The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1897-12-30

hadn t asked me not to go to sea again.
I was fool to make her even that half
| promise not to. Well, she knows where
I am by this time, and if she doesn't
write and let me off from what | said
must leave here and look for sor.eth ing
Gu shore. This is neither land nor sea.
81 wonder what granddad thinks and
how he came to make such mistake.
| Confound him! He ought to know that
6. Habberton couldn't be thief. It was
just like him, though, to jump at the
conclusion that l had done something
wrong Every one in the family is hasty
Except me. Hello! What's that?''
He had seen faint CLEAN out at sea,
and watching as only sailor can
watch he soon saw another.
1t is certainly a 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 offshore, and if
she is disabled in any way that'll be
hard work against this gale. If she's
one OF these coasting steamers and her
machlnery'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'',
It was a coaster, and she was certain
~ beyond the control Of those on board
for as he looked rocket after rocket
went up i'll 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 hopeless thought. Twenty men
could not have launched her from the
rocks in the breakers that were dashing
up, and 70 one man could have rowed
her a rod if she had been af1oat All he
could do was to sit and watch. He
could see the ship now from time tC
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 il
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 Ben
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 8
shout like crazy man, and, rushing
down the stairway four steps at a time,
he seized all AK and big pannikin in
the room below and ran out into the
storm. A thought had come to him Of
one chance in million, and he was
after that chance
A single blow smashed in the head Of
hogshead, and in another instant he
was scooping out the oil it held with
the pannikin and scattering it like mac
as far as he could in every direction
The wind carried it all toward the yes
sci, and the great wonder of the sea wa
wrought almost in a minute, for as thu
oil fell the waves abated, so that the
ship was Immediately in smooth water
Overheard went her anchors as quickly
as the captain could give the order, an6
she was safe.
For the rest Of the night Ben watch
3D. throwing little more oil from time
to time, and in the morning, the storm
having abated, he rowed out in hi
small boat to the ships side
AS he stepped on her deck the captain
greeted him with such thanks an6
praise as could only be given by one
who had just been saved from destruc
ton. Then as the passengers crowded
up to have their say Ben saw, to hi!
amazement, his grandfather, his mother
and Alice.
1--WE came after you, my boy" sale
the old man, ''as soon as your letter tt
your mother came. You must come
home again, this time to stay
Ben looked at his mother and then a.
Alice. In both their faces he saw what
he looked for, and then he answered:
It'll be a merry Christmas after all
!, granddad," he exclaimed with happy
, laugh. And it was
DAVID A. CURTIS.