The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-04-30

NO. 4].
this entire tete-a-tese, far out there OF
the trackless SEA, With no companions
but The waves, and no ebaperon bat tht
moon. She was relieved by the ligh'
tone which Charlie assumed, and fo1
the next half hour cbatted With him n
eontentedly as ever in her life.
All this time they had been running
on before very fresh breeze. They
had long ago passed outside the bay
where Scudport lay, and were out on
the bosom Of the great Atlantic. Flo
"a was brave sailor, not given to fool.
ish fears or afflicted by niaz du nser, and
she enjoyed keenIy the dash of the
waves on the prov, the swift motion
through the ruoonht sea and the bright
sparkle of the waters as they flashed
like diamonds ag; inst the sides or gleam-
ed brightly in the foamipg wake. 1t
was very delightful to be away on the
beautiful sea, alcne with the man whom
above all others she liked, and Flora
was perhaps excusable for forgetting for
. little the lapse Of time. But after a
while it seemed to her a. iftheir motion
through the waters was not so swift as
It had been - if the ropes hung Stacker
from the sail, and the sail itself fell
more languidly towards the boat. She
looked at Charlie with sudden appre-
hension.
:" Is not tho wind dying down Mr..
Wentworth ?" she asked.
"ltis not as fresh as it has been, !"
answered Charlie, and At the same time
he put the boat sbort aud headed to-
wards land.
Flora drew out her watch. The dia.
monds With which it was Get cleaned
in the moonlight IS she flashed open the
case:
"Half past nine ~ she exclaimed 10
dismsy: "Why, Mr.. Wentworth, how
far are We from home ~
II don't know exactly" !" replied Char.
lie ev.sively, for Flor. saw that he look
cd full as anxious as herself.
"You promised me should be home
At ten O'Clock" she said reproachfullv.
81 will do my very best, Mrs. Tenn
pletoo. l never thoueh that the wind
could 60 down, if it was As fresh now
as it was halt IN hour ago, We might
still Be back by soon after ten."
"Soon after ten ! Oh! Mr.. Went
worth, ] trusted to you when 1 came
ont, sad indeed, indeed, 1 shall be mis-
erable if W arc not back befors nv IN.
Gle and aunt return"
Il am very sorry" said Charlie, in a
tone Of the g,eatest distress, II should
not perhaps have gone out so fur, but
the wind was so temptinsly fresh, it did
not seem possible it could tall SO sud-
denly."-:
"And it has all died down now" ex-
claimed Flora, ''look at the pennou, it
absolutely hangs against the mast"
1t was even SO; the summer breeze
had deserted them, and the little boat
lay almost still in the trough of the
slow rolling waves. Charlie was as much
troubled - Flora, if possible more 80,
aud the sight of his very genuine dis.
tress disarmed her anger, and made her
SO sorry for him that she found herself
before long suggesting consolation H.
stead of blame.
"Tbere Is nothing for it," he ex-
eAimed at last, "but for me to pull in ;
l suppose there are oars here"
A brief * arch resulted in the discev-
cry Of TIVE oars: but only one ,hole pin
coul I be anywhere found in vain Char
lie looked in the cuddy, under the
benches, aud in every possible corner
and Granny there Was evidently only
ono thole pin ON board.
"Confouud that Captain JONES'" he
exclaimed. Il asked hirn particularly
before we started if there we're oars and
thole pius on board, and he assured me
I should find everything all right"
"Well, you must do the best thing
you can with one oar" said Flora Il
can steer tolerably WE'LL"
Charlie took up his oar and began his
york.
at is all that fellow Anthony fault"
he muttered.
"Anthonyp said Flora "Why that
man is your dete noir, what has he to
do with the want OF = thole pin.'
"Why, if it had not been for him l
should have brought my cane with me,
aud if had that 1 could have riggcd
upa tolerable substitute for thole pip."
, Flora laughed and took her place at
tho tilIer, while Charlie pulled mantul-
ly at the oar. ..
But it was very slow work, the boat
Was constructed for sailing, and pulling
such tub through the water with one
oar was no light task then Flora found
it not very easy with her little expe-
ricnee to steer straight course, aud a:
good deal Of time wasted BY the ruiz
ming the boat off in Ill manner Of wrong
directions. and the necessity Charlie
Vas perpetu.lly under Of glaucing back
to SEQ that they were heading towards
tho land that seemed for . long time
almost hopelessly distant. Poor young
people |! they were Is utterly irritatcd
il the next two hours, Is they had been
happy in the first two. Flora was per-
fectly miserable as moment after mo-
meut passed, aud she was coz.
scious that it was friehtfully late, her
uncle and aunt would have returned
long ago, aud been horri6cd to iud her
out: They were probably even nov
sitting up prey to the most desperate
anxiety, and when she returned how
could she ever tell the story Of tho sail
70 them! would they now fancy that
the excuse Of no wind was merely
invented to lull their suspicious :? sic
could imagine the grave displeasure OF
her uucle's face and her auut's stern
frown. No one knew where she was,
~ she left the house she had looked TO-
= sersaut to whom she might mention
that ahe vas ornino ont hnt rhovn seem