Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-28

when to rise on the crest OF pillow as
il breaks; to husband ones strength at
one moment, and put it forth to the
utmost at anotler-all this must be
thought of, in the very crisis of the
peril, if the task is to he achieved at
all.
Suddenly cheer comes pealing from
the shore. so loud and hearty as to be
heard above all the roar of the storm,
and it is re peated again and again, till
every Granny of the great cliff seems
alive with echoes.
"He must ha' done it," says the
boatswain to the first officer. for /
feel the rope comm taut in my hands"
Sure enough, in another moment the
narrow black line stood clearly ont
against the ghostly white of tie sea,
for some distance from the wreck, al
though farther out it was completely
hidden by the leaping waves.
Now. my lads" cried Capt. Hardy,
" off with you, and mind you hold fast.
If We were boarding an enemy, l
wouldn't ask you to go first; but this
il different thing; l don't take my
foot off these planks till every other
man has left them; SO the sooner you
all get ashore, the less time you'll keep
me waiting"
The concluding joke, grim as it was,
touched his hearers in the right place.
They answered him with a cheer. and
at once began to push themselves off
on their perilous journey.
More than once stitied cry was
heard from the depth of the dark
LESS, a. furious wave tore some poor
fellow from the slippery cord. and
whirled him away to destruction; but
the greater part reached the shore i'll
safety. hailed by the lusty cheers of
the fisherman.
After the turn of The men came that
of the officers. One by one, they
cleared the deadly space, till the only
man left on the deck was the captain
himself. All at once terrible cry was
heard, and the first officer, turning
hastily, saw the rope tossing loose upon
the waves. 1t had snapped in the mid
die !
&C d help nun mimi" multered
an old fisherman, sadly; " 1t be a over
wi nun now ~
"Whwt?' shouted Thompson, start
ing W "irom the wet shingles upon
which he had been lying exhau ted.
"Ail over with him. dye say? Not
while zoe have hands of our own, any
how !"
"Why, Bill, what's got you ?" cried
one of his comrades, jok,ngly. I" |
heerd you say, myself, only last week,
as you'd give a years pay to see the old
man captain in Scrape as he couldn't
git out of J.
"And what O that p retorted the
other, savagely. "D'ye thiuk Bill
Thompson's the one to remember
any SIGH foolery when there's brave
man dyin' right afore his eyes? 1 tell
ye. he Civ me his hand afore the whole
ships company, jist as if him and me
warnt capn and A. b. at all, but man
and man; and I'll help him somehow,
if die for il ~
SEE best brave lad," said ono OF
the fishermen, approvingly; but boat
nor line can ever reach your man now.
God ha' mercy upon nuns soul !"
And so we're all to git safe ashore,
and leave our cap'n to drown !" cried a
sailor, fiercely. "That 'ud be a nice
story for English blue-jackets to tell,
wouldn't it? Mates, are we men? or
are We pack O. skulkers as oughtn't
never to show their faces on the water
agin? Who'll help me to take boat
on to him"
81 willr'
"And IT,
"And II"
"Come along. then!'
"Bide ye, bide ye, lads!" cried the
old fisherman; eel do naught O. good
thik' way. But I'll tell ZEE what ye
med do, if the wind nd only shift a
pint or two to the east ard, as it do
seem to be for doin'."
1t is shifting; see it' exclaimed
do. daddy ? tell us quick!"
" 'Ee see yon p'int?" said the vete-
ran, indicating the rocky headland that
closed in the bay to the east. "When
the wind be south-and-by west, it do
max coorrent across the bay, right
down to the rocks where the vessel be
lynn; zee med get to nun So"
The impatient crew barely gave him
time to finish. One universal hurrah
shook the air, and in an instant these
bruised, half-drowned, starving men,
who had seemed hardly allie to staud q
few minutes before, were running like
madmen toward the Point, where they
scarcely waited to let the wind change
sufficiently for their purpose, before
launching boat and pulling furiously
toward the wreck.
Meanwhile, how Jared it with the
doomed captain? Perhaps even his
stout heart may have failed for a mo-
ment, at the thought of his young wife
far away on the sunny Kentish shore,
and the two little girls who were pray
ing that papa might come safe back
from sea, while he stood there alone
with death.
But, whatever might be the peril that
threatened him, there was no "whit.
feather about Captain Richard Hardy;
and the eyes that had faced without
flincbing the grinning mazzles OF
French cannon, looked just AS fearless
ly upon the crashing waves.
Suddenly loud hurrah came rolling
over the wild sea, and the rising moon.
breaking for moment through the
inky masses of cloud, showed him a