The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-07

want wages till you get READY 10 pay
| EN-"
The partners had become pearl-fsh-
ers. Peterson left $500 in a San Fran
cisco bank and he slapped himself hap
| PLY upon the breast when the prov
| lifted to the first long swell, rolling in
| ward. He was a fair navigator, Bill
apparently did not need sleep and the
three sailors worked we'll. They made
Honolulu without trouble, shipped fresh
water and six chocolate hued boatmen
and held for the south. Day after day
they spluttered through the long ridges,
while the flying fish hummed about
them frenziedly escaping the ravening
barracoutas, and out of the far and
vast blue sailed the steady albatross.
The air was a mild liquor with the tang
of salt in ii and the sky arched above
them an inverted bowl OF sapphire.
They worked their way through the
doldrums and over the line, and then
the trade winds took them and they
reeled onward with scarcely shift
of sail through days and nights to-
gether. In starlit darks the southern
cross was a beacon and the sea was a
sea of shifting fire.
The trade-wind dropped and Bill
Squints said: Il kin smell the flowers
of the Samoas."
They're 200 miles away. nearly due
SOUTH" Petersen answered.
The trade-wind did not come again.
There was no current and they lay for
five days nearly motionless. A corked
bottle thrown overheard on Tuesday
was 20 yards off the port quarter on
Saturday. The sea turned milky and
had a foul smell. Strange sub-aquean
creatures came to the surface, stared
at them with horrible eyes and sank
slowly back. Fish died and turned up
their white bellies. Squints blew for
breeze until his face ached; the
Kanakas squatted along the rail and
their chatter was still; Peterson took
a quart-fiask of whisky from his
locker, looked at it, shook his head
and put ii back. Toward sunset of
the fifth day bank of copper-colored
cloud creDt above the northern hori-
zon. II was 20 miles distant, but a
continuous growl came from 1t. 1t
climbed rapidly above that rotting
CLASSY surface. Bill Squints put a
rough hand on his comrades shoulder
and said. hoarsely: stand BY" Peter
sen, white under his bronze, said moth
ing.
1t came down upon them with
thunderous roar and the seas top
changed to smother. The schooner
heeled to it until the lee taffrail was a
foot under, swung slowly and started
before it like a racer. Then the waves
rose and she plunged like a bucking
cayuse. All night they went, power
less to direct, afraid to go below. In
a sodden daylight ahead of them
breakers spouted. Five minutes later
they struck with 'rending crash and
the pursuing mountains broke over
them.
Petersen was hurled clear of the
aaf sx,fA haa inside A
current took him, swimming uncon-
sciously, shoreward. 1t laid him upon
shelving sand as gently as a mothers
hands could have laid him and retired
with the falling tide. He woke when
the sun was dipping westward in a
clear sky. The waters on the reef still
doomed like cannons. He rose stiffiy
and looked about @1im in a daZed way.
Something lay half in. half out of the
water. He went to it and gazed in
fascinated horror. 1t was Bill Squints
and the eye with the cast in it stared
upward Petersen turned from it and
started toward a grove of trees which
lined the landward edge of the sand.
From these trees came a girl, tall,
stately. graceful, brown. Her eyes
were liquid black: her face showed
passion and innocence. She smiled on
him and he marked the white CLEAN
or ner teetn. Sne look MS mana ana
led through the palms to a hut, where
her father welcomed him. They asked
him no questions. though they had
some English, for they knew his plight.
Kara was her name and among them
they made him we'll The languor and
carelessness of the air entered into
him.
Why" he asked himself. should
return to the strifes of men? Here is
I the bread of taro and the fruits of
the trees and vines ready to my hand.
Here are meat for the taking, fish for
the asking. The beat of the waves
upon the reef browns the echoes of the
hard world thousands of miles north
eastward. The sky. like Kara, smiles
and the southern stars are less soft
and luminous than her eyes. 1t is a
far cry to Norway, but Norway is
storm beaten and rugged and cold"
To her his yellow hair was spun gold
and his blue eyes were jewels.
They walked the beach hand in
hand. Dusk was around them. The
deep baritone of the reef chanted
steadily. Love was with him and he
took her in his arms.