Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-03
CHAPTER XIX.
THE I')TR NEGROES

There was brief moment beneath
the waters during which the gates of
death seemed to swing wide open for
the two members of the Eureka : crew
1t WIS the sharp, agonizcd struggle in
which "A strong swimmer fights to re-
lease himself from the foolish ClutChing
of another who cannot swim and who,
with the blind, unreasoning instincts
of self preservation hampers his rescu-
er 6 efforts to save them both
For moment it seemed az though
Guthrie would not be able to shake
off the grip of Henrietta round his
neck hut fortunately for them both his
struggles to do so brought him sudden
lv into the shadows. In one of his con.
vulsive throws he felt the bottom aud
found that there was fiat topped
howldcr beneath him, with less than
four feet of water covering it, Getting
his feet planted on this he first shook
the woman off and then drew her mp
beside him and yaised her head above
the water. As soon as she felt firm
ground under her Henrietta recovered
her presence of mind shook her Shout
ders like a retriever to get the water
ont of her hair and eyes and then be-
gan to look calmly and curiously about
her to see what il was that had caused
the undergraduate to back SO suddenly
| down upon her and throw them both
headlOng into tho brine
Then for the first time Guthrie had
leisure to remember the gun episode
and looked up to see what sort of man
it might be who was at the butt end of
the barrel which had startled him
The path they had tumbled from wa!
at the other side of the water channel
from the submerged rock on which they
We're now perched, and standing at the
edge of this path were four Negroes
one with gun in his hand, which he
still kept levclcd at the two involun-
tary bathers, the others with their
hands stuck deep into the pockets of
their white cotton breechcs None Of
the quartz: had offered the slightest
help while Guthrie and the woman
were struggling in the water, and in
| decd it seemed to the young man as he
looked at their faces that they had
watched tho scene ont quietly in the
hope, perhaps that one or both of the
bathers would get conveniently drown
ed. Their attitude of contemptuous
| noninterference suggested this idea ire
sistiEly and the look of disappointment
on their faces confirmed the grewsome
suggestion of the six ostentatiously
pocketed hands.
Guthrie shuddered inwardly as this
conclusion was borne in upon his I'M
derstanding, but none the less, with a
quick flash Of prudence, he determined
to disguise his suspicion and put a bold
| face on the SITUATION.
what the mischief do you mean by
standing quietly up there to watch two
fellow creatures drown before your
eyes, he demanded Indignantly
a chnckle ran through the group.
and after pause of few seconds tho
man with the gun replied He was a
tall lean negro, with face so sallow
and tieshlesS that it looked almost like
a skull However, pair Of burning
black eyes, goggling amid perfect lakes
of white, showed that he was very CON
siderably alive, and, standing in the
eerle green light of the cave in that at
titude of menace, he looked, to his
questioner, sufficiently ugly customer
to have to tackle
THE question rather is, What are
you doing in our cave?' said he in per
feet English and with IA purity of ac-
cent which Guthrie had not expected
to hear from man of his color
''We've missed one of our ship
company, answered the young man
Again the three others, who seemed
man. INDUCED in an amused laugh
But the spokesman kept his grim stare
unrelaxed
Are there any more besides you
two?" he asked
"No, said Guthrie.
Don't lie now. replied the man sus.
piciously
The undergraduate retorted holly
that he was not in the habit of lying
and asked again if they had seen his
hipmate
"What sort of man is he?" queried
the spokesman Fat chapl Stolid sort
OF party. ehY'
Guthrie admitted with a smile that
that sounded like him.
Then Mr. Whatever s-your name,
you needn't hunt around any longer
Your man 5 here, and | Il tell you an
other thing, he showed more pluck than
You when he got gun barrel poked at
him. He didn't even wink-stood like
a tree. "
Il believe you, returned the young
man lightly, HE isn't the sort of man
you could brighten easily. He's not ex-
ctahle, you see-I am-that's Just the
difference. Bnt | say, whoever you are,
| wish you d bear hand and help us
up on to dry land again. It's precious
cold standing here between wind and
water, and the lady can swim, or |
wouldn't ask you.
The LADY," exclaimed the lean ne.
gro in surprise. "Whv, so it is wo-
man I'm sure beg her pardon, out,
in her man 5 clothes and in this dim re-
ligious light, confess hadn t tumbled
to the fact that we'd got female COM
pany You huar that, boys2 off with
your toppers We've got lady paying
us an afternoon CALI"
Again the three negroes chuckled,
and one of them made n remark in
low tone which called smile from their