Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-02-15
CHAPTER XXu.-CoNrINUED.

CHAPTER RXXII.-CoNTINUED.
My conjecture had been right The girl
was lying betwixt the combings of the
galley and the butt of the splintered top
mast, a position allowing her enough air to
prevent suffocation, at the same time partly
protecting her from the weight of the stuff
piled over her. She lay on her face, and
across her thighs, pinning her fast, was a
small end OF the broken topsail yard. Her
check and neck, with the hand that lay
along the spar, were covered with blood, and
blood stained the planking of the deck about
her.
lost no time in feeling for life, as the
groan had told mo life still existed Cutting
the lantern from the hoop, | slung it on
my arm and, lifting the girl strobe toward
the cabin, now in the strangest state OF
mind that had ever possessed me. If
moved quickly with my body, my brain out
paced it, As look back at it, the passage
from the foremast to the companion way
WIS long one, though it was compassed in
twice ten steps In the time it took me to
traverse it lived over the five days | had
known this lass, and felt them to have been
as many years. | suddenly knew the source
OF my daring, which had grown with the
time until at that moment | was ready to
lace Tue UeFll nliHSelI, anu hISW, 100, IOI
whom it was meant. / now knew that my
head had not been playing over the mystery
of her disappearance because it was mys-
terry, but because this girl had usurped all
other interests. | was now aware that my
resolve TO board the schooner was not so
much to recapture the prize (though that
motive hopeless as it had seemed, had been
strong) as to overhaul the wreck of the
foretopmast in quest of Gertrude King, and
see her again dead or alive. / gave no name
to all this; | raised no fine points anent the
strength or weakness of my feeling, nor did
the word Glove" cross my mind. [ only
knew that alive ! had found her, and that
one day she might Know l had saved her
from both death and her enemies. In a
purblind fashion it was all the reward l
looked for, and it seemed reward enough.
If was not fairly subducd by the beauty
and herosm of this girl, my pity for her
carried me far on the way, and though bur
ly, sea-roughened, and a man to boot, in this
case of need | felt that for tenderness could
pit myself against the gentlest woman who
ever made a sick bed a dream Of pleasure.
Beyond getting at the extent of her in
Juries, | determined not to let the now
sobered surgeon lift a finger When |
brought my burden down the companion
way he was placing wet compress on the
boys wound, his management of this in the
darkness speaking loudly of his skill. My
prisoner was evidently past being surprised,
for he did little but give grant as be saw
me bear her I'M but when told him the new
patient was girl, and the sister Of Ames,
he cast on me quick, hard look. 1t wds
only after | mentioned her name and he
remembered the former passenger of the
Sprite that he showed real interest, and as he
examined her for injuries | heard him grum
be the name of Scammell beneath hi:
breath.
Pending the outcome Of his search | went
on deck. Although a nearly full moon was
behind the clouds, the night was unusually
dark. The roll of the schooner was growing
heavier. 1t caused a rattllng of blocks
overhead, and jerking of the foresail boon
on its traveller until it sounded as though
the deck must be ripped up. There was {
suilenness to the sea that boded mischief
but the cause Of it was still at a. distance
Betwixt the clashing OF blocks aloft, the
kicking of the rusder, the mad clank of the
boom travellers and the excited tattoo o.
the reeiing points, there was sufficient fus:
to at once tell seaman that the present
condition of calm would not be protracted
The look of the sky was enough for me Cfol
DeyOnQ Ine immediate vicinity VI lHC IlOOl
a pot OF tar could not have been blacker)
and in the momentary intervals of partia
silence that ensued as the schooner bal
anced on the tops of the surges | though
/ could hear a faint moan far above tn
truck, as though an unseen and troubled
spirit was winging through the depths o
space aioft. The horizon had drawn close t
the vessel, and the repelling blackness OF tn
water sent chill through me as | consid
cred what might have been my plight hao
the schooner sailed, leaving me on tn
broad ocean with no support but the frai
shell Of the dingy. A sudden coldness hat
settled from above, though not breath o
wind had come with it, and, though ther
was nothing to be distinctly marked througl
the heavy gloom envefoping the schooner
there existed in the surrounding element
q menacing somethins which, like an in
visible monitor, sent to me an inartlculat
warning.
The change had been rapid. Plainl
enough L scented the vague threat of tn
weather and set about to meet the outbreak
Winding me that / was both captain an
crew, with the extra weight OF having o.
my hands three prisoners in the forecast
aad a shaky one in tae cabin. saw that if
cLmc on TO blow had more than sufficien
pork cut out for one pair of fists Deter
Euined then to take time by the forelock an