Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-07-06
TEMPTED.

lEMflED.
"David, dye think it's comm on to
blow?"
sit looks like it up in the northeast.
Seems to be a-fillin' in to leeward, too"
eyes, it looks bad all round. I guess
we'd better count on bunking at the sta
ton tonight"
"Well, ls'pose we must, if you say so.
Sarah has been a-watching the weather
all the afternoon Seems as though she
knows when I've got to go on station
fore go myself. She don't like to have
me leave her alone with the children;
and to tell the ?ruth, cap'n, don't really
like to do it myself. If I was young
Teller without family. Iwonldn't mind
it''
"Neither would I, David; and yet I
don't want reckless young chaps in my
crew. Boys that think it's kind of lark
to spend the night at the station will do
very we'll in ordinary times, but if it
comes to going off in the boat I'd rather
rest my life with steady men, who know
just what the danger is and are viii lin
to face it; men who go because it's a
Christian duty; and if there's some one
! praying for 'em at home. SO much the
better"
"Of course I'm ready to go, cap'n. Do
| you think we'd better muster the whole
crew?"
"Better notify 'em to come down if it
turns out rough night, David. If the
wind off shore is shifting to nor'ward,
we shall catch it heavy before mid
night"
every we'll, I'll send Steve Hendrick.
son round to tell the men,
I eyes; and let him come down to the
station and get my mare. I'll 90 and
saddler her for him. Tell him to come
ready to stay all night, for we may want
him if anything happens"
''Steve is too good a boy to lose, unused
Capt. Wooley, as he turned back to the
life-saving station of which he was the
keeper. 'He is doing all he can to sup
port his mother, and will make true
man. I'll keep him in the house tonight,
and not put him to rough service. lie
had a narrow escape in the last storm,
and some one else can take the chances
this time"
The keeper was as good as his word,
and when Stephen returned from bis
round among the crew of tie station he
found his orders were to take charge OF
the house, keep up the fires and have hot
coffee ready when the men came off duty.
This was dull music for an active, daring
boy, accustomed to exposure and eager
for adventure; but Capt. Wooley's crew,
although volunteers, always obeyed orders
without murmuring.
The storm came down heavily during
the night, and watch was detailed to
patrol the beach, about half the men 90
ing out. Toward midnight call came
for help from station No. Z, the next sta
ton up the beach. There was wreck
ashore near the line between the two dis
tricts, and Capt. Wooley went up with
the remainder Of the crew.
Stephen was left alone, with only the
fire for company. He found the hours
passed very slowly: He had been huri
in previous storm, and laid up at homo
for several weeks. Money bad run low
the while, and the time was near at hand
when the interest Of a mortgage on his
mothers place would fall due.
His thoughts, as he sat by the fire, were
not pleasant, for his mother had no one
but him to depend on, and he puzzled
over all sorts of vain plans for raising the
needed money before quarter-day.
He was only lad Of fifteen years
This care weighed upon him heavily
Besides the fear of trouble in case the in
terest was not forthcoming, he had ar
old-fashioned feeling of honor about pay
ing a debt when it was due.
4 With this anxiety ON his mind hi
dropped into dose, and dreamed of see
ing a rainbow over the sea, with one enc
resting on the beech. He remembered
| in his dream the couplet:
"Where a rainbow touches ground
! Al pot Of money may be found"
! He thought: "Of course there ISM
any money there, but III just dig dow1
1 a little ways for fun;' and he was STRAIT
ing for the spot when he heard voice.
calling:
4 Here, Steve! Here's the money owe,
/ here!'~
He sprang up, hardly knowing whether
he was asleep or awake, and presently
heard Dave Throckmorton' voice hail
ing again:
"Here, Steve! show light, can't
you?"
| He ran and threw open the door, an6
Dave came in with another of the Gre
bearing the lifeless form of man on a
stretcher, with a tarpaulin thrown owe,
it.
"He's gone, I guess" said David
"We dragged him out of the surf, but a
baoken spar struck him, and I'm afraid
he's past help"
They laid the bruised figure carefully
in a bunk, and then fastened back to
the scene of the wreck But Stephen,
after examing the injured man, came to
the conclusion that life vas not extinct,
and he therefore set to work, applying
such restorativcs as the station afforded
The limp form was that of young
man, whose fair skin and soft hands told
that he was not a sailor Brown curls
were matted over the pallid face. The
lips were drawn tight over clenchedwhite
teeth, but Stephen saw, with new sense
of pity, that the fea ures were cast in a
I pleasant winsome mold
! The lad worked industriously and in
diligently, experience having taught him
what to do, and after time he had the
satisfaction of seeing his patients eyes