Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-07-13
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM UNDER THE sQUARE-SAIL
YARD.

FROM UNDER THE SQUARE-SAIL
YARD.
By the rules Of civilized warfare | had
rendered the surgeon incapable OF offensive
action, but, apart from his word OF honor,
my best defense seemed to lie in his COW
ardice and ready acquescence to my de-
mands. Even in my intense interest in the
welfare OF my friend | did not follow the
doctor to his side. ! had matters on my
heart and hands requiring immediate atten
ton, but my first business was to rid the
cabin Of the repulsive carcass that numbered
the foot Of the companion way,
With as little feeling as though | was
handling bale of goods, | turned Louns
bury over that might be sure Of his death,
and by the limp and hideous way his head
fell to his shoulder knew he was past all
surgery Grasping him by the collar,
hauled him to the deck, and from thence to
the rail, launching him over the side with
the feeling that with him went the last Of
my III luck. With the dead mans cutlass
about my waist and McCary's pistol in my
belt "a poor place for a dry printing, as |
was still rocking with vet, went again
into the cabin, and with an apology to the
doctor for leaving him in the dark, took the
lantern from its hook on the beam and hur.
red to where the wreck of the top hamper
stil covered the deck about the foremost.
Though the light was seen from the Sprite,
it would create no suspicion; so, SEEING the
lantern to a hoop in the mast, ! attacked
the mass of broken spar, gear and canvas,
that | might verify or prove groundless the
more than half hope which had come to me
while | hung beneath the wreck of the din
gy. Then the hope was but flimsy tissue
now it was tinged with fear. Ii The girl
had not been struck down by falling spar
and hidden by the folds of the square sail,
then she must have been translated, for of
her deliberate self-destruction | would not
now believe.
There was a desperate humping on the
forecastle hatch by the imprisoned trio, but
] paid no attention to it, and indeed l was
50 engrossed in my present business that
nothing short of the splntering OF the cover
or the arrival on a belated GRAND Of boat
from the Sprte, would have caused me Ia
desist
The first | uncovered was what | thought
to be pair of booted legs, but they proved
to be no more than my own foot gear which
| had slowed near the mast the nigh' tc'oro
for since boarding the Phantom in the fog
! had gone unshod. The wreck had been
thrown into a fairly compact mass by the
side OF the hatch, and it was perhaps five
minutes before had gotten to the bottom oil
It. But | was well rewarded. Ere l had
cast aside the last of the fallen hamper
heard slight groan, and, on pulling away
a mixture Of torn sail and tangled line, saw
the object of my search.
My conjecture had been right The CIR
was lying betwixt the combings of the
galley and the butt of the splintered top
mast, position allowing her enough air tC
prevent suffocation, at the same time partly
protecting her from the weight of the stuff
piled over her She lay on her face, and
across her thighs, pinning her fast, was a
small end of the broken topsail yard. Hel
check and neck, with the hand that lay
along the spar, were covered with blood, and
blood stained the plankng Of the deck about
her
| lost no time in feeling for life, as the
eroan had told me life still existed Cutting
the lantern from the hoop, | slung it on
my arm and, lifting the girl, strobe toward
the cabin, now in the strangcst state Of
mind that had ever possessed me- If
moved quickly with my body my brain out
paced IL As | look back at it, the passage
from the foremost to the companion way
was a long one though it was compassed in
twice ten steps. In the time it took me &c
traverse it | lived over the five days had
known this lass, and felt them to have been
as many years. | suddenly knew the source
Of my daring, which had grown with the
time until at that moment | was ready tc
face the devil himself and knew, too, fol
whom i Vas meant. ! now knew that my
head had not been playing over the mystery
Of her disappearance because it was mys
terry, but because this girl had usurped all
other interests. | was now aware that my
resolve to board the schooner was not Sc
much to recapture the prize Though that
motive, hopeless as it had seemed, had been
stronel as to overhaul the wreck of the
foretopmast in quest Of Gertrude King, and
see her again dead or alive gave no name
to all this; raised no fine points anent the
strength or weakness Of my feeling, nor did
the word love" cross my mind. | only
knew that alive | had found her, and that
one day she might know | had saved heI
from both death and her enemies In a
purhlnd fashion it was all the reward
looked for, and it seemed reward enough,
ii | was not fairly subdued by the beauty
and heroism Of this girl, my pity for her
carried me far on the way, and though bur
~, sea.roughened, and man to boot, in this
case of need felt that for tenderness could
pit myself against the gentlest woman who
ever made a sick bed dream of pleasure.
Beyond getting at the extent of her in
juries, ! determined not to let the now
sobered surgeon lift finger. When
brought my burden down the companion
way he was placing wet compress on the
boys wound, his management of this in the
darkness speaking loudly of his skill My
prisoner was evidently past being surprised
for he did little but give a grunt as he saw
me bear her in; but when told him the new
patient was a girl, and the sister of Ames
he cast on me a quick, hard look 1t wa.
only after ! mentioned her name and he
remembered the former passenger of the
Sprite that he showed real interest, and as hC
examined her for injuries heard him grum
bile the name of Scammell beneath hi,
breath
Pending the outcome of his search | went
on deck. Although a nearly full moon was
behind the clouds, the night was unusually
dark The roll Of the schooner was growing
heavier 1t caused rafting OF block;
overhead, and jerking OF the foresail boom
on its traveller until it sounded as though
the deck must be ripped up. There was a
sullenness to the sea that BODIED mischief
but the cause of it was still at a distance
BetwiXt the clashing OF blocks aloft, the
kicking OF the rudder, the mad clank of the
boom travellers and the excited tattoo OF
the reeGng points, there was sufficient fuss
to 1T once tell seaman that the present
condition OF calm would not be protracted
The lool, of the sky was enough for me (foI
beyond the immediate vicinity Of the moon
n not ~ tlI cnnll NOT hive hean hlncknrl