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The Wingham Times, 1896-05-29, Page 2THE W1N(x1I,&M TIMES, MAY 9, 4— (cetaTtNUED.] 1414111 compare • you to the 'num I'm a- 'M •t talkie about, nohow. :Besides l IGodist h an' 'Pinot-ad sire two different things," returned McMonigle. "But teltin' my story—tm at least sense I've done told the story, I'll tell parson all I know about the old lugger, Proph,which is mighty little. "It was jes; three days after May Mere- dith run away thet I was ricin' through the woods twixt here en' Clay Bank, au' who did I run against but old Propil'-- walkin' along in the brush talkie' to his - self ez usual. "Well, ll,sir, stoppedI y horse, an' called him up sat' talk to bun, an' tried to draw him out—ast him how come ho to prophesy the way he done, ant how he knowed what was coniu', but, sir, I couldn't get no sat- isfaction out o' him—not a bit. He 'lowed Chet he only spoke ez it was given him to ,speak, an' the only thing he seemed inter- ested in was the stranger's name, an' he est nae to say it for .tins over an' over— he xepeatin' it afterme. An' then he ast me to write it for him, an' he put thepaper I wrote it on in his hat. He didn't know B from a bull's foot, but 1s'pose hethought maybe if he put' it in his hat it might strike in." 1 "Like ez mit he.'lowed he couldgitsome- body to reel& it outi to him," suggested the doctor./ ";e ez not. 'ell, sir, after I had give about leiui the paper he.cotumenced to talk huntiu"—hada 1)unch o' birds in his panels then, an' give 'en' to me. 'lowin' all the time he hadn't had much luck lately, .'count o' his pistol bean' sort o' out o' order. 'Lowed that he took sech a notion to hunt with his pistol thet twasn't no fun • shootin' at long range, but somehow he couldn't depend ou his pistol shootin' straight. "Took it out o' his pocket while he was standin' there, an' commenced showin' it to me. An', sir, would you believe it? While we was Stanclin' there talkin' he give a quick turd, fired all on a sudden up intoes tree, an' befo' I could git my breath, down dropped aL, sgnir'l right at his feet. Never see sech s iootin' in my life. An' lie wasn't no mo' excited over it than nothin'. Jest picked up the squir'l ez un- concerned ez you please, an', sez he: `fans, • she done it that; time—but she don't al- ways do it. Cont depend on her.' "Then, somehow, he brought it round to ask. me of I wouldn't loand hint myrevoly- en. Jest to try 'it an' see if he wouldn't have -better luck: 'Lowed that he'd fetch it1>acl. quick ez he got done with it. `shell, sir, o' co'se I loaned it to the or nigger—an' took his—then an' there. I tul'hle last six mogths, "Ef somethin' crimd jest cone upon her sudden to rouse her up—ef the house would burn down an' she have to go out 'mongst other Poll s—or et was some way to git folks tl ere, whether she wanted them or not— 'Tell the truth, I been a-thinkiu' about somethin', It's been on my poud all day. I don't know ez at would do, but I been a-thinkin' ef I col Id get. Meredith's con- sent for the Simmtkinsville folks to come out in a body— ' "Ef he'd allow it, an' the folks would be willin' to go olit there to -night for the old year party—take their fiddle an' cakes a — i an'things nlongm nn surprise her sle d be obliged to be polite to 'cm; site couldn't refuse to meet all her friends for the nmid- night haodshakn',%an' it might be the o' has passed. satin' her, ;Yhreo'yelfrt, There's no reason why one trouble should bring another. We've all had our share o' trials this year, au' I reckon everyone o' us here has paid for a tombstone in three years, an' I believe ef we'd all meet to- gether an' go in body out there— "Ef you say so . I'll ride out an' talk it opin- ion, What's w prig ov r with Mere there— ! 1 e tic ion, parson?" t "My folks wifl join you heartily, I'm sure," replied the parson, warmly. "They did expect to haft the crowd over at. Brad - field's to -night, but I know they'll be ready to give into the Meredith's." And this is how it came about that the Merediths' house, closed for three years, opeued its door again. If innocent cdriosity and love of fun bad carried many td the New Year haudyhak mug. three years before, a more serious interest, not ui mixed with curiosity still, swelled the pat +ty to -night. It was a mile out of town. The night was stormy, the roads were heavy and most of the wagons without cover, but the festive spirit is impervious to weather the world over, and there were umbrellas in Simpkinsville, and overcoats and "tar- paulins." Everybody went. Even certain persons who bad not ; previously been able to master their iersonal animosities suf- ficiently to resolve to present themselves for the midnight handshaking, and had decided to nuree their grievances for an- other year, pro aptly decided to bury their little 'hate est, and join the party. To storm a citadel of sorrow whether the issue should pro've a victory for besiegers INTO WIIICII LIMPED A TALL MUFFLED FIGUAF.. .give it to him loaded, all six barrels, 'n', sir, would you believe it? No livin' soul has ever laid eyes on or Prophet from that day to this. "I'm mighty feered he's wandered way off sonm'ers an' shot hisself accidentally— an' never was found. Them revolver, is mighty resky woepons ef a person ain't got experience with 'em. "So that's all the story, parson. Three days after May Day went he disappeared, an' of eo'se he's livin' along at Merediths all these years, an' being so 'Moiled to May • Day, and proplmesyipg about her like he done, you can see how one name brings up another. So when. I think about one I seem to see the other," "Didn't IIarry Conway say he see the of man in St. Louis'onc't thet he let on he didn't know him•—woulclil't answer when be called him Proph?" said old man Conway."One ' Harry's cock an' bull stories," answered MoMonigle. "Ile might 0' saw some of nigger o' I'roph's bnitcl, but .sow would that old nigger git there?—any- body's cotnmon sense would tell him bet- ter'n that. No, he's dead—no doubt about that." "I suppose no one has ever looked for the eld man?" the parson asked. "Ulm, yes, he's been searched for. 1F e've got up two partiesian' rode out elttir into the swamp lands twie't—but there wasn't no sight of hisn. "Iltt:ilay 1)8.y -4 -nobody has ever went after her, of cu se: She Ieft purty well escorted au' ef her wn folks never foliered her. 'nwa:. sn't nobody else's business. Iter another ain't Hove mentioned her name e t• -tU l nl>o i . V. .f senseshe le y f 1 "Fag," intern pted the doctor, "an' mine has accused liar f,' hardbenmtctlness, but when I sea a ld•omnati's head turn from black to white. in three mon the' time, like hers done, I tion'rt say her hearts hard, I toy it's broke. "They keep sasenditt' for me to Ace her, but I can't do her nrm good.She's failed they looked at Ails' Meredith," Whether this were true, or only seemed to be true in the light of subsequent events, it would be hard to say. Certain it was, however, that the note that rose above the storm and floated. out the light- ed 'windows was a uote of joyous merry- making. Such was the note Hutt greeted a certain slowly moving wagon, whose heavily -clogged wheels turned into the Merediths' gate near luiduight. The be- lated guest was evidently one entirely familiar with the premises, for, notwith- standing the darkuess of the night, the ponderous wheels turned accurately into the curve beyond the magnolia tree, Inov- ed slowly lout surely along the drive up to the door, and stopped with hesitation ex- actly opposite the "'landing," well-nigh du- visible to -night. After the ending o$itlto final deuce, dur- ing the very last limas of the closing year, there was always itt the old year party mutt l of •lichee. The held bei watchesin Choir men r rile 6eol ttheir I bands, and the yo•ng people spoke iu whItiswvpers. ,tstliilast wt interval that in s Ring years passed the o filled with portent, last prophecy, his w•, spoken. As the crowd sa watching the hands seemed almost to was their movemeu hurrying tick -tack against the wall, i ory, quickened by vironment, suppli )iter 1 A1C picture a00I stood before them. u matt rtop ttet astir ven though, until his Ards 11ad been lightly t waiting to -night, of the old clock that lave stopped, so slow , listening to the never f the long pendulum is probable that :nem- ircutnstances and sot- to every hind present often d f mai, as he had MI1ri UNQUALIFIED sZstra-Nasa.7 --% PL1NG ii RuoY)atcg• Now First Published—All Rights Reserved.) Almost any pilot will tell you that his work is pitch more difficult than you Imagine; but the pilots of the Hugll know that they have one hundred miles of the most dangerous river on earth running through their hands—the HugIi between Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal—and say nothing. Their s sifted as carefully preme court, for a the wrong man, bu a careless pilot can es smug l t shipwith crew told in the rush and b'1 .•ted ton wv re lose of four ii less waters)than the Cot and cargo itt time than it takes to reverse the engines.fifteen hundred tons, There is very little blame of getting or • sized in ten minutes; a vice is picked and the bench of the so- weather and tide the sands shift and udge can only hang change like n cloud. It was here, (the rse when they are owl of the muddy ntess of Stirling, touched and cap- cl a two thousand a pilgrim ship in .gages with all the Ave; and another stent er literally in an Is of Bengal, where instant, holding down er men with the two feet between masts and shrouds as she lashed over. Gels make or efface When a ship touches on the James and themselves in a season. Men have fought Mary the river knocks her down and the Hugh for two hundred years till, now, buries her and the sands quiver all around the river owns a huge building with her and reach out under water and take tt d p tli s with their rows of burning pea ho1ea, tied 'Wen. he feared he would not come back to up in Diamond harbor for the night Jim are it. Going down Garden Reach he dls- would row from one ship to the other covered that the junk w gale. answer to her through the sticky hot air and the buzz- helm if you put it over enough and that ing mosquitoes and listen respectfully as she had a fair, though Chinese, notion of the pilots conferred together. Once, fora sailing. He took charge of the tiller by treat, his father took hint down clear out stationing three Chinese on each side of it tothe sand heads and the pilot brig, and suet standing tt little forward gathered. Jim WVIfs joyfully sea trick as she tossed and their pigtails into los handst three right'. pitched i the four times mmore had with frieo ndly the wn and yoke lihree nes of a though Erh- ebeen al - pilots till he had cured his weakness. The most smiled et this. Ile felt be was get-. dream of life, though, was coming up in a ting good care for his Money, and took a, tug or a police boat from Diamond hat- . neat polished bamboo to keep the men MM- bor, to Celcntta over the James and Mary tentive, for he said this was no time to —the terrible sands christened after a teach the crew pigeon English. Themore royal ship they sunk two httndreci years way they could get ou the junk better ago. They are made by two rivers that would sho steer, and as soon as lie felt a eater the Hugli six miles apart and throw little confidence in her Jim ordered the big their awn silt across the silt of the plain rustling mat sails to be hauled up tighter stream so that with each turn of the and tighter, He slid not know their names—at least any name that would be likely to interest of Chinaman --but Erh- Tze had not hanged about the waters of the Malay archipelago for nothing, and as he went, he rolled forward with the bamboo he sails rose like eastern incan- tiLtious. Early as they were on the river a big American kerosene ship was ahead of these in tow, and when Jim saw her through the driving morning mist be was thankful. She would draw all of seventeen feet, and if ho could steer by her they would be safe. ° It is one thing to scurry up and down the James and Mary in a police tug without responsibility, and quite another to cram the sante of ml 'auk across hard -mouthed aJ of a thrash - sands eh ue, with the certainty if you came out alive. Jint glued his eyes to the American and saw that at Fu.tab she dropped her tug and stood down the L1but whooped river under sail. He all aloud, for he knew' that the number of pilots who preferred to work aL ship through the James and Mary withont a tui; was strictly limited. "If it ' isn't touch in the furious ton steamer in two; an again when once you current of this river fat silt of the the Ile surroundings cluing( tides and new cltan ewsha e, +r depart- . n a surveyand telegraph h drawing, b P P ,,, Young Jitn would in the bows of service, as g toitsexclusivee meets devoted ' the tug and watch training buoys well as a body of t ardens who are called . U y the port commissioners. kick and smother iu the coffee -colored red They and their o cera govern absolute current, and the semaphores and lv from the'fugdd ridge to the last buoy flags signal from the bank how much in the Bay of Bengal, till he learned that • men who deal with first pick up the pilots men can afford,to bet cardless on the chance of their fellows belnt like them; but men yes not bring 'papers who deal with thin s dare not relax for an ftp rope ladders He instattlt, "And that's the very reason,"father it's Dearsley, said Jim, and Dear - up the lothes with a native old McEwen said to dim once, "that the sley went down yesterday Bali - to wait on him, and Jamas and Mary is t e safest part of the copra. If I'd gone home last night instead earn river,"and heput th big blackBandoorah of going to Pedro I'd have met father. He should who can c, inn s a year after twenty that draws twenty-five feet through the must have got his ship quick, but—father ip. He has beautiful Eastern Gat, with a turban of white foam is a very :snick man, Then Jim reflected Mee at Calcutta and wrapped round her foot and her screw that they kept a piece of knotted rope on ' itis own heart. the pilot brig that stung like a wasp; away to the river but this thought he dismissed as be- ig, cool port office. neath the dignity of an officiating pilot -ere calculated and who need only nod his head to set Erh- t Pi1ot's Ridi;e, o e hundred and forty water there wast in the channel A careful turn of the front doorlatch, so miles away, andou slight a click as tolbe scarcely discernible, where the steamers came at this moment, as the clank of a• front the brig, sledge-hantmer, tiling all beads with a A. Hugli pilot aboard or scramble1 arrives in his best servant or assistant he behaves as a m1 ton thousand della years' apprentices rooms in the port generally keeps hi his own professio m reports the. graph e x g P 1 of theriver d; ins ings between t) Some millions of find their way to e twelve -mouth, common impulse owards the slowly open- ing door, into wh4ch limped a tall, muffled figure, that seemed to the startled eyes of the company to reach quite to the ceiling. Those sitting neafs the door started bock in terror at the appaa rition, and all were on their feet in a mclment. But having el tiered, the figure stood still just withi the door. And before there was time - for action or question, ev n L bundle 1•wraps had fallen e 7 I fI G f old 5,) ,1 )ns and theold mat )Let bearing in t oc L rod g arms a golden -haired cherub of about two years, stood iu the presence of the company. The revulsion 'of feeling, indescribable by words, were quickly told by fast -flow- ing tears. Looking upon the old man and the little child, qveryone present read a new chapter in the home tragedy,and wept in its presence. ' Coming from *the dark night into the light, the i1il moil could not for a moment discern the faces he hnew, and when the little one, shritiaing from the glare, hid her face in his h:4i•, it was as if dune had turnedbriCY,so. nerfect a restoration was the picture -0-u lamiliar one of the old days. No iw ord had yet been spoken, and the ticking of tel )e great clock and the crackling fire min ;led. with sobs were the only sounds that .broke the stillness, when the old man, .laving gotten his bearings, walked directly up to old Mrs.:1lerddith and laid the child in her arms. Then, los- ing no time but, pointing to the clock that was slowly nearing the hour, the said, in a voice tremulous w th emotion: "De time is most stere, Is -on all ready to slmek hands? Ef you is—everybody—turn round and come with mo,'" As ho spoke,. he turned back to the still open door, and before those who had fol- lowed had taken in his full meaning, he had drawn into the :emu ai,slim, shrinking figure, and little May Day Meredith, pale, frightened and weather-beaten, stood be- fore them. If it was her own Ilather who was first to grasp her hand, and if he carried her in his arms to her mother, it was that the rest deferred to his first claim, and that their hearty and affectionate greetings came later in their proper order. The striking of the great clock now, mingled with the sound -of joy: and of weeping—the shaking and words tered—node a scene ar iu the annals of Simpkinsville. A sc,$ne beyond words of description—a family meeting which even lifetime friends rocs gnized as too sacred congratulations, hand of praise fervently u ever to be held d "I AIN'T NiivEP. FPIfF-D EBB BUT USCT." 1 for their eyes and lnlrried, weeping, away. or besieged., was no 'slight lure to a people It was when the Ii emorable, sad, joyous whose excitements^were few, and whose party was over, and all the guests were interests were limited to time personal departing, that lophet, following old happenings of their snail comtntrnity, mate McMoniglo oa j, called him aside for It is a crime in the provincial code social a moment. Then p ttting into his hands to excuse oneself from a guest. To deny aL small object, he said Itm a tremulous a full and cordial reception to all the town voice: Much obliged fc r de loan o'de pistol, would be to ostracise oneself forevernot Itlasrse Don't. kIolcil.her keerful, cam she's only from its society but from all its sympathies. loaded des de wa you loaded her—all The weak-henrted hostess rallied all her 'dept one barrel. I )tiu't never fired her failing energies for the emergency. And there was no lack of frendliness in her i [TIT • END.] pale old face ns she greeted her most un- T welcome guests with extended hands. If her thin cheeks'fiushed faintly as her neighbors' happy daughters passed before ]let in game or dance, her solicitous ob- servers, not suspecting the _pain at her heart, whispered: "Mis' Meredith is chirp - in' up :e'ready. She looks a heap better 'it when we come in," So little did they un- derstand. If mirth and numbers be a test, the old year party at the 1flereditlms' was assuredly* A success. 11111Im}nt emotions- swing ns peudulums front tears to Laughter. Those of theguests to•thight who had declared that they knew they woatld burst ;,ottt crying its soon as they entered that house, were the ones who laughed the loudest. "Spinning the plate," "(lamb -eremite," "pillow," .low, when and where," such were the innocent games that composed the simple diversions of the evening, var- ied by music by the village string band and occasional goners from the girls, all to end l w K br al.-cl >w n just before with n "Virginia J twelve o'clock, when the handshaking fun should commence. It seemed a very merry party and yet, iu speaking of it afterward, there were many who declared: that it tvssa the sat(1- • gest evening they tiatl ever spent in their lives. .Some even affirming that they had .:peri "obliged to ix .elm atm' giggle the live- long time to keep r)nl cryin' every time .>ut onc't.11 The Manna of Arabia. In some of the Eastern countries, nota. bly Arabia and Pcrsiaa, a manna answering closely to that mentioned in the Scriptures is still naturally produced in considerable quantity. It comes front the tender branches of the tamarisk, and is shown to the Persians by the name of tamarisk honey. It consIs£,jof tear-likedrops which o q P rude in consequence of the uncture of an insect in Juno and .7uly. In the cool of the morning it is:fouud solidified, and the congealed tears maty be shaken from the limbs. That, in fact, is one of the methods of gathering manna. Heroclotus alluds to the same nutritious product, so thatthere is no doubt it has been known in those regions from the earliest ages. It is easy to see how it might be produced in 'wonderful quantities with- out any special ±'tattife:dation of the su- pernatural. It is a sweetish sttbatance, pleasant to the taste and highly nutritive. Some students df the Bible have supposed the 1m4111111 there mentioned to have been a fungus growths, but while the explan- ation would be it natural one, the modill- cation which it: would require is an un- necessary one, -Good Housekeeping. a ht I)iftcreoee. Teacher iu t tetniatry-..•i: batt is the prin. Clitil (11111't' •nf • i:etween beer and water? Saloon-I:et•1.tr's otm- 1five touts. self to the society of beating as stoadily as for though the tele- If Jim could not gel ore important sound- there was always the fly thein is much to be where the soundings p and trip. the maps were drawn; or the pilots room,. Tze's bamboo at work. As the American ultalt samba ' tons of shipping mast where he could lie Just long chair and lists camp round, just before the I da., 1d from Calcutta each en to the talk about the Hugli; and there Jinn raked her with his spy glass and SA* ane unless the Hugli were was the library, when if you had money his father on the poop with all unlighted watched as closel as men w•a►tc1 the At- you could buy charts nd books of direc- cigar between his teeth. That cigar, Jim }smoked on the other side l th tit l tl xt tl actual. know, would be sn o tions n ,Li tat a t t yo y i cables there is a fear that it might faint c c e g ted ttp • old steamed over the places themselves. It of the James and Mary, and Jim felt so ese ports twenty and w•aLS exceedingly hard for Jinm to hold the entirely safe and happy that he lit a cigar Calcutta. So the port list of Jewish kings in his head, and he on his own account. This kind of piloting scours and dredges and was more than uncertain as to the end of was child's pity! His father could not builds spur; and vices for coaxing cin- the verb "audio" if ou followed it far make a mistake if he tried ; and Jim with rents and labels a the buoys with their ,enough down the pag , but he could keep his six faithful pin; -tails iu his two hands, proper letters an II attends to the sena.- the soundings of thre channels distinct in had leisure to admire the perfect style ill bores and the lights and the drum,ball his head and, what is tore confusing, the which the American was handled—how and cone storm a nuts and the pilts of changes in the buoys from Garden Reach she would point her bowsprit jeeringly at g down to Sau. or, as well as the greater a hidden'bllclk as much as to say: "Not the Hugli do the melt, but in spite of all t f tt L 1 to Telegraph, thonly to -day, thank you, dear," and bow down lovingly over a buoy as much as to say; snot pursue about the • silt up as it has si Dutch and Portr thirty miles behin office sounds and b ild dd the care the Hugli swallows a ship or two par o le a cell every year. paper he ever r mil When Martin Trevor had followed this ' Unluckily:, ya; life from his boyhcnd; when he had risen Ilugli without u.Iley,"" even though you to be a senior pilot entitled to bring up to are the son of the hesGknown pilot on the Calcutta the big :chips drawing over river, and as soon as- Trevor understood twenty-four feet that can (or could till a how his son was spending his time he cut few years ago) onl pass by special ar-down his pocket money; and Jim had a rangement; when h had talked nothing very generous allowance. In his ext•retn- but Hugli and pilots ge all his life, he was ity he took counsel with Pedro, the plum - 'It that his onlyson colored mulatto at o sailor's home. And nd as he grew older , Fedro was a bad mea , Ileintrodnced Jim ,flow itiR his father's to :L Cit :mimeo in amchuatellah a nasi ever had died when place in itself, and tI a Chinaman, who an swered to the name of EErh-Tze,when be ails of his business, as very often by the was not smoking Opiumtalked, pigeon ace for a boy. Once, English to Jim for an hour. S ppse you take. ban do?" he said, at last `+• Jim considered the;cle Mees. A junk he knew would draw about eleven feet, and the regular fee for a qualified pilot out - 07 Lei ' exceedingly iudigna should decide upon procession. Mrs. '1' the boy was a child, Trevor, in the inter noticed that the lad riverside—no nice p YOUNG JIM w•0111 ' LIE Iii TILE BOW. when he nsked him 'i he could' make any- thing out of the slit a ing, little Trevor re- plied by reeling off t e list of all the house - flags in sight at the noorings. "You'll conte to 1 bad end, Jim," said Trevor. "Little boy: haven't any business to know house -flags.' "Oh, Pedro at the "•tilos' home taught me. He says you can begin too early." "At what, please?" "Piloting. I'm nest + y fourteen now and —and I knoav where 111 the shipping in the river is, and I kn.w what there was yesterday over the Ma; spur bar, and I've been down to 1)I:tm nd harbor—oh, a hundred tithes—and I ve—" "You'll go to school eon, and learn what they'll teach you, and ,•ou'il turn out bet- ter than a pilot," salt • his father, but he might just as well .maw told ashovel•nosed porpoise of the river ', come ashore sold begin life as a lien, .7 m held his tongue —he noticed that all t o best pilots in the port office did that.—e 'd devoted his young attention end all his s are time and money to the river he loved. • Trevor's son became 1►s well known as the Bankshali itself, and the port police let hint inspect their launches, and the tug boat captains had always a place for him , at table. and the nutter of the big steam dredgers used t show ]him how the ma- chinery worked, stud there were certain native rowboat. that :Jin practically owned; and he e. tended his patronage to the rail that rt as to Diamond harbor, forty miles Bowl time river. In the olcl days nearly all tib b::tst India Company's ships used to disci •4.1.1{8 at Diamond .harbor on account of the shoals above, but now ships -go straight t ) to Calcutta, and they i vessels in rs for sls we.( 11:4'C only some nC ¢, dir:trt'sw there, stud- telegraph serviee and a harbor master, Iv.'io was .Jim's intimate friend. He would:: in the office and listen tothe soundings of the siloxisas they were reported every (la' and attend to tike movements Of the . tanners up and down (.1i:n always felt he lad lost something if it boot got in or at of the river without }•i', Ian:wing itt, :Circ when the big liners. EIf7I-TZE BEAT Hilt t,(' ward would be two the other hand, he w could not ask more the other hand, he av thrashing from hi ing without lice ed one hundred rupees, and Erh-Tze WN TO ONE TWENTY. muncircd rupees. On is not qualified, so he than half. But, On is fully certain of a father for pilot- Ise. So he ask - and seventy-five eat hint down to a bundred.and twenty, and that was like a Chinaman allover. The cargo of his junk was worth anything from fifty to a hund- red thousand rupees, and Erh-Pze was getting eaoraiotns frieghton the coffins of thirty or forty dead Chinamen whom he was taking to be buried in their native country. Rich Chinamen will pity fancy prices for their services, and they have a superstition that the iron of steamships is bud for the health of their dead. I+lt•h'T're's junk had crept up from, Singapore, via Penang and Rangoon, to Calcutta, where I:lrh= I'zc had been staggered by the pilot dues. This time ile was going out at A re- daction with Jim, who, Pedro said, was just as good. as a Bildt, CHAPTER II. Jinm knew something of the outside of Inuits. but he w,t:Not prepared, when the went down that night with his charts, for the contusion of cargo and coolies and 4.01111114 and day -cooking plaices and other Chinas that littered the flecks. J}m had Sfg1:1e eunu•wla to 1111111 tlse rudder tip a few fest; he knew that of junk's rudder goes far below the bottom Aad he allowed a foot extra to Eth=1'ze's estinufte of the ship's depth. Then they staggered out into Mid- stream tory early, and never had the city of hl+a birth looked so beautiful to Jim as JIM IBAFEI> HER WITII THIS SPY GLASS. "You're a gentleman at any rate," and come round sharp on Iter heel with a flut- ter and a rustle and a slow steady swing something like a woman staring round a theatre through opera glasses. It was not hard work to keep the junk near her, though Erh-Tze set everything that was by any means settatble and used the ham - bop very generously. When they were +,.most under her counter and a little to the left, Jim would feel warm and happy all over, thinking of the nautical and pilotic things he know. When they fell more than half a utile behind he was cold and miserable, thinking of all the things that he did not know or was not sure of. And so they went down,Jim steering by his father, turn for turn, over the Maepur bar with the semaphores on each bank signal- ing, the depth of wafter, through the West-,. ern Gat and round the Makoaputti Lumps and in and out of twenty places each more exciting than the last, and Jim nearly pulled the six pig -tails out for pare joy when the lafst of the James and Mary had astern, and they were walking through Diamond harbor. Prom there to the mouth of the Hugli things are not so bad, at least that was what Jim thought, and held on till the swell from the Bay of Bengal made the old junk heave and snort and the river broadened ittto an inland sea with islands only a foot or two high scattered about it. The American walked away from the jtmnk ns soon as they were beyond liecigeree,attd the night came on and the water looked very big and desolate, so Jim promptly • anchored somewhere in the gray water with the Saagor light away off toward the east. IIe had of great respect for the Httgli and no desire whatever to find himself on the Gaspar 8ancl or any other little shoal. I+ rlt.'r' a and the crew highly approved of thla, piece of seamanahip. They set no watch, lit no lights told at once went to sleep. .71m lay down between a red and black lacquer coffin and a little live pig in a basket. As soots aK it was light he be,. tom studying his chart of the Iingli ntotttk and trying to find out where in the river he might be. He deckled to be on the safe sig 1 ty a ttld wait for another sailing alp and follow her out. So he made an enormous breakfast of vino and boiled lisli while EtbJl'ze lit lire crackers and burned gilt paper with os- tentation. '1'Iten they heaved up their rough and tumble :nudism and made after a big. fat, iron four -piaster sailing shift ,f.