THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 82, 15 July 1910, Page 6

THE STORYTELLER.

A BRIDE FROM THE SEA. (Richard Heriot paused abruptly on the bridge companion-steps, a sudden faintiiess tearing at his heart. Motionless he stood on the brass-shod stairway, his nervously-clenched hands gripping its sun-scorched vaiis; then, recovering himself as by a violent effort of will di.t .self, lie tramped upwards to the bridge's level.

i From its altitude he followed the pro- ! gress of the slender figure that had been i responsible for the momentary arrest j of his passage on to the bridge. I "Gwen!" lie murmured uncertainly beneath his breath. "Gwen! And she , used to be as pretty as. a daydream." I Half concealed by such shelter as was I afforded by a weather cloth, Heript al- ; lowed his glance to rest on the calm , beauty of a face the first bloom of i which had been carelessly brushed by ! the touch of care. To a gaze so keen as ! the first lieutenant's the weariness of j the tired eyes told its own tale of quiet i and uncomplaining sorrow. Instinct:v'- ! the officer's strong, virile hands cleiui: . j in a gesture of angry impatience on I catching sight of the man following • heavily in her wake. Stout, with saturI nine features bloated by wine and ex- : cess, the face was well enough known to the liner's passengers as belonging to ] John De.lmar, the Diamond King. To , Heriot, Delmar was, however, more than , being merely a man of colossal wealth. , He was the husband of the girl whom he still loved with all the strength of a ! hungry soul. To the lieutenant he was I the man -who had saved a bankrupt fa- ! tlier from pauperism by the purchase j of his daughter's beauty. I Three years had passed since the news of Mrs. Delmar's marriage had reached Heriot's ears at Funchal. Three years had elapsed since he had seen the face of the girl who still held her place in the shrine of his heart by right of memory. Now, by a jest of fate, it was destined lie should meet her at a port where the news of her wedding had been uroh: en to her 'by letter. Leaning forward, * as he now did against the taffrail, the, first lieutenant felt the pressure of that 1 missive against his breast. Its feel caused a vivid recollection to surge across j his brain in letters of fire, and, doing so, his heart momentarily beat Ifuri- ; ously in a murderous pulsation, as his ; eyes met and held those Delmar had alj most unconsciously raised to the level ; of the bridge.

Startled by the unexpected sight of his defeated i;val, the Diamond King paused; then, a peculiar smile of extraordinary malice contracting the corners of his lips, anew proceeded on his way up the deck companion. Glance for glance Heriot held that of the millionaire, till the latter, losing confidence, lowered his eyes on gaining the deck. A moment later Delmar had disappeared from view through the doorway of a deck cabin. On the bridge the lieutenant waxed profane beneath his breath, then lapsed into a sullen silence, till the Sheffield Town, churning the Atlantic into a creamy waste astern, stole out of its anchorage towards the open ocean.

In command of the leviathan Heriot paced the bridge, waiting till he was relieved 'before descending to the level of the night-veiled deck. Sullenly he tramped out his watch, looking ever and anon at the fast disappearing Madeira light astern; then, handing over his command to the second, descended to the diningsaloon, to take a seat at the well-laden board. Dropping into a vacant chair Heriot discovered his vis-a-vis neighbors to be Delmar and his wife. The discovery came as a shock, and, had not fate intervened, he would have left the table. Delmar, in the latter capacity, however, taking malicious delight in the lieutenant's discomfiture, would have none of it Obviously suffering from the effects of a too generous libation of champagne, the man leaned heavily forward over the edge of the table, exclaiming uncertainly as he did so:

"Dick, my boy, how the dickens did you manage to get washed aboard this ship, eh? Were the company short of officers that they promoted you to first —what?" Outwardly Heriot apparently remained unconscious of having been addressed, a course of action which found its punctuation in an oath from Delmar's lips. "How did you bluff them into it—eh, Dick, my boy ?" he demanded, aggressively. "How did you manage to get the directors of this line to promote an incompetent fool like yourself to be first officer of a vessel like the Sheffield Town?" The insulting question, more blatant in its offensiveness than when first uttered, could now no longer be passed in silence. Delmar was striving to force nn open rupture. Heriot, recognising' the latter fact, was equally determined to disappoint the millionaire in his amiable . endeavor. "li you are addressing me, Mr. Delmar, my name is Heriot," he remarked, with a pointedness his interlocutor could i not fail to appreciate. "You observe, I j give your name the prefix demanded by courtesy's usage. I should be obliged if j you would accord me a similar favor." '■ The millionaire's face grew bucolic. "By Gad, I shall call you what 1 choose," he snarled. "You were 'Dick' to my wife. You have written letters to •her signed by that name, and if my wire is allowed to call you 'Dick,' it seems to me the husband has every whit as much right. See here, my fine fellow! Come fooling around Gwendoline whilst she's aboard this ship, and I'll have you flung out of the service neck and crop! I've read your letters, and " Delinar paused in his fierce flow of invective, stammering and dismayed. Uncertainly he confronted the white-faced officer, flinching before the directed blaze of the eyes bent on his. "Mr. Delmar," said he, in low, frigid accents that stung as with the cut of a whip-lash, "you say you have read my letters. If so, you will have learned my opinion of yourself. To my statements therein I would, however, like to make an addition. It is an important one. You will appreciate it, I am sure, when

I say I consider you to 'be the mosi wimitigated blackguard it has even been my ill luck to Meet." "A blackguard! Why, you infer " "I repeat—a blackguard." Heriot's calm incisiveness silenced Delmar's bluster. "Xo individual with the least pretentions to a gentleman would endeavor to pick a quarrel in a public place on the plea of a prenuptial episode, or try to decry his wife in the presence of strangers. I have the pleasure of informing you, sir, I consider you to be a, cad of the very first water." A deathly hush reigned throughout the length and breadth of the crowded dining saloon. For a moment the strained silence prevailed, the next it found its rupture in the crash of a breaking plate as the millionaire, in a gust of passion, brought his fist down on its surface with shattering force, "You beggarly hound!" he shouted, venomously. "If money has any power in this world, I'll " "John—John, dear!"

White and trembling, Gwendoline Delmar laid her slender hand on her husband's arm in a, gentle yet retentive cling; then, loosing it, crumpled backwards in her chair beneath a blow of her husband's fist. The cowardly act broke the tension, galvanising passengers and stewards on the instant into life and activity. Quick as they were, Heriot proved yet mora rapid of action. In a second he had gained the infuriated magnate's side; then, cool as though taking a billiard stroke, drove his iist into Delmar's face. Catching him or the point of the chin with his whole "eight behind it, the millionaire, swepi off his feet, sprawled in heavy insensibility on to the carpet's level. Shrugging his shoulders, Heriot allowed himself to be escorted out of the saloon, darting a searching glance at the face of the woman he loved with all the fierce devotion of his honest soul. She was weeping softly, the only touch of color about her ashen features being an angry red on the brow where Delmar's knuckles had abrased the tender skin.

"By Jupiter, this means my exit from the Town Line," he muttered grimly to himself, .-as leaning his elbows on the taffrail he allowed the breath of a rising wind to fret against his fevered temples. "Striking a passenger! Good Lord! It's hopeless for me' to expect the directors to overlook a thing like that; still—l don't regret having acted as I did. It was more than flesh and blood could! stand to see Gwen struck by that hulk-j ing brute." | For upwards of an hour Heriot stood i like a statue. Turning, half in the be-' lief of his hearing had played him false, he found himself confronting Gwendoline Delmar. :

"Gwen," he whispered, "why have you; come here? Is it fair you should fincli me out and —not pass on? Heaven' knows it would be kinder to leave me; alone in my misery. Do you think I am stone, dear —so callous that I can see you, feel your presence on board this ship, without the quickening of a pulse? Gwenny, for three years now I have tried to live down the memory of all you were to me. If it were possible for me to be so, I—l had almost grown re-1 signed when " . "I came to thank you for the championing of my cause to-night in the saloon—to apologise for my husband's insult," the girls' low, hesitating speech •broke sharply in on the man's fevered utterance. "I —John was not himself — quite. He—it is his failing, and—Dick! Dick, promise me you will never act again towards him as you did an hour ago. John is rich, and, if he can, he will do you an injury. I have already done you a big one, and —I think it would just break my heart if I thought I had also been responsible for the ruining of your career." Heriot's jaw set in grim, hard Hues. "If I .had twenty careers to lose. 1 would risk them one and all in order to possess the satisfaction of having thrashed a bully who dared lift his hand against the woman I—love!" "Dick, he is my husband!"

Heriot shuffled his feet uneasily over the surface of the immaculate decking. "Delmar stole you from me, I'll forgive kim that, tout if he dares to act the brute I'll teach him a lesson with niv bare knuckles, even if I am put in irons by my captain for so doing t You're Delmar's wife, I know " "Thanks for the admission 1 . She is therefore mine to do with as I' wish. Gad, I bought her from her beggarly father. Bought her, do you hear, man ? Bought her, body and soul! Gwendoline!. Go to your cabin. I have a few words to say to this —er —individual. He seems to ignore his position. It is, I think, more than time I should acquaint him with it." j The low, clearly-uttered words fell like, a bomb-shell on the ears of their hearers, as Delmar, emerging from behind the shadow of a cowl, came boldly into sight, and, doing so, halted in front of the Untenant. "Go to your cabin!" he snarled out, viciously. "By Gad, I'll settle with you later, woman! For the moment my' business is with Heriot." I iShrinkiag backwards as though in anticipation of a coming blow, Gwendoline, turning, disappeared amid the shadows of the night. The next moment Heriot felt the contact of a cloud of tobacco smoke against his face. "Let me find you hanging round.my wife again and I'll report you to the captain," rapped out Delmar, coarsely. "Understand? Let me discover you speaking to Gwendoline again before we reach Southampton Water, and I'll make it deuced hot for you in other ways, besides having you kicked out of the line for the mongrel you are. Yes, Mr. Apostrophe Heriot—(ieucedly hot! Not only for you, but for—her as well. Follow?! Good-night, and be hanged to you!" "And if you dare raise your hand to' her—l'll break your head!" | Entering the wheel-house, ihe glanced at the barometer hanging on its wooden partition. His brows contracted on reading its warning. "We're in for dirty weather, Richards," he said, jerking the words out over his shoulder to the second. "The barometer isn't falling—it's simply tumbling down." Heriot proved a true prophet. With Biscay on their starboard quarter, the Sheffield Town ran into the worst gale

she had encountered since her launch. Hour in and hour out the Sheffield Town, laboring like a stricken creature in its agony, fought the gale's frenzied strength, till as night reluctantly ceded its sway to the lurid grey of a hailcwept dawn, the liner crashed broadside on the crest of a reef oil the iron-bound Cornish coast.

Rolling heavily in the trough of a broaching sea, the great vessel lost nuke funnels and bridge" in a swirling maelstrom of seeihin-. spume-wreathed waters. By a miracle Ueriot saved himself by grippiiiir at a stay, and, doing so, found himself by a freak of fortune jerked into the position of command on board a stricken liner. Shrewd sailor as he was, it took him but an instant to realise that his vessel, wedged as she was between massive baulks of rock, would be safe from breaking up for well over a quarter of an hour. Assured on this point, he gave orders to clear away the boats to the leeward side, where, if the seas rolled heavily, thev were at least unbroken under'the shelter of the liner and the reef on which she had met her doom. Issuing a rapid string of orders, he reeled aft into the thick of the panicstricken passengers, who, sweeping up 'tween decks, sought to carry the boats i.n a jinsh as the Sheffield Town shot her first 'rocket of distress towards the storm-swept heavens in a hissing stream of fire.

"The moment was hot one hi which to stand on ceremony, and Heriot, being above all things an opportunist, restored order in a manner peculiarly his own. with fist and revolver; but he hammered order out of chaos, seeing the women and children safe on board the lifeboats and clear of the vessel before shipping his male passengers in the remainder. Apart from the surge that had exacted its ghastly toll of victims from among the crew when the vessel struck, the sea had been merciful in its demand of human life. It continued to be so till the last boat was ready to cut its head-fall, with a space for bne remaining vacant aboard her. Dashing the swirling brine from his eyes, the mnn responsible tor this cutting glanced through the driving clouds of spindrift up at Heriot's figure clinging to a davit. "Jump, sir," yelled the sailor, his voice echoing out uncertainly above the sobbing gale. "Jump; I'll catch you." Alert and strained of attitude he awaited an obeying of his shout of command, then started as he saw two figures join that of Heriot. They were those of Delmar and his wife!

White and trembling, the millionaire sought to climb over the tafl'rail and spring into the struggling 'bout beneath, to find himself torn "from his hold as he did so and held in a grip of iron. "You hound!" hissed Heriot. ''Women first! There's only room for one in that boat. It's for your wife! Understand? Move, and I'll shoot you like tne dog you are." Flinging Delmar clear of him, Heriot swept Gwendoline up clear of deck and ta.'frail to drop her into the embrace of watchful, waiting arms; then, signing to the boat to cut herself clear of the retentive fall, fought the maddened millionaire till the craft had disappeared Ki'iorewards amid that waste of torn and eh irning waters.

Parting, half weeping in the extremitt' mi tenor, Delmar sfc-nl.od out im-j p.-n-ations on the head of the man who i.".d [•"•evented him [>nviii<* the part ot coward, till an echo of rending wood, dominating even the roar of the gale, liushed his incoherent vituperation. Heriot heard the significant sound, and, doing so, his shoulders. "We're breaking up." he said, as, taking the life-belt from his waist, he handed it contemptuously to his companion. "Take it. It's the last one, Delmar, and trust to luck. In a minute or two it will be each of 'lis for himself and God for us both." With a callousness, that was in thorough keeping with his nature, Delmar snatched at the extended lifebelt, to pass it over his head only just in the nick of time. A second later' he was fighting death in the hungry maw of a storm r tossed ocean, with Heriot, though he knew it not, a hundred feet away clinging for safety to a coping with all the desperation born of despair. For an hour Heriot clung to his frail support, till, l hausted by the unequal struggle, he was about to surrender to the sea's merciless buffeting, when friendly hands, gripping him by collar and tiair, dragged him clear of the ocean's embrace to carry him up the shingle's slope. Sighing, Heriot lapsed into a recuperative unconsciousness that lasted till the sun had nearly set. Fate, that fickle jugler of the lives of men, ordained that Heriot should be taken to the same cottage which afforded Gwendoline Delmar shelter. Thus it came about that when consciousness returned to Heriot's eyes it was to find the woman he loved seated by his side. Almost unbelievingly he looked up into the beautiful profile beside him; then, realising he was the victim of no trick of fancy, spoke. "Delmar?" he whispered, hoarsely. "Is —is he saved?" "No," she said, slowly. "He was washed up four hours ago—dead, and I cannot weep. Dick, you gave him your liftbelt. How like you to do a thing like that! How like him—to take it!" Gwendoline's eyes wavered before the tense glance directed at hers, then bent her head. Still, she did not withdraw |iher hand from Heriot's clasp; neither 'did the drooped, quivering lashes hide [the betrayal of her soul. The lieutenant had read its secret in that fugitive glance—nor did lie do so wrongly, for i within the year Heriot won the desire of his life when he led Gwendoline Delmar to the altar.