The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-04-25
i" COME ASHORE"
BY ROBERT BUCHANAN.
CHAPTER ".


footsteps of Matt who, on quitting the pres
ence of her artist friend walked rapidly along
the sand -incum5ered road in the direction OF
the sea.
Sl,irting the lake upon the left band, and
still having the ocean of sandhills upon her
RIGHT. she gradually slackened her pace. A
spectator, had he been by, would have doubt
less observed that the change was owing to
maid"u meditation; that, in other words,
Matt had fallen into brown study.
Prca1n;ly sho sat down upon convenient
stone, or piece Of rock, and, resting her elbows
Oh her knees, her chin in her hands, looked
for some minutes at vacancy. At last she
rose flushing warmly, and murmurinS scine-
hing to herself.
The something was to this effect:
.sHis hands arc as white ~ n lady's, when
he pulls off them gloves, and he said was rs
pretty as my picture
lean only guess at the train OF reasoning
which led to this soi'oIuy, and express my
opinion that Matt hal VOL lrycl1pcl IDEAS on
the subject Of the sexes; True she was not
above sixteen, and had little or no experience
of men none Mt all Of men who were both
young and good looking. Nevertheless, sho
was not insansible of tho charms Of n white
hand. and other tokens of masculine reHro-
ment and beauty.
By n natural sequence of ideas she was led
10 stretch out her own right hand ard look ut
it critically II was very brown, and covered
with hugo golden frcckles. Tho inspection
not being altogether satisfactory, she thrust
both her hands irritably into the pockets Of
her Jacket, and walked on.
Leaving tho lake behind her she followed
all n hollow down
which tho shallowest Of rivulcts crept along
by the sea, now losing itself altogether in
mossv patches of suspicious greenness, again
emerging and trickling with feeble glimmers
over pebble and sand. Presently she left the
road and camo upon primitive wooden
bridge, consisting of only one plank, sup
ported on two cairns of stone. Here sho
paused, and seeing a red-legged sand-pipcs
running, about on the edge of the water just
below her, made gesture like a boys throw
ing n stone wherein the sand-ppcr sprang
up chirping, ind flew along out of sight.
By this time she was in full sight of tho
sea. Dead calm, and covered with rain-col-
ored shadows, it touched the edges of the fiat
sands about milo away, and left ono long
creamy line Of changelcss foam The sands
themselves stretched away to tho westward
ward, that j. to say in tho direction toward
which she was going, there was long, rocky
promontory, with signs of human habita-
ton. breaking into u swing-like trot, Matt
fastened thilher, following n footpath across
mar,hy fields.
In due tino she came out upon narrow
and ru,lcly made road which wound along tho
rocky promontory at low water skirting the
l. ',,l,t fha hp first hnucn
she reached was wooden lifc-boat house ly-
ing down in creek; and it being then low
tide. at some distance from the waters edge.
On the roadside above the house was flag
staff, and beneath the llagstafTa wooden seat.
All was very still and desolate, without a
sign of life; but little farther along the
road was n row Of cottages which seemed in
habted, and were i. fact the abodcs of the
coastguard. Instead Of lingering here Matt
proceeded on her way until she reached
what at first sight looked like the beginning
of a village or small town. There were
houses on each side of the road, some of them
several stories high; but close inspection
showed that most of them were roofless, that
few of them possessed any windows or doors,
and that nearly all were decayed and dilapi
dated from long disusc, while not few had
ened by fire. And still there was no sign Of
any human soul. Suddenly, however, the street
came to an end, and Matt found herself on a
sort of rocky platform overlooking the sea;
and on this platform, shading his eyes from
the blazing sun and looking out seaward, was
solitary man.
So intCrt was he on his occupation, that he
was unconscious of Mats approach till sho
was standing by his side. He turned hseye
upon her for moment, and then once more
ga2cd out TO sea.
A short, plump, thickset man, with a
round, wcathcr-bcatcn face, which would
have been good humored but for its express
sion Of extreme watchfulncss and greed The
eyes were blue, but very small and keen; tho
forehead low and narrow; the hair coarse
and sandy; the beard coarser and sander
still. He might havo been about 80 years of
age. His dress was curious consisting Of a
yellow Southwestern, pair of seanan's coarse
canvas trousers and blue pilot jacket, orna.
mented with brass buttons which bore the in
sigma Of Her Majesty's naval service.
Presently, without turning his eyes again
from the far distance tho man spoke in a
husky, far-away whisper:
Matt, do you see summat out yonderf'
Matt strained her gaze through tho daz-
cling sunlight but failed to discern any OBJ
iect on the light expanse of water.
'Look We now" continued the man; "it
may be drifting weed, or it may DO wreck;
but it's summat. Look again.
'Summat black, William Jones~
eyes. Coming and going. Now It comes,
and it's black; now it goes, and the water
looks white where it was. II it isn't wreck,
it's weed; IL it amt weed, it's wreck. And
the tides flowing and it'll go ashore afore
night at the Caldron Pint, if wait for it
But sha'n't wait" he added, eagerly. '1'l
90 and overhaul it now"
He looked round suspicious, and then said:
"Matt, did you see any of them coast
guard chaps as you come alongF
mo, William JONES'
Thought not. They're up Pencrocs way,
fooling about; so there's chance for a hon
est man to look arter his living without no
questioning You come along with me- and
If it is summat, I'll gle thee tuppence some o
these fine days"
As he turned ogo, his eyes fell for tho first
time ON her attire.
whats this, Mattl What are you doing
Il. ~