The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1881-08-20


chill. Far ahead they could see the
ominous white of the careening 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 it's disk.
With his soft hat Tom made slow pro-
gress in bailing. Until then the water
had oozed in so slowly that danger from
leakage had not alarmed him until
along SO gently that the danger of up
setting had not presented itself. But
after they passed the fort the motion of
the waves changed, not suddenly--but
gradually, 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 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 constant tapping of
the water within the boat. Tom made
a careful examination, and at last found
a little hole through which the water
I poured in ftful stream as the boat
rocked from side to side.
81 must stop that Leak" he said.
"Can you bail ?"
The sun had set and the flush was
fading out of the western sky. In all
the waste of waters there was no moving
object. II there had been ship in
| sight she could have seen it, she thought,
almost despairingly.
| She began to bail as we'll as she could,
with the felt hat, and in her cramped
position. A long line of gray WAS COM
ing up from the south
cit is fog," said Tom, in whisper.
Until he said cit 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,
/ VllO ILsOV OCiOlS GuClLl 5CoIlltIl oO UCIIlbl6.
Tom had succeeded in stopping the
leak and had resumed bailing. To
make that task easier he had cut the
brim from his bat. The fog was now
all around them, and it was quite dark.
They thought they heard the surf more
distinctly.
"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 kept on bailing
until the amount of water in the boat
had materially decreased. They had
not spoken to each other for some mo-
ments. At last Laura leaned forward
Her hand touched TOMS, and he took il
in his own. That hand-clasp meant to
| them things unspeakable. Her hand
Was very cold, almost as cold as his own.
In his pocket was o silk handkerchief
he handed it to her and babe her tie il
about her neck, for he dared not rise tc
fasten it there himself. Then he took
both her hands between his own, striy.
ing to keep them warm.
Laura was the first to speak, and hel
voice was quite firm, scarcely even sor
rowful "Tom, dear, do not want tc
die; and yet death cannot take from us
the boon of having died together"
"But we shall not die now, Laura;
know We'll not" There was the ring O
conviction in his torres. The profound
resignation underlying her words hat
struck the right key in his own nature
and the thought of his first despairine
mood made him almost angry. "Bu
it's awfully hungry we are, my dear,
were his next words.
"Pm ashamed of you," said Laura
and she actually laughed. Tom laughed
also.
When two persons in such position
can laugh, it is either every brave" o
Every shocking" according to the Greco
we first sucked and the $50 forth =" o
our salad days.
The fog was all around them, ant
neither could see the others face. The
fog was cold, and from time to time
Laura had shivered once or twice, audi
bly,, though quite involuntarily, for sh'
was brave little woman When thu
ripple of the young girls laughter rams
out amid the fog (above the boom o
the surf, the far-away barking of the SCI
lions on Seal rocks, and the near, ye
distant, scream of the fog signal, ant
when his own laughter was smotheret
in the fog folds, Tom repeated: But
am hungry, awfully-"
What he might have gone on to say il
forever sealed. The next moment thu
boat struck something with great mo
mentum, and that is all Laura remem
bered till she awoke in the queer ittl'
cabin of the Sarah Emma, brigantine
inbound from Australia.
A woman's gentle face bent above he
own in anxious, motherly regard, ant
dear Tom sat on locker behind tn,
gangway, with glad tears in his eyes t.
see the color steal back to her colo
cheeks.
"And now You must have bit t,
eat," said the captains wife, in hospita
BILE accents
But Laura shut her eyes, half mali
ciously, and murmured: "Give it T.
him, please; he's always hungry"
"That's what you'll not dare say whel
you become Mrs. Tom," said the youn,
! man. triumphantly; and as the matronl