News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-10-01

uciISuu vi his IdUDef 1PafU.
Why should he leave him curled uI
IN his tub on the edge of the marshes
on a night so wild? In truth, though
the wind was tremendous. and now
growing to q veritable hurricane,
there was no apparent danger or
great hardship on the marshes. 1t
was not cold, and there was no rain.
Captain Joe, foreseeing a heavy
gale, together with tide higher than
usual, had driven over to the dyke to
make his little craft more secure.
He found the boat already in con-
fusion; and the wind, when once he
had crossed out of the dykes shelter,
was so much more violent than he
had expected, that it took him some
time to get things 'snugged up" He
felt that Jamie was all right, as long
as he was out of the wind. He was
only stones throw distance, though
hidden by the great rampant of the
dyke. But the Captain began to wish
that he had left the little fellow at
home, as he knew the long walk over
the rough road, in the dark and the
furious gale, would sorely tire the
sturdy little legs Every now and
then, as vigorously and cheerfully he
worked in the pitching smack, the
Captain sent a shout of greeting over
the dyke to keep the little lad from
getting lonely. But the storm blew
his voice far up into the clouds, and
Jamie in his tub never heard it.
By the time Captain Joe had put
everything shipshape, he noticed that
his piunging bOatwas drifted close to
the dyke. He had never before seen
the tide reach such a height. The
waves that were rocking the little
craft so violently, were a mere back
wash from the great seas which as he
now observed with a great pang, were
laundering in a little further up the
coast. Just at this point the dyke
was protected from the full force of
the storm by Snowdon's Point.
"What if the dyke should break up
yonder and this fearful tide get in on
the marshes?" thought the Captain
in sudden anguish of apprehension.
Leaving the boat to dash itself to |
pieces if it liked, he clambered in |
breathless haste out on to the top of
the dyke, shouting to Jamie as he did |
so. There was no answer. Where he |
had left the little one but half hour
back, the tide was seething three or
four feet deep over the grasses. Dark |
as the night had grown, it grew
blacker before the fathers eyes For |
an instant his heart stood still with |
horror, then he sprang down into the
food. The water boiled up nearly to
his armpits. With his feet he felt the |
great timber, fastened in the dyke, |
on which his boy had been sitting |
He peered through the dark, with |
stralnlng eyes grown preternaturally |
keen. He could see nothing On the |
wide, swirling surface save two or
| three dark objects, far out in the |
| marsh. These he recognized at once |
as his fish-tubs gone afiOat. Then he |
ran up the dyke toward the point.
'Surely," he groaned in his heart, |
".Jamie has climbed up the dyke when |
he saw the water coming, and III find |
him along the top here, somewhere, |
looking and crying for mel"
Then, running like madman along |
the narrow summit, with a band of ]
iron Tightening about his heart, the
Captain reached the point, where the
dyke took it's beginning.
No sign of the little one; but he saw
the marshes everywhere laid waste.
Then he turned round and sped back,
thinking perhaps Jamie had wander
ed in the other direction. Passing
the now buried landing-place, he saw
with a curious distinctness, as if in a
picture, that the boat was turned
bottom up, and, as it were, glued to
the side of the dyke.
Suddenly he checked his speed with
a violent effort, and threw himself up
on his face, clutching the short grass
es of the dyke He had just saved
himself from falling into the sea. Had
he had time to think, he might not
have tried to save himself, believing
as he did that the child who was his
very life had perished. But the in
stinct of self-preservation had assert
ed itself blindly, and just in time. Be-
fore his feet the dyke was washed
away and through the chasm the
waves were breaking furiously.
Meanwhile, what had become of
! Jamie?
The wind had made him drowsy,
and before he had been many minutes
curled up in the tub he was sound
asleep.
When the dyke gave way some dis
tance from Jamie's queer retreat,
there came suddenly a great rush of
water among the tubs, and some
were straightway foated off. Then
Others a little heavier followed, one
by one; and, last of all, the heaviest,
that containing Jamie and his for
tunes The water rose rapidly, but
| back here there came no waves, and
the child slept as peacefully as if at
home in his crib. Little the Captain
thought, when his eyes wandered ov-
er the floating tubs, that the one
nearest him was freighted with his
hearts TREASURED And well it was
that Jamie did not hear his shouts
and wake! Had he done so, he would
| have at once sprung to his feet, and
been tipped out into the flood.
By this time the great tide had
reached it's height. Soon it began to
recede, but slowly, for the storm kept
the waters gathered, as it were, into
a heap at the head of the bay. All
night the wind ragged on, wrecking
the smacks and schooners along the
coast, breaking down the dykes in a
hundred places, flooding all the
marshes, and drowning many cattle
in the salt pastures All night the
Captain, hopeless and mute in his
agony of grief, lay clutching the gras-
ses on the dyke-top, not noticing
when at length the waves ceased to
drench him with their spray. All
night, too, slept Jamie in his tub.
Right across the marsh the strange
craft drifted before the wind, never
getting into the region where the
waves were violent. Such motion as
there was-and at times it was some
what lively-seemed only to lull the
child to a sounder sleep. Toward
davbreak the tub grounded at the
foot of the uplands, not far from the
edge of the road The waters gradu-
aliy skunk away, as if ashamed of
their wild vagaries. And still the
child slept on.
AS the light broke over the bay, |
coldly pink and desolate cleaning,
Captain Joe got up and looked about
him. His eyes were fearless, but his
face was gray and hard, and deep |
lines had stamped themselves across
it during the night.
Seeing that the marshes were again
coxro for Crrnot shallow