Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-06-22
marks Of kicks he had given her when a

used to melt in drink, and Margaret hi,
to exc out a subsistence for herself an,
him by making nets and shrimping
Sometimes Lady Blanche used to Civ
her sovereign, and this too, helpe,
the household along.
Margaret had Il wild, logged sort O
attractiveness i'll her appearance. Sh
never wore shoes or stockings. and he
black hair fell down her back in on
thickly-plaited trcss. A red handker
chief formed her head-covering and va
tied under her chin; her rough, brown
arms were always bare to the elbow
Harold Trecorpe had cast his eyes upon
the girl from the time when she wa
seventeen, but she hated him. TIL,
first time he tried some rough piece o
gallantry on her she caught up tn
stump of Il broken oar TO protect hersel
and merely glared at him, without say
ing a word. On another occasion. whel
he came behind her 1lnawares and tool
her under the chin, she lifted heav,
tishiug-net, all honzcd with age an.
salt, and dashed it in his face with sucl
violence that he was knocked down OF
the shingle.
Course 70, GIRL" he swore as he
picked himself up. "Yo' wouldn'
have done that to Mark Brathwaite: b,t
let him look to himself If he crosses me.
elf yo' lay a finger on Mark Brath-
waite yo'l have to look to yo'sclf," an.
swered Margaret, contemptuously; and
Harold contentcd himself with scowline
at her from that time.
Mark Brathwaite was Margaret's sec.
ond lover-a fair-haired boy, about he1
own age, whom she had saved from
drowning one windy day, when he had
been dashed out of his fishing boat by a
flap of q loosed sail, which had hit him
Oh the head and stunned him. Mar
garet had swan a couple of furlongs and
Mark Brathwaite had loved her from the
moment when he opened his eyes and
| found her bending over him and breath
| ing life into his body vigorously from
her own lungs. Margaret, however,
treated him like Il younger brother. He
was the only human being who could
draw smile from her, but he was not
the ran to teach her what love was.
though he tried hard and made himself
pretty wretched in the attempt.
Sometimes Peter Pencorrow's daueh-
ter, sitting outside her fathers house on
fine afternoons to make nets, would
drop her hands into her lap and look
out with dull, wistful expression over
the sea-, so broad, so blue and mysterious.
Her finely shaped head mi ght have been
storehouse Of knowledge and great
thoughts, but it was empty. She could
neither read nor write; she knew nothing
Of the world except i'll its most sordid
aspects of dire poverty, drunkenness
and brutality. She had never set foot
in church. aud had no idea OF a God
save that she had heard and believed that
there was something above those skies
which were now SO golden with sr1nli ght,
now SO black with thunder. Occasional
ly such natural impulses of good as were
in the girls heart would we'll up in short
scraps of advice which she gave to Mark
Brathwaite: "Mark, yo'u not get drunk
like father. There's no good III drink"
OF, "Mark, if I were mon, I'd learn
summit and become scholard."
This is what Margaret Pencorrow was
at eighteen, and on the night alluded to
in the first line of this story, when her
worthless father stood, drunk as usual,
on his watch, and unhcedful of the
storm that was gathering.
The storm broke presently with fright
full fury. Long streaks of lightning
rent the skies and the waves were dash
ed upon the shore with roaring as loud
as thunder. In spite of the deluge of
rain, the crew of the lifeboat came to the
shed to get all in readiness, and great
many other fishermen and their wives
trooped out OF the cottages; but this was
only because sleep on such night was
impossible. Most of the eyes that look
ed Stewards with expectant chances
were rather hoping for profitable
wreck than eager for chance to save
life.
Margaret stood in the shed with Mark
Brathwaite beside her, Harold Trecorpe
being Oh the other side of the boat. The
occasional glow of the pipe he was smok-
ing lit up his rugged face and made it
look fiendish as he cursed the ill-luck
that had fallen upon Polloot, and he ex-
pressed his conviction that the ifcboat
had "witched' the place, driving wrecks
off it. "Dong yo'," he cried, striking
his tiston the boats side. "Yo' done
us harm from the day yo' COON here!
Yo' hev'."
Suddenly there was a cry from every
one under the shed: "a light; blue
light. Look, there's another!"
Far off in the offing there was ship
i'll distress sending up blue lights. They
rose swift and pale, then burst into a
bright CLEAN and vanished. Harold
Trecorpe uttered shout of exultation.
It's big ship" cried be. "Here, gle
us the blue rockets, girl
"W]lat for the blue rockets 2" asked
Margaret, who was standing near box
OF fire signals. eye must burn three
red lights first to warn 'em the coasts
dangerous. Then three blu 'uns to say
the liteboat's coming. That's what my
lord told me-"
"Cuss your lord and yo' too" blurtcd
out Harold, savagely, as he ran around
to tie other side of the boat. "Herc,
lads, bear hand and heave this girl
OUT
Harold, III fire light in yo'r face if
30 come near me. Mark, keep that man
oft, cried Margaret, painting, and seiz-
ing the lantern from Peter Pencorrow's
drunken hands, she held rocket at Har-
otps face as ii it were pistol.
But there were others besides Harold
who wanted the ship to be wrecked, and
several of the lifcboat's crew were among
them. They were willing enough to go
out with the boat by-and-by, but they
wanted the vessel to be wrecked first.
These scoundrels drove Margaret and
Mark Brathwaite back, and it was &C.
solved among them that no lights should
be burned at all for the present. In her
energetic language unadorned Margaret
Pencorrow hurled anathemas at them.
but the only laughed, and suddenly the
girl vanished through the crowd with
Mark Brathwaite.
Where had they gone? For several
moments their disappearance was not
noticed, but suddenly broad sheet of
lightning, that lit up the whole coast,
showed the girl and the boy running as
hard as they could down the shore in
the direction of the Needle Rock. The
tide was coming in fast, but it was evil
Gnnf1v MaO'c o1,ioof RI rot ,,oo,, A., vol,