The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-10-20

An azure veil inwrapped the earth, and
through it glimmered the stars. From the
east came a breeze heavy with ocean mists
Far on its line the darkness was deeper, as
If Offering a hiding Perhaps behind it 6
whirling gale lay in ambuscade. At least
the skies were not clear enough to seem
candid TO the girls weather wisdom.
How foolish l amp Mary thought. 81
have deliberately chosen a long, long wait. ,.
Yet something within her heart whispered
a denial, something cried out that Matt
surely was in danger. She sprang to hei
feet with outstretched arms and peering
eyes, like one who entreats before a closed
door. And suddenly there was an answer
in three vivid flashes. "Comel Come,
Gomez they signaled, and then the pale
starlight through The deep cerulean, the
sense of the falling of that heavy hand.
Mary had ever been feet of foot, but
never fleeter than now. She glided dowL
the face of the bluff like swallow seeking
its nest. She fitted along the foam bound
ed sands until she came to the little inlet
where her fathers sloop was moored. With
stout arms and skillful hands she soon
gave life to the craft, and away it flew be
fore an increasing breeze straight for the
cliffs of Macbeth. Aye the breeze was in.
creasing and with vim. Already the bill
lows had acquired caps of phosphorescent
light; already the rigging shrieked an ex.
ultant 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 sufficient fol
her need Her thoughts were intent on
Matt and pitifully. He had always been
so weak, so dependent, his strength SC
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 trimming
with mirth And when she had soothed
him with gentle hands and had asked his
distress he had sobbed:
"Oh, everything frightens me, Mary; the
sea with its unknown tongue, the night
with it's shadowy shapes, the sky with its
dreadful depths, even the tranquil stars,
for they are not what they seem, but enor
nous, monstrous masses. Everything
frightens me, Mary; everything except
you"
And yet, despite these peculiarities, which
she understood, though so foreign to her,
he had struggled on until he now led the
world in discovery and invention. Only to
think of It'll To make the heavens his page
and the lightning his brush! And she, oh,
stupid one, Lad scarce been able TO master
the alphabet which lie used. Well, well,
at least the sea, the night, the sky, and the
stars were but concomitants of an old, IA.
miliar picture to her; her soul was single,
ard it's singleness was devotion to Matt.
So the girl was absorbed with tender, un
selfish thoughts, while the sloop obeyed hel
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
master was abroad with his boat.
There were hasty, uneven steps, and Matt
sprang into the sloop.
Let us away at once" he exclaimed.
well never have such n chance IT'S a
rough night, but the craft is seaworthy.
The wind is strong, but it is favorable, and
by tomorrow's noon we can make the city's
port. My plans are perfected, my work &C.
| complished; there is wealth and renown
and happiness for us, darling, if we can
only escape. Listen, father is away some
where. But yesterday heard him planning
with an old friend, a whaler, to shanghai
me for three years cruise, Oh, l should
! die'--
But ere he had finished Mary had cast of,
and they were dashinR out into the open
amid break of spray. Little chance was
there for further talk. Their course was
straightway with the wind on their quar-
ter, but that wind was now fierce and fit
full, and the sea was mountains and CULTS.
Mary kept the helm, her calm eye reading
the waters and the night In the angle by
her side Matt covered, trembling and in
capable. The old fear of the elements was
upon him, and only the sweep of her gar
ments kept his soul within him.
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 a girls
spirit overmastered them, and the sloop
cleft its faultless path. 1t was the hour
before dawn, that twilight of death, that
smile of despair, when there was loud re-
| port and glittering break in the sky. 1t
was a rocket followed by another and an
other, and there in the distance was the
somber hull of the revenue cutter with it's
beaming lights.
"She's signaling to u.s." faltered Matt,
Ito lay to-"
YES" rejoined Mary calmly. "They
think my fathers aboard"
well, when they find he isn't, they'll
not interfere with u.s."
"Oh, but your father is doubtless with
them, and he would take you''-
Let us on and onr'
"That we will. The shoals are but a mile
Iistant, where they dare not venture
Courage, my beloved"
Couragel All, faint the heart indeed that
could not gain pluck from such an exam
plel Matt watched the girl with eyes of
alteration as she stood with her form in
vigorous outline, her brown tresses sweep
ing about her and her eyes cleaning with
vigor. There was heavy, sullen boom and
| O splash of the ocean that the storm never
caused. The revenue cutter was command
ing more peremptorily and with power.
But Mary merely smiled as she loosened
the sheet point. There was another boom,
heavier, more sullen, followed by "a crash.
The sloop swung sharply around and wal
lowed in the trough of the sea. There was
O shrieking, exultant whirl of wind, and
the shattered mast and the tangled sail,
and, ahI what else was caught in that
wreck were swept away. Oh, where was
Maryf But a moment before a queen of
the sea, peerless, unconquerable, and now
its sport and derisioni
The revenue cutter drew near. Out from
its side there shot boat. Stalwart arms