The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-06-25
be Ships Ndvenfupe,
w. Ocopyhghtalss by s. s. Mcclure Coz

rum, returned on deck with the basket,
and placed it in the boat. He then
fetched some timed food, a Quantity of
ships biscuit and an uncooked ham,
which would be good eating to starving
men. They were eight and he made
calculations for a weeks supply with
care. He threw a pannikin into the
boat. He breathed hard and fast and
his face was colored with blood, and
the sweat drained from his hair to his
eyebrows; for he was mad to succor and
mad to escape, and all the while he
worked he never spoke a word to the girl.
1t would have been an impossible task
but for the steady flow of the sea and
the gentle yielding of the ship to the
caressing sway of the fold. But 1t fell
out as 1t was and Hardy did 1t whilst
Julia steered and the ship blew softly
EDWARDS, whilst the white spot abaft
the beam watched by the dog, cleaned
like meteor whose foam would be a
little disc when near. He freed the boat
of its gripes by his knife, sharp blade,
then just as Layard had before him he
lowered the boat by easing away first
the bow then the after falls, until she
was water-borne, when, with a sailor S
activity, he passed his knife through
the tackles, and the ropes fell into the
boat. She was liberated! and whilst
he filled his lungs, distressed in breath,
so ardent and energetic had been his
toll, the boat was astern, then in the
ships wake, and Julia could see her by
looking over the taffrail.
They'll come up with it" said Hardy,
going to the girls side, and their over
hauling her will widen our distance
1T was the only way to feed them, !"
Julia answered.
lone way Have they fresh water
enough? Eight men! They may want
i Il
nod at the remaining quarter-boat.
They'll be fallen in with-perhaps be-
fore sundown.''
He picked up the glass and again
scrutinized the boat. She leapt into the
lens within a quarter of mile. The
man in the bows stood upright, but he
was no longer f1ourishing his Witt. They
were heading almost into the ship s
wake, and were certain to see the quar-
ter-boat and5understand what she meant
Along the rail the heads of the Aen
were fixed like cannon-balls. Supposing
they were sEnglishmen. What would
they think? Hardy ground his teeth and
twice beat the air with a clenched INST.
But supposfhg they were Dagos? sup
posing-he could not have acted other-
wise. Life love and hope were the IN
spiration of his resolution, and L say he
could not have acted otherwise
It was then, happily for him ana ms
sweetheart, that the sea to windward
darkened a little to a pleasant freshen-
ing breeze The breasts aloft sWelled
to the larger breath, but so scant1ly
clothed was the York it was absolutely
certain that if the breeze scanted the
boat would overhaul the ship, and once
those eight men got alongside the rest
might prove-Good night!
Again Hardy locked at the boat through
i ont rHrif q
tubes a mis- eye:
"Its all right Julia; they're heading
dead for the quarter-boat. Whether they
understand or not, it's all right.
He grasped the wheel and brought ti;e
snip to her course, AMI this creased her
heels somewhat, for the sails were trim
lncd for the course he was steering. and
he sails drew bravcly Julia Eept the
glass to her eye.
'-They have lowered the sail, she cried.
'"They are very near the boat"
It was all blank to the naked eye, ano
Hardy searched in vain for that star
whose rise might haze proved the malig-
nant star of death. end dishonor to them
both. Again the lovers shifted places.
Julia held the wheel whilst Hardy direct
ed the glass at the boat. He watched the
minute maneuVers. 1t was a little helC'
of Liliputians, but every figure was rs
clean cut in the lens as the plgm1es u
the downward gazing eyes OF CULVER.
The two boats came and went behind and
upon the summer swell of the sea, but
not SO as to battle the marine vision. The
naked mast rolled, and the men showed
plain. Thirst and famine were IN thetr
motions and Hardy sighed and gasped
as he watched. He saw the infuriate GEES
ture that brought the bottle to the mouth
the impassioned posture as the cracked
! lips drained the pannikin. He witnessed
avidity, colored into horror by human
need in the passage of the clenched bis
cult or piece of meat to the mouth. 1t
nearly broke his heart to leave them. If
ever man was inspired by the compass
sion, the instincts and the loyalty of q
sailor, it was Hardy Yet he thanked
God with all,his heart that they had plen-
ty, that the weather promised fair. that
they had another and good boat, and
that, in this highway of the sailing ship
human help was certain if calamItOuS deS-
tiny were not first Hardy's eyes were
moist as the telescope slowly sank with
his arm; for, let them be Dagos, let them
be Dutchmen, call those men by any name
you will, they were shipWreC<ed sailors
upon a lonely sea, and their appeal to the
red flag of England would have been ir-
resistible but for the helpless condition
of the York. Julia saw emotion in her
lovers face, and caressed him with her
eyes as though she would soothe him with
her love, and never did she honor him
more, nor felt a fuller flow of dumb and
inward gratitude to the Father of all foi
this lifelong gift of sympathy, help and
devotion.
I'VE shall run them out of reach of the
glass; said Hardy.
81 can scarcely see them as ii is she
answered.
What is their story?" he ent on. at
will be told, because they will be saved
Yonder is one of the teachings of the sea
You pass a piece of wreck; it Is encruSt-
ed with the jewelry of the ocean; it is
girdled by a silver belt of fish. To one
man it is a piece of wreckage; 20 another
; man it is a memorial, lofty, sublime and
awful as a cathedral, Of fire, Of explosion
| of the beam-ended fabric with dashed fig
ures in the shrouds, sunk to the foam
| and blackening it with emergence like the
iron shape dangling at the finger of g
| gibbet upon a wintry moor that foams
with snow
(To be continually