The Penn's Grove record., 1885-12-12

TO seem cheerful and at eass, but at
last Mrs. Hilder said half l%aughingly:
II do believe, Amy, that you are
worrying about Captain Annesley. He
is quite safe. L dare say he will be in
very soon now"
CT hope So" l replied. 81 wont
deny that / am extremely ervous. |
should like to go to meet him, Ada,n /
continued, twill you come with me?"
Ada was delighted.
1t took only a few seconds to put on
my hat. and then we started off, not to
walk along the shore, but to go up the
cliff, from whence we could sea round
the corner far off. and probably be able
to distinguish Jack coming towards
home. lie was rather a conspicuous
figure from the style of his dress, which
consisted of white flannel trousers and
a flannel cricketing.jacket OF violet and
orange stripes. His straw hat wasalso
adorned with a muslin puggaree. so I
knew we should have little difficulty in
recognizing him even from a consider
able distance.
Ada aud I mounted the hill very
quickly, and presently we were scan
ming the shore for what I most earnest
ly wanted to see. The first thing we
saw were three black figures on the
shore perhaps a mile ~away-three men.
No signs of Jack were to be seen.
ssPerhaps he has gone home" sug-
gested Ada.
perhaps, y Iagreed.
But we walked q little farther on,
and we noticed the three men suddenly
separate. They were opposite a very
long ridge of rocks. The sea was very
far out, and the rocks were all visible.
Probably the men were prawn- fishing.
One of them went in advance; he was
going along the road swiftly. l could
see him leaping from rock to rock, I'M
til he got near the end, and then the
three came after him more slowly
slowly but very surely. They were all
making for n point, and closing round
1t.
Far off as it was, 1 could distinguish
their every movement in the clear sum
mer air.
All at once a fourth figure showed
clearly against the dark rocks. Icould
see the white hat, the dark jacket and
the white trousers. l knew it a my
husband. He had sprung to his feet
and was facing the first man.
I heard Ada trying to reassure me,
but her words were lost upon me. /
was watching these figures with almost
paralyzed terror. 1 saw the two meet
in a struggle. l saw the figure of the
first man disappear, and then I saw the
other two, with a fourth running along
the ridge to join them, dash forward
toward Jack.
They were almost upoa him, when in
an instant | saw him spring from the
rocks and apparently strike out.
| saw no more. Though the very
pulses Of life seemed to be palsied with
in me, and I felt the death-like chill OF
nearly fainting steal rel me, the wv
fui exiGolcy Of the situation nsrvod ma
to instantaneous action.
| did not feel as if | ran. I felt that
l almost flew down the hill. Merciful
ly it was close to the pier. AS l reach
ed it the first person l caught sight of
was Pierre Blanc. He was standing
with his dog, as usual.
How l made hum understand the des-
perate case I never knew, but / man
aged to gasp out enough 10 get him and
myself into his boat with hardly as lit
tie time lost as it has taken to tell.
Pierre pushed off the Marie Antoi-
nette with the celebrity ofa strong young
man, and Brave. not to be left behind
jumped into the boat, whining with
suppressed eagerness as if he knew by
intuition the GRAND we were on; that
once more a life was in the balance-a
life to BIO saved, IL it were not already
lost. Pierre took both the oars.
l would fain have taken one, I felt
so str ong, as If the agony l was endur-
ing must nerve me to drive the little
craft on at a greater speed than his
long, slow, firm strokes. / was obliged
to obey him and sit In a state of COM
paratIve inactivity with the tiller ropes
held in my trembling fingers.
All | had to do was to keep her head
straight, and surely no race was ever
rowed with so agonized yet SO careful
a Steerer.
Fully City yards had to be covered
before we rounded the corner, and as
we did so / felt, despite the sea being
comparatively calm. a long swell. The
tide was still running out, it seemed to
be against us, but Pierre did not falter;
on he rowed and as we turned the cor
ner my eyes swept over the water in
search OF the swimmer we had come to
save I saw nc trace of him.
Suddenly / fancied l saw a dark OBJ
ject-something much farther out than
the line WI were taking.
"Theren / exclaimed, pointing in
the direction.
Pierre ceased rowing aud calmly stood
up to investigate, and then we seemed
to my terror to drift backwards.
By this time l had, half in English,
half in French, managed to convey, to
Pierre the circumstances of the case.
He seemed 90 know the very ~ledgefr0m
which / told him l had seen Jack jump
into the sea. He knew the tides, and
he knew just the direction in which
Jack, if he had kept aioat, would hs
driven.
"Ah," I heard him mutter, "that's
IT,
And then Braye barked, and I sat
holding the ropes. but dumbly praying,
realizins hat all l loyed-all l cared
for In orld-was in desperate and
deadr Ager, for, though Jack wa a
good dmmer, his lllness--a severe
congestion Of the lungs-had weakened
AtA4 SACRett dA9 tAte-oo ~ btObo NOtiU
impede him fearfulIy, and unlsss assis-
lance reached him speedily, l felt that
in q few minutes more, probably, all
would be over. Nearer and nearer
we came, Brave growing more and more
excited every instant; Pierre sticking
calamity to his oars. The waves were
stronger the farther we went out, and
every other minute we lost sight Of the
object we were trying to reach. But
we saw it again-this time more dis
tmctly. Then I forgot tiller ropes and
everything. I could only see one thing
and that was Jacks face In the distance
Jack swimming still, but feebly.
He saw us. too. That nerved him
when his strength failedhim. The first
sound of possible rescue had come to
him ! n the shape of Braves bark. Aud
he had then put forth an effort which
could only have been sustained a short
49, $500 ~ -L--l s.k