Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 362: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

NEMESIS ON HIS TRACK. BY RUSSELL STOCKTON. The mysterious passenger who boarded an Atlantic liner without the formality of procuring a ticket beforehand. The strange manner in which fate willed that his identity should be revealed. I. HE mammoth transatlantic steam- ship Bavaria lay at her dock in the North River one Saturday after- noon in June. A thin stream of smoke rising lazily from her three funnels and a great volume of steam roaring in a harsh diapason from her escape pipe betokened her imminent departure. But these were the least signs of that event. Up one steep gangway toiled Inany steerage passengers laden with trunks of hide, and metal, and skin; some carried, besides, mattresses and tin porringers and a hundred different articles of convenience in their dark, narrow, ill smelling quarters. There was another gangway for the cabin passengers—opulent looking men and fashionably dressed women, who bade farewell to a legion of stylish friends on deck and below, the babel of whose high pitched voices drowned even the roar of the escaping steam. A deep toned whistle suddenly ut- tered a long blast. The babel of femi- nine voices grew shriller in the short last effort to say farewell. The gay friends filed down the gang- way and the hawsers were cast off un- der the commands of the officers and the shrill “ bo’s’n’s ” whistle. “Cast off the gangway, there!” roared the second officer from the bridge. There was still a crowd upon it push- ing down the steep incline, and the deck hands laid hold of the ropes and gave a warning tug on the pulleys to hasten the tardy ones. A cab had dashed up to the pier en- trance and a man in a slouched hat had sprung out, pulled two capacious satch- els after him, flung a five dollar note — to the driver and was elbowing his way through the jam. The stevedores were on the very point of hoisting the gangway clear of the vessel, when the late comer sprang upon it and rushed up and aboard. He crowded through the press of passengers, descended to the main sa- loon, and, selecting the. darkest corner, flung his bag under a settee and sat down with his back to the light from the port, mopping his brow and face assiduously with his handkerchief. The steamer was already backing out into the stream. Further and further forward crowded the passengers, wav- ing handkerchiefs, huzzaing or Scream- ing last messages to their friends on the pier. At length the Bavaria was clear; she Swung around with her prow to the south and a gentle vibration trembled through her frame as she plowed her way cautiously down the bay. The passengers dispersed to their staterooms to arrange their baggage, doff bonnets and silk hats and rich ap- parel for the more plain and comfort- able costume of an ocean voyage. Quarantine was passed and_ that portal of the sea, the Narrows. The pilot was at length taken off by a strolling pilot boat, “ full speed ” was rung on the gong, and the ship for the first time felt the full power of her mighty engines as she headed straight across the vast Atlantic, E. N. E. CONNEC OOS SS CO