had been drinking something worse than hootch. ““No, this is not a fairy tale, old dear, It's something that Sappens to all of us, by degrees, if we don’t watch our step, but in me it was only hustened by the home brew. “My advice to' you, esteemed sir, is to drink your whisky straight, i ob. tainable. Regretfully your: “HEMRY JEKYLL. \ ” ‘ | |