The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-13

now risen to a sitting position, and
she was staring at the skipper harder
than ever. Then she slowly arose and
warily crept across the steep angle Of
the slippery deck and was soon at the
shippers side.
Send your best man here, and I'll
stand by and do the coaching. You go
up and fix the gaff." 5
1t was an appeal; it was more-it
was command, and, although the
skipper started to demonstrate, she cut
him short.
to me and please do what ask.
assure you that I will be all right, but
be careful and don't come down as the
others did" =
A man was called from the human
hammock roll again. He was told to
take the wheel and to steer as he had
never steered before in his life. Don't
let her shake; give her a good full
and drive her, but see that she doesn't
go to leeward any," was the addition
al command, followed by "and don't
run over the buoy, for the Maud may
want 1t to steer by after we get
around"
The man called to the wheel felt his
| responsibility, although he would
much rather have taken. his chances on
the gait, and he was sturdy Ameri-
can sailor and knew his business.
The skipper reached the gait, and 1t
was but the work of a few moments to
gather up the loose end of the ratline
stuff and to wind it securely about the
gaf jaw. That done he stepped on to
one of the big hoops holding the sail
to the mast intending to reach out
for the throat halliards and thus slide
to the deck. His foot had just reached
its resting place, when the sloop dip
ped her nose deeply into the water.
The mainsail frightened like board.
Then the sloop settled back, the sail
| bellied out, the hoops about the mast
swung around, and the one on which
| the skipper was standing caught one
! foot from the instep to the toes and
| jammed it against the mast. A terrible
pain and then leaden feeling and a
| head swimming with dizziness. Then
| a reaction, a thought Of what was
needed of him and the skipper wrench
| ed his foot clear, swung to the half
ards and thus reached the deck. Blood
| oozed from his shoe like water from
a sponge. The girl standing by the
wheel, whose eyes had followed his
every motion since he left the wheel,
saw and shivered.
| "You have hurt yourself" she said
TITS nothing" was the reply.
The skipper took the wheel again.
| why not let Min REMAIN Sne ask
! ed. Hes doing all right. You sit
down and rest beside him."
'.Pll steer this sloop to victory; sure
| ly you wouldn't hinder me now"
mo, but your foot. I'm afraid you've
| hurt yourself more than you care to
| tell me; your face tells different
| story from that Of your lips"
They were nearing the second buoy;
| soon the hard beat would be over and
L - nh - ora
| away and look at the home mark. The
| rival sloop was at this time SO far to
| leeward that the Ethel had beaten her
| thus far at least fifteen minutes. Sail
| ing close hauled was clearly not her
business with the Ethel. 1t remained
to be seen what sheFWould do running
before it.
At last the time came for easing off
the sheets, setting the balloon topsail
and spinnaker, andl the weI-trained
! crew had this accomplished in less
| time than 1T takes to tell of it The
| rival was by this time fully thirty
minutes behind, and as the Ethel
bounded the water with everything
| drawing it seemed utterly impossible
for the Maud to do anything at all
with her. The Scotehmen were hope
| their attention to trying issues with
each other. the Americans being en-
tirely out Of their calculations.
Occasionally 1t was noticed that the
Ethel steered wild. She waved at times
as though the big boom was certain to
/ come over and takes the mast out OF
her That was when the helmsman felt
| thai II was utterly impossible for him
/ IN remain on duty another moment
He watched the masthead sway and
wondered If the motion sprung from
tha terrible feeling in his head. His
knees seemed to bend Of their own
weight, and his head at times took on
the motion of the sloop as she jumped
along on top OF the e. waves waves WOUNDED n1so
fha Gloon into the charmed circle where
Law the Judges boat He was fighting