River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1872-08-30

gler held on her way. Suddenly the
trumpet rang out:
Haul to, or we shall fire."
"Fire away v' shouted the captain of
the schooner. a
A squirt of fire sprang from the cut
ter's side, and a round shot crashed
through the smugglers jib, cutting half
a dozen ropes in two. Still she held
on. Swish came another shot, this time
hitting the mainmast, and sending out
a shower of splinters. They were with
in two hundred yards of each other
now. The cutter coming on, evidently
with the intention of boarding. Bessie
held her breath-she was thinking of
George Harvel. The crafts were close
together. Bessie started up and flung
her arms overhead, with cry of dis.
may, for the revenue men were board.
ing the smugglers. The air was filled
with firing, curses and shouts. A sud-
den thought flashed into the girls be
wildered brain. She ran down to the
shore, pushed off her boat, and jump
ing in, rowed to, the scene of action,
never doubling she would see George
somehow, and bring him off the ship.
The sailors were too busy to notice the
boat glide up; so Bessie lay to. under
the lee of the schooner, watching, with
clenched teeth, two men struggling for
life or death, come to the bulwarks Just
over the boat; she could hear their
painting breath, then the pistol-shot;
clutching desperately at the slippery
wood, grasping at the last moment, a
loose rope, he swung down, al most
touching the girl. #.
AT first she was too busy to notice his
face; but when the bandage was tied
she looked at it, and saw his lips NOV.
ing, though his voice was too faint to
sound over the noise of fight and roar
OF breaking waves. Her ear almost
touched his lips before she caught the
words.
'9" Hide me, hide me, and let me die in
peace" ttf
For a minute Bessie sat staring at
the black rocks and thinking; then a
light crossed her eyes. She said to her.
self:
"We mays we'll risk it. May be
there's no boats about, and he's hand
some young chap to be hanged. Cargo
maun look after himself, / allow"
Excitement lent extra strength to
her arms. Shooting through the Du.
rele archway, she ran the boat into the
beach just in the quiet little nook be-
hind the " Door," where the projecting
rocks made perfect haven, dragging
the boat up as far as she could.
The man was moaning now, and as
she couldn't lift him out, the only al.
tentative was to make him shift for
himself.
"You'll hev to land, young man.
allow it's difficult; but yo' maun do it.
There's cave here yo' can lie in till the
cutters men and soldiers are out of the
way" . u
For answer he got up, and scrambled,
with many groans, out of the boat, drop
ping upon the single.
"You're good lass, and if you're as
pretty as your voice is sweet, I'll have
the best of it hiding away here"
"We'll see about that, my man.
,Yo'or all tarred with the same stick.
The moor a woman does for a man the
moor she'll hev to do. The ferst sarcy
word yo' says to 1, my fayther he cooms
to nus yo'.- So yo' best keep a civil
tongue" :.
The natural result of this nursing was,
that Bessie lost her heart-pity is,
we know; near akin to love; and so it
was. By some means or other, the reve.
nue. officer, left to keep a lookout at
Lulworth, began to get some inkling of
the truth, and one day, meeting Bessie,
rather questioned her closely as to her
friend. Bessie was too sharp to tell
anything, and the name he went by
exit Roberts'') could give no clue to
his antecedents. That night, however,
the officer came across Kit himself, and
began chatting bim about Bessie. Boast
ing little wildly of his knowledge on
domestic matters, there was row. The
officer threatened-Kitr etaliated. Then
some of the elder men stepped in, and
separated them before blows had actually
been struck. Harry Walters, however,
came in in time to hear his daughters
name banded about; and, it being
Christmas Eve, the old man was not
perfectly sober So he gave the officer
bit of his mind; and, warming with
the subject, ended by threatening to pitch
him over the cliff if he ever said q word
against Bessie again. Then Kit, who
had been standing by, got the old man
away, and for few hours the matter
was at rest.
Next morning Bessie started for East
Lulworth, to attend high mass. Re.
turning, she went down the long, steep
path leading to the ruined chapel of
Bindon; suddenly she stopped. Surely
that was Kit, walking along the cliffs
yes. going slowly, as if watching or