LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1591, 26 March 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HAROLD RIVERS. T" All the Year Round."] Continued. Chaptsb VI. Never had Emilia passed a more anxious and heart-weariDg time than during the fortnight which intervened before the coming of Mr Imray. When he did arrive, h« proved to be a cheerful and genial man of the world- a man who was fond of a good dinner, a glass [of good wine or grog, and a good cigar—a man who despised sentiment; a fact of which his wife was thoroughly aware. When Mr Imray was at home, Airs Imray always looked carefully after the cooking, and the result was domestic peace. Mr Imriy took to Mrs Warrener at first sight. ' She has got the most magnificent eyes I ever saw,' he averred to his wife after Emilia had taken her leave. Mrs Imray smile', and agreed with h'm — or rather professed to do so ; in her heart she probably thought that her own eyes were quite as fine as her friend's ; bat she never contradicted her husband ab< ut such trifles. •Why don't she get married again?' continued Mr Imray. 'She's far too goodlooking to bury herself alive in this poky little p'ace,' Mrs Imray might have retorted that her husband had thought the poky little place quite good enough for her while he was away : but she only paid : ' I often tell her that she ought to get out into the world more than she does.' Then she toid her husband what Mrs Warrener wanted him to do —to give her a full and complete narrative of the circumstances connected w.th the death of youug He-nshaw on board the Daphne Unlike his wife, Mr Imray raised no difficulties in the matter ; and when she gave him an account of wiaat had passed between herself and iiuu.6, be pooh-poohed her scruples,

| and said the affair was no businsss of theirs, and that Mrs Warivner Was quite Welcome ■to hear all that he knew about it. It was j accordingly arranged that the narrative ( shonld be given next evening after dinner. Although the autumn was well advanced, the w<ath<r was still warm and fine; and with merely the addition of a light shawl thrown over their shoulders, the ladies could ait out on tha lawn till a late hour, and there too Mr Imray could smoke his cigar without let oV hindrance. But the days were growing so short that although Mr Iniray's dinner-hour was an early one, it was dusk before he was ready to begin his narrative. After lighting a fresh cigar an appreciative sip at his grog, Mr Imray began. ' The ship, as you ladies are already aware, was caled the Daphne, and she was bound from Bristol to Halifax. We carried a general cargo, and about thirty first-class passengers. The weather began to be dirty before we were fairly out of the Channel. For several days I saw little or nothing of my fellow passengers. Shut up in their cabins, tl.ey were waited on by the steward and stewardess ; but I being weather-proof, spent most of n>y time on deck, and rather enjoyed the fun. One of the first to show his nose above deck was a certain Mr FTarold Kivers, of whom we shall hear something later on. At such times folks do not stand greatly on ceremony, and Mr Rivers and I were soon on very good terms He w»b a inost agreeable fellow, a little standoffish perhaps; but tr at might be because he was what is generally called a swell—that is to say, he only travelled about for his own pleasure, and hadn't to work for his breid and cheese as we poot hacks have to do Byand by more passengers b» gan to crawl out of their dens and shew themselves on deck ; and when the weather abated, the ladies, of whom we had a considerable number on board, appeared by one 3 and twos, and things began to look rather jollv. Among other passengers was your friend MrGe >rge liernshaw, a young fellow, as I remember him, with a remarkably pl-aant smile and a rein rk ably pleasant way with the ladies. Quite a ladies' man was Mr Hernshaw, although he had a young wife with him on b ,ard; but she, poor creature, was ill the whole time, and was rarely seen beyond the precints of the ladies' saloon. Annette dear, I am afraid Mrs Warrener is ill,' Mrs Imray was by her side in a moment 'lt is only a sudden faintness. I shall be better in a minute or two,' said Emilia. •Thanks ; yes, a little ; water.' •Had I not better defer the rest of my story till another day ? ' asked Mr Imray. ' tfy no means. lam better now, and will promise not to be so foolish again. Did I understand you to say that Mr Hernshaw had a—a wife with him on board the Daphne ?' ' 5f es ; and a sweet young thing she was, but very delicate, I should say It was . f v well understood on board that they h /jT'lmfl. married only two or three days befott th > «v«3^ lsailed> ' ' Ah *' 'You seem surprised, v"*** * ™ 8 a runaway wedding, and hia p*. ™ e neW nothing about it.' 'Yes—l think as you say, that it must» have been a runaway wedding. But it can- I not matter now.' \

• In any c*se, thera she was All I know is that she wore a wedding ring and went by the name of Mrs Hernshaw. Are yon snre I had not better defer the rest till another day. * My dear Mrs Tmray, I am quite well now, and your story interests me deeply. Do, pray, go on.' ' Well, day passed after day, as they do at sea, without anything of moment to mark their flight. The weather was now as fine as it had formerly been rough, and there was every prospect of a pleasant ending to our voyage. But one day a whisper passed from s ar to ear that the good ship Daphne had sprung a leak. Her timbers had been terribly strained in the late gale; there was a weak p ace somewhere, and before anybody seemed aware of it, there was a foot of water in the hold. However dismayed we miiht ba in secret, we all strove to put a good face on the matter, and to makebelieve that there was nothing really amiss. The pumps were set to work ; a lot of the cargo was thrown overboard, and various exped'enta were resorted to, to lighten the shity But presently the water began t:> gain on us at an alarming rate ; and although we contrived to keep the ladies in ignorance of the worst, it was evident to us men that a olimax of some kind was at hand. Mr Rivers and I made a quiet examination of the boats, and found, to our di-may, that two out of the four were totally unseaworthy. The remaining two we calculated would with close packing hold rather more than half the people on board. What would be the fate of those who must necessarily be left behind, Providence alone could tell. ' We must look first f all to the women and children,' said Rivers. 'lt will be time enough to think of ourselves when they are f-afe ;' and I quite agreed with him. He was a fi e fellow, was Mr Rivers —a re-markably fine fellow,' added Mr Imray parenthetically as he took another sip at his grog. ' Well, Rivers and I epoke to the first mate, and he was quite of our way of thinking. Under cover of darkness, a quantity of biscuit, some water, a compass, and a few other things were pat into the boats. —I had forgotten to say that soon after leaving Bristol we discovered, to our surprise and disgust, that the captain of the Daphne was a confirmed drunkard. How he came to be intrusted with so responsible a post has ever been a mystery to mo. Half his time was spent in his own cabin in com pany with a bottle of brandy, and when he did show himself on deck he never seemed to be thoroughly sober. We all looked up to the first-mate as the virtual captain of the ship. ' Hour by hour our prospects grew more gloomy At length the men refused to work the pumps any longer. If they were to be drowned, they said, they would die game; and with that, some half dozen of them went below and broke into the spiritroom, and we saw them on deck no more. Fortunately, the weather continued fine, and most of us male passengers stayed on deck day and night, getting our meals as we could, so as to be ready for any sudden emergency. '1 he climax came sooner than we expected. It was on a Wednesday morning. I remember, just after our rough breakfast, that the captain came staggering up the cab'n stairs with trembling hands and eyes inflamed with drink. " Our time haß come," he called out, so that all on deck could hear them. "The ship will go down in less than an hour. It's every man far himsel f now! " ' Instantly there was a rush made for the boats; but the first-mate must have foreseen what had just taken place, for he and Mr Rivers with four trustworthy sailors were already on guard against the davits of the larger boat—l forget whether they called it the jolly-boat or the long-boat—when the rush took place. There they stood, six determined-looking men, the five seamen with drawn cutlasses, and Rivera with a revolver. At sight of them the crowd fell back. "This boat is, first of all, for the ladies and children," called out Mr Rivers "When they have all been brought here it will remain to be seen what room is left for others. But till they are in safety, no man except those told off to navigate her shall enter this boat except acr ss my body Now then, Taylor, ' lie said to to the mate, •' will you go and bring up the ladies and children?"' ' And what were you doing all the time F'arry?' a»ked Mrs Imray, who had never heard the story so circumstantially told before. ' Happening to look in my case, I found there one last cigar, which I thought I minht as well smoke, so as to save it from being spoiled by the salt-water.' ' Was there no thought of me, dear, in your mind at such a time ? ' ' I believe I did rather regret not having bought you that maroon velvet dress that you plagued me so about before sailing.' ' That will do sir. You may go on with your narrative.' 1 Well, about half the women and ohildreu had been stowed away in the .boat,

when young Hernshaw came pushing through the crowd. He h&d evidently been (matching an hour or two's sleep, and had not witnessed the scene on deck a few minutes previously. _ Seizing hold of a rone, he was about to swing himse'f into the boat, when Mr Rivers seized him bv the collar. 'Stand back sir; stand ba -k !'• he eaid ; " this boat is for the ladies and children " " I shall not etand back I" cried Hernskaw, grasping Eivers in his turn by the collar. "'Who gave you authority to or ier people about? The oaptain says it's every man for himself now, and my life's as dear to me as any one's else is to them." " Stand back sir I say ! " cried Rivera again. " You shall not enter this boat till the ladies and children are safe." «' Won't I, though! We'll soon see about that." And with that he seized Rivers round the waist, and swung him away his p-sition near the boat. "I warn you again," said Rivers, "that if you try to enter that boat you are a dead man ! " He knew that if one man were allowed to enter, others would inevitably follow, and in that case, all chance of saving the rest of the ladies and children would be gone for ever. Hernshaw hesitated a moment, and then he turned to some of the other passengers, who were gradually pressing inoh by inch nearer the boat. "Are you men or cowards," he cried, "that you let this fellow's bluster frighten you ? Are your lives dear to you, or are they not ? If they are. follow me, and seize the one last chance of safety that is left you!" He stepped forward, and again grasped the rope he had laid hold of before. Three or four passeneers were close at his heels. Others were ready to follow. In another half-minute the boat would have been carried by a rush " Madman! your fate be on your own head! " cried Rivers as with a bullet through his body George HemBhaw, without groan or cry of any kind, fell back dead. The other passengers shrank back like a flock of frightened sheep ; and the women were saved.' No one spoke for a little while. Emilia, sitting th/re in the starlight, was as silent and motionless as a statue. This then was the story she had so longed to hear! Mr Imray shook the ash off his cigar and spoke again, but in a lower voice than before. ' There was one da>-k feature about yoang Hernshaw's case which, as I have promised to tell Mrs Warrener everything, may as well be told now. When he rushed to the boat with the idea of saving his life he'had left his young wife behind him in her cabin, and there she was found a f ter he was dead. He had thought only of saving himself.' Mrs Warrener rose suddenly. ' I think I hear Daisy crying. She is not well to-day. You will excuse me will you not?' she said. ' I—l must have some farther talk with you to-morrow, Mr Imray,' and hardly waiting to say good-night, she hur ied into tt>e house. How she got up-stairs, she never knew ; but when she reached her room, she lcked the door and flung hmrself on her bed, and lay there till daylight in an agony of grief, and shame and remorse. (To be continued)