The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-02-19

Tall as an Indian, straight as a n arrow,
the girl stood for q second above the
trembling sea and roaring sea lions and
fOam-white rocks and seemed at.last TO
hesitate in her desperate purpose. Sud-
denly. as if her heart had impelled her she
turned her head away toward the sombre
zummits of Redwood Park and Mount
Diablo. She shaded her eyes with her
lifted hand and looked long and earnestly.
What was she thinking of now. Her
days of happy childhood2 The family
group gathered about the door waiting her
return? Her strong, silent, daring and
enduring father, so much like herself {
What could have been her thoughts?
Then after a time her eyes fell down
ward a little and fingered about the Golden
Gate. She started suddenly and clutched
more in her right hand the long, coiled
cord.
What could have startled her and nerved
her so suddenly to her desperate task?
There was a little sail ~plunging down
from out the Golden Gate at all speed; as
IL the huge man at the helm half guessed
that this gathering of ships was a signal
OF trouble to him or his.
No, she would not let him suffer; not
while she lived. She would end it all
now and at once.
Tightening, testing the cord once more
and for the last time, taking care that no
sharp rock should come in contact with
Its precious threads and fbres she grasped
1t tightly in both hands and hastily let
herself down over the beetling ledge.
Would it hold herr Land her safely in
the surf and surge below ? was it long
enough and was it surely strong enough?
Boats started forward; a thousand stout
hearted men stood to their oars. Every
Prov was turned pointing to the Lions
Head-ready to leap forward to the rescue.
Down. down! down. Every man held
his breath Down! down downl Forty
feetl Fifty One hundredl One nun
dred and fifty feet. Only fifty feet more
and the foamy troubled rocks and sea
lions below will receive herl
But what is the matter? Why pause
there suspended in the air by that thin
and invisible cord2 An empty hand
reaches out helplessly in the air in sign
that all is over. The rope is exhausted.
Men stand as if stunned and struck dumb.
The girl makes the sign of the cross and
men that lever prayed before are praying
now. Those that would disdain to pray
for their own lives are praying for this
poor girl. Tears are in every eye and in
every utterance.
Both her hands now clutch close and
hard to the cord, as if she breads to die.
Her bosom heaves heavily; her feet are
locked close together. Oh, if the water
was but water beneath her, instead of
stone and foam and roaring old lions of
the seal
Oh, but to be able to drop down into
the sea twenty, thirty feet out from the
base of the precipicel
Suddenly it seems as if the tall, slim
form hanging so helplets up there in the
air begins to move; to sway, to swing,
first a little as if the sea winds had come
M wandering from the sea and had begun
to buffet her about.
But mol 1t is not the clustering and
insubstantial wind that is slowly moving
her to and fro, to and frol to and frol
from wall to sea-
Her loag 1.-THE limbs are alive, s~inuous,
eloquent with actionl
To and frol to and frol Faster! fasterl
Ten feeto out toward the open seal Fifteenl
TWENTY Thirty And awayI like a
beautiful rainbow falling out of heaven
from its own splendor, the graceful and
audacious girl, with a divine audacity,
leaves the rope behind her, and, as if
coming down to us on the armszof a rsin4
bow, darts feet first into the open sea
where a yellow sail with the swiftest
keel and the stoutest heart in all the land
or on all the seas is waiting to receive
her.
There was a deathly silence for long;
so long it seemed. But when at last a
giant form leaned and gathered a slim and
exhausted form from the folds of the sea
and wrapped his daughterround with love
and embraces as with a mantle; such a
shout The great ships Numbered their
satisfaction; and told the anxious city that.
the girl was safe at last in her fathers
arms.
IcoNTINUED NEXT WEEK.