Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-21

launched the dingey. It was a heavy,
slow, and luckily staunch and seaworthy
boat 1t was not till she was well of shore
that she began to feel the full fury of the
wind and waves and knew the difficulty
and danger of her undertaking. She had
decided that her shortest and most direct
course was within a few points OF the
wind, but the quartering of the waves on
the broad bluff bows Of the boat tended to
throw it to leeward, a movement that,
while it retarded her forward progress,
no doubt saved the little craft from swamp
ing Again the feebleness and short
ness of her stroke, which never impelled
her through rising wave, but rather lifted
her halfway up its face, prevented the boat
from taking much water, while her stead
fast gaze, fixed only on the slowly retreat
ing shore, kept her steering free from any
fatal nervous vacillation which the sight Of
the threatening seas on her bow might
have produced. Preserved through her
very weakness, ignorance, and simplicity
of purpose, the dingey had all the security
of a drifting boat, yet retained certain
gentle but persistent guidance. In this
feminine fashion she made enough head
way to carry her abreast of the point
where she met the refiux current sweeping
round it that carried her well along into
the channel, now sluggish with the turn of
the tide After half an hours pulling. she
was delighted to find herself again in a
reverse current, abreast of her cottage, hut
steadily increasing her distance from it.
She was, in fact on the extreme outer edge
of a vast whirlpool formed by the force of
the gale on q curving lee shore, and vas
being carried TO her destination in a
semicircle around that bay which she
never could have crossed. She was moving
now in a line with the shore and the fort,
whose fagstan, above Its green, square
and white quarters, she could
see distinctly, and whose lower water
battery and landing seemed to stretch out
from the rocks scarcely mile ahead. Pro
tected by the shore from the fury of the
wind, and even of the sea, her progress was
also steadily accelerated by the velocity of
the current, mingling with the ebbing tide.
A sudden fear seized her. She turned the
boats head toward the shore, but it was
swept quickly round again; she redoubled
her exertionS, Juggling frantlcally at her
helpless oars. She only succeeded in get
ting the boat into the trough of the sea,
where, after lurch that threatened to cap
size it, it providentially swung around on
its short keel and began to drift stern on.
She was almost abreast of the battery now.
She could hear the ftful notes OF bpgie
that seemed blown and scattered above her
head; she even thought she could see some
men in blue uniforms moving alons the lit
tie pier. She was passing it. another fruit
less effort TO regain her ground, but she
was swept along steadily toward the Gate,
the whitening bar and the open ocean.
She knew now what it all meant. This
was what she had come for; this was the
end Beyond. only little beyond, just
few moments longer to wait, and then, out
there among the breakers was the rest that
she had longed for, but had not dared TO
seek 1t was not her fault: they could not
blame her He would come back and never
know what had happened-nor even know
how she had tried 10 atone for her deceit.
And he would find his house in possession
of-of-those devilsl MOL mol she must
not die yet, at least net until she had
warned the fort. She seized the oars
again with frenzied strength; the boat had
stopped under the unwonted strain; stag
gsred, tried TO rise in an uplifted sea, took
part of il over her bow, struck down Mrs.
Bunker under half ton OF blue water that
wrested the oars from her paralyzed hands