The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-10-23

over to leeward and saw wonderful
slght-lovely, yet almost fearsome in
its irresistible grandeur.
''Watch it, Alanl' she cried .sIt's
going to break
A huge green roller had risen as if
by magic from the smoother water of
the channel. Driven along in grand,
solemn rush by some unseen force, it
swept over the outermost barriers of
the shoal till it reached the shallcwest
part. Then its crest bowed slowly over.
1t was a majestic movement. The
bending was done as quietly and evenly
as though the water had been sheet
OF metal. and the sun was mirrored off
from it in a flashing blaze of emerald
light The head of the wave seemed to
grow thinner and thinner, till it be-
came as translucent as fine bottle glass,
and at last, when the towering weight
of waters grew too great to be support
ed on its curving base the whole mass
fell with roar. shrek. sob on to
the honeycombed coral beneath. And
the spume flakes rising into the air fed
like light winged sea fowl far away over
the leeward waters
Little by little the Eureka pilot felt
his way along through the mazes of the
| reefs, twice grazing the ground.
though without fortunately doing any
4 harm to her fabric, and once getting
hopelessly embayed in channel which
| grew narrower and narrower as she
/ progressed along it,
/ The water was deep under her keel,
but the lines of surf on either hand
We're closing in The doctor hailed the
masthead Tom Jelly's keen eye could
/ see no way out. AS far as he could see
the channel filled up ahead and in a
mile became impossible There might
1 be a chance Of getting through, but to
fail would be fatal. So the doctor de-
termined to retrace his steps while she
had yet room to turn.
4 The helm was put down, therefore,
and with head sheets slackened the kctch
came round into the wind. The chan
mel was too narrow for her to beat out
So Hedge, which lay on deck ready
shackled, was tumbled over the bows
and the crew We're piped below for a
rest and dinner
In another hour they turned to work
again. Tom Jelly, Henrietta, the cap
tain and Guthrie tumbled into the boat
and went ahead to tow with Dolly to
steer them, and then the hardest work
of the day began.
The Eureka seemed to the crew in
the boat to be as loath to move as a
quayside would have been AS soon as
the strain on the hawser slackened they
were drawn mockingly back stern first.
They dipped the oars again, and the
rope grew tauter; they set their feet
| hard against the thwarts and thrust for
| all they were worth with their bodies
lying nearly horizontal But all that
| they appeared to achieve was to send
| their oar blades swirling uselessly
1 through the water The boat strained
| and tugged to leap on, but the warp
held her back as chain does kenneled
dog, and as for the Eureka she appeared
to the toilers in the boat to be as station
4 airy as Bristol dock wall. They could
| not detect the slightest swirl round her
bluff forefoot. Indeed, for anything
they could tell to the contrary, she was
slowly sagging astern.
But, though the inches gained We're
not apparent from the boat, for the long
surf barriers on either hand offered no
sufficiently striking landmarks from
which to take departure, still from
the higher level Of the ketch's deck the
4 doctor could see that she was making
progress, sure if slow, in the right di-
rection, and from time to time he en-
couraged the hot. painting rowers with
words to that effect
/ The sun blazed overhead with true
West Indian relentlessness, and, though
there was slight breeze blowing, it
was not enough to temper the remorse.
less rays. and as the day went on the
air seemed to grow hot, even to suffoca-
ton. At last they could stand it no
longer
"Spell-Ol" bawled the captain, and
threw down his oar.
\ Hans, who was on the forecastle, sent
the kedge overheard again with splash.
The boat dropped back alongside, and
her crew clambered out of her, painting
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