The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-08-16
A LUCKY SLIP
nr THOMAS A. JAxv1En.

A bar had formed off Marbles Wharf,
so that a whaler could not lie at it, nor
anywhere near it; but this was not a
matter of any especial consequence, for
more than thirty years had passed since a
whaler and that wharf had had anything
to do with each other.
It was a wharf in ruins; and almost as
badly dilapidated was the oil-house that
stood on the end of it, with great doors
which opened out over the water so that
gangway could be rugged directly across
a ships rail and into the big room where
the barrels of whale-oil were stored.
But these doors were never opened
now, nor was the little sliding door that
shut down fairly into the water, and, when
it was raised, opened channel into which
boat could be foated Both Of these
doors were fastened on the inside, and the
door that opened on the wharf was
fastened with paddock as big as a small
cabbage, and as rusty as if it had been
towed astern of the Harmony Home dur
ing a whole cruise.
The Harmony Home was the whaler
that used to discharge her cargo into the
oil-house. She had been owned and
sailed by Captain Tranquil MARBLE, and
for long while she and her commander
had the reputation of being the lucldest
ship and the luckiest Captain afoat
Captain Marble was coming money,
the Greyshells people said-Greyshells
was the name of the little portland was
getting richer and richer every year.
Moreover, he was boarding his money in
coin.
''No banks fur me, f." said Captain War
BILE, San noreel estate, nuther. l tried
banks in 81, an where was l after they
all broke, I'd ike t know2 An l tried
reel estate in so; an after tn man I'd
bought it frum got clean off TO Cali
forny, another man come along an proved
a mortgage on it, an where was | then2
No, mo- Hard dollars hid in place that
nobody but me knows about, thet's my
style. Thet's safe, an thet's sureln
This was all very well so long as good
luck attended the Harmony Homes cruis-
ings; but when the news came down
from the Northern seas the Harmony
Home had been ni2ped in the ice, and
had gone to the bottom with every soul
on board of her, the Captains financial
methods did not make quite so satisfac-
tory a showing, for the Captains widow
had not the least notion in the world
where the fortune In hard dollars, that
now was hers, was to be found
Che 1c,tral ~ IL tto 1s1-of.- e.
it, and in all the unlikely places that she
could think of-and she thought of a good
many-but not trace Of it did she find.
At last, while she was still looking for it,
she died.
Then her daughter, Miss Ruth Marble
who was then young girl and very
energetic, though that seemed hard to
believe now-began the search. And
Miss Ruth spent all of her youth and most
OF her energy in searching; and here she
was now, forty years old and looking
fifty, with her fortune as safely hidden
as ever, and herself as poor as anybody
could be outside Of the town farm.
Miss Ruth was thin, sour, sharp
tougued little woman, but the Greyshells
people, who were very sorry for her, said
tilfr it--EES no wo6der that she was So
thin, when she got so little to eat, and
that she was the less TO blame for her
sourness and sharpness than she would
have been had her temper been less
sorely tried.
For Theodore Rodfotd- widely and,
l am panied to add, somewhat unfavor-
ably known, as ''that Teddy Rodfordn -
the old oil-house down on Marbles wharf
had a wonderful attraction. He had
peeped through the chinks in the boards
time and again, and what he had seen
inside had made him wildly eager to ex-
plore it thoroughly.
For strewn about the floor were old
haTpoons, and piles of delightful ropes,
and big and little blocks and oars. He
was almost certain that ne could make
out among the shadows, under the stair
way leading 20 the sail-loft that was over
the store-house, little brass cannon,
partly covered with bit of old sail.
Thinking of that cannon, and of what
he could do with it if he only could get
hold Of it, sometimes kept him awake at
night. He even had tried on several oc-
casions to make friends with Miss Ruth,
to the end that he might gain per
mission to investigate this delectable
plase. Once, when he discovered the
Bmkum's pigs in Miss Ruth's garden,
and drove them out before any great
harm had been done-he almost had sue
ceeied.
To Miss Ruth, in her poverty, the loss
Of her garden stuff would have been a
verF serious matter. She was truly
graceful to Teddy for saving it, and told
him so with some warmth. Indeed, she
even went so far as to add the somewhat
equivocal compliment that ''it was com
fort to know that he wasn't bad all the
time, anyway"
Being thus encouraged, he was en-
bolelened to ask her if she wouldn't,
sometime or other, let him take look
around in her oil-bouse. And Miss Ruth,
still mellowed by her gratitude, said al
mos. kindly that maybe sometime or
other she would.
Nye's Wharf, down on the Point, was
where the boys usually went in swim