The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-26

81
heavy with ocean mistA Far on its
line the darkness was deeper. as if Of.
fering hiding. Perhaps behind it .
whirling gale lay in ambuscade. At
least the skies were not clear enough to
seem candid to the girls weather wis
dom.
''How foolish am" Mary thought
81 have deliberately chosen long,
long wait" Yet something within her
heart whispered denial; something
cried out that Matt surely was in dam
ger. She sprang to her feet with out
stretched arms and peering eyes, like
one who entreats before closed door.
And suddenly there was an answer in
three vivid flashes. Come! Come!
Gomez they signalled. and then the
pale starlight through the deep ceru-
lean, The sense of the falling Of that
heavy hand.
Mary had ever been feet of foot, but
never feeter than now. She glided
down the face of the bluff like swal-
low seeking its nest; she fitted along
the foam-bounded sands until she came
to the little inlet where her father 8
sloop was moored With stout arms
and skillful hands she soon gave life to
the craft, and away it few before an
increasing breeze straight for the cliffs
of Macbeth Aye, the breeze was in.
creasing, and with vim. Already the
pillows had acquired caps of phosphor-
escent light; already the rigging
shrieked an exultant pecan, and the
sheet strained like life line But
Mary needed not these stormy signs,
save with nautical instinct Her hand
and eye were true, she knew, and suffi-
Gent for her need Her thoughts were
intent on Matt. and pitifully. He had
always been so weak, sodependent, his
strength SO yielding. his imagination SO
strenuous. Why, she remembered one
evening long ago. when little children,
tired of play, they were resting on
the beach side by side, he had
burst into tears and hid his face
in her lap, though but . moment
before brimming with mirth. And
when she had soothed him with
gentle hands and had asked his distress,
he had sobbed: 'Oh, everything fright
ems me, Mary; the sea with its un-
known tongue. the night with. it's
shadowy shapes, the sky with its dread
full depths, even the tranquil stars, for
they are not what they seem, but enor-
nous, monstrous masses Everything
ifrightcns me, Mary; everything except
you" And yet, despite these peculiari'
ties, which she understood, though "a
foreign to her, he had struggled on
until he now led the world in discovery
and invention. Only to think of it! To
make the heavens his page and the
lightning his brush! And she, oh
stupid one. had scarce been able "a
master the alphabet which he used.
So the girl was absorbed with tender,
unselfish thoughts, while the sloop
obeyed her unerring will, and flew like
an arrow to its goal The night was
heavy and lowering. and the cry Of the
breakers wild, when she drew up
against the wharf which Reuben used.
1t was unoccupied. Evidently the mas
ter was abroad with his boot
There were hasty, uneven steps and
Matt sprang into the sloop.
let US away at once, he exclaimed.
And SO the hours brought layer after
layer of opacity. and slowly implied
them. The gale roared, the waves rose
and fell, and threatened and retreated,
yet girls spirit overmastered them,
el0 nlnfk e. forl<l1ce =
It was the hour before dawn. that twi-
light of death, that smile Of despair,
when there was loud report and q
glittering break in the sky. 1t was q
rocket followed by another and an
other, and there in the distance was the
somber hull of the revenue cutter, with
its beaming lights.
''She's signaling to US. faltered Matt,
ITO lay to-"
YES" rejoined Mary, calmly. They
think my fathers aboard"
We'll. when they find he isn't. they'll
not interfere with us"
'Oh. but your father is doubtless with
them. and he would take you"
Let us on and on!'
THAT we will; the shoals are but .
mile distant, where they dare not ven
ture. Courage, my beloved"
Courage! All. faint the heart indeed
that could not gain pluck from such an
example! Matt watched the girl with
eyes of alteration as she stood with her
form in vigorous outline, her brown
tresses sweeping about her and her eyes
cleaning with vigor. There was q
heavy, sullen boom, and a splash of tho
ocean that the storm never caused.
The revenue cutter was commanding
more peremptorily and with power.
But Mary merely smiled as she ioosened
the sheet point. There was another
boom, heavier, more sullep, followed
by q crash The sloop swung sharply
around and wallowed in the trough Of
the sea. There wss a shrieking, ex-
ultant whirl of wind. and the shattered
mast and the tangled sail, and, ah!
what else was caught in that wreck
and swept away. Oh, where was
Mary? But moment before . queen
OF the sea. peerless. unconquerable, and
now its sport and derision.
The revenue cutter drew near. Out
from its side there shot boat Stall
wart arms drove it alongside the sloop
and made it fast. From its bow there
sprang a man intoxicated with re-
venge. Here he is, cried Reuben.