Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-05-02
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. 1t was lovely
night; in faith, all nature was possessed of
beauty which made the thought of yield
ing 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 inborn right to breathe the free air.
The speck that shot across the brilliant
moon path l knew to be patrol boat and
sudden hatred of the bonds that compassed
me, as eXampled in that small floating thing,
brought my muscles into iron bands, and L
clutched the sill with my fingers until the
casing cracked.
l turned back to the others, and we ate
the balance of our meal On silence even the
grl feeling the growing nearness of the end
and glancing furtively at each mans face i'll
turn.
L 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
well-nigh lost in the darkness. The window
being open, no light was made, and, as there
was not breath of wind, the stiffness was
only broken by the sounds of night life with
out. There was faint simmer of moon
light 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
of the others.
At length Burt spoke. 81 am bound to
confess that darkness looms ahead" he be-
gan, "and if l make a suggestion, it is not
TO hint that you should take a hopeless
chance in order that l may be rid of you.
Could 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 ! replied:
Il 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
patrol as l saw yonder? Whittier shall we
go? ] say we, for we it must be. have
cast my lot with the others"
He made no answer, and rose and joined
the girl (whom could hardly yet think of
as a grl) at the window. But now the as
pect of nature had changed, and the fair
picture l had seen below but short time
before was blurred as breath blurs a cold
pane 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,
so shallow, so still, and so silvery In the
clear moonlight that it was though
quiet nundation had engulfed the land and
turned the world into lake. At the eleva-
ton from which viewed it, 1 looked down
upon it as one looks down upon the sea from
a low headland. A billowy fullness lifted
here and there, slow moving and majestic,
but over its vast extent the line betwixt fog.
and clear air was sharply drawn. No moon
track cut across this fieecy ocean, no sharp
ripple broke it's surface, and breeze would
have wrecked it's strange beauty in second.
The trees rose through the vapor, clear at
their tops but invisible at their bases, and
one dead sycamore stood strongly out
against the light like the masts and rigging
of a sunken ship. Its similarity struck me.
AS my eye caught it, like flash of light
ming an idea shot into my brain and my
pipe snapped off at my teeth as l bit
through the stem in the intensity of my
feeling. With cry sprang for Ames, and
gripping him by the shoulders with :orce
that made him cry out, / said, or rather
shouted:
L 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
cut her cable and trust to the ebb and God
above to carry us past the fleet"
The phantoml For the love of God,
what phantom? Are you suddenly daft,
Thorndyke, that you see ghosts?" was the
vehment return of the youth, with
violent twist he tried to free himself from
my grasp.
NAY. man, no ghostl" cried, betwixt
laugh aud sob, so high was my nervous ex-
eitement MY ship-the schooner Phan-
tom! Have not told you? She lies but
mile below on a straight drift. See, man,
see!'' said /. hurrying him to the window.
"The fog will be our guard Once away,
we are safe. 'Tis death to bide here when
such a mask stands ready for our use! We
are yet alive. We are not spent! Will you
risk the outcome? Let us not stand here
and see those scarlet devils hem US in like
ring of fire! Better strangle in the sweet
brine beneath the vessels keel than be
jerked into the next world by means of
rope! Never shall they dance rne! How
now! Shall we sink or swim together in
the venture?'
was beside myself with excitement. As
the meaning of my words, which had been
poured out in disjointed sentences, canght
the youth, he instantly took fire. We were
now al standing. and had released him
from my held. With a bound he gained the
side of his sister, who had stood like
statue as my plan was unfolding, and taking
her hand, he said:
"Gertrudel Gertrude! do you follow
aim? IT'S grand opening; tbs like call