The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1892-08-06
BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS, SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1892.

The Carstairs was off for d lon.
cruise and Larry was off with her, just i
as he had gotten ashore from two years
of hot suns and hard work. The whole
probable future passed like pan ,ra,na
before his minds eye.
He was standing close to the rail. Old
Tasker was waiting for him to burst
out in torrent of rage and abuse. He
wondered at Larry's silence and stood
there, eyeing his captive with de-
noniacal lcer of satisfaction
well, guess yer in fer the v'yage!"
he said.
With one bound Larry was up with
him, and had knocked him fiat with
blow from the shoulder The next in
slant, before any of the others could
stop him, he had sprung to the rail and
dived head first into the waters of the
bay.
Tasker jumped to his feet, half dazed
by the blow.
''Into that boat, all o'y'!" he roared,
land bring tn cuss back or drown him.
There was rush of half dozen OF
the men to the side. The falls had not
been unlocked, and they swarmed
down them into the boat. In flash
the fastenings were cast off and, with
the second mate in the stern Sheets
they pulled away.
Larry had taken long header from
the Carstairs' rail and, when he struck
the water, he went down for ten feet
without a stop. Then he struck out
horizontally and, with quick strokes
made in the direction he knew the shore
to be in, all the time keeping under
water.
At last, when he felt he must have
slowly that his head made not the least
splash as it broke the still water of the
bay.
Then he took big draught of fresh
air and looked around him. He was
nearly a hundred feet from the Cars
tairs, and he heard "old Tasker" swear
ing and believing some commands to
the boat.
Turning his head in the direction of
the shore he saw, not twenty feet dis
tant, the boat which he Judged had
been put out after him. The men were
lying on their oars and the officer in
the stern was standing up with his back
toward him, scanning the bay around
him
1t was evident they had not yet de-
tected him. They were looking in every
direction but the right one. But it was
equally evident to Larry that he could
not hope to pass them and get to shore,
his only place of refuge, without being
seen, when his capture would be only
matter of short time. The night was
dark, but there was good deal of
phosphorescence in the water and his
movements would show him to them
very speedily. Swimming under water
for that distance was beyond even him,
and he was an excellent swimmer
AS the boat lay there, not moving ex-
cept for slight rocking, and he saw
them all looking away from him, an
idea came to Larry which made him
silently sink his head below tire water
again and strike out under water to-
ward his pursuers.
A few strokes and he allowed himself
to rise very gradually. Everything de-
pended upon how accurately he had
judged the distance between his first
position and the boat. If he had gone
three feet too little or too much his
capture was insured. What he wanted
what he must do-was to come up
Immediately under the stern of the
boat.
Presently, just as he thought his head
would come above the surface of the
water he felt something hard over him,
and, reaching up, he touched the boats
bottom. With little maneuvering he
moved backward and felt his head rise
above the water. He was just under
the counter of the boat.
Let her go on there!" voice
growled overhead, and Larry thrust one
arm forward and down and grasped the
keel; the other arm he bent above his
head against the sternmost part of the
counter to fend himself off with
AS he lay his position was not an
easy one, but he thought he could re-
tain it for time. His body sloped
astern, entirely covered by water, so
'h"o ohly hio Hcdu duu pdTU Oh his
shoulders which were concealed by the
boats overhang, were above the sur
face.
The boat started ahead slowly and
Larry thanked his stars-toward shore.
For awhile they patrolled parallel with
the water front and he had to hang on
and hope they would come little nearer
to the wharves.
He was beginning to get very tired.
He had nothing to grasp which afforded
him any good hold and his fingers were
becoming numb. The water swirled
and rushed past his head, but it was
evident the trifling noise it made was
not heard by those above him.
Presently the boat turned toward
shore. In minute or SO he saw the
dark outline of one of the bulkheads of
the piers. He glanced at the water in
tervening There was about two hun
dred feet between him and the shore
He made up his mind to try it.
Once again he sank, having taken a
long breath, and made for the shore
under water. BY and by he had come