The National tribune., 1881-09-24

the boat round.
ave shall be late" said she, with an attempt
at cheerfulness; and we have foated SO far that
the town is quite indistinct."
Jack made no answer-he was busy turning
the boats head round; and a man cannot, like a
woman, on these occasions at once disguise his
defeat under careless talk 1t was some satisfac-
ton to him to put his strength into the pulling,
| to grind his feet against the stretcher and to
make the tholepins groan with the strain put on
them to hear the water washing round the bows
with every stroke Miss Stewart, who had COM
mand of the rudder-strings, said no more, but,
letting her hand drop into the cool water,
watched the ripples that streamed and widened
from her white fingers. Maybe, too, from the
corners of her eyes she cast glance of feminine
admiration at the broad shoulders and brown
arms that were making the little boat bound so
merrily. But after time she looked up, and,
glancing at the Shore said:
ave don't seem to have gone far, when you
look at the shore do we? And yet we must
have"
Jack looked up, and with surprise-for he
knew better than she did the vigor he had been
throwing into his strokes-observed that they
/
homeward side of the big chimney which they
had become accustomed to regard as landmark
Even while he stayed to look they lost the little
distance by which they had passed it, and went
in a line with it again.
"By jOve!" said he, setting to work at once
more strenuously than before, what tremen-
dOus current there is on that side of the bay! /
remember hearing Peter Jones say that there
was one at certain states of the tide: but | had
quite forgotten it."
Peter Jones was the old fisherman from whom
they hired the boat: and Nellie looked up in alarm
but was cOmfOrted by observing that they were
slowly but surely making way Jacks powerful
strokes were sending them against the current,
which beat upon the boat as if the latter were
making several miles an hour. But Jack knew
that this could hardly 60 on; he was putting all
his strength into the strokes, and if he made no
more way than this, even could he hold out, they
would not be back until after dark.
Il had better pull out into the middle of the
bay Will you please to put her head that way?
The current runs along this shore, fancy, and
in the middle we may escape it,
Suiting the action to the word, he pulled his
right scull hard, and ceased with his left, while
Nellie pulled her right string. The current made
turning difficult; and Jack, seeing how far the
boat is being carried back, pulled violent stroke
or two with his right. In minute the scull, a
hired one, snaps in two, and the longer end has
floated far away down the stream. Colwyn can
not altogether stife cry of dsmay-the immi-
nence of the danger is at once before his eyes
The now un Hlau.Za.- rat is in the centre of
the current, llg2 unless help arrive may carry
it into the ea ses. au ack, who is aware that
brisk east ST. .nd blowing all day, knows
full well in ,.o.. -ho.t me the little craft will
float there.
Nellie did not 50 quickly comprehend the situa-
ton. She too uttered a cry when she saw the
accident and the speed with which the boat i'm
mediately began to drift backwards but the idea
of real danger lid not at once come home to her
mind. She had never been in peril of her life, and
the fact that she was now III that peril did not so
easily occur to her as to Colwyn, who i'll the
course of his sporting experience had faced death
more than once. Now he turned to make the
best of the situation. He threw over his other
scull to that side, and while Nellie pulled the
contrary string, tried to get the boat round out
of the current as he had been endeavoring to do
when the accident occurred. He only did it in
the hope that they might be almost out of its
influence, and the attempt Was futile Then he
bent all his strength and skill to work the boat
against the stream with one scull piled at the
stern, in the old-fashOned manner; but his efforts
were equally in vain. Hardly five minutes had
passed since the accident, and already all that he
had gained in his twenty minutes pull against
the stream was lost; the boat was abreast of the
tall chimney again; nay, it was seaward of it
before Jack had time to note his position. He
could guess now that the rough water which
marked the entrance Of the harbOr was little
more than half mile away, if so much, while
the breakers which fanked it, on to which it
seemed more probable that the boat would be
carried, were nearer In his pain, as he con-
templated the almost immediate crisis there was
selfishness; it never occurred to him a salts
faction that they would perish together. If he
could only save her, he cared little, genuinely
little at that moment to save himself. But to
see her die by his side to see those dear hands /
struggling and that fair face working in the
agony of suff0cation, while the gray relentless
waves rolled on over it-that did fill his soul
with an anguish that almost made him cry aloud !
And he knew now, though he hardly dared to
look at the white face before him, that she COM
pretended some part, if nOt all, of their peril /
Yes, Nellie could not but see the white line of
breakers that stretched out from the now distant