Cruise of the Lily.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 73, 7 October 1890, Page 2

Cruise of the Lily.

Written for the " Pelorus Guardian'

(All Mights Reserved.)

(Continued.

About a week after their conversaton the wind rose to a stiff breeze, ny puffy and unsteady. Captain Harold was steering, when an uncertain squll' ■eoused the. mainsail to jibe, and jCaptain, who by some means got jig :!legs foul of the mainsheetf, was huild hfar out into the sea.

At the time the accident happeid ;Harrj and Arthur were pacing \e •deck for amusement. The fori»r immediately rushed to the helm o prevent the ship from broaching to ad the latter casting one liie-belt oyj:board, and, slipping on another wit •out hesitating, sprang after the Catain.

He had sorae little bother at firsts lifind the Captain, and being incon fmoded with the two life belts, could n( :*wim very fast. At last he saw hii swimming gallantly after his vessel, an; ; gave him one of the belts. In the meantime Harry was not idle flail was reduced, the Vessel brought up to the wind, and a boat lowered in « very short time, but the barque had drifted away full half a mile in the meantime, and the strong wind made it hard work for the sailors to pull back. .While these events were transpiring the news had spread into the cabin, and mother and daughters had rushed on deck in the greatest grief. When they beheld the waste of waters and no signs of the missing ones they gave way to despair. Mrs Harfield fainted'away, and her daughters shrieked aloud in their agony. •. . But presently the boat wag seen to pick up the two men, and* then subduing their grief * they thanked Grod; aloud for His mercy, anc| watched with] straining eyes the return of the jboat.to : r the ship. In a few more minutes the Captain, and Arthur were helped on board amid the congratulations of all h&nds. They were not much the worre for their ducking ; a good stiff glass of grog and a dry suit seemed to set them both up again, although the Captain's legs were, somewhat bruised by the r0pe.;...,, ( , Of course Mrs Harfield and. mf [daughters orer-loaded Arthur Sue-his' brave conduct, which ho doubfc saved the Captaiu's life, for no ! could have kept afloat long withpufctiha aid of; a life-belt.

But the thing: that pleased Arthur the most was the fact that his beloved Rose lowered, her beautiful blue eyes when he looked at her, and that the said lovely eye* were filled with a new and tender light that he hadn't seen ia: them before.

That evening be found himself left alotie witlh::/the:' shy butf b>atitif ul £&, and he-resolved to know his fate. He iwent and gat beside her, and told her that he had loved her from the "-fjirii raomant he < saw her; Raid be utterly impossible for him to live without her, and hoped that she would condel scend to take pity on him, and. return his love. ' "'"/.:

Tlie lovely gipl blushed rosy red, but made reply-except by an expressive though fleeting glance of her eyes- But | Arthur seemed to thiik this sufficient for drawing her into his arms he pressed kiss after kiss upon her tempting, lips ; without any apposition. In tact* if t must tell the: truth, I'm afraid Rose ; returned some of his kisses and resigned herself to his embraces as if she had | made up her mind that his arms were to be her home for the rest' of her i natural life. I At last she lifted her head from his ; shoulder and remarked, you may thank ,the late accident for this, Arthur, for I had intended to keep you in suspense for the next six mouths, but my resolution vanished beforeiyour brave conduct and late peril, and then you saved my dear father's life. ■ As; : ,f|ie spoke she approaching and sprang from Aimf 1 * iarms with the agility of a fawn. The next moment Harry and his wife entered the cabin, and Harry rerharked,, I hope you young people have settled all your little differences by this, and that you, Rose, have conseoted to follow the noble example set you by your mother and Lily and make a good man happy. Oh, yes, .replied Arthur, who had again placed his jura round Rose'* slender waist, Rose U%» consented to be mine* and I am as happy as any man on earth.

2 am, very glad to; hear it, sai<l Hirry, for there »r© plenty of urango blosfom fa Sidney,, mi «t <w htw *

comfortable wedding 1 there, eh, Rose? For'* reply -Rose pouted her lips at him, and that so oomically that he burst oi)t See here' Arthur/ he said, you must not let that girj, of you™ make : .such faces at "me, or I shall have to land you \4 again on .the island, and then she Nwnld be desolate.'' Out Arthur was too absurdly happy, he simply honoured his friend with a lazy wink, and,.fell to contemplating the beautiful auburn fingleta of 'bis intended. ..;,.., After a fewmoments'' pause Harry again broke the silence by exclaiming, come, com* Arthur, this will never do, we can't let you spoon jaU^njght,; shall we have a game at cards or shall! we go in for some ..music? Arthur! laughed, and arose saying, anything! for a quiet life, but if it was left to him] he wouH prefer mnm'c, so in singing! pleasant songs they, passed thereat of] the evening away. They had finej weather and fair windfall the rest olj thfir.^a v j^£.'whiqh , Jjk| JMryj 'dream' "to the'loversf and on the* ~MrA, of April they entered, the beautiful' harbour of Syiney. ' | They found that the.,,RedvJacketj owing to haying lost all topmasts 'in. a'gale of wind, hadl only ; ;.arrayed,,in/ harbour three days before them.. Oapf tain Harfield, Harry, and Arthur wenji on board of. her, where thejatter waf received like one from the dead. They found that Arthur's cousin!, Frank had left the. ship the moment she came to an anchor, and had not been back since. It appeared thai; he had told the captain and passengers that Arthur, whilt* iia pursuit of a goat, had fallen from the cliff into the sea. The shore- panty u lhad,..ptflled to the place seeing any signs of the body, concluded that Arthur had fallen inroVdeep.Water and sank. They stayed looking about for some : tjtrie arid then; reluctantly) returned; to the ship and reported his death. All hand?i on ; board. :tbe&R;ed Jacket were very glad to see Arthur again, for; he had been a' general and they nearly shook his hand' off. Th<? captain 'proposed that Captain HarfiVld, Harry, Arthur, and himself should at once Visit thelegal gentleman who had charge of, Arthur's, money, so as.'to prevent Frank Stanley, the would 1 G ' drawing Arthur's share. Afterwards, said he, I shall report the matter to the'police, for I consider Master Frank a very dangerous charac-

Ur indeed. _>-, '* :; %. £2 ! -~ Arthur tried tor flhake this resolution on the Captain's part, but (Without success, for that gentleman was determined to see justice done. After arriving at the lawyer's office 4h«y ifoufrd ; that; Fraril? Stan ley had made an application for the whole of the money, which ef; con rue thelegal gentleman declined' to listen to, until Arthur was satisiactorily accounted f0r;";,,.,." ,; .:^";"v^ : ,,;•"''

1 Then the captain.of the Redjackefc had Habd -to them Arthur's story they insisted that the police should be communicated with at once, savin)? that Arthur's life was not safe while Frank wss at liberty;"' Accordingly this was done, ;but as Frank had'been : cunning enough to conceal his address, no one knew •xactly where >he was, a detective was called in who, after getting a d&crjplioiii of- i-RHuAtil fond 1 ;WaVing what he was wanted for, promised to arrest him inside .»f jtwontfrfopr hours. Early the next morning a policetuaireame oh ? board th^ r Lily f ' with the new* of Frank's death. ; It;appear«d; that .by; stfmej jaeans 'JTrank had Wtd of Arthur's rescue, and when the detective attempted to arrest him he, drew. a, knife, and flew that officer like a. wild;beast. He .succeeded in inflicting a severe wound ,oa .the .detective's arm, and; no:doub|b would have murdered him had not the ■officer, seeing there was nothing,else tor it. drew'his revolver and,shot him

4«a4, Although this news gave Arthur a •great shock, he not help feeling glad that the .matter had ended without jk public trial. . ;• By Frank's death A/jth.dr beenme• ipo»fissor of the wholefifty !pott«fl!s less the GoYernrwent.dttty,■>*s; •therefore had money-enough to keep jj ihim without work. Jfeyertheless, he! resolved to havri a few Weks'at the -digging* just to nee what the life was like,-so he *»nd, Harry went and toojs-up C^lM!^! 1 were very lucky an| soon got on .'good :gflldi Arthur' could link ml satis-; Ified away ifrom E.nse, and, .there/ore,-.,«* j itbJW''of a ;fortnij&i, he marie Harry lalHf. ..ofhisißlfare of the claim, and Hymned to Sydney and began ,lo make for liis marriage. Before iljßa/ißg the exacted ,a premise from Harry jto .ctwe dnwn inii .month, ; knowing ths t the && w fwtil ibe worked out by that time.

1 " (fobs emittmed:)