The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-09-09

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oars. His hands touched the empty
row-locks The oars were gone. He
looked around but they were nowhere to
be seem A cry of horror arose TO his
lips Luckily he stilled it there He
looked quickly, furtively at his compan
ion. She had seen and understood. He
forced a laugh, and his companion was
deceived by it.
"Then it was not so very bad ?" she
said, and the color came back to her
cheeks.
"No, it is good joke" he replied
"Only we will be out rather late. w hen
the tide turns we will go back booming" "
Really he had very little hope. His
judgment told him that the tide had no
yet turned, and unless it did turn almost
instantly, the swift current would carry
them out into the offing, and amid the
breakers at the bar, where their frai
boat would not live an instant. And
then. He could not swim a stroke.
1t he could, the distance to the shore was
too far to, make that of any use. If on.
ly they had a ruddcr they might run the
boat ashore but, unfortunately, they
had been in time to secure only the very
last, rudderless skiff. ''rhank the fatcs
it does not leak" "Does not leak p
| lie looked down, and saw that the rentl
lar bottom of the boat was covered with
water to the depth of almost half a fooy.
| When they had started away from the
pier landing Tom had braced his feet
against broad cross elect, and Laura's
stout boots rested Oh the same dry foot
| hold Until then neither had noticed
| the water.
Tom searched in the bottom of the
boat for a bailng can. lie could not
find one. Laura moved so as to look
into the little locker under the stern seat.
There was no can there.
"What shall we do ?" she said
II must bail with my lat" he replied
| slowly, as if thinking it ont 'the water
| must come in very slowly it is lone
time since we left Washington street
WHAT He looked at his watch il
was then past and they were nearly
opposite Fort Poirs. 50 far Us thcv
could see there was not . single sail il,
the ohing. TFey looked back at the
steamers, or schooners even. Then they
looked out through the gate and won
dered
There is an untrans|atable poetic some
thing about our Golden Gate that the
sympathetic beholder, incoming or out.
going, or gazing upon it from any stand
point, never fails to realize-something
which, perhaps, he acknowledges, but
may never put into fitting phrases. Per-
haps it is because it seems so to hold the
keys of our California life that we may
not dissociate it from either our history
or our future. Perhaps it is because in
looking at it one can never quite discern
it's big beyond.of veal or of woe, of sun.
shine oc of tempest
1--WE shouli never have had this sun.
set anywhere else, Laura" and Tor,
pointed to the declining sun, hanging
without a cloud above the wilderness of
waves. They looked back to the city,
aud all the western windows were
aflame.
81 did not think there was so much
gold in Frisco" said Tom
"Oh, Tom, don't want to die ani
leave it all, said Laura, tremblingly
The dallying breeze had shaken off
the spell. The air had grown Suddenly
chill Far ahead they could see the
omnous white of the careening swell,
and along the shore they heard the dull
boom of the sur. Lower and lower sank
the white electric dazzle buff, and pink
and orange toning into narrow belts of
opal. Right ahead rose the black Far
alones, and rs the sun still sank lower
they stood in unbrokGn outline against
the disk.
With his soft hat Tom made slow pro
gress in bailiug. Until then the water
oozed in 80 slowly that danger from
leakage had not alarmed Kim; until then,
the current, TOO, had carried them along
so gently that the danger of upsetting
had not presented itself. But after they
had passed the fort the motion of the
waves changed, not suddenly but grad
ually until at last the boat was rocking
like ceder chip in the eddies of mill
race, And still the tide had not turned,
Ceasing his baiing for an instant, Tom
thought he heard the sound of water
trickling into the boat. Perhaps it was
his instinct of danger and not his ears
that warned him, for the waves were
splashing against the outside, and the |
motion caused a constant tapping of the |
water within the boat. Tom made a
careful examination and at last found a
little hole through which the water
poured in a titful stream as the boat
rocked from side TO side.
81 must stop the leak he said, scan
you bail :"
The sun had set and the Hush was
fading out of the western sky. Laura
took one long look around. In all the |
waste of waters there was no moving |
object If there had been ship in
sight she could have seen ii, she thought |
almost despairingly.
She began to bail as well as she could |
with the felt hat, and in her cramped |
position. A long line of gray was com
ing up from the south.
at is fog" said Tom, in whisper.
Until he said, at is fog" she did not |
realize the almost utter hopelessness of |
their position. Even if the tide should |
turn before they reached the bar, it
would be impossible to protect them
selves in fog. For moment she |
thought she should quite break down,
the fate before them seemed so terrible. |
Tom had succeeded in stopping the lea,.,
and had resumed bailing To make that
task easier, he had cut the brim from his |
hat, The fog was now all around them, |
and it was quito dark. They thought
they heard the surf more distinctly
"rhe tide has turned" said Tom.
And so it had, but just how they would |
be affected by the change they could not |
tell. Tom kept on bailing until the
amount of water in the boat had materi- |
ally decreased. They had not spoken |
to each other for some momen,s. At las.
Laura leaned forward. Her hand touch |
ed Toms, and he took it in his own.
That hand oil 20 a h. Al = 4