Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1904-03-10

explain your plans to me-" And uuoef
his breath Stanhope murmnred, Il Won
der whether this sort of thing is roman
tic enough to suit herr?
Two years passed away, and the Date
OF the great international races was
fast approaching. Marvellous tales had
come from abroad regarding the per-
formnnces OF the Erin. The British
had gone fairly wild over her. and their
| supreme confidence had had depress-
ing effect on this side OF the water.
where the new defender. the Virginia,
had done nothing 10 show that she was
greatly superior TO the Columbia.
Stauhope had been readily admitted
TO the yacht club. and his boat con-
structed by the famous old designer,
had been accepted as the defender of
the cup. Extraordinary pains had been
taken to keep her lines secret. The
shipyard where she was built had been
guarded day and night by armed men,
and she had been launched I'm petit
coats" which concealed her hull.
1t was not until the day before that
set for the first series of races that one
of the sensational New York newspa-
pers announced under scare heads that
the Virginia, despite her enormous sail
area. drew only fifteen feet of water;
hence the paper deduced the alleged
fact that II the wind reached a velocity
Of even twelve miles an hour the Amer
lean boat would inevitably capslze.
The first two races went OF splendid
! ~ for the Americans, the Virginia COM
| ing In Il good five miles ahead of her
| rival in spite of the fact that the latter
! also showed phenomenal speed. BY the
morning of the third race the yachting
world had settled down to the, convic-
| ton that Mr.. Burke had discovered
some new principle of hull building.
The result Of the third race seemed so
| absolutely certain that Stanhope invited
Miss Wentworth and her chaperon TO
| be on board during it. 1t was not In
| accordance with racing customs to have
| any one besides the officers and crew
| aboard at such a time, but the superior
| ity of the Virginia was so evident that
| 1t seemed impossible for harm to result.
And none did result until after the
| race was Won AS the Virginia glided
| smoothly across the line four miles
| ahead of her outclassed rival Stan
| hope turned TO Miss Wentworth. Are
| you carried away, Nirginia?" he ask
| ed. The girl turned to him, Joy in his
| triumph flushing in her face but be-
| fore she could answer Il cry Of terror
| arose. The excursion fleet wild with
| excitement over the unprecedented tri-
umph of the American. had broken
| through the guard lines The next
instant came grinding crash, and the
| paddle wheel of a gigantic ferryboat
| went tearing across the yacht. rip
ping her stern to pieces and pushing
| her beneath the water.
| The suddenness of the calamity add
| ed to its awfulnesS One moment the
| beautiful vessel, with towering masts
and bellying canvas. was there, the
| next only confusion of broken tim
| bers and struggling men,
| As the boat Went down like stone
| Stanhope clasped Virginia in his arms
| and sprang overheard. and in few
sensible injury TO either,
| Putting Miss Wentworth under care
| of her friends. Stanhope hurried on
| board of the United States gunboat
! which had quickly dispersed the fleet
and taken charge of the wreck Cap
| tain Edward he exclaimed hoarSely,
| II am Mr. Stanhope, owner of the Nir-
| ginia My entire fortune is in that
! yacht She contains over SG000oO0 in
! gold"
"Whatw
Her keel is of solid gold. You read
| the story in the papcr the other day
| stating that the Virginia drew only
! fifteen feet of water. Wen, that was
/ true. Gold is nearly twice as heavy
rs lead, a golden keel is only half the
size OF leaden one, I its resistance
to the water is far l,ss Consequently
7 a bont with such keel is much faster
than one with the ordnory lead keel
l had 10 win this race, 50 | sold all
my property and turned it into gold
TO make keel for the Virginia. VIII
you stay here AMI protect the wreck
until we can get the wreckng appa-
ratus%'
Il will, sir: | will"
Three hours later ,he work on the
yacht had proceeded far enough to
make certain the safety of the gold.
and Stanhope set off To the home OF
Miss Wentworth, where he found her
none the worse for her cold bath
Il asked my question at the proper
time Virginia" he sad, but the blum
dering of that boat robbed me of my
answer Did the moment carry you
away?"
Shyly the girl looked up at him.
NO" she said The moment didn't,
butt think that you did"
The Travelling story Teller.