The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-10-06

her close to him and planted kiss o
her cold lips, which barely moved i
response. It's the first one, Jessie
perhaps the last; there's shark out
side he said, knowing. as men kno'
in such extremes, that the shark wa
all that now could make it the last
Ready, now? One, two, three ii
placed his knife between his teeth an,
sank beneath the surface
With no obstructing furniture ant
the diffused light from the compau
ionway to guide him, he made tn,
return In much less time than it ha(
taken to fight his way into the hold
He reached the surface alongside tn,
boat and gasped: Here, catch her.
Ackland sprang forward, seized tn,
girl by the arms and drew her in
where she sank down between the
thwarts-a bedraggled heap, safe, bn
in dead faint.
Now, then said the man in the
boat to the man in the water, with ar
appropriate oath: You stay there
He raised an oar You've had your
day, Ned Ransom. Choke me ano
abuse me fore the men, will you
Going to thrash or kill me, are you
Get down there The oar descended
and Ransom, to avoid the blow. push
ed himself under water The oa,
struck the glistening side of the shark
who, turning half over, shot past the
place where, a second before, his prey
had been.
Under water Ransom saw the shelly
ing quarter of the Walkure, and
thinking quickly, swan to it-fol
temporary safety. Inserting his fin
ger nails IN the seams of the planking.
he pulled himself to he surface, close
to the keel, and took breath. The
shark had made a detour and WAS
coming again, but from some error Of
Judgment on his part, approached
from point too far forward, and just
as the wicked jaws were within two
feet OF Rahsoin ; legs, the swelling
side of th" rhnrk glanced on the
curve O. the quarter, and he missed
again. BY the time he had returned,
hansOm Was Oh the keel.
Well, said Acklaud from the boat,
as he lowered the oar; | guess you g
s well of there as anywhere. That
craft won't float more than half an
hour Stay there and think it over ,
Lifting the bead of the girl, with II
leering grin on his face he added
Take your last look at her, I'll tell
her all about You when she RECEIVERS
ItansotI, standing ankle deep on tne
keel made 10 answer, aud 4.ckland.
laying the girl siowE, placed an oar in
the stern and gave heave to throw
the boats head around. But the oar,
wet from contact with the girls cloth
ing, slipped from the socket, and not
meeting with the expected resistance.
he reeled, stumbled and fell overheard
as he rose to the surface he shrieked,
for dorsal fin was coming.
Jessie, jessie he screamed. Ran
SON! Help mel You've got knife
Help. Hell The last word was a
gurgle. His head sank, and within
the concentric ripples above him rose
dark stain. Ransom, in spite of
his own position, was horrorstruck
L wouldn't have hurt him now,' he
said to himself, now Jessie is safe.
But If she don't wake up soon, I'm
done for, too. Jessiev he roared
'Jessier
Either attracted by the blood or
his voice, a dozen sharks showed their
knife-like fins, circling around the
boat. He repeated the call again and
again, and at last the girl heard
Raising her head, she saw Ransom,
standing knee deep in the water,
making desperate lunges with his
knife at the sharks as they darted
past him, and shouting:
Scull up here, jessie, if you can.
Quickr be called
She was sailors child, and could
scull boat, but, with barely strength
to lift an oar, made slow progress ;and
had not Ransom succeeded in sink
ing his knife into one of the sharks,
and gaining time for her by the di-
version caused the others in tearing
their wounded companion to pieces,
she would have been too late. He
was waist deep when he caught the
gunwale and tumbled into the boat.
Then he sank down nearly as help
less as the girl IN the stern sheets,
who had swooned again, and trembled
ike child; for his wonderful nerve
and strength had deserted him.
He was first to recover; stepping to
the stern, he lifted the unconscious
girl IN his arms. holding her SO that
the warmth of the rising sun would
reach her face, and looked, hungrily.
anxiously, and in vain for the pretty
features he had known. Seventeen
hours of mortal terror, face to face
with death, in solitude, darkness and
cold, had left an impress of agony
and horror on the face of Jessie
Downs that would take years of tran
qull happiness to eradicate. But
when she opened her eyes, and smiled
and pronounced his name, he knew
that reason, at least was left her.
And he WAS weak enough and strong
enough, cowardly enough and brave
enough, to take advantage of hel
| nelpleSSneSs auu KISS ner agaln-nO1
once, but dozen times.
The Claremont is coming, Jessie,
he said, as he pointed tr the schooner
now but couple of miles away, 'anc
! breakfast will be ready by the tim,
she gets up to u.s. he added; an un
romantic, but natural speech.
RANSOM said Capt, Davis, as b
gave him his pay at the end of tn
voyage, perhaps you don't know tina
Caps. Downs owned a controlling il
terest IN every vessel in that employ
l suppose you'll stay ashore now an,
run things. In that case, and in view
of the fact, "a twinkle came to hi
eye-'that didn't pnt you in iron
for your mutinous insubordinatioI
) l expect that you'll present me with