Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-06-21

i
science of the days to come?
/ Leslie Woleott saw group of men or
the shore and hastened towards them
AS he went, the chapel bell rang oui
sharp and clear on the still air. ii
rose and fell, and f1oated out over the
| hafbof bar. and was lost in the rising
fog. 1t came back again, faint and sofi
-hovered- over the little town-and fell
| with sweet cadence into the silence oi
the forest below.
The men were talking eagerly as she
came up.
'.What is it9" he said, a sudden fear
striking him.
Nothing much, sir" said one of the
men, ''only Joe Dayitt's boat broke
from her moorings last night, and has
drifted out to sea-
Leslie stopped down and looked at the
bit Of rope left on the stake to which the
boat had been fastened.
SIT was cut off, he said, looking up,
after moment.
The men looked at each others faces,
and Joe Davitt, elbowing his way
through the crowd, exclaimed:
LET nae see, young stranger. If any
body has set my boat adrift a purpose,
he'd better not let ME know that he
did it -
"Men,' said Leslie, s:there is one of
your neighbors missing, Or rather his
family do not know of his whereabouts.
l came to inquire if any of you had seen,
or knew ought of Walter Hargraye?''
'.Walter Hargrayei' was calculated
from lip to lip. "Since when 90 Joe
Davitt asked, Strengthening up.
evening"
One after another shook their heads
slowly, and Joe Davitt's boat was forgot
ten in this greater interest.
'sMebbe he took Joe's boat to 60 down
| 10 the Bipff," suggested one.
| "How long do you think Il boat could
have lived last night ?'' was the con-
temptuous rejoinder.
And so, ami,l suggestions and specu-
lations, Leslie left them and hurried
| home to see if, by any possibility, he
had been there since he left. He met
Luke coming out of the yard with a
troubled face.
"Heard anything?" he asked, excl
tedly.
"No. He hasn't been at home. |
came back hoping he had been here du-
ing my absence"
Luke shook his head sadly.
/ whats UP down to the shore?" he
asked.
''Joe Davitt's boat was cut from her
moorings last night
Luke stood staring at him for a full
minute, and then he turned abruptly,
and walked rapidly towards the shore,
aud Leslie Went in to inform his sister
OF the strange affair. When he told her
about the boat, she caught it at once.
'He went over to the Bluff, undOubt-
edly,p she said; che is great friend of
Moreys, which is Fortunate ,as he hasn t
many friends"
''Who? the light-keeper?"
"Yes-the most disa@reeable man /
ever saw. believe 1 utterly hate him!''
a tinge of red coming into her pallitl
face.
"Coulin'r Hargraye have gone by
land easier, if he had occasion to visit
this Morey? The men on the shore
the old fishermen-say that a boat
couldn't live in such a sea as it was last
night.
"Well, perhaps the boat didn't live,'
, she said, in low voice.
Isl don't believe he took the boat he
!, said. after a little pause, rising and
: walking towards the door.
HWhat do you believer" She spoke
sharply and impatiently, as if she some
) how took comfort in the supposition
and was annoyed at his opposition.
|. He turned and looked at her. He die
: not know why it should, but at that in
r staft the sound of the voices he hai
, heard in the passage seemed to rise ant
4 die away, just as he had heard them thu
evening before; and Gray's voice-h,
ri was sure it was Gray's voice-seemed t,
> speak in his ear, 'tit acil be soon enougl
| auhea he comes back" Why should tha
\ come to him then? he wondered; ant
+ giving himself little shake to be sur
q he was not dreaming, he answered, per
p.exedly:
'sI am sure I dou't know what to be
n lieve, Celia, it is so strange
r s"Why do You got out again, Leslie
It it is so lonesome here, with him lynn
up there"
:. 81 will not be gone long, promises
OIL" He paused abruptly, reddening
little, then added, f'I promised to le
- them- know if he had been there.
d He could not have told what it wa
l. that made him hesitate about mention
ing. Lena to his sister, but somethin
seemed to stand before him and war
n. him. He found her in an agony {
grief and terror at the mysterious disal
l. pearance of her father. Every house
the village had been visited, and SON
a had mounted horses and ridden out IN,
the outskirts to make inquiries, but II
d, one had seen the missing man sint
to dark of the evening before. Only OF
le hope remained, that he had, for SON
t. unaccountable reason, gone to Barry
of Bluff. Half a score volunteered to &
IT, but Lena insisted upon going hersel
f. It was two miles hy the road, but mut
f. less by water, and Lena decided in fave
ne of the boat.
Leslie had not the most remote i'd
er of going until after Lena had taken h
seat In the boat. He could not ha
as told what it was. but something in h
r. face drew him, and pushing Luke asi,i
IN, just as he was stepping over the side
ay the boat, he sprang in and pushed o
He heard 4 little murmur of voices
at whether of surprise or disapproyal
did not know, only one thing comil
'ut distinctly to his ear, in Joe Davitt's de
voice:
ut. "Ihe rope was cut, boys; the stra
lr. ger was right"
in Itdid not seem to Leslie as if the
was any weight to the oars. The be
he shot ahead fike an arrow, yet he was L
lg, conscious of effort. The shore and
TO faded away; the little town-the wo
ler -tfie distant hills, and the bristli
rocks, all vanished from sight, and
went sailing on, and on, in a wing
h a chariot, over enchanted seas-the two
er- only the universe of space. How ma
ted times he thought of that morning. 10
,al- afterwards, with n mingled sweetn
ale and pain
up Mollie Sterne was firm believer
the dreams, and signs, and warnings; a
ing in the pauses Of the night, over and O.
nst again, she had heard the dea
Ing watci's steady beat over her head, q
hat had said to Hugh, even before the sh
nth clang of the bell had floated out o
lit the sea, that somebody had died
of night"
un- But she was not prepared for the Il
of unutterable sorrow and despair
ing the face of her darling, when, in
kly swer to Leslie's eager inquiry, she s;
S as walter Hargrave had not been til
red. for week"
not "What is it, Prettys'' she said, C,
ong ing down to the edge of the boat,
her reaching out her arms lovingly towa
.ite- her, as if she would take her away fl
ant all the sorrow and pain.
such "Father! o Mollien she gasped,
ter lips growing whittier and whittier;
eral Mollie, where is my father!'
lie a Hugh Morey suddenly swooped dc
and upon the boat, and lifted her in his Il
low, as he would an infant, and strobe Il
own the house with her, murmuring
broken sentences in her ear, rs