The Opelousas courier., 1899-11-04

l. as well. He had loved old Shea
, daughter as long as he had been abl
to love anything, but Tenants con
j.. ceded his position by calling he
"Paul's girl" The more so as Il
sailed his own schooner-which sig
nifed much. And that very summe
, he-with a tremor in his deep voice
asked the girl to help him rum
little cottage that was rising neal til
harbor. Then the schoo1master came
and before long Paul found the nader
was less eager to listen to his sea-tale
or to admire the new cottage, wher,
the smell Of fresh cut timber lay swee
on the air.
And the summer wore away. Pau
was absent for days at a time, fishing
on the off-shore soundings. At eacl
return he found more to anger him
but never a chance to clear up hi
doubts. When he visited the bis
house it was to sit outside with thu
father, smoking i'll black silence
while the schoolmaster read or talked
to the girl.
Paul "a a man Of few words, but
his heart was brave. Therefore he
went down one day to the cottage. I,
was nearly completed and he looked il
over grimly. Then he addressed the
carpenter, who had sauntered up.
"'Guess you needn't finish this vel
shack jest yet, Sam. Mebbe I won'I
want it so soon, arter ALL
"What's up now?" asked Sam, who
was also a fisherman and had reioiced
in Paul's good luck.
"Wal, Tn agoin' to take the
schooner out Boston way, m try fer a
cargo this winter. An I guess you
can leave the house wait a bit now"
The other nan stared, but Paul
turned away, walking slowly toward
the village; and the cottage was left to
the sun by day and the moon by night
and always to the moaning wind.
The year drew on to autumn and
the school was Ill full swing. Paul
never went to the big house; he was
fitting out the schooner for the win
ter. In the intervals OF work he
sought the bluff at the harbor mouth
that watched the troubled waters
round the Bull. "Kinder cranky"
said the village fishermen. Once he
saw in the distance the schoolmaster
approaching with the girl. After that
he went there no more.
1t was a week later that the first of
the autumn gales swept in from the
Atlantic. Now, on the day that the
storm was getting up to seward Paul
Fralic went to his schooner early in
the morning to prepare for a start
when the weather moderated. Gray
was the sky in the ofing, with patches
OF flying cloud-rack, while the ground
swell grumbled all along the coast,
sending great smooth waves to rock
the vessels anchored at Tenants.
There was, no cause whatever for
any one to leave the harbor; yet, as
day frightened over the water, Paul
saw a small rowboat put ont from one
OF the wharves and head for the open
sea-. He looked at it %curiously, know
ing that all the fishermen were busy
on s%hipboard and that none of them
had any business at the harbor mouth
in the face of a big storm.
The boat-a light thing with a
single occupant-kept we'll under the
shore and it was With difficulty that
Paul recognized the tall, slim figure
OF the oarsman. When he did, three
things came to his remembrance: that
old John Shea had treated the school
master with oaths and contumely and
finally had fatty refused him as a SON
in-law; that it was only six miles
coastwise to the next village where
the railroad ran to the city; and, last
~, that the youth himself was hot
headed and impulsive. Also, there
1~~ hidden path by which any one
q girl-could go from the big
houyse to the shore outside the village.
Td1 these thoughts seems to have
.saccsaded e very logical conclusion.
Paul'areasoning may have been prim-
itiSgf-sSut a duty lay upon him. He
cherished no illusions in his heart:
What he did know vas the impossible
i5 of any rover reaching the next vii
lage before the storm smashed him
against the granite cliffs. Therefore
rover must be brought back
and his companion likewise. As the
craft rounded the lighthouse
point Paul jumped into the boat lying
astern Of his schooner.
"Goin' out ter the light" he K
to the heads that looked over
from above. keep to work on them
At the harbor mouth he rested on
his oars for a moment and gazed
along the coast. The surf was leap
ing full thirty feet up the face OF the
grim rockwell. The Bull was q
smother of SETTLING foam and its
voice came deep and hollow. Paul
;ook this in at a glance. But his
.een eye caught something more. In
he distance oyer-near the surf was a
boat with two occupants. |.
He overlook them, it is said, two
niles down the coast. In shore the
were already swathed in fog
md the furious breakers forbade any
anding. By a mighty effort he put
behind him the impulse to settle for
yer the claims of his rival, there in
he lonely sea-perhaps the white,
beautiful face Of the girl stayed his
land.
Ranging alongside without a word,
e tossed, his oars into the other boat
nd then stepped in himself, spurning
us own away with a shove of his foot.
he same instant q sudden lurch 4,
hssW him heavily across the forward
With his right asus doubled under !;