Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-06-29

his fringe of beard, his red face and
his small screwed up eyes peering anx
iously out from under their heavy
thatch of brow. Though himself visible
to Guthrie, it was too dark for him to
see along the decks as far as the main
mast, but to assure himself that the
young man, raw hand as he was, had
not gone overheard, he gave leather
lunged hail every now and again of,
"All clear forrard, there3'
And at this the undergraduate would
bawl back, CAN clear 1t isl" and then
turn his face sharply forward again to
make sure that it was so.
The Eureka was making for Madeira,
and the sea road from Lands End to
that island is thickly frequented one.
She was, in fact, just beginning the
crossing Of the bay of Biscay when the
storm took charge of her. and collision
there, in such weather, could not but be
fatal. Landsman though he was,
Guthrie ~new enough to have no doubts
about this, and, flattered, it may be, by
the responsibility which had been pr
upon him, he stared bravely into tho
black, wet night ahead, and tried not
to heed the cruel spray which dashed
and cut his face with the strokes of a
hundred icy whips.
Beyond the dim outlines described
before there was nothing to be seen,
hut the ketch was scudding before the
gale at rate of nearly 10 knots en-
n n nj fyh ne nj I'M
lights would not be visible far ahead
The night, indeed, was getting darker,
wilder and fiercer The cringle headed
main trysail was small sail. but its
few square yards Of canvas strained SO
hard during the squalls that to
Guthrie's inexperienced eyes it looked
as though the mast would be blown
clean out Of her, and once dismasted in
that turmoil of waters it seemed to
him that nothing could prevent the YES
sci from laundering out of hand.
The thought came to him of the
awful struggle for life when the waters
should engulf them and almost turned
him sick with fear, and then he remem
hered the girl down below in the cabin,
shut off by the battened matches from
any chance of making fight for life.
And at the thought Of her he turned
his eyes forward again and peered even
more intently than before into the
darkness ahead. Almost ficrcely he said
to himself that if death were to come
to her that night it should not be be-
cause he was found wanting in his duty.
But at length Captain Colepepper de-
cided that running before the gale was
no longer safe and the helm was put
down to round to. Tom Jelly, with the
jungle of hair on his face streaming out
like mass of futtering black rags,
came forward to help with his solitary
hand on the lib sheet, while the doctor
with Hans and Henrietta was ready for
similar duty aft Waiting for a partial
lull, the captain Stacked up his tiller
rope and showed the helm alec. Instant
~ the lsetch heeled over, almost to her
beam ends, the Dreaming surges raced
over her starboard decks, and her for
ward part, where Tom and Guthrie
We're, plunged bodily under the boil Of
green. The young man chung convul-
sively to cleat, for he thought that
the end had come
But the Eureka rose again, shot her
self clear Of the watery burden and ran
up into the wind. with canvas wildly
Stating and halyards hammering her
mainmast like so many iron rods
Guthrie glanced at Tom Jelly. to see
how he was taking it. The man was
grinning as usupl-that goes without
saying, for he always grinned. But
there was something nervous about this
grin. He evidently did not admire the
situation, and, curiously enough, that
encouraged the undergraduate, A mo-
ment before he bad been trembling with
fear but as soon as he saw that the
prospect was ugly enough to scare an
old hand his courage came back to
him and he did his best to help in the
work which was to be done.
Together he and Tom fattened in the
weather sheet Of the storm lib, and
then handed themselves aft along the
heaving, slippery decks, in obedience to
the shippers orders. Captain Colepep-
per shouted to them to bend and set a
storm mzzen. and then to get the main
trysail off her, for he thought she could
ride easier with the tiny triangular rag
of after canvas and the spitfire lib
alone.
To inexperienced eyes the work did
not seem much, but such was the fury
Of the wind and so heavy were the
MI r1pS an1 rn1lS Of tho uacoa1 h,t |,
energies of the whole crew We're taxed
for the better part of an hour in doing
1t. And by the time it was completed,
there was not one of them who had not
his bruise or cut to show as a testi-
monial to the danger of the work
But another danger of the sea was
coming rapidly down upon them; great
er and more ruthless in its pitiless
strength than even the waves them
selves. A shrill cry from Mrs Jelly rose
above the booming and shrieking CT the
gale and fell keenly on every ear The
cry was inarticulate, but there was no
mistaking its import-the tone told
that Instinctively each one looked up
from his work glanced at the woman,
and then following her pointing finger,
stared with horror over the taffrail
Advancing through the storm WAS
lurching triangle of lights, green and
blood red at the base and glazing white
at the apex, They were the lights of a
steamer, and as the whole trio were
visible she was advancing directly upon
the Eureka s stern In another moment
her shadowy outline doomed through