Feb. 4, 1897 THE NEUHASKA INDEPENDENT i i ,1 rnin By Captain RALPH DAVIS. Copyright, 1886, by ths Author. CHAPTER XIV. WE r.r ACH AN ISLAND. "The Great Australian Bight," as it is called, is an indentation in the soutii coast of Australia off what is knpwn as Nuyt's. Land. Fifty miles off the coast is an island of about 250 acres in extent called Victoria island. . The fact that we had been spoken by only one vessel since, the mutineers took pos session, and that no others had even been sighted as far as we knew, satisfied as in the cabin that the ship was drift ing into the bight. There was not a set tlement on that coast at the time, while the natives were extremely hostile, and little was known of them. Being, as we figured, out of the track of all sail ing craft and the breeze still holding from the south, it seemed certain that the end of our drifting must be a wreck on a reef or the beach. At 10 o'clock on the morning of the fourth day after being spoken by the Englishman we heard the mutineers cheering and congratulating, and we were satisfied that either the coast or an island was in sight In the course of half an hour a white flag was raised over the barricade, and Ben Johnson appeared in sight to say : 'f aptain Clark, there is an island in . sight to the north. We can make out an opening in the reef, but unless there is a hand at the wheel to steer her through the bark must strike and be wrecked." "Well, what do yon want to do?" asked the captain. "There's a bay inside the reef. If you'll come out and take charge, we'll obey orders and bring her to anchor in the bay. Then we'll go ashore and give you full possession. It'B either that or all hands will go to the devil when she strikes the reef, and we are not ready to give up yet " The proposition was taken under ad visement and discussed.' There might be a trick in it, but we had more conn dence in ourselves than before. By leav ing the women to watch at the loopholes below there would be a respectable force of us together on deck in front of the cabin to meet any rush with a volley. If the bark struck the jagged coral reef, even with that small sea on, she would grind to pieces in an hour, and there must be a frightful loss of life. It was decided to work the craft into the bay. Vhe cabin doors were opened, and every man of us stepped out on deck prepared for what might happen. Then the cap tain said to Johnson : "If there is any trick in this, we are prepared for you. Let a sailor come aft and take the wheel. Now put two or three ethers at work to overhaul the ground tackle." He then gavo the necessary orders for making sail and wearing the bark around nntil her nose pointed at the opening in the reef. The Island loomed up right before us, and had there been a delay of 15 minutes we should have been on the reef. The mutineers obeyed all orders with alacrity, and such of them as came aft of the barricade were respectful in look and demeanor. The opening in the reef was not above 40 feet wide, and had we not been exactly opposite it we should never have got in. As it was, we had to go it blind, as the caying is, no one knowing what depth of water we should find. What seemed to be a river, but what was really a long and narrow bay, ran into the cen ter of the island for a distance of half a mile. There were two turns or elbows in tne bay, but once over the reef the bark glided along until she was at length brought up in 30 feet of water near the head of the bay. On the west of us were a steep shore and deep water. On the east there was a clear strip of beach, with the water gradually deepening. When the anchor was down, the bark would swing to the tide safely enough, but with no more than 60 feet to spare. In other words, the distance between "And what do you want in return for tliat fine speech?" ber stern and the shore was only a bis cuit toss. When the anchor was down and everything aloft made snug, John son mounted the barricade and said: "Captain, we are going ashore. We gave you the best fight we could, but were beaten. If you want to take the bark out, none of us will raise a hand in opposition. If you want to come ashore, no one shall molest you. In tho end a man-of-war will come for us, but meanwhile we shall enjoy ourselves." "And what do you want in return for that fine speech?" asked the captain, feeling assured that it prefaoed a re quest of some sort "Well, by your kind leave, we want a share of the provisions, as we shall get tired of fruit after awhile. We also want two or three old sails for tents, an ax or two, matches and some cook ing utensils. We'll have to have a boat to set the things and our wounded men TUB MATE OF invniT m mm ashore, but we'll return her." The captain was so glad to have them out of the uliip, even if they were to re main in sight on land, that be readily granted the request. Four of them were permitted to lower ono of the quarter boats, and for the next tnrco hours sue was uBed to convey the rascals and their dunnage across the strip of water. They were allowed to help themselves with liberal hand, but it was stuff which was of no account to ns without our prison ers. It was after 3 o'clock in the afternoon before the last man departed, and then the boat was given a push from the beach and sent back to us. Among the gang were eight wounded men, their injuries having been inflicted when the women fired through the loopholes. Perhaps they had extracted some of the shot from their legs, but enough was left to cause them to curse and groan as they limped about the decks. The bar ricade was almost disposed of in loading the boat, and half an hour after the last trip wo had a clear deck, and the women and children were out for an airing. The passengers were for having the captain trip the anchor and sail at once, but he gathered them around him and said : "Here are but three sailors of us. Not one of you men can go aloft or take a trick at the wheel I don't say that wo might not navigate the bark down to Adelaide; but, with the season just changing and bad weather coming on, we'd be taking strong risks. The Eng lishman who spoke us thoroughly un derstood our peril and can be depended on to report us. If we hang right here for a fortnight, we'll see a man-of-war in the offing. We can't recapture the convicts,, but we can remain here as a guard and help hunt 'em down later on Besides, if we were to sail away, who can tell but that some craft may be driven here by stress of weather o come in answer to a signal, and she'd certainly fall into the hands of the gang? We have a clear ship now and can afford to wait The women murmured somewhat. but the men cheerfully acquiesced in the conclusion, and when things were once more shipshape aboard no one could have suspected what we had pass ed through. Not one of the mutineers bad addressod a word to us or given anybody a black look during the trans fer, and as fast as they landed on the beach they disappeared into the thick forest, presumably to look for a site on which to make a camp. Tho passengers thought we had done with them for good, but the rest of us had a diflerent feeling. As night was coming on (Jap tain Clark came to me on the bows of the bark, where I was overhauling things a bit, and said: "Ralph, I don't like thewayohn- aon talked, nor I don't like the soft, silky way the mutineers acted as they went ashore. The change was too ' great and too sudden not to have some triok back of it. What do you think?" "Well, sir, I agree with you as to there being something back of it Those fellows have not given up the fight yet You don't hear them shouting and laughing ashore, and if one of ns was to creep through the woods I'm think ing he'd find them gathered in a circle about Johnson and new plans being dis cussed. Rest assured, sir, they'll make some move to get possession of the bark, and it won't be long delayed either." "Just my idea, and we must make ready for them! The cabin was left just as we had de fended it, but we battened down the hatches and sen tHes so that there was no getting below. When we came to in j meet the convict's cages, we found nothing of them left. They had been completely torn away and the material I flung overboard. Had we succeeded in I putting down the mutiny we should I have had no place in which to safely i hold our prisoners. The fellows had : made a fearful waste cf such provisions I and stuff as they could get at, and as we looked about we wondered that they . had not fired or scuttled the ship in j their desperation. When night came down, a double watch was set on board. Haskell and Miss Foster took the bow and Mary and I the stern, and the men who lay down in the cabin had their weapons handy for a sudden call. It was a quiet, starlight night, and tho beach was so near that had any of tho mutineers ap peared,we should have rnado them out From 8 o'clock to midnight I wa3 alone with Mary for tho first time since I came to know her name. There was no doubt of my love for her, and she had as good as told mo that she returned it, and yet I must tell you that I was more upset for the first hour than when the mutineers rushed us. As a matter of fact, we were no company for each other, and if the dear girl hadn't cor rectly judged my feelings and felt sorry for me I doubt if I should have opened my mouth during the four hours' watch. I never yet heard of a man who was content with simply knowing that a woman loved him. Ho wants to assure her of his love and exact a promise of marriage. That's exactly what I wanted to do to tell Mary that I thought she was the dearest, nicest girl in all this world and ask her to make me the proudest, happiest man by giving me faer hand in marriage. She could read my mind, tho witch, and she kept me on the ragged edge for an hour or more before she suddenly asked : "Mr. Tompkins," do you think we shall get safe away?" "I am hopeful of it now," I replied, "but a few days ago it was 'Ralph' instead of 'Mr. Tompkins.' " "And it's 'Ralph' now," she said as she gave me her hand to hold, but looked away in that coy, shy way which we expect to find in a girl, and which we consider such a charm. "I'll speak to the father tomorrow," I said as soon as I dared trust my voice to say anything, and as she did not pull her hand away I knew that it was all right between ns, and I felt that joyful that I wanted to stand up and shout. 'As to how people make love on land I have no knowledge but I'm telling you in my plain, sailorlike way how we made love on shipboard in that bit of bay, with mayhap half a hundred desper ate villains hiddnu in the bushes not a stone's throw away. There was no vow ing that I was ready to die for her, and she didn't deoUre that I was tho bravest and noblest man on earth. I kuow I loved her with all my heart and bad she not loved me she would not have placed her future in my keeping. We just quietly accepted each other for bet ter or for worse, and if I can t weave much of a romance into it you'll have to accept it without .We heard nothing whatever of tho mutineers during my watch or up to midnight. We had been relieved about half an hour, and the ship was as quiet as a graveyard, when the tide began to come in. This swung the head 01 tne bark to the sea and her stern within about 15 yards of the bushes. If the mutineers had a plan for that night, it would soon unfold itself. The idea was that they would creep down through the bushes to the edge of the water and quietly swim off to us, hoping to find our vigilance relaxed. A dozen strokes would bring. a swimmer alongside. There were four persons in the second watch, as there had been in the first, . and while they kept eyes and ears open they suddenly discovered three monster sharks moving lazily around the vessel. They were of the speoies known as the hammer head, and there is no fiercer nor more disgusting inhabitant of the sea unless it be the octopus. By and by the sharks remained stationary, as if on guard. I said the four people were watching and listening, and yet but for those sharks a terrible calamity might have happened. Some 15 or 20 of the mutineers took to the water to board the barb over her bows, and whatever noise they might have made was drowned in the grating of her chain cable in the iron hawse hole as she swung to the tide. But none of them reached her. The first one had not yet laid hands on her chains when one of the sharks seized him, and three seconds later the other two had selected victims. There were three fearful shrieks, a chorus of shouts and a great splashing, and all was over before any one from the cabin could get on deck. The surviving mu tineers stood on the beach and cursed and hurled showers of stones aboard, but a shot or two fired above their heads dispersed them. Three of them had met an awful fate, but no one bad any pity to waste on them. On the contrary, we earnestly hoped that one of them might turn out to have been Ben Johnson, the leader and the most desperate man of all INTEEE8T1KQ IXPEBIES0F. Of an Iowa Lady Who Was Cored of Dyspepsia After Suffering for Twenty-five Years. Mrs, Sarah A. Skeels, an estimable lady residing atLynnville.Jaspercounty, Iowa, was for twenty-five years a sufferer from dyspepsia, and ber complete restor ation to health is so remarkable that we present the facts in the case for the ben efit of our readers, many of whom no doubt have suffered in the same manner will, therefore, be interested in learning how all stomach troubles may be avoid ed and cured. Mrs. Skeels says: "I used only one package of Stuart's Dyspepsia Tables and I received such great and un expected benefit that I wish to exprexs my sincere gratitude. In fact it has been six months since I took the medi cine and I hare not had one oar tide of distress or difficulty since. ADd all this in the face of the fact that the best doc tors I consulted told me my case was in curable, as I had suffered for twenty-five years. I want half a dozen packages to distribute among my friends here who are very anxious to try this remedy. Truly yours. Mrs. Sarah A.'Skeels. The reason why Stuart's Dyspepsia Tublets are so successful in curing dys pepsia and stomach trouble, and the reason why it never disappoints those who need it and use it, is because noth ing is claimed for it except what it will actually perform. It is not a cure-all, and no such claims are made for it. It is made for the sole purpose of curing dyspepsia and the vurious forms of indi gestion. There is scarcely a patent medicine made but what is claimed to cure dys pepsia, as wllas a hundred other trou bles. When as a matter of fact a remedy to cure dyspepsia must be prepared es pecially for that and nothinir else; and among all the remedies, patent nos trums, bitters, etc., so extensively ad ver tisml, you will find that Stuart's Dyspep sia Tablets is the only one advertised to cure Dyspepia and nothing else. The remedy is prepared by the Stuart Co. of Marshall, Mich., and for sale by all drug gists at 50 cents a package, and if you suffer from any form of stoumcli de rangement or indigestion, a trinl will uot disappoint you. A little book on stomach trouble limited free. Address Stuart Co., Mar shall, Mich. Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat M. B. KETCHUM, M. D., PHAR. D. Specialty Fitting tpectaclea without mtdldn In th js. Office! Fourth Floor Front, Rlehardi But, Uaeola Every Thursday evening a tourist sleeping car for Salt Lake City, Saa Francisco and Los Angeles leaves Oma ha and Lincoln via the Burlington route. It is carpeted, upholstered in rattan; has spring seats and backs, and is provided with curtains, bedding, towels, soap, etc. An experienced ex cursion conductor and a uniformed Pullman porter accompany it through to the Pacific coast. While neither an expensively furnished nor as fine to look at as a palace sleeper it is just as good to ride in. Second class tickets are honored, and the price of a berth, wide enough and big enough for two is only f 5. For a folder giving full particulars call at the It. & M. depot or city office, cor ner Tenth and O streets. G. W. Bonnell, C. P. and T. A. RIpans Tabules cure biliousness. (he Fence 1 hat l urns tvery tiling The fence here shown is made with th Duplex Automatic Woven Wire Fene Machine, winch is maae entirely 01 woo and malleable iron, and is so simple am a isily operated that anyone who know- no to turn a grindstone can make 4( to 60 rods a day of the best fence 01 earth, horse-high, bull-stroug, pig, chick en and rabbit-tight, at a cost for th' wire of only 12 to 20 cents per rod. 1 can be made in a variety of styles or de signs, using either plain or barbed wir for the top and bottom margin wires and by using wire pickets, weaving then into the fabric, ornamental designs cat be made, suitable not only for farm resi deuces but also city and suburban resi deuces. Messrs Kitselman Bros., Ridgf ville, Indiana, whose advertisement ap peirs elsewhere in this paper, claim thi. Duplex Automatic Machine is the result of their ten years' experience in the man ufucture of woven wire fence machine and is perfection Itself. They also clain to be able to sell a machine find nnnn b wire to make 100 rods of an "Ideal Farm Fence" for less money than 90 rods of any good woven wire farm fence now on the market can be bought for in the roll In the one case you have the fence only. In the other you not only have a much better fence for less money but a machint also with which you can do all your fenc ing thereafter at the actual cost of thf wire. Send for their illustrated cata logue, which fully describes machine and shows 24 different designs ot fence the machine will make. THEIR MISTAKE. They Tried to Put the Horse to Bed With rlllow and Coven. One of the best known society wo men of Philadelphia spends the spring months at her country place, a few miles out of the city. Soon after open' iner the country ' house her husband arrived from the west, where he had been on business, bringing with him a magnificent saddle horse, which he gave to his daughter Eleanor for a birthday present Not long afterward the gentleman was again called away from this part of the country, and that same afternoon his wife discharged the coachman for being impudent When evening came on Mrs. Stellcart was in a quandary. She knew that the horse had to be taken care of, and she didn't know exactly how to do it so she said to her daughter: 'Eleanor, we've got to put Toag to bed. I recollect hearing your father tell John to be very careful to bed him down nicely, so we must do as well as we can." They went to the stable, and took from the carriage-house the cushion of a wagon seat and a couple of horse blankets. Then they repaired to the stall in which the Kentucky saddle horse was rapidly growing hungry, likewise weary. Mrs. Stellcart and Eleanor placed the cushion where they supposed the horse would use it for a pillow, and managed to arrange one of the blankets to serve in lieu of a mat tress. They then tried to coax Toag to lie down, in order that they might throw the other blanket over him and tuck it in nicely about his heels. But from some unaccountable reason, Ton? would not lie down. They tried to coax him and throw him off his feet but the greatly astonished horse at last protested so strongly that the ladies gave up their work. Their house is situated half a mile from any other, and they did not know what to do. But at last a bright idea struck Eleanor, and she with her mother hurried to the front gate and stayed there until two men passed by. These were called; the situation was explained to them. They didn't un derstand it at first but Mrs. Stellcart finally ' burst into teav-s and bepged them to come in and put the horse to bed. The men willingly walked to the stable and looked at the stall for a moment Then they leaned against tho wall and laughed until they were nearly exhausted. Toag went to bed as usual that night but he didn't sleep on the cushion of a wagon seat and covered with blankets. Every day since this occurrence those two men have made it a point to walk past Mrs. Stellcart's residence, stopping by the front gate long enough to roar with laughter ,90 she could hear them. Philadelphia Press. Farmers, Attention! Try our Golden Gnm seed wheat. A No. 1 hard variety of the lied River Valley, produced by careful cultivation and study, producing a Hour unexcelled by any known variety. . We believe this wheat can be success fully grown throughout the wheat-producing states and retain its fine milling and trreat yielding qunlities. Yields of 25 to 40 busht-U rncre hnve been repeatedly raised. This groin stands up better, on occount of its strong growth, than most any other va riety. We have a limited quantity of Golden 0-m to place on the market at the fol lowing prices: Purchasers expense, 7 pounds, $1; 15 pounds, f 2; 30 pounds, (3. Remit by express, money or poHtal order. When ordering give name of nearest express and postoffice and your name in full. English & Co., Fertile, Polk Co., Minn. WHAT'9 A PATTERAN? The Ujpj Method of Leaving a Trail Visible Only to Their Fellows. From the New York Journal. "You don't know what a patteran is," In quired surprlsedly of the group about him a man at the Authors' club the other evening. "Why, that was one of the first thlngt. I learned when I began to study the gypsies. The patteran, or patrin, is wh-it the Romanies use to in dicate the route taken by a party of their people journeying from place to place. It has a great many forms which would pass unnoticed by those not initiated. In some instances a clod of turf, lying at the intersecting point of four cross roads, is sufficient to tell a straggler from the gypsy camp the direction in which his friends have gone. Only last summer, out In Penn slyvania, I came across it many times. Once I remember just because some school children had kicked the clod Into a ditch an old gypsy woman who had lingered behind to tell a fortune wasn't able .o find her party for two days. Seeing the clod at the cross roads, you know, the straggler will glance down each of the Jl(TMnt ways until he see-: a similar sign which shows him the right one. . "In every country where there are gypsies, there you will find the pat teran among the ZIgeuner of Ger many, the Zlncall of Spain, the Czljan yok of Hungary, all those roving tribes which are descended from the original wanderers from the east and there is very little doubt that the patteran dates very far .back in the history of their race. Sometimes it takes the shape of a cross, scratched on the ground with a sharpened stick, the longer line of the figure being drawn in the direction in which the trail leads. A cleft branch or two sticks so placed as to point In a certain direction are also used. Stones, leaves and handfuls of grass are occasionally -employed, and many of the gypsy families formerly had their own particular signs, under stood by none but themselves. By fol lowing these patterans or trails the first gypsies on their way to Europe never lost each other. It is strange that this curious practice of the Rom anies has so long escaped the attention of the romanclst; but it is only com paratively recently that a writer of de tective stories made his astute man hunter track a gypsy desperado by means of the ratteran." In the Wrong Town. She looked like a woman from a re mote tier of townships and the way in which she was dressed tended to con firm that impression. She seemed In a world of trouble and approached the floor-walker. "See here, mister," she said nervous ly, "I've been robbed In this here store. Joeh 'lowed me to come down here to do my shoppin' 'cause it would be a savin'. I had $30 five minutes ago, an' now I hain't got a cent O, dear! I'm more'n a hundred miles from hum with no way to get back an' nothln' to eat;" and the woman buried her face In a handkerchief, while threatening to collapse. "You'd better report the matter to the police at once. Or I'll attend to that for you." "Not on your tin-type," she respond ed quickly. "I'm no Rube." Then she gathered herself and between artis tically executed sobs asked that she he lent enough to keep her over night and take her back to Josh. But she had tipped her hand. The floor-walker led her back to the office and in the long bag within her dress skirt was found a choice collection of dry goods. She made the air sul phurous and at the police station pro claimed herself a "Jay" for leaving Chicago, where there seems to be a special immunity for the transgressor. Coster Flov-er GIrlg. "Violets! Lovely violets! Penny a bunch!" That'e what the flower girls in the Strand and in Piccadilly are calling out just now, thrusting the redolent flowers at you as you pass. These girls are typical coster girls, thin, scrawny, anaemic, with little curls plastered to the . temples and unwashed, colorless faces. They make, the lucky ones, a shilling a day. The finest sold here are, of course, to be had In the shops and come from Nice. The violets sold In the streets are raised in Surrey. I saw a flower girl go up to a dnde the other night and offer a bunch for sale. He answered her urgent appeal with a vacant stare. "My high," answered the girl, "we are a-gettlng proud! Sal, Cockey, we wouldn't take your last penny from you for the world! Run along, little boy!" Washington Post. Her Accomplishment. Two of three young women who are Interested in art were discussing the other. "Did you ever see anything like the color of her cheeks?" "And yet some men admire them. One said to me the other evening that they lcoked just like peaches." "The idea! What did you answer?" "I said that he was probably right; that Mamie was noted for being good at still-life studies." Washington Star. Punctured. Tommy had been suffering from a lame back for a day or two and his mother bought a porous plaster for the same and prepared to adjust it. As the eyes of little Mabel fell upon the punctured square she exclaimed: ' "Oh, mamma! What are all the. holes for?" "I know," Interjected Tommy; "they're for lettin the pain out" Richmond Dispatch. Fond of Fighting-. The most quarrelsome creature In Ae world la the scorpion. Two placed In the same box will always sting each other to death. BETTER HEALTH JOUN COFF, Healers ) a, Ii, a farm r, and well-known citizen, was cured by the Home Treatmen. lie saw in the papers how sufferers living far from Omaha were being treated with eucces. so he wrjte for a Symptom Blank ami got all the benefits of a specialist's meih nils rit;ht at his own home. lie was so well pleasod that he volunteered this: WWW jnhnO-lf. Pendemon, Iowa. tctltl:K to the !lll of Tr. Copelnnd A Shepard In rurlna Ln Grippe and. Lumj IH-eimet. ' "I was taken sick last January with la prlppe and catarrh of the head, throat and linure. I consulted doctors and used all the medicines I could Ret, but my cough be came worse rlRht alow?. I was sick seven weeks and still falling when Drs. Copeland and Shepard put me upon treatment. They cured me without the least trouble. I have enjoyed better health and done more work since my treatment than I had been able to do for seven years." HOME DOCTORING v Knnsaa School Ttacher Cured Through tho Mails. Mrs. Lottie Scrltchfield, Havensvllle, Vns., writes with enthusiasm of the Home Treatment. Her letter Is dated October 38, lMrt. and runs as follows: , "Prs. Copeland & Shepard. Omaha : This testimony was due you something like a year ago, and I now give it with a great setipe of thankfulness. After teaching gi hool several years I found I was a vic tim of catarrh In Its most offensive form. I tried several doctors and numerous rem edies with little benefit. Then I took a course with you and found it a perfect "ure. 'My genepfel health has been splen did since you dlschaged me as cured In the summer of '95. Please send a symptom blank to fill out for my mother. I hops you can cure her also." A MONTH to any patient for any curable chronic disease, and all medicines furnished without a cent of additional cost. No other lee. No other ex- Blanks. fts fOPELAJSU 8UBf AKI, Oinaha, Meb. Kim ballS roa 0ATALOOUI AKB On High Grade Fianos and Or gans. $100.00 new Organs, $18; $400.00 new pianos, $185. Beliable Goods, i'asy TrmB. from the only whole sale musio house NEBRASKA. AGENTS WANTED. Address Gen'l Agt A.. HOSPEJr. 1513 Douglas St., Omaha, Nobr. It la Just Wonderfal The time the Union Paciflo "Overland"' fiST mail No. 3 makes to Ogdea, Salt Lake, Butte, Helena, Portland, 6eattl' Ban Francisco and Los Angeles. This Daily Meteor has the finest equipment consisting of Pullman Palace and Uphol stered Tourist Sleepers, Free Reclining Chair Cars, and Diner. For full informa tion call on or address E. B. Slosson, General Agent, 1044 O St, or J. T. Mas- . tin. C T. A. The Elite Studio Will give you Five Per Cent Off if you clip This Add Out AND BRING IT ALONG Th. Most Popular Art Establishment in the City. o 226 8. Eleventh SUTUQ rijtQ Ground Floor. H Wm. Larrabeea book on "Th Balk road Question. It yon want to be posted on this all important subject ad tS oents and get this book. It oatalas 480 pages and usually sells for 60 esata. Oun pbici 96 cents. Nebraska Ikdefmput, tf Lincoln, Msb. 1 ft I1- P sr. MAIL ;o Drop lis a Card