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CHARLOTTE DAILY OBSEHYER, MAY 31, 1DC3. MATIN V0F" 1 .1 V-A .U, U U.yl-X ",ALC2QT',:r.7 (arbor were all moonshine and mlr ' age. - Morning, tkough It's all the same,. I shall never thinkof future pun- -Ishment. again In theold way"' W ; art in. it now and its worst borror la motion wild.' ungovernable 'motion r that wrings and shake and huria ana -batters in aigsntlc buffoonery while . the earth howla to see your helpless-., net. I car upAtrying to put words n paper, No one undressed; no ona alept. And Kate cam back to ma. , If wa live out this atorm and do not , . ; rife - VWmmyMMr . Copyright, 1W8 by tne New Tork Herald Co. All Bights Reserved). Somewhere off Labrador, June 1. ffohn says there ill be no rest for the waary so long as I Insist on play ing nurse to the universe. But that ' la nonsense. Anything with a bint of adventure is dear to John Pwlght. In the past we have had plenty of It. This season we meant to dawdle from harbor to harbor among the summer colonies and, as John says, exchange food and fireworks with our friends. Instead of that we are getting fur- : tner and further from our friends every minute, and all berause of what John calls my "fatal habit of sur mise." Bometlmea I am doubtful suppose X have been mistaken, but I won't think of that. Every time I go over it In my mind I felt more certain that X am right. In the first place It was broad day light Wa were lying off Thirty fourth street. In New Tork harbor. St waa the American Memorial Day, and we had the flags out and a re : epectfulJblt of black and white bunt ing. The mall had came aboard and In It a letter from Kate Sears. Kate la tha American girl I like beat. I waa thinking of her and of Clarke Irwin. I knew Clarke was In love wiin ner, sna wny inert wu any de lay but Clarke Is a leisurely fellow. He aways seems to me like the Chleola with the fires banked. She la tha most idle looking craft when aha is anchored. There Is something fairly lotus eating about her that other yacht can't show even with awnings apead and rugs all over the deck. It is after midnight and John Is aleeplng like a child. It is blessed to know he Is here where I could put oat my hand and wake lilm at any minute. I hope I haven't brought him and the Chleola Into dancer. What possible dagger can there be? Unpleasantness, perhaps, but not danger. I cannot sleep, so I am going to put down all my suspicions and the reasons for our changing our sum mer plans and rushing off Into these wilde for a lost man, who may, for all X know, be enjoying himself after a solitary fashion of his oan choosing. "Clarke Irwin," Kata Rears said at tha and of her letter, "is going to spend Memorial Day on the Yoshl, Bob Carrington's boat, and If you're In New Tork you may run across him." I wss settled down against my cushions to wsl't whllo John finish ed "confabbing" with Captain Wells, tout I got up and k the glasses to sea If I could find the Yoshl among the boats In sight. AH at once I thought I had found her in a yacht that was under way coming toward us, but when I could read the name on the bow It whs not Toshl. but Katrina. I had never seen her before, but ahe looked queer ly familiar. "That's Berry Manning's boat," said John over my shoulder, "built after tha model of the Toshl and the Chico la, and named for Katharine Bears." "Quite like the man s impertinence," I exclaimed. . 'To have a boat like ours?" "No; to name It for Kate." "Impertinence depends on who does itl" John grinned. T suppose you'd let Irwin name a fleet for her." I never liked Iierr- Manning. Through tha glasses I could see that tha caps of hie crew were monogram mad like those of the Yoshl's crew. Than tha Katrina got directly oppo site and there at a cabin porthole was Clarke Irwin's face. I saw It distinct ly for a minute, then a hand came out from behind and the face tipped back ward and waa lost. But it was Clarke Jrwln. ! T .M TaI.' A a.- a .... "You're seeing things, Cella," he said, ft la stranga that though John Is an 'American and X am an Englishwoman X am sometimes quicker than he to gueaa at situation. What was Clarke doing -on Manning's boatiwhen ha had Intended to b on Carrington's Yoshl? Was ba there of his own will or had ha baas kidnapped. Of course it founded absurd, for Mr. Manning is tha pink of Beaaon street propriety and a roost respected man. Job a and X had often discussed his Infatuation Cor Kata Sears. "fha.wlll msrry him yetshe likes force," John would say. A week later we put into Boston to pick p Colonel Enderly, John's uncle ho la really a third cousin ones removed), and I carried, Kata off for day on tha Chleola. X knew at once pomethlng was wrong- h is leas a her guard with m than with most freopia and X found out fheee things. Clarke Irwin had dlsappaarad. 8a il Ierry Manning's boat. Manning TUB CAPTION- op -Zz2' . -Sj-,art- THC KATSHHAfc-. . was making himself oppressive by his pursuit of Kste. lie professed great anxletv for the Katrina: we had been haying heavy weather and he was sure she had been blown Out to sea and been wrecked. These were things that every one knew. There were some things that every one did not know. The very night that Clarke Irwin hnd left Bos ton for Now York to Join Bob Car rlngton on the Yoshl Berry Manning had also left town. Kate and Clarke had at lust rome to a sort of un derstanding At least Kate understood. For two years i'lnrke had been on the ranged edge of roverty. That ac counted for his apparent Indifference. There had been Home bother about Western mining sKwks where his father had left the whole fortune tlej up, and It hnd lieen it hair's weight that had sent the .ale up, not down. Clark had expected ruin, and while that was so he wouldn't ask Kate to marry him. She mas so happy to know he loved her that she lost her head and repuls ed him. It took him terribly by surprise and he was so crushed that she was on the point of relenting, when Berry Manning was announced, and Clarke gave her no chance after that, but went away with a very sober and. she thought, cold good night. After ward she remembered that Manning'a greeting had been uncommonly warm and that she had not repulsed him. Indeed, she had been so busy think ing of Clarke and how she could get a word with him that she had hardly known It was Manning who was there. But Clarke must have believed Man ning was the cause of her hesitation; the man's every word had implied an intimacy that didn't in tha least exist, and when she had been left alona with him sha had snubbed him roundly. But that had not brought Clarke back and he had never come at all for his answer. None of his friends knew where ha waa, untesa Berry Manning was telling the. truth. He said be knew. Two or three times ha had told Kata of Clarke's sudden change of plan and of soma mountain (rip In Oregon. - "You know bim and his charmlng'y irresponsible ways batter than moat of us," Manning had aald. "How Irre sistible ha seems to every body I Tha steadygoing chaps Ilka me envy him, I can tell yon!" , . .. Now. little; by little, I got al this from Kata.' And I told ' It to. John. And stui John wouldn't set It as X did. (But finally he made a few Inquiries, J feeling, he said, like a pickpocket. no in iiui in isirKuii aiiu been there. No one has seen or heard of him since ha left Boston tha night before Memorial Day. Berry Manning wss on his own yacht, the Katrina, at the time when I thought I saw Clarke's face at the cabin porthole, but ho had gone aboard alone. This agrees with his own account. On June 2d the Katrina was oft David's Point, on the Maine coast, where Berry Manning waa put ashore at midnight, walked three miles to David's Corner, took sn electric car for Portland and a morning train for Boston. This does not agree with hit own account. Our Information came from Mor ton Wilkes, of the Coast Survey. He is an old friend of John's father and a careful man. John told him of the disappearance of the Katrina. The n-xt day Mr. Wilkes lunched with the Thompsons in Portland and .before he left their hotel the man who used to be farmer on the Thompson home stead dropped In to see his old em ployer. He had given up farmtng and was the conductor on the car mat had brought Manning to Portland. His wife's brother ia keeper of the light at David's Point. Tha man at the Point hid been Interested In tha midnight landing; tha conductor had been pus sled by his passenger. When Mr. WDkea mentioned tha lost boat ha pricked up his ears. Ha had seen Manning in other seasons as a guest of tha Thompsons and waa certain of his recognition. 6o ha told his tale. It seemed sufficiently curious to Mor ton Wilkes to induce him to write John before h slept. Till now John had been Impatient, but amused. Now he appeared a bit uneasy, and It haa ended in our stilt ing; out to And Clarke Irwin. Kate Is with us, and knows why wa are going. She Is terribly In earnest aoout tha few people she cares for, and unless X have lost my power to observe she cares mora for Oarks Irwin than for all tha rest of tha world put together. And Manning is with us. That was John's Woft- --- : -.- r- : - "Whyf X aaked. - "It's safer," said John.. But X don't Ilka It. And ha makes ma wretched, ha la so terribly In" love. . Of course he accepted our Invitation with Kata in tha party. But tha thought of tha Chleola seemed to give him a pang. "My poor Katrina!- ha sigh ad. "I'll tell yon what we'll do," an We'll go hunting your "I wouldn't permit that for an' in stant," Manning fairly Jumped at John with his refusal. "Captain Waley will do all a man can wa musn't ba think ing of shipwrecks all the time. It would ruin tha cruise," Ha spoke so naturally and glanced with such con cern at Kate and me that it seemed scarcely fair to ba suspicious of his protest. John Is stubborn, "Stuff and guff, Manning." ha said. "It will give us an object. We'll go scour the aeas for the Katrina. If your worthy Waley haa turned pirate and run off with her we'll bring him back In Irons." its laughed. For a second every - Una In Man ning'a face said, "Officious fool!" but John was gazing carelessly at the Col onel as he made his offer, and I was sure Manning suspected nothing worse tffan a meddlesome Interest. John's reason for having the man along broke through my dulness in a rush. Of course our only excuse tor boardlpg tha Katrina would be tha presence of her ' owner aboard the Chicoia, and If Manning was all right we were doing him tha biggest sort of favor in giving him this chance with Katharine and In bunting up his boat. If ha was not ha would deserve what ever happened. In the and he came aooard knowing that wa meant to find tha Katrina- - " Before wa started wa -had news. Tha Katrina had appeared In the har bor at fit. Johns, repaired her propel ler, cleared for Boston had gotten away to sea before the atorm had pass ed. No one but the skipper, Captain Waley, had been ashore. So here we are, ten hours' out from St. Johns, and going north because the Katrina went north. Ona of this New foundland fishermen met her steaming directly away from Boston. ehe has two full days start of oe, Wa appear to be out of tha track of everything living and It Is cold. : John la still sleeping Ilka a oy. 1 wonder where tha Katrina Is to-night and Clarke Irwin. - Or bars I dis covered a mare's neat. . j June 20. Two In the morning. .' It Is vary cold and a felt ghostly. . I keep thinking we may coma to the adga of tha world and drop off. John and I seem to have changed, placea. Ha haa seen something X have not In Manning's treatment of Kata.' - "l guess you're right, old lady." ha said to-night when we were shut In bars with tha doors closed. Wa have swered John. Katrina." two little connecting cabins where wa can safely think aloud. "About Manning and Clarke Irwin?" I aaked. ; "Hmp!" aald John, as If some dis covery bothered him. "A man like Manning won't shy at anything to get what ha wants." ' ""What he wants, of course, is to make Kate fall In love with him," I groaned. . "And sometimes, I am afraid she -will. She seemed absorbed In what ha said at dinner and be talk ed well'' '"Nonsense," said John. "What he wants ' la possession. He'll risk the love if ha can make her marry him. But your Katharine is playing him; she means to make him talk a good deal more!" ' Wa have sighted a speck bearing west by northwest. By her speed she must ba using steam. The Katrina is an auxiliary Ilka the Chleola. There la soma special virtue In our engines; Perkins, the engineer, has often ex plained to me our superiority, but I never j understood explanations about machines. At any rate, we are gain ing on tha speck. If Manning has any secret why does he show no uneasi ness? -. . '. ,-' .. - ' Kata cams still mora out of her shell to-day and kept tha Colonel and Manning hanging on her words all the afternoon. The. Colonel . chaperons her so' well that I fee! less anxious. He haa adored her ever since she waa in sashes and 'ankle ties, if ba bies . of , her generation ' wore such things. Manning thinks htm an old dotard. - He never saw tha Colonel roused. Berry Manning's eyes look at you with a kind of aggressive Intimacy. To many women ha ia attractive. Is Kate . beginning . to , Ilka him? Soma one - - . ' ' LATER. ' "Soma one," I was going to say, "seems as wakefjil as myself." It was raptaln Well. He waa talking with Mr. Manning about tha weather Tha Captain and, by the Captain's advice, McClsod, tha second engineer, as well as Perkins his chief, and Dr. Bellew, are entirely in John's confi dence. Witlr ths help of tha carpen ter In ths daytime and a little change of hours at night they hara managed not to let Manning out of their sight It must have been cleverly done, for not even I suspected so much precau tion - - . Late ton!ght after wa sighted tha boat and tha excitement of the unac knowledged chase was keeping -me awake, MeCleod was on duty In the angina room, when he heard atepa. They were too soft, and tha young fellow, who quits fanclea -relieving the monotony of the cruise by a bit of Sherlock Holmea work, .pretended to be asleep. It was amusing to see him Illustrate for ua how he did it, tipped back against ths wall, one knee sprawling to tha floor, his mouth open, his attitude showing the most limp and unconscious length of legs and arms, -. Through his squinted ye' low eyelids ha could see Manning with moccasins and pajamaa visible under a long coat, and for a minute he was afraid ha would have to wake up he waa so closely Inspected. Then the visitor wandered about while Me Cleod slept nobly, even, he boasted, emitting a slight snore. "I wouldna say I could do that again. - Mem," he continued as ha told his tale. Then Manning moved over to tha engines. His position did not please tha en gineer. ' : , ,v - - v-' ; At onca MeCleod began to -wake, and with the first yawn and stretch Manning'a hand disappeared into the pocket of his great coat.: - "A pretty companion for a sleepless man you are," be reproached the ap parently stricken MeCleod. "Have a cigar; it may keep you from doalng." v t June tt. We have gained on tha boat. She Is a yacht. . I ahould think her the Chleola if I weren't aboard our own boat. " June 24. ' We pitch so I don't suppose I can write a legible word, but the attempt may keep ma from a panic. X would n't have believed I could be made so miserable with tha Chleola between me Riid the sea and Jr.bn here beside me only at this Moment ha la on deck getting the drench of tha waves. This storm is either worse than auy we have ever weathered or X am made anxious by our being In such far-off waters. We must b north of Lab rador. Tor- two days it has "been impossible, to take an observation. If only -we get safely out oftthls I will never get John Into such "Oh yes. you will," said John over my shoulder. . This diary Is always as much his as mine, and arter we are at home he stretches himself at ease to listen to It. That la the way we have" lived over more than one of our adventures. . 1 "Oh yes, you will" repeated John. "And you'd not bo Cella if you didn't and my wife! What do you auppoae I married you for if I wanted a fire side, pussy!" v v- t. - y.: Steam makes little impression on this oold. It'a a chin that eats away every protection. I ache with the struggles of onr plucky Chicoia. bang ed and wrenched and throttled by these seas pounding in their awful convulsions at ona small storm. My pencil goes up and down leav ing a word ojly on soma of the pages. Yet writing keepe ma busy and I for get my battered body and tha horrors ahead. Heaven aava ua from float ing lee! I am not an Infant and I have laughed through - ao many storms It never occurs to any ona to keep ths truth from roe. So X know wa'ra being driven no - one knows where. ' .' " .-"' ' "Of course 5s long ago lost sight of tha other boat. But she ia surely being flung before us In the earns direction. '. v r Kata has been here, wrapped In furs, her ayes glowing, her breath so quick I could sea how excitement was setting her heart hammering at her ribs. Sha spoka as quietly as if we wars on tha piaxsa at Malobran. Sha will not talk of anything real. Soma, times X believe our words in Boston mnk of her future, for she . loves , Mm as not many of us -can love as " I have sometimes thought no ona but v John and I have ever loved. " And '' she feara they may maroon Clarke. r What could any one prpva even If his dead body were found on ona of s ' these - thousand shores?- ' - Excepting In this awful time, on the very edge -of death, I don't believe aha will In. all her-Ufa give her confidence to anjr . one. If only ha could have he,ard and seen her. i " ( , , . , June 27th. I at night but broad day. ' I broke off In the worst of the " tng down, and I. wanted to be with John If the end had come. Ha waa , ' on his way for me. The last crashca had been terrible. - He wanted ma to know that wa were doing well! And I suppose It waa "well" whan ona thinks that : we're alive and ' only a few aalla gone and it rail smashed for ., damages. .- ' ' , . The other boat may have gone 255 1?l ';T:i A i- t ; down.- No sign of her' any whert - Yes, there Is) Wa have Just picked her up with tha glass. Kata has been here to tell ma.. , Tha sea la Wal lowing horribly. - If this boat we are pursuing la tha Katrina she will hardly get away frpm ua nod, unless sha dodgea through . soma strait where we cannot follow.. There are too many Islands about, but It is light both day and night, for tha little darkness we get is hardly night. Kata scarcely leaves the deck. Man ning is close beside her which ever way ahe turns. Sha no longer tries ' to gain his confidence. - She' sees now that ha is too shrewd to believe sha ' would be flattered by tha confession of the lengths to which he may hava gone to. win her.- He asked Kate -to-day if a woman would ba Justified in marrying a man she did not love to save tha Ufa of the man sha did lova. It was ona of those apparently t casual discussions that Idle people are -always thrashing out. -That - de- ' penda entirely on the circumstances," . Kata answered. Sha too appearing . - l 1, V. m man In mtnitf We ara'very near the other boat. DOtn sails ana engines nu ccm ui . ( to have suffered at all from tha storm. . "Walev can handle her. the old pirate." Manning said with pride, as he watched her. t -. John and the captain nave aeciaea . in fnllnw. wherever the Katrina leads. Wa'ra fairly safe, in that, for she iraws but little Jess than the Chleola 1 and will risk no great speed among these islands. To hesitate is to loss her. . v-;. , , , ' r Noon, June 28th., , Wa ' are aground. In a harrow ', -strait Where tha Katrina led the way without a aounding. , Reversing the engines has dons no good,, buj. the . boat lies on an even keel at low tide. . High tide will float her. Captain Wells is aure. Meanwhile tha Katrina will escape. . To lose her so is maddening. -The. Colonel wanta to follow In the. launch. The Captain objects, but .- , C .-.:. "'Evening.. 1 Ailvi an .inn . ' v . .m v i - . ned. When we struck she slowed down to take soundings. Three. rr.es ' 1 .1 - V . . Ml sway we vouiu ucr mivi ojiu iiitui- ... ly swing about and go nosing the width of tha strait. Evidently there was no. passage and she turned." She meant to slip by.ua and get away ;. ' toward the open sea. while we hung there helpless waiting to be .floated . off..' Itf waa a good plan, but the , ttFMAth ne- fha-Ktrait mt tha lvnl.it' - tive; tnougn tne snauows were wu-. er. It waa exactly there that the chan- . nel proved narrow eat. . She must'". V come close to the Chleola In passing-. ' Wt'll board her," John said. '"-. " . Captain "Wells that!; ready. . . i- - - Manning, overnearo. lie lnterpos ed with xleelslon; "Til not hava you -run that risk. he said. "Qive me u boat and a couple of men and - I'll print ma via pirie o reason. , 'The last plan on earth!" John was oulte decided. "You're the "very man " they want to avoid. - , - T!l get aboard. Trust me.: Wav )eyU stop for me." I don' think Manning meant to say that. It es caped him in his eagerness. - John did not answer, only turned away to hurry tha start. Manning. deceived by hia manner. Insisted. "I ' ' won't hava her boarded.1 . . Jahn faced him . sharply: " Don't - you want your boat?" - "Certainly I want her. but not - enaurH In r 1 &!r rout ltvaa. tia mAAmA. (Contluued on Page Five). T-
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May 31, 1908, edition 2
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