Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-12-23
THE MOTHERS VENGEANCE.

Boom. 1t came over the sea
Only the waves heard it, and they,
all Indifferent. rushed on. throwing
their white caps oven the rocks, and
then receded to strike another blow
at the doomed ship 4tl
1t woke fishers wife. but turning
in the bed, she saw her husband
safe beside her and slept again.
Boom.
The mistress of the castle was
awake, but, wrapped in her own bit
ter thoughts. had given no heed to
the sound.
d, Boom. ..n.I a4,.f.n1
y There was a eommotion below. and
then a half-dressed servant, with a
pale, scared face. opened my lady's
door ..... -. ID.
There is a dreadful storm, my
lady, and a ship is approaching the
rocks"
Eell them to build large fires.
and to have everything in readiness y
She spoke mechanically. Evidently
a ship going to pieces was nothing to
the lady's private grief
Everything is ready, my lady: but
a fisherman has just come up from
the beach some loose things have
already foated ashore. and = y
y. Well?"s : "A S&A asa
Il know his lordship was not OK
pected for week, but the ship is
the lIersey" h's p'"' 49, i'7 -sa'i
Good God. My son is aboard'',
Boom!, ......,
A childless mother heard it. One
whose brain had never been right,
they said, ssince the night her be-
trayed daughter had thrown herself
headlong from the cliffs
She wrapped a shawl around her,
and, muttering something about its
being "just such night" made her
way through the wind and rain to
the rocks ,.. ..
The village had been aroused at
last, as was seen by the shadowy
forms and darting lights ahead.
Knots of brave men lined the coast.
Here and there woman might be
seen silently murmuring prayer, OF
gazing with terror stricken eyes on
the scene before her. ...
Suddenly the rain stopped, but
the wind did not abate, and the
waves broke with. a. steady roar
against the sharp rocks, on sweeping
along the beach far beyond their
usual mark. ei r,sgTgg--..,. ..sq-sr
Just outside the breakers the
huge hull4of a ship loomed darkly
up: . .''' '.'.Ds .D.'ss a@ 4Ie.
.s The distress guns had ceased, for
the fishers had built huge Tfires on
the. rocks. and by their lurid light
the men on the Mersey could saet bat
there We're bold hearts and htlong
hands ready to aid them, if aid were
possible. 3DD ..,.. ~, a''t =
But what aid could be given?
There was no lifeboat; no line from
the shore could reach the ship. ,s
II she could keep off the rocks till
all would be well; if not,
they, must take. to the boats, and
trust themselves to the winds and the
waves the laughing waves, that
come sporting up to your feet on the
sands; the cruel waves, that dash
brave slnp freighted with human be-
ings against the sharp rocks, and.
shout with glee as their awful cry Of
agony is borne on the midnight tir.
Mad Margaret, still clcs ly wrapped
in her faded shawl passed by the
groups of silent men and awe-struck
women. Then she went up the cliff
to where the fires burned, helped a
man throw a heavy, tar smeared log
on one that began to wane, and then,
without a word, went onward some
distance to where the rocks slopel
little and then came up again in
sharp, jagged points, thai cut off her
further progress. 80"
In the darkness something cleaned
at her feet, and stopping to pick it
up, she found a sharp ciasp-knife that
some of the men had probably
dropped. adf g. ~ t.'t-
Two women passed the lights and
came toward her. 1-, 'a.-.' ...- ... '."ai
To avoid them, as she avoided
every one, Margaret stepped behind
spdr of the rock, and looked through
the thick dhrkness Aout: toward the
ship.
The newcomers We're Lady Var
rien and her maid. sii sol l-l. t..v
The lady's son was on that ship
the son who had slept on her breast,
who had twined his pretty arms
around her neck, who had squan,
dered her wealth, who had ruined her
peace, who had disgraced his name
and hers the son for whom she would
have bartered her soul ns 'g
M And she could only look on in
dumb agony, powerless to save, Y
+. Separated from the lady by a few
feet of rock was that other mother
the mother whose daughter Lord
Varrien had ruined, and the scandal
of whose death had first driven him
to foreign parts s-a4arai ia,e sa-a
But each wrapped i'll her own
thoughts was unconscious Of the
others presence.
). man carrying roperushed across
CQ0 IOGk0. r.s.s..