The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 28, 1913, Page 7

: Best in the Worl SCAPTAIN ENGLAND” WRITTEN BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS; PICTURES BY JAS. MONTGOMERY FLAGG Copy.rieht, Chartes Sc land. sill other aa You gentlemen of England, How little do you think upon When the stretch of waves between the white Coast of Britain and the oaken sides of the Hynd Horn had widened to an impossibility for the most two mariners with pistols ARTIST FLAGG. knee, purring. “Oh, cat,” said Mr. Eng- land, “in the course of AUTHOR your nine lives, have you MorRis. ever been hanged?” The cat yawned and elevated his ample tail. “And was it painful?” said Mr. Mr. England sighed and looked back on that ing shore had all met in the same ale-house. “Feline,” said Mr. land, “I am to be judged | 1 was born, hang | : where four roads cross, with a stake through susceptible heart, and a devil to make me dream.” Mr. England mused with half-shut eyes. | “Ah, Mr. England,” said the captain, coming up, | are comfortable, | trust, in body and mind?” sea does not make me sick in body,” said’ nd, “neither do my thoughts make me sick|and captained by a devil.” But I am sick at heart, for I have not yet F presented to Lady Pelham, and on that straight, road which is between me and the gallows there fs no other petticoa' “I deplore,” said the captain, “that duty which | —. to disoblige a ger: to deprive a po do little to alleviate, of his charming “But surely,” said Mr. England, “there would be ang! ind no harm done. Has crime “Let me England. and then, if she stand for me—— . | “You will tell her who and what you are? the tain, weakening. My word!” said Mr. England. she can but spurn and despise me and I the story-telling Moor.” “You shall have your chance,” “And now, see. she comes hither.” “Her eyes are like the morning, And he added: a half-dozen of you e part of the pirate.” | “Mr. England,” said Lady Pelham, jestingly, “the time is come when you did promise to confess your manifold sins and wickedness before all men. The time was night. The full moon’s sweet jated across the dancing sea, and the white sails word to a woman this side of the grave?” | “No,” said she, and hot tears coursed down her Mr. England held up his head proudly, and Lady|sweet cheeks, and she ran below without another Pelham clasped her pretty little hands attentively. x “Lady Pelham,” said Mr. England, thing that boasts of its own gallantry, but I have been been prowling about in po stranger to blows, were lions and serpents, and some men. to believe that I have never ' fain run from you, for what I have to tell will me unspeakably in your gracious sight. . ) “| will pardon my courtier in advance, Lady Pelham, he She looked up at him with a wonderful girlish played takes th the Hynd ess. “Down to the southward,” continued Mr. Eng- land, “there was an island of the sea. Seen from bove, it was like an outstretched hand upon the aters, long, safe harbors were between its fingers, nd the five knuckles were redoubtable mountains, ptibie to rare defenses. d was a great safety and hiding place for a cer- lain ship, and on the shores were for men. and satins and brocades, and spices, and all d things. Many a chest of gold and silver was n the keeping of the strong sands.” Lady Pelham settled deeper to the mystery of listening. | “There was a ship,” said Mr. England, “so shape- ly and served with such cunning sails ship in all the world was so swift upon the seas. ne, RN ribners’ Sons That live at home at ease, The danger of the seas! enduring swimmer, the in their sashes quitted the presence of Mr. England, to which they had clung with pertinacity ever since the elegantly buckled shoe of that gentleman had first touched the deck. Mr. England smiled with sweetness after the last disappearing hall-marks of his various misdemeanors, and seated himself on the where he so alluringly that ship’s cat leaped to his gland. where he and his crimes and the where I was bred, and Lady Pelham shifte icoat in view.” satins and brocades, whom I frankly lady, whose loneliness I myself society.” captain? We made coffins of sh course. to her great graciousness,” said listened to the serpent. _prghed tell her who and what I am, | shocking voice. said | not see his face. shall have|then begun. said the captain. | the people in the world. in that alehouse. He leaned toward Horn were lighted by it. A | word. “it is a poor) nor wild beasts, of which some I ask you But now || == run away. said “for I need his service.” In the harbors of that deep-thatched There were storehouses full of that not one WAVY “I HAVE GIVEN YOU MY TRUST,” SAID LADY PELHAM. d uneasily. “Now, what manner of kingdom was that, Lady Pelham?” said Mr. land. THE STAR—SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1913. d, a Maste Saturday “Whence came those | “That was a saving invention about the mother! rpiece of English Fic WS. VAY) V4 “GOLDEN HEART,” SAID MR. ENGLAND, AND A TEAR RAN DOWN HIS CHEEK. The ship was manned by a crew of a hundred men, | cheerfulness, “I am your creditor for six bottles of |Burgundy. With your agreeable and esteemed acqui- jescence we will open one of them.” And he added to himself: ” ose chests of gold? What ipsp—"” He paused, sweating from the energy of his dis- Lady Pelham shivered. “Right,” she said; “right; you have said enough.” | true lovers. Sh d ed slightly. red “To the bitter "ead chs the liter end!” cried Mr.| cver-narrowing distance. But between Priscilla, Lady He spoke in a Mr. England turned from her, so that she might “There is more,” said he, presently. “At the worst, | bitterest part, for it is the death-blow to the new life In London is an alehouse where, it is shall sev all us meetings And who do you think met together ” said Mr. Eng- there one day? Why, Tom England and his crimes “J will lay my best gilt buckles|and the law they met there, and, so help me God, he| Pelham r Burgundy that the lady is being taken to the place where he was |tried for all of his crimes, and for any one of them to be hanged by the neck until he is dead.” said, if you sit for a year and a ~~ p amo' There are Lady Pelham. “It was to lay a lock of hair upon a mother's r knee that I went to England,” he said. - light | merciful, and beautiful lady, have I spoken my last “topo How easy it were to play any part for so i Mr. England was joined by the captain, who had the night. “Well?” said the captain. __ “Captain,” said Mr. England, with the utmost ANOTHER TREAT FOR NEXT SATURDAY Those who despise born, to be mann i in those Those eyes of Lady Pelham’s looked into the eyes| and po Ne Bw eat What aM 2 2 momee baeee | of Mr. England, and saw nothing there of all that hor- I will tell you, Lady Pelham. bloody pirates, and I was our captain. and murdered on the high seas. pock-marked me? Am I/us we shot; those who were for us we hanged; those loathsome? And can you not, sir, consider me at all?) who besought us we hauled down the barnacled keel. A few i land! Lo a nearness of a beautiful lady! you send me onward, my captain, with no gentle) memories fy | “Mr. England,” said the captain, moved, “my duty is as plain as the north star on a clear night; but inceri timen’ i | England. in peeoet cre roe ee Ue clade eel aia d, as it was in the beginning, the woman /#t all, for her elbow touched his arm, and a wisp of We were Tibleness which she had forgiven. She saw there only We robbed the purity and nobility of purpose with which he had d| promised her to live until he died; and in the bottom of her silly, golden heart, she said: “He has repented. He loves me—he must be saved.” Behind them were three weeks of fair and foul weather, a thousand pages of the poets, a hundred games at piquet; conversations wherein were laid |down the laws of life, the meetings and partings Between the Hynd Horn and her port was an | Pelham, and Mr. Thomas England was no distance |her hair brushed his cheek. a “Beautiful princess,” said Mr. England, “I see now, when it is too late, that the gods have loved me | all along, for your favor has caused me to be happier than the heir of a kingdom. The end, which had pre- | sented itself to my view with such boundless dishonor, seems now like the gentle coming of night. I shall bid you ‘good night,’ and fall asleep to dream of you. But there will be no morning, my princess, after that last good night.” “There must be morning somewhere,” said Lady “It is the “Do you wish it?” said Mr. England. “1 wish it,” said she. “Ah, lady,” said Mr. England, “there is such bitterness in brief days! How can you, looking back |upon the glory of this time at sea—when I am gone “Gracious, | —believe, in your heart of hearts, that I was a true ttle a space! Tell me, lady, that you believe—that you believe me other than that.” “I have given you my trust,” said Lady Pelhar. “Golden heart!” said Mr. England, and a real tear ran down his cheek. “Oh,” he cried, “for a full that was into the broad thoroughfare of a true knight! I tell you, if I had a year to live, 1 would prove be- Well, how do you like it? Isn’t it a winner? And next week we’re going to have another heart tale-«a literary masterpiece--for “—. enjoy, just as you have enjoyed this one. The name of the story is “The Sign of Venus.” The author is Robert W. Chambers. The illustrator is Dan Sayre Groesbeck. “Don’t fail to get next Saturday’s Star. - ’ fragment of life wherein to step from the slough} fore all men and such a lady that chivalry is not yet |gone from earth.” There was such a deep ring, as of gold, in Eng- lJand’s voice, and such an undercurrent of pain aad missed opportunity, like the tolling of a dirge, that |Lady Pe'ham’s heart was torn. “If I were Tom England,” she said, “I would not yet give over. Rather a plank in the ocean, a gal- 9 struggle, one last fight for that same year of life. myoelf to be led meekly like an ox to the slaughter by men.” “A plank?” said Mr. England, looking at the great waves. “Ah, lady, not a plank!” “The plank was a figure,” said Lady Pelham. “Can you not think out some stratagem—some des- perate chance?” “And leave you?” exclaimed Mr. England. “Ah, beautiful princess!” “At the end of such a year as you spoke of,” said Lady Pelham, “you could seek me out.” “And the reward?” said Mr. England. “The year were its own reward,” said Lady Pel- “True,” said Mr. England dolefully. “Then you wish me to escape?” “Oh, I do!” said Lady Pelham, vehemently. “I bless you for that,” said Mr. England. Then he looked into her eyes for some moments. “Thank God!” he said at length. “My lot is happier than that of kings and emperors, for in my life I have found one person I can trust.” Lady Pelham’s eyes filled with tears. “And you will try,” she said, “for my sake?” “Listen, dearest lady,” said Mr. England. has come to my mind that when I am cut off from ham. |wherein to turn back my heart and recollect them. | Therefore, I did decide to essay one desperate | chance.” “Ah!” said Lady Pelham. “And that. = Mr. England took from a pouch a piece of heavy stone, the color of lead, and the size of a thumb-nail. “I had two of these,” said he. ‘You have heard how the coffin of Mohammed was raised from the floor of his tomb by the power of the roof, which was lodestone. This is part of the roof of Mohammed’s |tomb, and so was the other piece. The other piece is now playing ducks and drakes with the mariner’s |compass by which our good captain confidently thinks | he is steering the Hynd Horn direct for the port where I am to be hanged. As a matter of fact, she has been running in a somewhat southerly direction. Strange ports offer strange chances to those who are willing to chance it.” _ Mr. England laughed softly out of pure satisfac- tion, €! “And now,” said he, “observe our astute captain and his able officers. It is 12 0’ the clock, and they are about to take the sun with the sextant, and lo- cate our exact whereabouts upon the waters. But | they will not do this, because our prying skipper shall find within a minute that his instrument—by the way, the only one now on ranged. |one person in the world to whom I can tell this thing.” “You trust me like that?” said Lady Pelham, a tender light in her eyes. trust myself.” ue The captain and his officers stood for a long time scratching their heads. cers, “we can trust to our compass, which is an exe cellent instrument of the latest pattern. But it’s God’s own pity that so pretty a sextant should have met with so untimely an end.” | Though the nights were cloudy, the weather held to the satisfaction of all on board, especially to that of the captain and Mr. England, for each was holding himself responsible for the navigation of the shi Each spent several hours a day in reassuring Pelham. The captain told her that the piny shores of Massachusetts were dead ahead. Mr. England spoke of palms and guavas. “It is so warm,” said the captain, sententious!y, to Lady Pelham, “because we are approaching the New World, where it is warmer than with us.” “It is so warm,” said Mr. England, “because we are approaching the equator, where it is hotter than in the internal regions.” “Qh, Lord,” said Lady Pelham, on her knees, “make it right for me not to betray his secret, for he is thine own penitent and I am thy daughter that adores thee.” ai One morning the fan of a palm was seen by Mr. England to pass to leeward in the boil of waters. A little later he showed Lady Pelham a school of flying- fishes, and about noon the lookout cried to those on ‘deck that he beheld land. The two faces which Mr. England wore as the Hynd Horn bore down on that island—for island it now showed itself to be—were of an exact oppositeness. To the captain he showed a déawn lip—a be; -of-the-end face, as it were— to Lady Pelham the most dancing of eyes, the most radiant of smiles. But if the expression of his was joyous when he turned it on Lady Pelham, what must have been the feeling in his breast when the di:n \ re ene on the horizon began to assume a familiar ape (To Be Concluded Monday.) tion If | were a leader of men, | would not suffer ; “At any rate,” the captain had said to his offi- “ ‘Short Story - “Te the sight of your bright eyes I must have leisure - as been irreparably de- . “And, thank God,” said Mr. England, “there is _ | “I trust you,” said Mr. England, “more than Ic