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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1899)
PHANTOM SHIP -OR The Plying Dutchman. -BY CAPTAIN MARRY AT. 4. • • • ITTTTTTTTTTTTi • ... CHAPTER XIV.—(Continued.) In a few days Amine and Philip took leave of the priests, and quitted for Amsterdam—Father Seyaen taking charge of the cottage until Amine's re turn. On his arrival, Philip called upon the directors of the company, who promised him a ship on his re turn from the voyage he was about to enter upon, making a condition that he should become part owner of the vessel. To this Philip consented, and went down to visit the Vrow Katerina, the ship to which he had been appoint ed as first mate. She was still un rigged, and the fleet was not expected to sail for two months. Only part of the crew were on board, and the cap tain, who lived at Dort, had not yet arrived. So far as Philip could Judge, the Vrow Katerina was a very inferior ves sel; she was larger than many of the others, but old, and badly constructed; nevertheless, as she had been several voyages to India, and had returned in safety, it was to be presumed that she could not have been taken up by the company if they had not been satisfied as to her seaworthiness. Having given a few directions to the men who were on board, Philip returned to the hostel ry where he had secured apartments for himself and Amine. The next day, as Philip was super intending the fitting of the rigging, the captain of the Vrow Katerina arrived, and, stepping on board of her by the plank which communicated with the quay, the first thing he did was to run to the mainmast and embrace it with both arms, although there was no small portion of tallow on it to smear the cloth of his coat. “Oh, my dear Vrow, my Katerina: cried he, as if he were speaking to a female. "How do you do I am so glad to see you again; you have been quite well, I hope? You do not like being laid up in this way. Never mind, my dear creature! You shall soon be handsome again.” The name of this personage who thus made love to his vessel was Wil helm Barentz. He was a young man, apparently not thirty years of age, of diminutive stature and delicate propor tions. His face was handsome, but womanish. His movements were rapid and restless, and there was that ap pearance In his eye which would have warranted the supposition that he was a little flighty, even if his conduct had not fully proved the fact. No sooner were the ecstasies of the captain over than Philip introduced himself to him, and informed him of his appointment. “Oh! you are the flrri mate of the Vrow Katerina. Sir. you are a very fortunate man. Next to being captain of her, first mate is the most enviable situation in the world.” "Certainly not on account of her beauty,” observed Philip; “she may have many other good qualities.” “Not on account of her beauty! Why, sir, I say (as my father has said before me, and it was his Vrow before it was mine) that she is the handsom est vessel In the world. At present you cannot judge; and besides being the handsomest vessel, she has every good quality under the sun.” “I am glad to hear it, sir,” replied Philip; “It proves that one should she not very old?” “Old! not more than twenty-eight years—Just In her prime. Stop, my dear sir, till you see her dancing on the waters, and then you will do noth ing all day but discourse with me upon her excellence, and I have no doubt that we shall have a very happy time together.” “Provided the subject be not ex hausted,” replied Philip. "That It never will be on my part; and allow me to observe. Mr. Vander decken, that any officer who finds fault with the Vrow Katerina quarrels with me. I am her kulght, and 1 have already fought three men in her de fense; I trust 1 shall not have to fight • fourth.” 1 Philip smiled; he thought that she was not worth while fighting for; but he acted upon the suggestion, and from that time forward he never ventured to express an opinion against the beau tiful Vrow Katerina. !• The crew were soon complete, the vessel rigged, her sails bent, and she was anchored In the stream, surround ed by the other ships composing the fleet to be dispatched. The cargo was then recived on board, and, as soon as her hold was full, there came, to Phil ip’s great vexation, an order to receive on board one hundred and fifty sol diers and other passengers, many of whom were accompanied by their wives and families. Philip worked hard, for the captain did nothing but praise the vessel, and at last they had embarked everything, and the fleet was ready to sail. It was now time to part with Amine, who had remained at the hostelry, and to whom Philip had dedicated every spare moment that he could obtain. The fleet was expected to sail in two days, and it was decided that on the morrow they should part. Amine was cool and collected. She felt convinced that she should see her husband again, and with that feeling she embraced appearances. But is him as they separated on the beach, and he stepped into the boat in whicli he was to be pulled on board. "Yes," thought Amine, as she watch ed the form of her husband, as she dis tance between them increased; “yes, 1 know that we shall meet again. It is not this voyage which is to be fatal to you or me; but I have a dark forebod ing that the next, in which I shall Join you, will separate us fcrever—in which way I know not—but it is destined. The priests talk of free will. Is it free will which takes him-away from me? Yes. Yes. But he is not permitted, for he must fulfill his destiny. Free will! Why, If it were not destiny it were tyranny. I feel, and I have felt, as if these priests are my enemies; but why I know not; they are both good men, and the creed they teach is good. Good will and charity, love to all, forgive ness of Injuries, not judging others. All this is good; and yet my heart whispers to me that—but the boat is alongside, and Philip is climbing up the vessel. Farewell, farewell, my dearest husband. I would I were a man! No! no! ’tls better as It is.” Amine watched till she could no lon ger perceive Philip, and then walked slowly to the hostelry. The next day, when she arose, she found that the fleet had sailed at daybreak, and the channel, which had been so crowded with vessels, was now untenanted. “He is gone," muttered Amine. “Now for many months of patient, calm en durance—I cannot say of living, for I exist but in his presence.” CHAPTER XV. We must leave Amine to her solitude and follow the fortunes of Philip. The fleet had sailed with a flowing sheet, and bore gnllantly down the Zuyder Zee, but they had not been under way an hour before the Vrow Katerina was left a mile or two astern. Mynheer Barents', found fault with the setting and trimming of the sails, and with the man at the helm, who was repeat edly changed; in short, with every thing but his dear Vrow Katerina; but all would not do; she still dropped as tern, and proved to be the worst sail ing vessel in the fleet. “Mynheer Vanderdeeken." said hei at last, “the Vrow, as my father used to say, is not so very fast before the wind. Vessels that are good on a wind seldom are; but this I will say, that, in every other point of sailing, there is no other vessel in the fleet equal to the Vrow Katerina.” “Besides," observed Philip, who per ceived how anxious the captain was on the subject, “we are heavily laden, and have so many troops on deck.” The fleet cleared the sands, and were then close-hauled, when the Vrow Kat erina proved to sail even more slowly than before. “When we are so very close-hauled,” observed Mynheer Barentz, “the Vrow does not do so well; but a point free, and then you will see how she will show her stern to the whole fleet. She is a fine vessel,Mynheer Vanderdeeken, is she not?” “A very fine, roomy vessel.” replied Philip, which was all that, in con science, he could, say. The fleet sailed on, sometimes on a wiud, sometimes free, but let the point of sailing be what it might, the Vrow Katerina was invariably astern, and the fleet had to heave-to at sunset to enable her to keep company; still the captain continued to declare that the point of sailing on which they happen ed to be was the only point in which the Vrow Katerina was deficient. Un fortunately the vessel had other points quite as bad as her sailing; she was cranky, leaky, and did not answer the helm well, but Mynheer Barentz was not to bo convinced. He adored his ship, and, like all men desperately in love, he could see no fault in his mis tress. But others were not so blind, and the admiral, finding the voyage so much delayed by- the bad sailing of one vessel, determined to leave her to find her way by herself as soon as they had passed the Cape. He was, how ever, spared the cruelty of deserting her, for a heavy gale came on which dispersed the whole fleet, and on the second day the good ship Vrow Kat erina found herself alone, laboring heavily In the trough of the sea, leak ing so much as to require hands con stantly at the pumps, and drifting be fore the gales as fast to leeward almost as she usually sailed. For a week the gale continued, and each day did her situation become more alarming. Crowded with troops, incumbered with heavy stores, she groaned and labored while whole seas washed over her, and the men could hardly stand at the pumps. Philip was active, and exerted himself to the utmost, encouraging the worn-out men, securing where aught had given way, and little interfered with by the captain, who was himsell no sailor. “Well," observed the captain to Phip ip. as they held on by the belaying pins, “you’ll acknowledge that she is a line weatherly vessel in a gale—is she not? Softly, my beauty, softly." j continued he, speaking to the vessel as she plunged heavily into the waves, and every timber groaned. “Softly, my dear, softly! How .those poor devils j in the other ships must re Knocking about now. Hell! Mynheer Vander decken. we have the start of them this time; they must be a terrible long way down to leeward. Don’t you think so?” ‘‘I reaily rannot pretend to say,” rei plie^PhiliD, smiling. f “Why, there’s not one of them in sight. Yes! by heavens, there is! Look on our lee beam. I see one now. Well, she must be a capital sailor, at all events; look there, a point abaft the beam. Mercy on me, how stiff she must be to carry such a press of can vas!” Philip had already seen her. It was a large ship on a wind, and on the same tack as they were. In a gale, in which no vessel could carry the top sails, the Vrow Katrina being under close-reefed foresails and staysails, the ship seen to leeward was standing un der a press of sail—top-gallant sails, royals, flying-jib, and every stitch of canvas which could be set in a light breeze. The waves were running mountains high, bearing each minute the Vrow Katrina down to the gun wale; and the ship seen appeared not to be affected by the tumultuous wat ers, but sailed steadily and smoothly on an even keel. At once Philip knew It must be the Phantom Ship, in which his father’s doom was being fulfilled. “Very odd, is it not?" observed Myn heer Barentz. Philip felt such an oppression on his chest that he could not reply. As he held on with one hand, he covered up his eyes with the other. But the seamen had now seen the vessel, and the legend was too well Known. Many or the troops had climbed on deck when the report wa^ circulated, and all eyes were now fixed upon the supernatural vessel, when a heavy squall burst upon the Vrow Ka trina, accompanied with peals of thun der and heavy rain, rendering it so thick that nothing could be seen. In a quarter of an hour it cleared away, and, when they looked to leeward, the stranger was no longer in sight. "Merciful heaven! she must have been upset, and has gone down in the squall!” said Mynheer Barentz. "I thought as much, carrying such a press of sail. There never was a ship that could carry more than the Vrow Ka trina. It was madness on the part of the captain of that vessel, but I sup pose he wished to keep up with us. Heh! Mynheer Vanderdecken?” Philip did not reply to these re marks, which fully proved the madness of his captain. He felt that his ship was doomed, and when he thought of the numbers on board who might be sacrificed he shuddered. After a pause he said: “Mynheer Barentz, this gale Is likely to continue, and the best ship that ever was built cannot, in my opinion, stand such weather. I should advise that we bear up and run back to Ta ble Bay to refit. Depend upon it. we shall find the whole fleet there before us.” “Never fear for the good ship Vrow Katrina," replied the captain; “see what weather she makes of it.” “Cursed bad,” observed one of the seamen, for the seamen had gathered near to Philip to hear what his advice might be. “If I had known that she was such an old crazy beast I never would have trusted myself on board. Mynheer Vanderdecken Is right; we must go back to Table Bay ere worse befall us. That ship to leeward has given us warning—she is not seen for nothing—ask Mr. Vanderdecken, cap tain; he knows that well, for he is a sailor.” This appeal to Philip made him start; it was, however, made without any knowledge of Philip’s interest in the Phantom Ship. (To be continued.) \i The Prluco'* Defence. Prince Louis Esterhazy, military at tache of the Austrian embassy at Lon don, was recently traveling alone on an English railway when an elegantly dressed woman entered the carriage. Presently she dropped her handker chief and employed other expedients to start a conversation, but without avail, for the prince tranquilly smoked his cigar and took no notice of her. At last, as the train approached a sta tion, the woman suddenly tore her hat from her head, disheveled her hair, and. as the train came to a standstill, put her head out of the window and shrieked for assistance. The railroad officials hurried to the scene, and to them the woman asserted that she had been terribly insulted by the prince. The prince did not stir from his seat, but continued tranquilly smoking his cigar, and the stationmaster exclaim ed: “What have you got to say to the charge?” Without the slightest ap pearance of concern the prince, who was seated in the further corner of the carriage, teplied: “Only this,” and with that he pointed to the cigar which showed a beautiful gray ash consider ably over an inch in length. The sta tion-master was wise in his generation, and on perceiving the ash in the prince’s cigar, he touched his hat, said quietly. "That’s all right, sir,” and ar rested the woman instead.—Argonaut An Outrage. Tenant—Some of the plaster In my kitchen fell down last night, and I want you to replace it. Landlord— What caused it? “The man who o® cupies the floor above sneezed.” Land lord—Well, some people think because they pay rent they can carry on just as if they lived in a hotel. Snakes In South Africa fear the secretary bird, and will even crawl away from its shadow. The bird can easily kill a snake twice its size. PRODUCTION OF COAL. *T KEEPS PACE WITH THE INn DUSTRIAU DEVELOPMENT. Z_ .-~rSF XI* w> The Fuel Output of the United State* Hue Increased Until Now It Amount* to Twenty-Fire l’er Cent. of the World'* Total Production. The announcement that the rapid Increase in exportation of coal from the United States is causing uneasi ness among British coal producers and exporters lends interest to some fig ures on the coal production of the world and especially of the United States, just issued by the treasury bureau of statistics. From these it appears that the coal production of the United States is now nearly five times as much as in 1870, that the ex portation has in that time increased from a quarter of a million tons to over four million tons, and that the United States, which in 1870 supplied but 17 per cent of the world’s output, now furnishes about 25 per cent. The part played by coal in indus trial productiveness explains the phenomenal increase of fuel output noted in these statistics. Just as no other country can match the industrial growth of the United States under the policy of protection, so no other coun try shows such a rapid increase in coal production as does the United States. Great Britain’s average annual coal product, as shown by a recent and widely quoted statistical publication of the Swedish government, in the five year period, 1871-5, amounted to 127, 000,000 tons, and in 1891-5 amounted to 185,000,000 tons, an increase of 45 per cent in the average annual output. Germany’s average annual coal prod uct in the period 1871-5 was 45,000,000 tons, and in the five-year period 1891-5 was 97,000,000 tons, an increase of 115 per cent. The average annual coal production of France in the period 1871-5 was 16,000,000 tens, and in the term 1891-5, 27,000,000 tons, an in crease of 70 per cent. The average an nual coal production of the United States in the period 1871-5 was 45,000, 000 tons, and in the period 1891-5, ac cording to our own figures, was 132, 000,000 tons, an increase of 193 per cent. The average annual output of “other countries” not individually spe cified was in 1871-5, 34,000,000 ton3, and in 1891-5, 79,000,000 tons, an in crease of 132 per cent. The total aver age annual output of the world in 1871-5 was in round numbers 266,000, 000 tons, and in 1891-5 520,000,000 tons, an increase of 95 per cent. Omitting the United States, the annual output in 1871-5 averaged 221,000,000 tons, and the average in 1891-5 was 388,000,000 tons, an increase of 75 per cent. Comparing the growth of coal pro duction of the United States with other parts of the world in the periods named, the record stands as follows: Growth of coal production of leading countries, comparing average annual output in the period 1871-5 with that of period 1891-5. Increase, 1871-5 to 1891-5. Per cent. Sreat Britain . 15 France . 70 Germany . 115 Other countries (omitting United States) . 132 World (omitting United States)... 75 World (including United States).. 95 United States . 193 Both the area of coal production and quantity produced have increased greatly in the United States. In 1870 the number of state in which coal was produced was but 20, while in 1897 the number was 32. In 1870 the produc tion of anthracite coal was reported only from Pennsylvania, while the census of 1880 reports production in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vir ginia, and more recent reports show a production of anthracite coal in Colo rado and New Mexico. In the south the increase has been especially rapid. Alabama in 1870 mined but 11,000 tons of coal, and In 1897, 5,262,000 tons. Kentucky, which in 1870 mined but 150.000 tons of coal, produced in 1897, 3.216.000 tons. Tennessee increased her output from 133,000 tons in 1870 to 2.500.000 tons in 1897, and Virginia, which produced but 62,000 tons in 1870, produced 1,365,000 tons in 1897. The following tables show the ccal production of the United States and prices in the Philadelphia and Balti more markets at five-year periods from 1870 to 1898; also the exportation of coal from the United States during the same period: Quantity of coal produced in the United States, 1870 to 1897: 1870 1880 1885 1890 1895 1897 Antnraene tons. . .15,604,275 ..28.621.371 ..31,023,529 ..36,617,042 . .46,511,477 ..41,637.804 l oiai tons. 32,863,690 70,481,426 102,124,553 114,628,260 (at cmunmiuus tons. 17,199,415 41,860.055 70,501,024 78,011,224 94,899,496 141,410,973 106,222 516 147,860,380 Average annual price per ton of an thracite (at Philadelphia) and of bitu Baltimore) coal, 1870 to Anthracite, Bituminous, dollars. dollars. .4.39 4.72 .4.53 3.75 .4.10 2.25 .3.93 2.60 .3.50 2.00 .3.50 1.60 Exportation of coal from the United States. 1870 to 1897: Anthracite Bituminous minous 1898: 1S70 1880 1S85 1S90 1895 1S9S 1870 1880 1885 1890 1895 1898 tons. 121,098 392.626 588.461 795.753 1,397,204 1.326,582 tons. 106,820 222,634 683,481 1,136.068 2.374.98S 2,6S2,414 Total tens. 227,918 615,260 1,271,942 1,931,821 3.772,192 4,008,996 300,000 AFFECTED. Continued Increase of the Esli of Fncci Throughout the I'nlted States. One o| the^surest as w£]J as one of the most satisfactory evidences of re turned prosperity [s the general ad vance of wages. The incre'ase is not confined to any oi.e section of the coun try or to any one branch of Industry. From the New England states, from Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and other states comes the same story of advancing wages. . Cotton opera tives, iron and steel workera, miners, employes of tin plate companies and other classes of workmen all have profited from an advance of wages. The commercial agencies estimate that the advances already reported affect fully 175,000 workers. miring tne last campaign, ^resident McKinley said in one of his speeches that what the country wanted was not open mints but open mills for the em ployment of American labor. That was what he proposed to see accom plished if he were elected. That Is what has been accomplished, thanks to the prompt measures taken by the president to secure the American mar ket to American producers by the re enactment of a protective tariff law. American mills have been opened and American labor employed, and now comes the inevitable sequence of an increased demand for labor, the in crease of wages. And, as the wages of partial free trade become more and more repaired under protection, wages will probably advance more and more, until they reach high water mark in all industries. American workmen will not be likely to consent to any repeti tion of the folly of 1892 which resulted in the paralysis of American indus tries and In the idleness of the Amer ican people. W1U Not Be April-Fooled, Uncle Sara knows from experience there is nothing in it. Interdependent Prosperity. The railroad news of 1898 and 1899 under the Dingley law offers a strik ing contrast to the sort of railroad news which was all too common in the years of tariff reform and the Wilson-Gorman law. Then the reg ulation railroad news was the going of one road after another into the hands of a receiver. Now nearly every week brings the report of the incorporation of one or more new railroad companies. The published reports of the roads al ready in existence show increased earnings and a growing volume of business. The general prosperity of the rail roads goes to make a part of the mass of evidence, easily obtainable, which proves that the prosperity which re sults from a protective tariff is by no means limited to those persons who are engaged in industries, the products of which are subjected to tariff duties. Protection means prosperity for the whole country. The industrial system is one of interdependence and the pros perity of one branch of industry means the prosperity of many others. Panic* and Panics. Trade reports from all over the country continue to tell of remarkable business activity, with prices strong and steady, collections good and an increasing demand in all lines of trade. One correspondent to a trade paper sized up the situation as a “buyers’ panic.” That is the kind of a “panic” that a protective tariff always brings about. In 1893, under the free trade administration of Mr. Cleveland, with its tariff reform. Wilson-Gorman law we had another kind of a panic, the kind that has always followed upon every experiment made with free trade or any approach to it by this country; a panic when banks failed, factories closed, business men went to the wall and idle workmen walked the streets. It is safe to say that the people of the country prefer the “buyers’ panic” of 1S99 under protection to the sort of panic we had in 1893 under partial free trade. Noticeably silent* The wages of employes in the vari ous tin plate factories of the country have been raised recently, and since then free trade papers have been no ticeably silent about the “ridiculous idea of making tin plate in this coun try.”—New York Press. It la a Healthy Advance. Besides the present wage increases in mills, mines, iron and steel works, the cheap skyrocketing antics of Wall Street operators are insignificant, since they create no values save purely fic tional ones. Wages are the bottom gauge to wealth and prosperity.—Bos ton Globe. THE THING TO DO. Preserve the American Market for the lieneAt of American*. j JThe future fiscal course of the Unltea Stafes In its liewiy-a^qlure^ posses sions Is a question of absorbing inter est outside our own country. Great Britain is particularly concerned to know to what extent, if any, the eco nomic policy which has made America the most envied among the nations of the earth is going to be modified in reference to new territorial condi tions, and new trade possibilities; in short, how wide the “open door” is to be. In a recent issue the Newcastle Journal deals with the question at considerable length in its relation to British prospects and probabilities. The writer is duly impressed with the magnitude of the events of the past year, and is moved to say that “The rapid extension of the trade of the United States of late years, and the prodigious acceleration of its rate of progress during and since the na val war with Spain, are most extra ordinary facts in the modern history of the world’s trade. Like all similar facts, they have naturally excited feel ings of pride and exultation in the United States.” me determination or tne united States to enter upon a career of trade conquest has. not been misunderstood by the commercial interests of the Old World. They evidently appreciate the fact that a new era of vast import ance is at hand. They see the full significance of the fact that the wat erway connecting the two oceans is to be absolutely under the control of the United States. On this point the New castle Journal remarks: “A committee of the Senate has de cided that the flag of the states shall wave over the canal when it is fin ished, and the new waterway will add enormously to the prestige and power, as well as to the trade and commerce, that are certain to follow the annex ation of Hawaii and the Philippines. The United States will then enter into direct rivalry with Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, China and Japan in the Far East, in the vast Pa cific area estimated by Levasseur in 1886 to contain at least a population, of 1,500,000,000; while on the shores washed by the waters to be connect ed with the Atlantic by the Nicaragua Canal there is a population of about 878,000,000—less than half of which dwells in China, and more than a quarter of which is occupied by the Indian dependencies of Great Britain. . . . If the passage from the At lantic to the Pacific were controlled jointly by Great Britain and the Unit ed States, the British Empire and the colonies, especially our Australasian colonies, who are watching the on ward progress of the United States with the deepest interest, would no doubt share largely the benefits of the trade certain to be developed in the Far East. 'But if the Nicaragua Canal is to be a monopoly of the United States—fortified on its sides and at both ends, and patrolled by United States war vessels; and if Hawaii and the Philippines are to be shut to our trade, like Cuba and Porto Rico, by high tariffs, the prospect will be very different for the future of our trade in the Pacific and in its seaboard.” On the whole, the outlook is not cheering from the British view-point. Our English friends are not encourag ed to hope for a very large share in the commercial round-up. They are afraid that, once having tasted the fruits of a tremendous prosperity, the American people will not take kindly to a diet made up of the moldy chest nuts of free trade. The Journal says: “There is no symptom of any ten dency, in Congress or the Senate, to change the fiscal policy of the United States; and as far as can be guessed from the language of the American press and of American public men, the ‘boom’ that has followed the new tar iff, after a brief spurt of Tee trade in the Wilson tariff of the Cleveland re gime, has confirmed the opinion held in many influential quarters that from 1813 to 1898 a free-trade policy has generally resulted in ‘lean’ years, while the various returns to protection in 1813, 1842-46, 1860-62, and 1896 to 1898, have been mostly marked by extraor dinary advances in the volume and value of American trade.” If anything were needed to confirm the people of the United States in their determination to adhere firmly to the policy which brings the “fat” years, and to take to themselves every bene fit of that policy which shall be in volved in the enlarged horizon of pos sibilities now opened to view, the fears and dreads of foreign competi tors furnish that confirmation. A safe economic rule for this country in the future as in the past is to do the thing which foreigners are most afraid we shall do—preserve America for Americans. It is only when we have departed from that rule that the “lean” years have come. No Futher Meddling Wa ited. Nothing is more certain than that the people have had enough of Demo cratic tariff reform to last them for more than a generation.. While the remembrance of the panic years from 1893 to 1897 lasts, none but theorists and others who have nothing to lose will consent to further meddling with the protective tariff policy. Few oth ers will care for more experiments with silver. Good gold money has be come plenty enough since its standard was established and it is rapidly be coming plentier. The gold mines of the world are now turning out more value each year than mines of both gold and silver produced .together sev en years ago. Their output is in creasing. Even the advocates of fiat money can now get as much gold as they will work for.—Tacoma Ledger A first-rate collection of insects con tains about 25,000 distinct species.