Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-08-03

taVla Wlbn nof f1DDOnB anu curlh noat
ing, Bolton carrying her shawl ant
Duncan Ray walking silently on tn
other side.
| And just then another gay thronl
overlook them and there was q dis
cussion as to where the site should b.
for their impromptu banquet; and
presently Duncan Ray looked around.
Where's Octavia ?" he asked.
Everybody had some answer to make
Auriette Hall had seen her not five
minutes before Helen Ray was quite
certain that she was hiding behind the
ruined boat.house on the edge of the
beach Lois Fielding suggested that
she had probably gone back to the
steamer for @ scent-bottle or hand
kerchief, or some such trifie.
"She'll be here presently" said they.
"In the meantime, let us get the lunch
ready, for there's dark little edge Of
cloud down in the west that the cap
tain says he don't half-like the looks of. :"
And where all this time was Oc-
tavia Olandi
She was springing up the steep and
winding ledge of the rock, quicker and
lighter than any mountain chamois, her
veil floating back like white wreath of
mist, an exquisite scarlet dyeing her
cheek.
eff other people can climb to Mother
Carey's Cushion, SO can T." said daunt-
less Octavia, keeping her face reso-
lutely away from the furious waves
that boiled and ragged below, lest, per.
chance, it should render her giddy.
And how astonished they will be
when they see me waving my hand
kerchief 10 them from that dizzy
peak |"
Long before the cold fowls, chicken
salad and sandwiches were spread upon
the grass the captain came up from the
steamer.
"Ladies and gentlemen" said he,
" I'm sorry to spoil sport, but there's q
squall brewin', If ever there was one,
and we'll all be safer we'll out at sea
than on these ragged points of rock
as the tide is comm in deaf
faster than we'd calculated on. So il
you'll all step lively I shall be partic.
ularly obliged"
The ladies began hurriedly to pack
the as yet incomplete repast, and 20
gather up their hats, wells, parasols and
gloves-the gentlemen looked around
for shawl-strsps, books and ba skets;
and once again ran the question:
"But OctaviaI Where is Octaviaf"
Aud Dorsey Wheeler, straining his
eyes through the gray mist which was
already beginning to gather over the
landscape, exclaimed:
"Who has an opsra-glass : I see
on th at tall rock that seems
10 lean toward the wAter-Son ething,
am quite certain, which moves I"
The captain produced his glass.
"Though, to be sure" said d
" glasses amt much use in suGk q
plaguey Scotch mist as this. But I de-
clare, there is something up there fut-
tering in the wind, like some one waving
q signal of distress |"
Bolton snatched the glass from the
veterans hand and hurriedly adjusted
it to his own eyes.
"It is Octavia's veil," he said. SCI
can see the pink flowers like little dots
Of color on her head. Good heavens
and she has been mad enough to climb
that rock, all for o spirit Of crazy ad-
venture !"
"It's bad job for her, then" said
the old fisherman, who, having left his
nets to take care of themselves, had
mingled, black pipe and all, in the gen.
eral confusion. " For now the tide is
in, there amt nobody nor no,hin' can
get near Mother Carey's Rocks; and if
the wind rises, as it's goin' to do, she'll
be blowed into kingdom come at the
very frst puff
"Can nobody help her" cried the
Mortified group.
Tne oil salt shook his head.
"You'd only come to your own
DEATH" said he, "without helpin' her q
mite. There was man killed there
twenty one year ago come October.
He"
eve are losing time" said the cap.
tain, impatiently. "There's q black
squall driving up on the wind. and I'd
not give much for our lives il we don't
get clear Of them confoUndei rocks
OF course we're all sorry for the young
lady but SO far as can see she'll have
to take the consequences of her owf