and with
music and song, it was one continual revel of bliss. But one day we
steamed into a plague-infected port, where quarantine regulations in
those days were not the best, and before we could take the proper
precautions the captain and my wife were stricken.

"The terrible story that followed, the days of ravings, and finally the
death of my wife, are too tragic to repeat in detail. The captain
recovered, and, singularly, I escaped, and as soon as he had partially
recovered I ordered the ship to sail away from that accursed place.

"When the captain recovered he was a changed man. His daughter was the
only thing to him in the world, and her happiness had been the greatest
delight and pleasure. But now he rarely appeared at meals, and the
handling of the ship devolved on me. I could not rouse him sufficiently
to learn what course to take or what disposition to make of much of the
cargo.

"Two months after the sad event he called me to his cabin, and he was
lying down, weak and emaciated. 'I have asked you to come because there
are some things I want to place in your hands. I have no further use for
them, as the effect of the plague has never left me, and I am glad of
it.

"'You may break the seal of this when I am dead.' This was most
heartrending, coming from a man I loved better than any one in the world
excepting my wife. He died that night, in silence, and without a soul
near him.

"We were then on the broad sea, west of Australia, and before the
funeral services were to take place I opened the sealed package, and I
learned that the ship and cargo, together with all securities and funds
in the hands of his bankers, were willed to me, and I was enjoined to
commit his body to the sea.

"I changed the course of the ship to the nearest port, and sought the
United States Consul, in order to register the papers, and to establish,
by the record there, the new ownership of the vessel.

"When I returned to the ship something seemed to prevent me from going
aboard. It was such a weird and ghastly feeling that I did not rebel
against the warning. Indeed, I was relieved that the indescribable
something, which men sometimes in that condition feel, turned me away.
The only thing that remained close to my heart were the things that my
loved one wore, and those things she treasured, and the store of books.

"All those I had removed, but I could never go aboard that ship again. I
advertised the ship for sale, and it soo