Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07

both men buckled down to their task and
were swallowed up in the swirling drifts
in a jffy.
from the outer darkness, and Ryder came
stumbling in. He looked like a snow image
fitted out with blue nose and pair of
agate eyes: He was followed a few min
utes later by Weston, broad stocky fell
low, who looked as though he had been
walking through slush up to his eyes.
Pretty tough out, isn't it," remarked
1t was tough and the remark was purely
Vicarious.
IT'S hell" said Ryder, and nobody dis
puted him. AS for Weston, he had shucked
his sea boots and was carefully examin-
ing a suspicious looking toe. After a hot
cup of coffee and a smoke the two weary
life savers went upstairs to their little
beds and turned in. Their nights work
was not yet over however:
In the meantime the o'clock watch was
getting ready; The bundling up process
was repeated by Kenyon and Pearsall. If
anything the wind was blowing harder
than ever, and the night was if possible
more forbidding. 1 lay down on bench.
and the droning of the two old sailors
lulled me to sleep. When L awoke they
We're gone and the fire was burning low.
1 was just doing off again when kenyon
and Pearsall came stamping in. Then l
began to regret that | was there.
''All ready?" asked Hicks from the door.
A moment later L was tagging the two
eminent gentlemen down toward the shore.
Whew! what a night it was. The wind
blew directly off shore, and under ordinary
circumstances this would have been mat
ter for congratulation: Now. however. 1t
bringing with it flying sheets of drift that
literally smothered the earth from view.
This off-shore wind blew the snow down
to the very margin of the sea, and you
could not have discovered n square yard of
bare beach with microscope. The sand
was covered a yard deep with a slushy
snow, and seaward nothing could be seen
but a vast white cloud of wind drift that
moved and waved in ghostly sheets, under
which the breakers tiickered and roared
and sobbed in giant agony.
In fact, it was extremely difficult to fol-
low the line of the shore. We could hear
the surf roaring heavily, but the snow veil
hid 1t from our sight, except internationally
found ourselves 100 yards from the shore
through some sudden eastward trend of
the beach, and had to fight our way back
again the best way we could.
1t was terrific work. The flying snow
was so dense that a sailing vessel might
have lain in the breakers few hundred
feet from shore and in the the absence 2, Of
After stumbling and fioundering along for
about a mile we suddenly came upon n
little patch of beach which the wind had
breather. We sat down on the sand with
our backs to the bitter wInd and managed
to light our pipes.
81 believe there's a sailing vessel out
yonder." said my companion, pointing a
huge gloved finger seaward.
At that instant the tall, ghostly cloud
wheeled slowly and majesttcally away and
was swallowed up in the night 1t was all
very phantom-like, very mysterious. What
could men want in this part of the ocean
on such a night? Could they not earn
their living in better weather?
Maybe they have missed the point of
the Hook and are hunting for it." said
Seaman, with a puff of strong tobacco
smoke that most strangled me. II hope
for their own sakes they won't beat around
Jones inlet"
Then we took UP cur slow and weari-
some founder, which was only a quarter
DONE l Travelled by instinct rather than
eyes. 1 simply dogged my companion by
the sound of his onward progress. for,
heaven knows, my eyes were so battered
and stung that they were useless. Its
only a few hundred yards to the keypost."
said the life saver cheerily. l did not