The Pearsall Leader (Pearsall, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 48, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 1916 Page: 7 of 8
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THE PEARSALL LEADER PEARSALL, TEXAS
by
0\DN
EMERSON
HOUGH
GRACE CUNARD
& WPIGHf A. FWrTfRSOAJ
Die biitne Name,
ing Company.
Produced by uiw
“But if he knows nothing whatever
that scrap of paper—if he never
jard of it—”
All the more he will be willing to
irt with it if we ourselves can find
As to that, we do not know. This
but a drag-net sort of move on our j home, I
irt, but it may take some fish
“Yes, a young American of youth
1 and much beauty. She was in this
■ country on business of her own. With-
j out plan she became involved in af-
; fairs between these two monarchs.
She has been the victim of evil for-
tune, not through fault of her own.
Now, I am telling you the truth—since
I have gained my purpose of an audi-
ence with you. You may rely upon
what I have said, captain. This is the
truth, so far as 1 know it.”
“Then why not let them sail for
their own country—if she has been in-
jured here why not let her go back to
her own. country? I am booked for
New York. If that be a city of her
native land, why not that port as well
as any other? And how shall I know
your own motives?”
Count Frederick paused in thought
at this. “True—that is true,” said he.
“Very well, we will search your ship.
When we find the young woman let
her decide what she wishes to do. If
she says she wishes to go back to her
will not prevent it. But if
who she be asked to go back against her
; will, then I shall take her with me,
to
'Good! Then what is our next
Ive, as you perceive it?”
“Why, let us make a cautious move
feel out their point—as a fencer
Djsts his adversary’s wrist, to feel his
strength at the hilt. Let us send a
note of friendship to Michael and ask
him if it be not better that these two
li* !e kingdoms, separated by so nar-
row a stretch of land, should not
pnceforth meet in harmony, and
.iO longer Join in armed encounters.
Let us point out to him that there are
other nations greater than either of
us—or both of us—which perhaps
some time m^y look our way. Let us j
show' him the virtue of an alliance be- j
tween these two kingdoms. Let us j
play upon his fears, his vanity, his ;
weakness, until we have convinced J
him that friendship with us is a thing
desirable for him. Let us ask good
Michael if be is not graciously dis-
posed to be our friend today—to be
our magnanimous and powerful
friend!”
Sachio grinned broadly at bis own
irony, and his monarch gave vent to
a loud laugh, his gray beard curling
at the thought of his courtier’s cun-
ning as well as his loyalty to his own
king.
"Excellent! Sachio, excellent!” he
exclaimed. “Nor do I doubt the suc-
cess of this thing as you plan it. if
you yourself shall carry it forward.
Do you then write that humble mis-
sive that you suggest—do you your-
self ask Michael to be graciously gen-
erous to a weak and pleading friend!
la! ha! Sachio, what next lies on
the board for us?”
“Why. then, your majesty, we are
alongside the fence that lies between
us. We do not know how far it may
be until we come to a gate or a gap,
but sometimes there will be a gate or
a gap, through which we may pass.
In some way I doubt not, 1 and others
may perhaps gain access to the palace
of Gretzhoffen. That gives us our
footing. As for them, they sleep and
revel. As for us, wo act. It is the
man of action who succeeds. Let
them dream—we will act."
“Your counsels jump with my own,
;v .? of my dear Sachio." said Cortislaw. “I
have small use for the man who
: dreams or the man who waits. It
-tent shall be as you say. A test of this at
for east cannot harm us. and may prove
our- of extreme value. Go forward with it
- lution of then, as you have said.”
been be- --
ds are as CHAPTER LXI.
trained girl
The Discovery.
The two kingdoms now hung on the
fate of two refugees, two castaways
themselves forlorn and hopeless. Even
as Grahoffen’s king and Its leading
man of affairs pondered the absence
of these two so likewise the kingdom
of Gretzhoffen was concerned in their
absence, in their welfare, in their fu-
ture, in their return.
Count Frederick stood on the deck
v e of the Prinz Adler liner and fronted
the captain of that vessel, who was
severe in his resentment of the lib- j
erties he deemed to have been taken
with himself and lr's ship.
“I tell you.” said he, “I have noth-
ing to do with your little war here.
I am neutral—I am a carrier in the
open trade of the open sea. My gov-
ernment will demand reparation for
this insult to our flag.”
“Sir,” said Count Frederick, “your
government be damned! I will take
my chances with your government, j
Of what use will your government be
to you if we blow your ship out of
the water?”
“You threaten me, then?”
“No. I do not deal In threats. I
tell you that I know the persons whom
I mentioned are on this ship. I mean
to take them off.”
“And I tell you again that there are
no such passengers on my ship. The
ship s lists show all who have sailed
with us. You may look for yourself—
examine our books all you like. Do
you take us for pirates—are we be- j
yond all responsibilities?”
le two
—as so
ie hold
again
tential
e have
aid in
might
be sure of
have done
anger ask
)od our re-
jer knowl-
e been, of
other enig-
Ich may or
with—who
ice a horse
t any such
dowing on !
ajesty—we
ite the two
• scrap of a
ccomplish? j
;ret left, a
us trouble,
y solve no
for yonder
at sea. 1 j
e kingdom j
no matter at what cost. At least she
should have the choice of decision—
she should not be stowed aboard like
a dumb beast with no volition of her
own.”
“We are quite at one as to that.”
assented the captain. “Good, we will
search the ship—I am convinced we
shall not find these persons in any
of the cabins.”
“Stay,” he added an instant later,
“I recall that a short time back there
was complaint of noi3es below decks!
I sent some men to look into that.
Where are they?”
He pressed a bell and soon one of
his assistant officers came.
“Go, bring me the men I sqnt to ex-
amine the cargo a while ago. There
was some talk of a noise as of loose
animals in the hold.”
After a time the officer returned,
pushing before him two seamen. They
were the same who had been dis-
patched on the errand mentioned. But
“Captain—quick!" he exclaimed.
“There is trouble with the engines.”
“What's wrong?” inquired the ship’s
master.
“The right-hand tubular has gone
bad,” exclaimed the engineer. “She
has been pounding like a million ham-
mers. The water is low, and the in-
take s clogged. Something s wrong—
I cannot tell what. We have tried to
shut her off and can't. The boiler may
go at any minute.”
“Explode?” inquired the captain
calmly.
The engineer could only nod.
“Stay,” called Frederick at this
juncture. “Let the engineer go back
to his work. Let us first find the help-
less persons below. If danger impend
let us bring them up to have their
chance for safety.”
The captain, a gallant man withal,
turned to him and nodded grimly. “Go
back to your post. Miller,” he said to
the engineer. “We will join you pres-
ently.”
He himself led the way to the lift
which led to the lower decks and the
hatchway which covered the ladders
into the ship’s hold.
They found themselves at last deep
in the bowels of the vessel, among
the bales and casks of the cargo,
where for a time all was darkness and
mystery. But as they hurried here
and there, commanding the guidance
of the two recreant seamen and cast-
ing the rays of their lights hither and
yon, at last they saw a trussed-up
bundle behind a bale of goods which
seemed to have some human sem-
blance. It was Roleau. Frederick
himself was first at his side. He bent
over him, freed him, and after a time
revived him.
“Monsieur—your excellency!” said
he at length. “It is you.”
“Where is she?” demanded Freder-
ick. “Was she here?”
“I have known nothing for some
time, it seems. Yet she was here, yes
—she is gone, I know not where.”
Frederick left him to continue his
What do
: is obvious,
et into our
iis scrap of
lere over in
j other half
lissing half
old the key,
ilf of the
lent of the
talemate, a
er profit in
us see fur-
ram e done.
Ugh theirs,
o guide us
;e. I count
equal bal-
rick, their
shall we es-
thie3s, pup-
ill he stand
His Sattery
on the old
•oval.
■ver I need
ex-
vhat fur-
»m? How
these se-
enace us
numerous cries of those fa mortal ter-
ror.
Obedient to their orders for a time,
the crew held to their posts. The boats
were lowered one after another. Yet
into each there piled a senseless mass
Of packed humanity, overcrowding and
rendering it useless as it reached the
surface of the sea.
Children and women and strong men
fought now for a place in the last of
the boats. Discipline broke and failed.
What had been a happy party of trav-
elers was now a disorganized mob.
His arms supporting Kitty on one
side, those of Roleau on the other.
Count Frederick did his best to reach
the rail. Useless, hopeless! They were
forced back time and again.
“Jump!” cried Frederick at last.
“Jump! We will swim for it. We
must take the last chance.”
The look on the face of the girl at
his side was one in part of despair,
but more of trust. Unhesitatingly the
three sprang together.
The sea closed over them. They rose
after an agonized instant which
seemed death itself—rose but to see
the giant ship which had carried them
raise her bows aloft, shiver and
tremble, and slowly slide back and
down beneath the waves. In the whirl-
pool which marked the spot they were
but little human units, floating as best
they might among scores and hun-
dreds of others.
“This way!” cried Frederick, and he
and Roleau aided Kitty to a floating
piece of wreckage. But others saw it
also. Time and again they were
fought back from it as others strong-
er or more remorseless claimed it as
their own.
In all this commotion of shouting
and struggling men, of wailing worn'
en, of flailing arms and beating fists
Frederick and Roleau lost sight of
Kitty at last—she had gone, they knew
not where, in that chaos of the sea.
“Where is 6he?” demanded Fred-
erick weakly, himself well-nigh spent
“Which way?”
“I know not,” gasped Roleau, him-
self in as bad case as the other. “I
cannot tell, but fear that she Is gone.'
They swam about for a time in
search, but c4>uld not make out the
whereabout of!her whom they sought:
then they hoisted themselves one on
each side of a floating spar and rested
“Allow me, excellency,” said Roleau.
and flung across the end of his belt.
“Let us lash fast. I cannot hold much
longer.”
Spent and hopeless, they rested as
they might and allowed fate to have
its way with them.
“Our boat—the yacht, excellency,
exclaimed Roleau at length. “Where
is she—the vessel which brought you
out?”
Frederick could only shake his head.
“Gone,” said he. “I doubt not she was
scuttled by the heavy ironwork blown
out by the explosion. There is no
hope.”
They Rose After an Agonizing Instant Which Seemed Death Itself.
m
a new
Ichael.
to our
zd of
some
little
us as
im to
they were not now as they had been
then. Both bore marks of conflict,
and of conflict which had not gone al-
together to their favor.
“How, now, you dogs?” cried the
captain. “What's wrong with you?
Have you been fighting among your-
selves?”
One, quicker witted than the other,
gave his assent to this at once. The
second was not so fortunate.
“ ’Twas the animals,” said he, with
cunning not quite equal to the issue.
"What? You disagree, then?” said
the captain. “What does this mean,
fellows? Animals? What animals?
Lions?—tigers?—I did not know we
carried such!”
The sailor hung his head, and the
captain's suspicions grew.
“You are covering up something
here. Speak, you ruffians, and speak
the truth."
“Captain,” began the man once
more, “we are innocent. But we found
two stowaways below, and thinking to
bring them up, they fell upon us and
beat us—a man and a woman.”
“How did they get aboard—where
are they then—who are they?”
“They must have come in with the
freight by the lift from the dock, cap-
; tain. The young woman—she is beau-
I f'o not call you pirates,” said ' —and as you say. she is like a
Count Frederick, calmly. “I only call j tiger. As to the man, yes, he was like
you dupes. I believe you have been a jion They fought us, you see.”
i. You are not in possession j “Where are they now, spitzbuben,
of all the facts. My own men have ruffians?”
told me that these persons were to
be smuggled aboard the ship.”
"Heiliger Gott!” mused the captain.
“What is this that has been under-
taken here? 1 never discovered it.
Who and what are these persons—If
there be indeed any such aboard?”
The speaker paled suddenly. “They
are there in the hold,’’ he said.
“Lead us to them then.”
They turned to find their way to the
lower portions of the ship, but even as
they did so they met an interruption.
An agitated man, grimy and dirty, in
dis
its
of
‘ Two as I said. One is a man of oil stained clothing, came running to-
: . ranic. no more than a faithful j wards the captain's room—none less
S' vant, powerful and resourceful than the chief engineer of the vessel,
c. once loyal in my own serv- who obviously had been engaged in
. >■. now loyal in that of his mistress.” commoner duties than naturally be-
"Aiid she— the other?” longed to him.
hurried search in the confused freight-
age of the ship's hold. At last he
found that which he sought
She tried feebly to raise herself as
she heard footsteps, heard a voice she
knew to be that of her friend.
“Mademoiselle—thank God!” was all
Count Frederick could say.
“It is you, then?” was her reply.
“What has happened? Why are you
here?”
“I am here, my dear mademoiselle,
in the justice of the immortal gods—
to save you—to. care for you. 1 heard
of the plot against you. My own boat
lies alongside—I have come. I am here
to take you from this ship, if so you
wish. Come then, let us hasten. There
is scant time.”
They all crowded now to the lad-
ders up from the hold, and, rapidly as
they might, found their way back to
the upper deck. There came confu-
sion, noise, trampling, shouts, sounds
not ordinary at this stage of the voy-
age of a vessel putting out to sea. The
passengers themselves suspected
something to be wrong. They crowd-
ed now about the captain excitedly, ex-
postulating. The master of the ship
pushed them aside.
“Well, Miller.” be demanded again
of the oil stained engineer who hurried
up, “what is it?”
“It may be a minute, sir—or less!”
In an instant they were face to face
with the ultimate peril of the seas—
fire, explosion on shipboard.
There came from below that sound
which had been expected, dreaded—a
muflled, heavy roar, comparable to
nothing in the world !n terrifying qual-
ity at such a time as this. The ship
so lately safe and strong beneath them
all, now trembled. Midway her decks
rose spread apart, fell. A cloud of
blinding white 6team rolled from the
engine rooms, stifling and scalding all
within its way. Cries of anguish came
from below decks, cries of despair. To
these were added now the far more
CHAPTER LXII.
Marooned.
The vessel when blown up was well
on her way with the favoring winds
which she sought, which in ordinary
course would have carried her out into
the Mediterranean.
How Count Frederick and Roleau
lived they scarcely knew. Happily the
water at that latitude was not cold
and the day was one of calm.
“Rolean, she has perished!” mur-
mured Count Frederick, “She is gone.
Let me, too, perish then, for I have
never been ab!e to say that which 1
should have said. I have had no op-
portunity to expiate many thing?
which I have done.”
“As well die now as any time,” said
Roleau.
Wind and wave carried these two
far—they knew not how far. and had
no means of guessing, for they could
not tell how long a time had passed
since the explosion which had sunk
the ship. They knew not which way
to look for land, if land there might
be. It was by mere chance that at
one moment, as they flung high on the
ovest of the wave. Count Frederick
saw, many hours after the wrecking
of the ship, something which caused
him to give an exclamation of surprise.
“Roleau,” he exclaimed. “There is
land ahead, I believe!”
“Look!” said CoSnt Frederick at
length. “They are coming out to us.”
Surely enough, even from where
they were they could see dark forms
running here and there, could see the
launching of a boat, could see it com-
ing on, rising and falling on the waves.
At length the craft came alongside,
manned by strange, swarthy natives,
whose speech they did not know, yet
who seemed friendly enough withal
to serve as rescuers for them. With
small ceremony they were hauled on
board, and the boat, turning, made
way back again to the shore ahead.
“ ’Tis an island, Roleau,” said Fred-
erick, after a moment spent in exam-
ination. “Not so large, but excellent
under foot, Is It not true? And these
people seem not unfriendly to us.”
For a time they had been left alone,
but now they saw certain of the na-
tives returning with food and water.
Upon these both the shipwrecked ad-
venturers fell with eagerness. Their
captors stood about and grinned in
pleasure. All the wealth of Count
Frederick, his gold, his castles, his
lands—these things seemed little in
value as compared to what these
swarthy natives brought him now.
CHAPTER XLlll.
Kitty, the Castaway.
If Count Frederick and Roleau had
been dismayed when they saw Kitty
Gray swept away from them In the
mad struggle for safety in the sea.
wtiftt must have been her own feelings
as she found herself separated from
these powerful friends? Once more
she found herself alone—and once
more in the blind instinct for self-
preservation she did what she could
for her own safety.
She dared not think of the fate of
her friends. She mourned them now
as dead, but still in her subconscious
mind kept bitterly fighting the convic-
tion even as it came. And as she ar-
gued. she found herself swept away
farther and farther from the placa
where last she had seen them.
In some way, she knew not how,
Kitty found herself among many oth-
ers upon the same considerable piece
of wreckage where Roleau and Fred-
erick had endeavored to place her
soon after the explosion. Many others
now clung to this. She shuddered as
she cast a glance about her over the
water, and drew closer to the center
of the raft. One after another she
saw them lose their hold; one after
another she saw them carried away
by the waves. As for herself, pre-
served miraculously, she knew not
how, she fastened herself as best she
could to the frail floating floor and
ceased to struggle. Mercifully her
senses left her for a time.
When she came once more slowly
and painfully to a realizing sense of
what had. befallen, Bbe looked about
her wearily.
She was aloi_e upon the sea. Of
those who bad been about her, none
now survived! Not far from her a
body or two floated, but not a living
being was to be seen, not a survivor
save herself had found this means of
safety.
There was no food. There was no
fresh water for her. There was no
means of raising a sail, or using an
oar, even of hoisting a signal had she
had one. And yet the sky above her
was so blue and gentle, the sea aronnd
her so kind, that all now seemed less
terrible than it had been but now.
Hungry and thirsty aa she was she
shuddered as she thought of the added
pangs that might be hers. She called
aloud in her distress, her despair
There came no answer, save in the
shrieks of the circling birds which
hovered, ghostlike, above her.
The waves bore her onward, she
knew not where, and cared not how,
for how many hours she could not telL
Face to face with herself, her past, her
future, the unhappy girl passed a
period of unknown duration, engaged
in her own reflections.
It was not her own life she feared to
lose, so she said, for life after all was
a little thing, a temporary passage at
best. Eut if only she might have
lived now for the sake of that which
she felt in her own heart—for the
sake of that unco mpleted period of her
own life whose dawn she acknowl-
edged to have ..een but now!
He waa r She had seen him
swept awe*- before her very eyes. He
was her enemy, who had so often
taunted acr and defied her, who had
fought aer In every contest of wits—
yet in .urn lie had aided her to escape
and Laved her but now—instead of
en< my he had turned into friend or
rjre than friend—and he was gone,
i’he sunset of her day came even with
its dawn.
“Yes,” she said to herself, “he saved
me at the cost of his own life.” And
the life of that other faithful friend.
Roleau. the dauntless, it, too, had
been wasted to save her own—the life
she now could hold but worthless,
since it must be lived alone. They
were dead—and she had been the
cause of that! What could life hold
further for her?
Kitty Gray bent her head down upon
her knees. Her hair fell about her
face. And thus she sat. she knew not
how long, resigning herself to her
fate, making her peace with what she
felt now must come. “Now,” said she,
“let me die!” And when once more
the sleep of exhaustion came upon her
she thought it that of death itself.
She wakened, none the less, fa
time—for strong indeed are the ties
that bind us whether or not we like
to this life into which we are born
without our asking. She wakened and
stared with hoilow eyes about her at
a world which she neither knew nor
loved. But even so, at length her gaze
found something to cause her eyes to
kindle, her breath to come a trifla
faster.
Far in the distance she had caught
sight of the shore of distant land—
the same sight which in turn had met
the gaze of that friend whom now sho
mourned. It lay there low on the sea
and distant—land, some sort of land,
she knew not what.
She looked at It dully, apathetically.
In truth, she was too far gone to caro.
Whether or not she retained con-
sciousness through the remainder of
her voyage, she herself could never
tell.
At length, a weak and unimportant
bit of flotsam of the sea, Kitty Gray
was cast up upon the shore, rejected
by that sea but now so eager to claim
her as its own. Yes. by some miraclo,
she dared pot ask what, she had been
spared. This at least was laud. If
death must come, it was not now to
be death through peril of (be sea.
Wearily she lifted herself from her
bed upon the sand, raised herself upon
an elbow to look about her.
What she saw gave her nj great de-
light. Rather, had she had strength
left for terror, she had known addition-
al terror now.
Approaching from a distance were
certain figures, inhabitants of this
land, whose look she ^ould not recog-
nize. whose language she could not
understand. They approached, shout-
ing, gesticulating. They were armed,
and they advanced upon her menac-
ingly.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
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Hudson, C. H. & Woodward, Roy. The Pearsall Leader (Pearsall, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 48, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 1916, newspaper, March 10, 1916; Pearsall, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1096747/m1/7/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .