Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-05-04
copyright. 1897. by D. Appleton & Co. All
rights reserved
By CHAUNCY G. HOTCHKISS

rights reservedl
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FOG
The moon was up, and it cast a lusty light
over the lowlands and the river, though its
setting would not be late. Il was a lovely
night; in faith, all nature was possessed of
a beauty which made the thought of yield
sng up of life bitter enough. Everything
suggested freedom, from the rolling of the
distant woodland on Long Island to the
sparkle and dance of the water which lay
between it and me, barring me from liberty
and my Unborn right to breathe the free air.
The speck that shot across the brilliant
moon path I knew to be patrol boat, and
sudden hatred of the bonds that comprised
me, as exampled in that small floating thing,
brought my muscles into iron bands, and 1
GiHtched the sill with my fingers until the
casing cracked.
i turned back to the others, and we ate
che balance of our meal IN silence, even the
girl feeling the growing nearness of the end
and glancing furtively at each mans face in
turn.
think we sat in this state of depression
for much more than an hour, or long after
we had finished eating, and each face was
weli-nigh lost in the darkness. The window
being open, no light was made, and, as there
was not a breath of wind, the stiffness was
only broken by the sounds of night life with
out. There was faint shimmere5f moon
hight on the floor which barely gave form to
those at the table, but the only sign of ami
NATION existing within doors was the glow
ing of our three pipes as we men sat and
sucked away, each respecting the thoughts
,1f the others.
AT length Burt spoke. 81 am bound to
confess that darkness looms ahead" he be-
gan, <<and if / make suggestion, it is not
TO hint that you should take hopeless
chance in order that 1 may be rid of you.
Gould You do aught with boat? have one
concealed that might be made ready in an
hour"
The spell of silence and inactivity was
Broken, for the girl left her chair and
stepped softly to the window as l replied:
III have thought of boats, but only for the
Hudson side. Could we go far and not be
picked up by another such sneaking devil of
n patrol as l saw yonder? Whittier shall we
,ges 1 say we, for we it must be. l have
ecast my lot with the Others"
(. Vie made no answer, and L rose and joined
The gin (wEom 1 could hardly yet think Of
as girl) at the window. But now the as
Dect Of nature had changed, and the fair
;pictnre had seen below but a short time
before was blurred as breath blurs cold
y1gne- With the quick alteration possible in
this region and at this season, within the
hour the night had grown damp, and light,
low fog hung over the river and its banks,
$50 shallow, so still, and so silvery in the
clear moonlight that it was as though
quiet inundation had engulfed the land and
turned the world into a lake. At the eleva-
sxion from which 1 viewed it, looked Gown
upon it as one looks down upon the sea from
low headland. A billowy fullness lifted
here and there, slow moving and majestic,
but over its vast extent the line betwixt fog;
aud clear air was sharply drawn. No moon
-~r.,et cut across this feecy ocean, no sharp
ripple broke it's surface, and breeze would
3tave wrecked its strange beauty in second.
The trees rose through the vapor, clear at
their tops but invisible at their bases, and
enc dead sycamore stood strongly out
against the light like the masts and rigging
of sunken ship. Its similarity struck me.
As my eye caught it, like fash of light
aszng an idea shot into my brain and my
lpipe snapped off at my teeth as / bit
Through the stem in the intensity of my
-scsling. With cry l sprang for Ames, and
gripping him by the shoulders with force
t:lat made him cry out, l said, or rather
shouted
Il have it! have it! Now is the time!
will you follow me and take monstrous
chance? Look, man. Mark the fog! We
will to the boat-drift for the Phantom
,snt her cable and trust to the ebb and God
above to carry past the fleet"
''The phantom! For the love of God,
sShat phantom? Are you suddenly daft,
Thorndyke that you see ghosts?" was the
sehment return of the youth, as with a
eioient twist he tried to free himself from
my grasp.
Nay, man, no ghost!' cried, betwixt a
laugh and a sob, so high was my nervous ex-
Citement. MY ship-the schooner Phan-
tom! Have not told you? She lies but a
miie below on straight drift. See, man,
seei" said /, hurrying him to the window.
~-The fog will be our guard! Once away,
rye are safe. IT'S death to bide here when
ssuch a mask stands ready for our uset We
risk the outcome? Let us not stand here
and see those scarlet devils hem us in like a
r.ng of fire! Better strangle in the sweet
brine beneath the vessels keel than be
sSerked into the next world by means of a
rope! Never shall they dance rae! How
now? Shall we sink or swim together in
the venture?''
I was beside myself with excitement As
che meaning of my words, which had been
poured out In disjointed sentences, caught
che youth, he Instantly took fire. We were
now all standing, and I had released him
from my held. With bound he gained the
side of his sister, who had stood like a
statue as my plan was unfolding, and taking
her hand, he said:
Gertrude! Gertrude! do you follow
him! lis grand opening; It's like call