The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1893-02-10

1t was already late at night, and as
dark as it ever would be at that season
Of the year (and that is to say it was
still pretty bright, when Hoseason
clapped his head into the roundhouse
| door.
Here" said he, "come out and see if
We can pilot"
SIS this one of your tricks?" asked
Alan.
'Do look like tricks?" cries the cap.
tain. II have other things to think Of
my briggs in dangerr'
BY the concerned look of his face,
and above all by the sharp tones in
which he spoke of his brig, it was plain
to both Of us he was in deadly earnest,
and so Alan and l, with no great fear of
treachery, stepped on deck.
The sky was clear; it blew hard and
was bitter cold; great deal of daylight
fingered, and the moon, which was near
ly full, shone brightly.
Altogether it was no such i'll night to
keep the seas in, and l had begun to
wonder what it was that sat so heavily
upon the captain, when, the brig rising
suddenly on the top of high swell, he
pointed and cried to us to look. Away
on the lee bow thing like fountain
rose out of the moonlit sea, and imme-
diately after we heard a low sound of
roaring.
"What do we call THAR asked the cap
tain gloomiiy.
1.-The sea breaking on reef" said
Alan. "And now ye ken where it is,
and what better would We have?"
"Aye," said Hoseason, "if it was the
only one"
And sure enough just us he spoke
there came u second fountain farther to
the south.
"Therer' said Hoseason. 'Ye see for
yourself If had kent of these reefs,
if I had had u chart, or if Shuan had
been spared it's not sixty guineas-no,
nor six hundred, would have made me
risk my brig in sic stoneyard! But
you, sir that was to pilot us, have We
never u word?"
I'm thinking" said Alan, "these'Il
be what they call the Torran rocks"
Are there many Of them?" says she
captain.
Truly. sir, am nae pilot, said Alan,
"but it sticks in my mind there are ten
miles of them
Mr.. Riach and the captain looked at
zach other.
There's way through them, sup
poser" said the captain.
Doubtless" said Alan; "but where?
But it somehow runs in my mind once
more that it is clearer under the land"
"So?' said Hoseason. "We'll have TO
haul our wind then, Mr.. Riach; well
have to come as near in about the end
of Null as we can take her, sir, and even
then We'll have the land to keep the
wind off us and that stone yard on our
lee. Well, we're in for it now and may
as we'll crack on.
With that he gave an order to the
steersman and sent Riach to the fore
top There ere only five men on deck,
counting the officers. These were all
that were fit or at least both fit and
willing, for their work, and two of these
were hurt So, as say, it fell to Mr..
Riach to go aloft, and he sat there look
ing out and hailing the deck with news
of all he saw.
THE sea to the south is thick" he
cried, and then after awhile, lit does
seem clearer in by the land"
"Well, SIR" said Hoseason to Alan,
"we'll try your way of it. But l think
I might as we'll trust to a blind fiddler.
Pray God you're right"
"Pray God I am" says Alan to me.
"But where did l hear it? Well, well,
it will be as it must"
AS we got nearer to the turn Of the
land the reefs began to be sown here
and there on our very path, and Mr..
Riach sometimes cried down to us to
change the course. Sometimes indeed
none too soon, for one reef was so close
on the briggs weatherboard that when
a sea burst upon it the lighter sprays
fell upon her deck and wetted us like
rain.
The brightness of the night showed
us these perils as clearly as by day,
which was perhaps the more alarming.
1t showed me, too, the face of the captain
as he stood by the steersman, now OH
one foot, now on the other. and some
times blowing in his hands, but still
listening and looking and as steady as
steel. Neither he nor Mr.. Riach had
shown well in the fighting, but I saw
they were brave in their own trade, and
admired them all the more because
found Alan very white.
"Ochone, David" said he, "this is nc
the kind of death fancy"
"What. Alanr / cried, you're not
afraidY'
NO." said he, wetting his lips, "but
you'll allow yourself, it's cold ending
BY this time, now and then steering
to one side or the other to avoid reef
but still hugging the wind and the land
we had got around Iona and begun to