The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 25, 1903, Page 1

EIS ig the second tnstallment of “The Golden Fetich,” which is & move thrilling mystery story than either “Tainted Gold” or “The Mystery Box,” both of which created a big sensation when . pub- lished in The Sunday Call recently. After “The Golden Fetich” will come & literary surprise that will create a positive furor. Copyright, 1403, by Eden Philpotts. HE night crowded down, and sail was shortened. Double watches were set despite the weariness of the men, and Hook himself was seldom far distant from the fo'c’sle- Meantime the passengers, many of had suffered mo little fear and took heart once more. neral Podesta had steered his lady on before dark to look at the which, though trifling compared what they had been, were still run- nor Polti had also come up to give one shuddering ers and then retire be- P with whom the disagreed, also lee side of the deck himself the better for bead whom m a K seas with ning & glance been neither sick mnor first onset of the storm, erned enough for his she, theugh well in f oppressed beyond e fate of her uncle, and e contempt in which he honest man on the weakness, his unmanly irsed drug had gone far to life of the vess.l and every because, though neither re- the storm nor the broken “aptain Jgilvie had certain- e for much else, and his uty was still a cause of ess to those who knew the critical p. n of the ship and her dan- gerous situation with respect to the coast. His knowledge and experience would have been of the most vital service st this period; but he kept his cabin, with locked door. and ‘appeared oblivious to the welfare of his craft, and his crew, his passengers and hiw self. About midnight,” however, a ery over the vessel, and Ogllvie, swinging a lantern and clad only In his night attire, eppeered upon the deck, ‘One name was on his lips, end he called for Lord Win- fe s o soul upon sponsible screw sh deep uneas stone with harsh persistence. It happened that his lordship had not turned in, but was himself on deck, walk- ing up and down with Tracy Faln and the. first engineer. The sea was now much calmer, and the ship being on an even keel, many who had not slept for the last eight and forty hours were glad of the opportunity to do s0. The Morning Star was for the most part & home of sleeping men, therefore, when Alister Ogilvie summoned Lord ‘Winstone. The old sportsman instantly responded, crossed to the weather side, and express- ed a hope that the captain found himself in better health. But the other's face told him that he hoped in vain. Ogllvie had turned a sort of leaden gray, and out of a face like that of a dead man his eyes burned with living fire. His cheeks had fallen in, his beard was un- shaven and he shook and tottered in his walk. An sppearance of greatly increased age had come upon him. His countenance was deeply wrinkled .and an expression of anxiety and terror, such as oftentimes eppears upon the. face of the dying, marked his featu: “What is amiss?”’ asked Winstone, al- though he had divined the truth after & first glance in the lantern light. The other spoke with passion in his voice, but his articulation was vagte and his nerves evidently suffered from fright- ful tension. “You know—none better. Where is it, I say? Quick, for the love of heaven— the syringe and my morphia. I'm in rag- ing, roasting hell for a dose. I shall die— 1 shall go stark mad If you keep it_from me. Man, don’t you hoid it back i you have any heart in you. I 'am tormented by agony that a devil would pity!” “You must endure and you will eon- quer,” sald Lord Winstone firmly. “I wish to God that I could lghten your suffering by sharing it, but that is im- possible. Only be sure of this, you will recover and—" “My morphia—my morphia, or I'll tear the heart out of you!" Lord Winstone faced the other un- fiinchingly, but threw away his cigar and made ready. “Your syringe is in the sea and all your morphia, too,” he said. With an awful cry, llke some spirit dropping into eternal torment, the suf- fering man dashed forward and gripped Winstone by the throat. % “Fetch it back—you shall fetch it back —by the angels of light, I swear it, or T'll strangle you He fought like & manfac, with purpose to hurl Lord Winstone overboard, and so sudden and tremendous was his onslaught that but for the assistance of the first engineer and Tracy Fain, his lordship might indeed have followed the hypo- dermic syringe and the glass tubes of poison. The four struggled together; then & blow on the head dropped Oglivie, and at the same moment from forward came & loud, thrilling cry of danger. Hook’s keen eyes and eays had seen and heard what he now announced in a voice that rose like the roar of & wild beast across the night. ® ? - darkness, and what he had heard was the tumble and roar of heavy seas beat- ing against stone. For some time his anxiety had deepened, because there was that in the Increased leap and wave beat of the sea which told him, despite the darkness, that the Morning Star was In shallower water. And yet, as she had been steadily standing to the southeast he supposed that she should now be far from shore. The hoarse growl of the breakers and the sudden gleam of them not half a mile distant set the seal on his growing alarm, yet staggered him immeasurably. There, right away to the east, on the port bow, extended a hideous hell of broken water where he had supposed only the deep sea rose and fell, and, right ahead, the sea was also splashed and streaked with foam, Dan Hook yelled his terrible news, and the first officer called all hands to save the ship, but human power was vain in such a strait, and every experienced man on board knew that the Morning Star had come to the end of her last voy- age. Before they could bring her round, for she answered but slowly and sulklly to her helm under present circumstances, the gray chaos of broken water had crept close out of the night, and then deep cur- rents gripped the doomed hull with hands of iron, and she wallowed, broadside on, 100 yards from the breakers. Everybody was now up and awake; and Captain Ogilvie, his fit of madness appa- rently dispelled before this countershock, appeared upon the bridge, ghostly and grim, like some dark Incarnation of the storm. “All over, bar the last pinch, I'm afrald,” sald Winstone to Meldrum, as the two men stood staring at the death “before thém. “Dgn’t ‘say that. Here we are with ‘muscles and brains and pluck. We must come out of it all right; there’s Bessle to save.”” “Be sure I'm not the man to throw up the sponge a' moment before I must. But where are we? Is this a mere reef in’ midocean, or are we near land? If it's a reef, then only God Almighty can save us alive another half-hour; if it's land, some among us may possibly reach it. But what land—what land can lie here?” Captain Ogilvie was running forward, and paséed them as Winstone spoke. He answered, as though absolutely oblivious of the life and death struggie between himself and this man not twenty minutes before. “Land it may be, and it tells me what's happened. ~ We've been plowing ahead faster than we thought, and we've run past Zanzibar without sighting. , Now we're between the malnland and* that ridge of' rocky islets extending,north of. Mafla Island. If we're running on now, and we're not hit very hard; we may live till daylight in this falling sea; if it isn’t the island, but only the north of the ridge, we're done for.” . i The effort to get her head around had at last succeeded gnd the Morning Star, with canvas flattened against the .stays and masts, was drifting astern. , Now, when the vanguard of the reef thindered and bolled within fifty yards of Mer rud- e l::d-iot‘;_w way, and, thanks'to Cross currents, beganimoving slowly but' steadlly to the nzu:w-'. Ts now'.gleamed and hissed out of the n either hand, but every hun- ‘dred on the present course was reckoned to take the Morning Star nearer to the mainland of Mafla Island. All too soon, however, the end came. Land, or lofty rocks, had suddeniy loomed out of the night, and in the first ‘glimmering premonition of dawn, whiie yet the stars shone diamond bright in a clear sky, the Morning Star touched ground. So slight proved the shock that scarcely a man was thrown off his feet; but a sharper, harsher impact followed and then the ship heeled over to star- board and the foremast parted twenty feet from the deck. A sad vision of terror succeeded upon this disaster. Two men were carried overboard with the foremast, and now the great spar, beld alongside by the cordage, began to pound at the side of the ship like a battering ram. Astern she was settling, as it seemed, and that rapidly, but her bows rose well out of the ‘water. Here crowded the life of the ship. Mme. Podesta, in the last agony of fear, clung to her husband and rent the alr with hys- terical shrieks; Signor Poltl, white to the 1ips, knelt by himself and bowed his head and prayed; Dan Hook, roaring for ald, was at work upon the broken mast, chop- ping and hacking at the heavy ropes which bound it alongside. A strange white light from the wilder- ness of seething water made darkness visible, and against it might be seen the huge form of Meldrum with the lesser shapes of Fain, Winstone and some of the sailors struggling at a boat and en- deavoring to turn her on the davits and make ready for launching. Elizabeth Oglilvie stood by her uncle, pale and breathless, but silent. Each moment of that terrible crisis seemed a century to all not actively en- gaged In manual labor. Those sweating and struggling with ax or rope suffered least. The others stood mute and ready, awalting that last Plunge when the ship would sink to her long home. But the Morning Star was hard and fast and showed no sign as yet of breaking up. She would not sink unless buffeted from her present position by the seas, and this seemed an improbable event, at any rate for the present, as every moment the waves decreased and the wind fell. Hearts took hope as the time length- ened out and the sheets of white water hissed aboard less and less often. Then a cheer came from forward where the gigantic labors of Hook and his fellow seamen had at length cut the mast free and seen It float on ahead clear of the ship. A boat was now ready for launching, but Ogllvie refused to allow it to leave the vessel. He held that the Morning Star herself was safer than the sea, and .until light came and revealed their true _position he bid them make no effort to .depart. * In the hold stood deep water enough, .'but it did not Increase rapidly and the .wreck was evidently held up firmly from the bottom. & Delicate flush and glow of rose at length ~banished night; the stars disappeared one by one, and against the east, as the light strengthened and flushed into high heaven, there appeared the contour of land. With tropical speed the ‘day broke and presently the sun roee over the lark _eastern ridge of earth and climbed aloft into a clear sky. Soon the full, flery heat of him blazed down over a calm sea and a prayer of thankfulness rose in. hearts. . nid % - ‘ As Dan Hook remarked, there was reason why a single ship’s rat should ish, for salvation was at hand, e E3 ' though the Morning Star had become & total wreck, no danger to any aboard of her could now be said to exist. So the shipwrecked souls lifted up their voices and saluted the sunlight, ignorant. one and all, of the danger close at hand, and of the awful and imminent fate destined for many who now praised God that they were still In the land of the iving. : anure had done her worst, and Provi- dence, holding the giant Anakim of old ocean in the hollow of her hand, had (guarded the struggling vessel and gulded her where those she carried might still be saved from death in the deep sea, but tne dark imagination of man, the inven- tions of man and the evil of man had yet to work thelr way with the {ll-fated Morning Star. At present, however, and until the next gale of w|ndh!h0uld break up, she lay snug enough. . he};adp ‘daylight served and Captain Ogil- vie been aware of the exact positions of the rocks on which she now = posed—a dead ship with a broken back—he could hardly have navigated ber into a safer position from the point of view of the human life aboard her. She lay due north find ected on the west by ;lcrocks like. teeth, to the east by simi- jar but lower ridges. The ct}annel she had entered before striking shelved shore- wards, and right ahead, not half a mile grom the ship, extended & bank of land— south, was pro- a grinning ridge a low sandy islet ‘t”u?‘fl“n within the main great island of Mafia. The latter rose easterly as a gray streak on the norizon, and appeared to be about ten miles distant, while to the west a dim blue mist indicated the African shore. The navigating officers’ first care was to make an examination of the exact po- sition of their ship. The ocean was now smooth as glass, and no more than a ring of foam bubbled pearly bright about the neck of each jagged rock that rose above the sea, Infinite purity marked the deep green water under noon sunlight, and with a sea telescope it was possible to probe deep into its secrets. Great birds surrounded the wreck and fought for fragments of food flung over- board, while here and there on the smooth surface appeared the smooth triangle of a shark's dorsal fin. Though the stokehole was submerged and the engine room knee deep In water, it encroached no further, and thus that part of the vessel in which men lived remained Intact with all the necessary supplies of life. Observations were taken and the chart consulted. Then it transpired that ths ‘Morning Star had struck a reef some ten miles inside the island of Mafla, and that she lay about forty miles from the main- land. positively chuckled Lord Winstone when he heard it. “I should like to know what gives you so much solid satisfaction if I may ask,™ sald Tracy Fain at sight of this merri~ ment. “You shall know. If we had absolutely chosen our landing place on African sofl we could hardly have made a better shot. Indeed, it would be impossible. We want Lake Mweru, don't we? Very well. Take the chart and draw & line from the mainland opposite Mafla to the southern extremity of the lake and you will see it is practically the nearest possible point to which a vessel coyld have brought us. I'm devilish sorry for the Morning Star, but it's an il wind that blows nobody any good, and the grand thing is our guns are safe.” Meldrum next spoke, with his eyes on the chart. “We might get ashore at Bimbaranga, work across the Mahenge country, be- tween lakes Tanganylka and Nyassa, and then keep right ahead to Mweru. It's as easy as falling off a log!"” “Yes—on the chart” admitted Lord Winstone. “But you can’t call & hansom when you're tired in Central Africa, and the question is whether we shall be able to fit out at all nearer than Zanzibar. We want at least fifty men, Including head men, if we can get "em, but on sec~ ond thoughts I doubt if such an expedi- tion can be mustered nearer than Zanzi- bar.” “We're no. ashore anywhere yet,” in- terrupted Fain; “and I heard Mr. Macabs say it was a question whether the pas- sengers wouldn’t be landed on Mafla Isl- and. We're in the skipper's hands and since day dawned he has disappeared again. His cabin door is locked, and he says he I1s not to be disturbed for sev- eral hours. He will not even ses Miss Ogijvie.” A’ scrambling luncheon was served soon after midday, and immediately the meal had been disposed of a council of war met to decide what course to pursue, Captain Ogilvie presided at this confer- ence, and Lord Winstone was invited to attend it, but declined to do so o~ the ground that his opinion upon such a ques- tion could possess no value. Moreover, he was entirely of one mind and frankly admitted he could not approach the ar- guments for landing on Mafla without prejudice. At 3 In the afternoon Captain Ogllvie and Mr. Crouch appeared from the smok- ing-room, and the news was made publio that on the fo.owing day all passengers would be sent ashore and efforts made to save at least part of the freight. That craft of size large enough to take off the Morning Star's cargo might lle at Mafla was possible, and on the followlng day at dawn a boat's crew would pull to the island and ascertain. Two other boats ‘were to leave the wreck at the same time, their course being shaped for the maine land; and with these the passengers wers to travel. All would be permitted to take & falr ‘share of their private prop- erty. Whether a landing might be ef- fected was doubtful, but once off the coast tha big’ whaleboats could lie out- side the surf and their signals must be seen from Simbaranga. ,Captain Ogilvie made this announce- ment himself, and crew and passengers gave him a cheer as he did so, but all were impressed with the terrible expres- sion on his face as he ranged his eye over, his men and then departed. The loss of his ship had doubtless caused this strange and haggard change in him, so the crew supposed; but some / )/ A A!) of the passengers knew betfar, and Mr. Messenger prayed on his knees in secret “irough many hours that the unfortunate ~cotchman had passed the crisis of his tribulation and might yet save his soul and his body alive. The night closed down without any in- terval of twilight, and flares were rigged fore and aft to facilitate the nocturnal work. Three boats were made ready, one for the island, to be manned by Mr. Crouch and a crew of four men; the others, which were considerably larger and carried big sails, for the passengers. Of these the second officer was to com- mand one, Dan Hook the other. Captain Ogilvie, Mr. Macabe and the bulk of the crew would remain with the ship and transfer cargo to the shore; and as it was impossible to get steam for the donkey engines to work the cranes, wind- lasses were rigged to bring up on deck that portion of the frelght which was not already under water. There was no danger for those who remained by the Morning Star, as In the event of a return of bad weather the men aboard could easily reach the shore of the low islet on which they had been cast. To this, indeed, a boat had already put off, and after an examination the crew of her reported an easy landing and the presence of some caves in the low cliffs above high-water mark, where goods from the ship might be safely housed for the present. Never in the memory of any on board ‘had a big vessel b wrecked under more fortunate conditions. As Hoeok said: “Us bad got to come to it ‘cordin’ to the dark ways o' the Lord; but if skip- per had chose this very: identical spot to run her aground " he 'couldn’t have pitched on a better where sea meets land; an’ If you ax me, I sez we'm damn well out of it, beggin' pardon for the flery word.” CHAPTER VIIL Daylight found the preparations far A advanced, and when it became & Qques- tion of what each passenger should take ashore, both Lord Winstone and Roy Meldrum, after packing necessaries, de- cided for their batteries of guns, while Tracy Fain, who was no sportsman, took for his portion several cases of beads and knives, looking glasses and bright trinkets, to be-used as gifts in their pro- gress across the countries of the various savage potentates. No great anxiety ac- companied these decisions, as it was as- suimed that another visit would certainly be paid the Morning Star before the ex- plorers finally set forth to the fnterior. The boat for Mafla Island had aiready started before the passengers came to breakfast, and as soon as possible after that meal was finished Captain Ogilvie bid Dan Hook pipe the crews of the two whaleboats destined to convey his pas- sengers to the shore. Soon both floated alongside, and while the passengers’ luggage was being stored and all necessary tackle shipped, the skipper sent along a message to Lord Winstone, desiring his company. The portsman instantly complied and was idden In the captain’s cabin. ter Ogilvie looked a trifle stronger e had done for many days, and and thin, a very obvious better appeared in his s were less wild, his ges- more calm and dignified. tone,” he said, “before you Jéave the ship I have semething to say to you. I need not, however, dwell much upon the . It forms a nightmare borror, I live to be an old man the incidents of this voyage can never fade To have suffered what 1 have sulfered and survived it appears to me a mar velous circumstance, but the bitteresi struggle Is over and, please God, I shall Dever fall again, having once escaped.” “I am more thankful than I can say, answered his Lordship. “My treatmeni was rough and ready, but there was ne other way.” “I wish it were in my power to atone fos