The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-08-27

oHCAI oue III tuS Ollng, ana anllu The
breakers at the bar, where their frail
boat would not live an instant. And
then. He could not swim stroke.
Ii he could, the distance to the shore
was too far TO make that<of any use. If
only they had rIdder they might run
the boat ashore; but, unfortunately,
they had been in time to secure only the
very last rudderless skiff. a"Thank the
fates it does not Leak "Does it leak ."
He looked down, and saw that the If
regular bottom of the boat was covered
with water to the depth of almost half a
foot When they had started away from
the pier landing Tom had braced his
feet against a broad cross-cleet, and
Laura's stout boots rested on the same
dry foothold. Until then neither had
noticed the water.
Tom searched in the bottom of the
boat for bailing-can. He could not
find one. Laura moved so as to look in
to the little locker under the stern seat.
! There was no can there.
"What shall we do ?" she said
81 must bail with my hat" he re-
Piled slowly, as if thinking ii out Z" the
water must come III very slowly, it is
long time since we left Washington
street wharf. He looked at his watch;
1t was then past 4, and they were nearly
opposite Fort Point. SO far as they
could see there was not single sail in
the otfing. They looked back at the city
there were no out-coming tugs or steam
ers, or schooners even. Then they look
ed out through the gate and wondered
There is an untranslatable poetic
thing about our Golden Gate that the
! sympathetic beholder, incoming or out
gong, or gazing upon it from any stand
point, never fails to realize something
which, perhaps, he acknowledges, but
may never put into fitting phrases.
Perhaps 1t Is because it seems so to hold
the keys of our California life, that we
may not dlslocate it from either our his
! tory or our future. Perhaps it is be-
cause In looking at it one can never quite
discern its big beyond, of veal or of woe,
of sunshine or of tempest
" We should never have had this sun
set anywhere else, Laura" and Tom
| pointed to the declining sun, hanging
without a cloud above the wilderness
OF waves. They looked back at the city.
and all the western windows were
atiame
81 did not think there was so much
gold in Frisco" said Tom.
ooh, Tom, [ don't want to die and
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
| omlnous white of the careering swell,
and along the shore they heard the dull
| boom of the surf. Lower and lower
sank the white electric dazzle; buff and
| pink, and orange toning into narrow
belts of opal. Right ahead rose the
black Farallones, and as the sun sank
still lower, they stood out in unbroken
outline against the disk.
With his soft hat Tom made slow prog
ress in bailing. Until then the water
had oozed in so slowly that danger from
leakage had not alarmed him, until then
the current, too, had carried them along
so gently that the danger of upsetting
had not presented itself. But after
| they passed the fort the motion of the
waves changed, not suddenly, but grad
ually, until at last the boat was rocking
! like cedar chip in the eddies of mill
race. And still the tide had not turned.
Ceasing his bailing for moment, Tom
| thought he heard the sound of water
tr1ckllng into the boat. Perhaps it was
his instinct of danger and not his ears
that warned him, for the waves were
| slashlng against the outside, and the mo-
| ton caused constant tapping of the
watOr within the boat Tom made a
careful examination, and at last, found
little hole through which the water
poured III titful itream as theboat rock
ed from side to side
g must stop that Leak" he. said
"Can you bail?"
| The sun had set, and the flush. 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 aship in sight
| she could have seen it, 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
u" 1t IS fog" said Tom, in a whisper.
Until he said g 1t 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 a fog. For a moment she
/ 0AiO"SS1I' SAIC IllUc DItdh uOWn.
! the tate before them seemed so terrible
Tom had succeededin stopping the leak,
and had resumed bailing. To make the
! task easier, he had cut the brim from
his hat. The fog was now all around
them, and it was quite dark. They
thought they heard the surf more dis
! tinctly.
"The tide has turned" said Tom.
And so it had, but just how they
would be affected by the change they
! could not tell. Tom had kept on bail
| ing until the amount of water had
materially decreased. They had not
! spoken to each other for some moments
! At last Laura leaned forward. Her hand
! touched Toms andhe took it in his own
! That handclasp meant to them things
unspeakable. Her hand was very cold,
! almost as cold as his own. In his pocket
was silk handkerchief; he handed it to
| her and bade her tie it about her neck,
/ for he dared not rise to fasten it there
! himself. Then he took both her hands
/ between his own, striving to keep them
/ warm.
! Laura was the first to speak, and her
voice was quite firm, scarcely even sor-
rowful: "Tom, dear, do not want to
/ die; and yet death cannot take from us
/ the boon of having died together
! but we shall not die now, Laura: I
know Wen not" There was a ring of
! conviction in his tones. The profound
\ I,or