The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-03-15
HIS PRETTY RESCUER,

hN PkElTl kENUUEk,
| Orchard. you are sure you know how
to work all those ropes and things:'
said Mrs. Markheim. She was seated in
the well Of the yacht Kcstrel two and a
half rater,, and the yacht Kestrel bobbetl
up and down on the waters of the harbor
in manner which, experienced from the
well. was the reverse Of reassuring to 4
lady, whose years, like her waist, was OH
the poetical side of 40. The young man
she addressed was on the tiller, about I
| feet from his aunt, but so intent upon
keeping the Restricts course that he paid
no attention to the lady's anxious words,
The yacht was going six knots close
hauled to \ freshening north wind, and
Richard. who had owned her for exactly
one week. felt mighty proud Of her sail
ing qualities. AS she neared the buoy,
which marks the end of the sunken break
water, the waves grew. bigger. and Mrs.
Markheim's anxiety grew with them.
'Richard. you're sure We shall be all
right: Dolly turning to her daughter,
weather rail, watching the foam as it
raced by. Dolly. you're not safe there:
| come and sit by me.
My dear aunt" said Richard. rudely,
unless you can be quiet. III just pile her
| up on this breakwater, and then thereLi
be something worth talking about.
Pile her up was an expression which
Richard had come across in one of CLARK
Russell's novels - he reviewed novels.
wrote them as we'll. or. ut any rate,
stOries-and he used it with all the relish
which literary man has for an apposlt"
quotation. Certainly it silcnced Mrs.
Markheim for the moment.
%J,sa In.
and was outside the harhor. and the eN-
ultant Richard, who had never before
had sole control of Il yacht. winked at
his cousin Dolly, wink full of high spir-
it's and self-confidence.
Feel comfy?" he asked her. She
smiled Il reply.
Judging from his careless nautical at
tire. and especially the knowing angle
at which his peaked cap was tilted, the
Richard for a thorough sailor. Graded
upon the deep and probably we'll az
qlaintcd with. all the complexities of
tide and current which give the south
west corner of the Manx coast an unen-
viablc fame among yachtsmen and fur
nish the fishermen of Port Erin innu-
merable yarns: but the devious, uncer-
and the frequent flutter of her badly set
mainsail told different story. Indeed.
the crew of an incoming lugger. which
| passed Richards craft. discussed in their
mild. quiet. NlanX way the chances of
| an accident when the yacht got beyond
the shelter of Bradda Head. Before
! Richard could plume himself upon being
absolutely in the open sea. Mrs. Mark
| helm gave an involuntary shudder and
endeavored to sit bolt upright.
Richard" she said. I'VE must return
'Couldn't think of it now. aunt. We're
Il insist "I-fecl-unwesll." She nut
her lips together tightly. and for once
Dolly was glad to notice her mothers
| firmness. Neither of them was used to
two and a half raters in a choppy sea.
| blcd. Il must put the yacht about and
we'll run in ON the other tack"
He used these sea terms with consid-
cradle luency, for he had been studying
| the subject practically during the last
week, but when it actually came to
putting the Kestrel about his confidence
| began to desert him. His fisherman
manage boat like the Kestrel, and
| Richard with the omniscient assurance
of a man accustomed to patronize the
universe in the editorial notes of an
evening paper. had replied. "Oh! yes:
easily" He found the task rather ex-
citing. however. Should the jibshcet or
foreshect he loosened first? He decided
yet he could have gone through the
drill without a hitch-on paper The
foresheet was now shaking. and he called
| Dolly to hold the helm down hard while
he attended to things generally. Of
course, the yacht hung dead in the wind
the mainsal Tapping in style which
caused Mrs. Markheim to pray for dry
| land.
"Ah! missed stays calculated the
captain of the Kestrel with an attempt
at calmness: well try aghin." Not
| without difficulty he got the yacht under
way once more. A second time Dolly
! was instructed to hold the helm down
| hard, and a second time the obstinate
little vessel stuck in the wind.
| At this instant Mrs. Markheim stood
up, and the boom Immediately carried
| away her bonnet and part Of her hair.
! She screamed, and following the flying
| confection with her eyes she was brought
| face to face with the fact that the yacht
was quickly drifting towards the rocks
of Bradda She screamed now. this
| time in earnest.
"Richard! See! We're on the rocks!'
Richard looked, and at once realized
| that the tide was sweeping them on the
| headland in spite of the wind. He lost
| his head then, and began pulling aim
lcssly at ropes, muttering the while:
"You're all right; you're all right. Don't
get alarmed
"There's someone in a boat there. hail
ing you,' said Dolly. pale with excite
| ment, and pointing to a light cookie
| shell of a dingey, with a lug sail, which
was approaching them OH the, lee bow.
| Richard listened.
You'll be ashore if you don't mind, -
| came thin, far-off shout.
''There, there, told you!' Mrs. Mark
| helm almost sobbed. =
Richard called back some unintellgible
reply:
more sense. The little boat rapidly ap-
preached them. dancing lightly over the
! waves like an animated cork It's occu.
pant proved to be a girl. She was dressed
in blue serge, with a Tam O'Shanter
hat. Skillfully steering her dingey along.
side the kestrel, she lowered the sail
| with a run. threw Richard Il line and
was on board in a twinkling. Richard
raised his hat. feeling cxquisitely foolish,
and stammered that the yacht would per
sist in hanging in the wind. They were
not seventy yards from the rocks now.
Oh, do something.' gasped Mrs Mark
these things
| The girl put on the helm and sharply
told Richard to keep it there. ,He@saitl
to himself that he would sooner have
"gone down with all on board" than to be
rescued in this way by a girl. And: on
his own yacht, too! Now she took the
helm from him and Richard saw that in
some miraculous way the Kestrel was
moving again, the sails all drawing, and
the dlngey towing astern. They. were
saved. - ''' :',- 80. >,'t'sss
! Ifxt