The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-11-06

here. The sailors hesitated, evident.
ly thinking they had gone through
enough; so | decided to go myself.
Swimming ashore was nothing to
swimming from shore. l took one
last look at Edith, who had no oppor-
tunity of recognizing me, for she was
tied to the mast, and then l dived
into the sea. With but about half
a dozen strokes | was ashore, but the
narrow strip of sand was now COW
cred.
"a sailor first" l shouted, and
soon the rope jerked with his weight
IL hope the brute goes under for
awhile" l muttered, as l pulled him
ashore. and while the cradle was
back again we found a tree higher
up, where the rest could be landed
above the high water mark.
The other sailor came next, to test
the new landing place.
"The lady," I made the sailor
shout
And then, with but half the weight
on the rope, | was a million times
more anxious insisted on one man
standing down below up to his knees
in water and then we hauled away.
The rope creaked and groaned, like
thing of life; conscious of its pre-
cious burden. it trembled and shook;
and then in another moment she was
in my arms, cradle and all. Warren
how l loved the man for it!-had
placed his coat beneath her to keep
the ropes from chatting. l olsen
tangled her and laid her, half deal
and wholly unconscious, in the mat
ted ferns behind, and as I laid her
there I kissed her.
Twas but moment, but in
that moment my soul, like an
instantaneous Photographic plate, alb
sorbed all the picture, and time has
but developed and intensified it.
Her pale, peaceful face, her closed
lids, her we'll marked eyebrows, and
those jutting roots Of hair, and then
those clammy lips of hers! Oh, If l
could have stayed to kiss them back
to warmth and life again. But no,
the shout of the sailors told me that
something had happened. rushed
up to find the rope broken, and War
rem, who had dived from the boat,
struggling with the colonel in the
water. The three of us joined hands,
ultimately reached them, and drag
ged them ashore. Once on the ledge
of the rock, asked for brandy, and
found to my intense relief the colo
mel had a flask in his pocket. Re-
CARELESS now of promises, for her
life was in danger, 1 took it to Edith.
and gently lifting her head, l poured
some of it into her mouth; gurgle
followed, and then she swallowed
her pulse quickened, and then l knew
she was right. I returned to the col
onel and gave him some, and then
offered some to Warren, but he told
me to save it for the lady.
After a short consultation with
Warren, we decided to throw away
our big rope and take with us the
smaller one, destroy what traces we
could of our landing, and then trust
to the incoming tide to wash the
boat to pieces. And while the sailors
were carrying out these details, War
rem and | hunted among the under
growth for some saplings, that we
might make a stretcher for Edith.
Half an hour from the time of our
landing we had started our strange
funeral cavalcade, and stranger one
has seldom been seen, | think. In
front marched a sailor, whose duty
it was to pick the road for us; then
came the other sailor and myself.
walking side by side, and alternately
carrying the front of the stretcher,
then Warren carrying the rear, with
the colonel. who by this time was
quite childlike and stricken down, by
his side.
AS near as l can judge we had
about a mile to travel before we
came into the piece of common"
where the Manly children played,
that separates the village from the
quarantine scrub; then all difficulty
would be over; but until then our
progress must of necessity be very
slow and painful.
We rested about every fifty yards,
and occasionally gave Edith a few
drops of brandy. say we, as dared
not, for the bracing breeze that al
ways follows a "southerly buster"
was rapidly restoring her to con-
seriousness.
Suddenly the light broke through
the thick underwood, and told us that
the end of our journey was reached.
Then the colonel saw Edith comfort
ably laid beneath a wide-spreading
gum tree, and motioning to Warren
to take care of her, touched me on
the shoulder as he passed me, as an
invitation to fonow him. Mechan-
ically l obeyed; he had lost all his
old military bearing; the night just
passed had added twenty years to
his age: his face was white and
gaunt; but what was most remark
able of all was the alteration in his
manner toward me. He was almost