Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-02-18

mot without gong up In the air,
grinned "Dood."
"Then come about" cried Dorey.
The open water was Just ahead.
Don't try to jump; it's too wide!
Dorey's face blanched through the red
of cold and the tan of a week of wind.
Got to take it now" said Wayne,
tersely. Its all right. I've made it
dozens of times" "
Dorey reached for the helm.
"Come about" he cried.
"Let go!" shouted Mayne. "You fool,
do you want 10 drown us?"
The open crack was not ten yards
away. The path of black water stood
sharply out against the ice. Mayne held
her to it. Two runners had the ice; the
third was high. A leap, and then, with
a crunch and scrape, the boat took the
fissure safely. On she speed. quartering
faster than bird.
A white, fine snow began to drive
before the wind. There was a hush,
and then an angry snarl came from out
the blotting Wilderness. In the next in
slant the blizzard struck; the boat shiv-
cred, whirled full about in the shrieking
blast. Clear from the ice she raised and
spun, once, twice, again-then struck
and slid, like crab, back towards the
yawning ice crack. The boom jaws
were sprung from the mast. The sail
was whipping helplessly. The jib, with
its sheets, cracked and snapped like a
pistol. Mayne came hard on the helm.
The runner would not stick. Twice he
slammed the helm. Twice the runner
caught for but moment, and then slid.
The boat neared the open water. Again
the helm. Nearer. Again. She held.
The boat stopped on the brink.
"Bert!" cried Mayne, "hold her where
she is! Hold her! Colonel the boom!
Raise her. Set the jaws. There! Now
to reef!'
1t was no time for laying blame. No
one would have said it, anyway. The
icy snow came thicker. 1t was a fine
sift, now. 1t struck the flesh like
needles on the wind. With fingers
numb to stiffness the two boys labored
with the reefing. The boat shook in the
blast.
She'll never hold" cried Dorey.
''How can we cross the crack, when
we've no start? What are we to do?"
Mayre shouted hoarsely:
BEAT off and come about, and down
upon it, full till"
This they tried. There was no other
thing to do. Again they came upon the
ugly, open blackness. Again the good
boat took the breach, and three hearts
bcat the lighter.
Here's a tale, if we ever get out of
this!" cried the colonel
81 was scared to DEATH" cried Dorey.
''I'm half frozen" said Wayne. "What
QUIT"
The driving sleet shut out the whole
horizon. Peg Wellington sped like a
sprite. The plank stood in the air.
Ease her Off Make for the gym.
That will loom up through the snow"
A new danger threatened.
"The ice fields!" shouted Colonel"
'They must lie right on our counsel"
'"They're fenced" Mayne shouted.
eve can see the fence! Watch out to
starboard and ahead"
1--WE can't see it, either! We can
never see it! 1t is partly down on this
side!"
"My God! 'Dood,' come about and
up the bay!"
"We're running to the gym" cried
Mayne. eve are not near the fields.'
"Maync! The fence!" Whites voice
was hoarse with terror. "Come about"
lie cried. "The fence is on our left!
We are on the field!"
Port your helm!"
Too late! In her blind flight the
boat had struck the dangerous field
whose western limits the ice cutters
had left unguarded. Mayne put the
helm hard to port. The Peg, quick
to respond, trcmbled and careened in
Slowed, lurched, toppled over and
crashed through the thin ice and into
the black waters. Dorey pitched head
long into the lake, half under the sail
and boom. White was thrown upon
him, but caught the sheet as he fell.
Mayne, though plunged to the neck in
the icy flood, hung to the ielm, scram-
bled to the edge of the capsized boat
and turned to reach for White.
With the energy of terror and despair
porey struggled to free himself from
the stiffening sail and the ropes that
held his feet He chung to White with
the grip of drowning man. The two,
neither realizing what he was about,
fought for foothold on the boat, each
unwittingly plunging the other back
into the numbing water, defeating
struggles that grew more frantic and
less availing with each recurrence.
Courage" cried Mayne. "Stop
that, you fools! Give me your hand;
you, Dorey. Now!"
The bleeding hands clutched at
Mayne, at the ropes, at the boat, and
Dorey lay sprawled across the mast.
"Now, Colonel"
Mayne fastened his numb fingers in
the coat of the drowning boy, and after
many efforts hauled him on the boom,
then to the mast and to the body of the