Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-01-20
A ROMANCE OF THE CHICAGO CRIB.

and see the crib tower rising up
against a blue or gray sky, as the
case may be, know of a scene that
took place there nearly three years
ago?
Its walls have had q flavor of ro-
nance about them ever since then
for me; and it seems that the heroine
of the adventure ought to meet with
some recognition, even though it be
at no better hands than those of a
free-lance," whose pen has to- wag
too nimbly to be either graceful or
copious.
At the time of which 1 speak the
crib keeper was Finn named Kali
strOm, gigantic man and heavy in
proportion to his size. He was
known about the wharves as Big
Charlie" and his claim to distinction
was that he had, as he said, "gom-
mandod bark of thousand duns,"
in which he had sailed the North
Seas, and in which, Viking like, he
had carried off his wife, bright
faced Irish girl, from Drogheda, one
of the east ports of Ireland.
She was small woman, with gray
eyes and long black lashes. She had
stronglymarked eyebrows and a
mass of waving black hair that
crept in little curls around her temples
and the nape of her neck. She had
the piquant nose of her race and gen
erous mouth filled with strong white
teeth.
1t was in March, and the day was
one of those soft, treacherous ones
that lure unwary flowers to their de-
struction, and SOW pneumonia and
bronchitis broadcast.
The sun shone warmly, and the great
lake seemed to dream of springtime.
The crib-larder was like Mother
Hubbard's cupboard, and Kalstrom
took his small boat and rowed ashore.
In the few hours he spent among the
shops and in taking a glass of beer
with his friends, the wind changed.
and when he reached the shore
with his stores, he found the lake
churned up to the fury peculiar to
inland seas.
He was worried, but had such con
fidence in his little Irish girl, as he
called her, that he spent the night
quietly.
The next day found the storm as
wild as ever, and he spent the hours
of daylight striding up and down
the shore, for by this time he knew
the few provisions had given out, and
that his wife was actually suffering
for food.
Twice he launched his boat, and
twice it swamped.
AT dark the light cleaned out from
the crib-top, but to Kalstrom's eye it
had baleful glare, and morning
found him determined To go ev l
hev to swim vor it," as he swore with
some round Scandinavian oaths.
Fortunately the wind was more
quiet, and, after hard work, he came
under the lee of the crib-walls. His
wife had spied him, and she casts
him noosed rope from the top story
of the crib; for the waves rolled SO
high that all the storm doors and
shutters were battened down, and the
white caps spit at the lantern as they
drove before the wind.
He caught the rope, and passed up
his bundle of supplies. She dropped
it a second time; and just as he got
it under his arm, a great wave
swamped the boat, leaving him cling
ing to the wall, blinded and bruised,
and depending ON the little woman
up aloft for his life.
She began hauling on the rope, and
had drawn him as high as the sill
frame-he thrusting fingers and toes
into whatever crevices offered.
As he reached his right hand up,
the wind came round the corner
with yell and tore him loose, drop
ping him into the lake; but the faith
full Irish girl paid out the line as fast
as she could, and he found himself
with chance for life still in his
reach.
Up he came hand over hand, and
as he entered the window he saw her
fall, and in the dim light he noticed
a strange discoloration of her face,
black stain on the bright rag carpet,
and the fact that her dress was torn
to rags in front.
Well, to make a long story short,
when he picked her up he found the
wedding finger of her left hand en-
tirely gone, and the tender ripped
out up to the elbow.
It had been caught between the
rope and the stone casing when he
fell, and his great weight, playing
against the wedding ring, had done
the mischief.
But, as she said, 1t weren't
time for faintin', Miss"
And she had hauled him up with
the right hand and those strong
white teeth.
Therugging of the hemp had cut
her mouth cruelty, and she had ground
her knees against the wall SO des-
perately that the thick stuff-gown
she wore was frayed through and
through.
That night the wind shrieked and
roarcd till the lake went mad with
the noise, and the waves threw their
spray among pigeons under the eve
OF the lantern roof, and the injured
woman moaned through the house
for the relief that could not come.
Kalstrom signaled and signaled
for help, and four days after the &C.
cident a boat got out, and Mrs.
II = A. l. Il -