San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-11

hadn't asked me not TO 20 10 SCR again
/ was fool to riaEe Ter CvCii that half
promise not to. We'll, she i-nows where
l am by this time, and if she doesn't
write and let me off from what said
must leave here and lcok for something
on shore. This is neither land nor sea.
~ wonder what graGdGad thinks and
how he came to make such mistake.
Confound him He ought to know that
a Habberton couldn't be thief 1t was
Just like him, though, to jump at the
conclusion that | had done something
wrong. Every one III the family is hasty
except me Hello! What's that?"
He had seen a faint CLEAN out at sea,
and watching as only sailor can
watch he soon saw another.
1T is certainly rocket, he exclaim.
ed, talking to himself as his habit was
when he was excited. Some vessel is
in distress. God help her and all aboard
if they can't keep her ofTshore, and if
she is disabled in any way that'll be
hard work against this gale. II she's
one of these coasting steamers and her
machinery's broken down it's all day
with her, for there's no anchorage out
side the reef, and there's not chance
in 5000 of her driving in behind with
out striking.
1t was q coaster, and she was certain
ly beyond the control Of those ON board,
for as he looked rocket after rocket
went up in vain appeal, as it seemed.
There was no life saving station within
Is miles, and Ben's eye was the only
one that saw,
! Nearer and nearer she came, driven
by the awful power of the worst storm
| Ben had ever seen. Fascinated by the
sight, he sat as if frozen, watching for
the tragedy that seemed inevitable. He
thought of the little boat below, but it
was a hopeless thought. Twenty men
could not have launched her from the
rocks in the breakers that were dashing
up, and no one man could have rowed
her a rod if she had been afoat. All he
could do was to sit and watch. He
could see the ship low from time TO
time as she rose and fell on the waves,
but every time she sank from sight he
thought must surely be the last. He
knew the cruel rocks that lay below the
surface.
No earthly pilot cold have guided her
among those rocks to the lee of the reef
on which the lighthouse Stood but it
was not written that she should be
wrecked that Christmas day Lying
helpless in the trough of the sea, she
drifted past rock after rock till Zen
saw with amazement that she was float
ing in behind the reef, and still he
watched with straining eyes.
Suddenly he sprang to his feet with a
shout like crazy man, and, rushing
down the stairway four steps at time,
he seized an AK and big pannikin in
the room below and ran out into the
storm. A thought had come to him OF
one chance in a million, and he was
after that chance.
A single blow smashed in the head OF
hogshead, and III another instant he
was scooping out the oil it held with
the pannikin and scattering it like mad
as far as he could in every direction.
The wind carried it all toward the YES
sci, and the great wonder of the sea was
wrought almost in minute, for as the
I oil fell the waves abated, so that the
I ship was Immediately in smooth water
0 Overheard went her anchors as quickly
r as the captain could give the order, and
Q she was safe.
r For the rest of the night Ben watch
r ed, throwing a little more oil from time
: to time. ard in the morning, the storm
r having abated, he rowed out In hi
small beat to the ships side.
:, AS lie stepped on her deck the captain
q greeted hnn with such thanks anC
e praise as could only be given by ont
who had Just been saved from destruo
n ton. Then as the passengers crowded
e up to have their say Ben saw, to hi
s amazemcnt, his grandfather, his mothe
d end Alice.
n 1--WE came after you, my boy, salt
the old man, "as soon as your letter t
/ your mother came. You must com
o home again, this time TO stay.
/ Ben looked at his mother and then
g Alice. In both their faces he saw wha
f he looked for, and then he answered:
eth be a merry Christmas after all
y granddad, 4" he exclaimed with happ,
e laugh. And it was
II DAVID A. CURTIS