The Forrest City times., 1896-09-04

mer, but l want to keep things sort of
| silcked up, and III low you the pay FOR
1T. I've got to be off to my tater-patch
t'other side of the back pastur'."
| II will, Ronald"
Ronald Kicker left the room.
| Polly, soon as have finished these
ere doughnuts-then-c onl" cried
| Aunt Nabby. "We will run that life.
savin' station this forenoon. They shall
have female crew to-day You get the
| brooms ready. 1t is a worn-out thing
down al the station. Well be lively and
start soon"
A small but sprightly broom brigade
soon charged upon the station and cap
tured it without difficulty. Windows
were thrown up, the brooms set to
wbisking and the dust routed.
The living-room below, the mems
headquarters by day, speedily was
swept. The boatroom, with its appara-
t1s of surfboat and breeches-buoy, life
car and Lyle gun, rockets and signals,
received prompt attention, and this floor
also was thoroughly swept. Aunt Nab
by remained to do some cleaning out"
1
but less particular crew had left heap
OF dirt. Polly, singing away, went up
stairs hopping like robin from step
to step, landing on the threshold of
the masculine crews quarters by night.
| The beds look all right" said Polly,
eying six iron beds, neatly covered with
bedding and set in two prim rows along
the northern and southern walls of the
room. "Yes, they look all right, but
know those men didn't sweep under the
beds. No, before l sweep, I'll take a
look-off from the look out on the roof"
This was platfrom on the roof, rallied
about, and supporting flagstaff Here
on clear days watch was kept by the
surfmen. If need be, a signal could be
run up to the top OF the staff, and any
needy craft on the water promptly in
structed.
"Guess women's eyes can see as quick
as MEMS" murmured Polly. land we
will have it so to-day"
On her way up a short fight of steps
to the lookout she halted in little re-
cess and examined the box of signals
kept there. Since her arrival she had
been very much interested in the signal
department, and, instructed by Uncle
Ronald, felt that she could now handle
those signals as readily as the keeper
| himself.
Don't [ wish that Cousin Joe, whom
l never saw only in his picture, were off
on the water and needed some signaling
| from the shore."
If she had followed the promptings of
her heart and the signal vocabulary per-
mitted, she would have at once signaled:
II love thee, Joseph" But he was just
Cousin Joe, and repressing any demon
stration of special interest, she lifted
the scuttle in the roof, threw it back
climbed upon the platform. and looked
| off.
Her heart started up and began to
beat like thresher's fail, for there was
a schooner flying a signal. She knew
| what it meant. Was it Cousin Joe off
| there? Whoever it was, signal of
distress" was fluttering above the yes-
sci. Should Polly run and get Uncle
Ronald? When in summer during the
| season of closed doors and vacant rooms
at the station, any disaster might hap
pen on the water, the proper procedure
was TO run for the keeper and notify
him. At the head OF as many of the old
crew as he could gather from the corn
| fields and fish-houses, the keeper hur-
| ried TO the station, operating as might
| be advisable. Uncle Ronald, though.
was off on "tater-patch." mile away.
/ r. he <he. ,hAl Int taA
States navy, ducking their heads one
after the other, could sink off this very
| station.
Wasn't female crew running this
station today" soliloquized Polly. I'm
fanswer that signal myself"
The schooner was so near the shore
that if her sails had been set the appro-
pirate signal would have been the JD
of the international code of signals:
i"You are standing in TO danger" but this
vessel had dropped her canvas, as if
meaning to halt anyway, and then she
had suspicious look, as if sinking.
"I'll let them know they are recog-
nized, and that they may expect help"
thought Polly, working swiftly.
Turning away from the staff, at
whose head now fiuttered this signal
like a tongue of cheering speech, Polly
ran down the short stairway into the
crews night quarters, then down the
stairs, dropping to the kitchen. and
cried in jerks:
Oh-ohl-zounds!- s!-auntie- quick.
Danger!"
"What?"
"Quickl"
She was now darting through the
outer door.
.s.ns4 ,1l,.lc plaIl..tn