Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-05-06


he means well. but hezis what some
People call little near. ~
did you ever hear of the time.
the committee waited on him to get
contribution for some charity?"
asked Mr.. Kent.
Sidney had not.
ut was decided to raise a sum of
money for some deserving charity"
ten what it was-there are so many
of them. At any rate, the paper went
the rounds, and they called on me
among others. signed for sum,
and glanced over the list. Morton
was down for $4,000, Rockwell had
signed for $4,000, Carmody had
pledged S3,oO0-he is very liberal and
charitable, as he can afford to be
Haven was down for something, and
there was a lot of others. I no.
ticed that Mrs. Simon Pence was on
the paper for $50. Well, the COM
mittee called on Pence. They were
admitted and explained their mis-
sion. He sighed and looked at the
list. He read it up and down, and
suddenly came upon the name Mrs.
Simon Pence. He picked up his pen
and wrote something. The commit
tee was all expectation. He handed
it back to them. What do you sup
pose they SAW"
81 am sure cannot guess?"
HE had written Mr. and before
Mrs. Simon Pence That was his
contribution. There is no way to
beat him. Let's be moving"
They made their way along the
edge of the cliffs for perhaps half a
mile, but could go no further. Re
tracing their steps, they again stood
| on the rock overlooking "Morton's
Bay and the ocean.
At the same moment both gave
an exclamation and pointed out to
| sea. The upper rigging of a ship
| showed clear on the eastern horizon,
| but she was hull down on the waste
| of waters. For half an hour they
| gazed at the dim outlines of masts
and sails.
"She is fully 25 miles away" said
| Sidney, as he gazed longingly at the
disappearing vessel. eve must erect
a signal from some point like this,
and keep a man on watch during the
day. If one ship passes more are
likely to, and some may come near
| enough to see and understand our
signal"
Look at those Clouds" said Mr..
Kent. 'There comes your. storm.
What time is it?"
Half past two. Those are remark
able looking clouds. I never saw
anything like them before. Let Us
get our raft across the bay. II Vim
cent and Pence are wise they will
come back at once. We are going to
have some wind"
| In the southeast a murky rainbow
of clouds extended over quarter
of the horizon. The crown of this
arch reached about 80 degrees above
the sea line. It's upper edges wer
| gray, with fiecks of white. Then it
shaded into a blue, and lower into
a band of darker gray. Below il
was saffron blending into a murky
red at the horizon. Before Sidney
land Mr.. Kent had reached the raft
| the breeze had died away. Slowly
the dun arch climbed the heavens.
| It was three o'clock when the raft
reached the place which had been
| agreed upon. Sidney fired his rife
twice as a signal; and both yelled al
the top of their voices. There was
no response, and they both fired, and
| again shouted. Sidney climbed uI
the rocks. He called repeatedly
but there was no reply.
There was a moaning sound in the
air which seemed to come from the
sea. Everything was bathed in al
unearthly reddish-yellow light. The
trees were motionless as if cast In
| bronze.
'See how fast the tide is rising.'
exclaimed Mr.. Kent. "You can see
it rise. Look at that!"
He pointed towards the inlet. A
dark ridge rose out of the lake. Or
the opposite shores was a moving
line of white.
Jump ashore. It's tidal borei'
cried Sidney. The wave came roll
ing towards them like the smooth
pillows in the wake of steamship
It lost it's force as the lake widened
but it was strong enough to ham
1ner the raft against the rocks. They
pulled the raft as high on the beach
as they could. The water rose at the
rate of a foot minute. The roar
of the surf beyond the cliffs was
like the sullen thunder. And as YET
not breath of air.
Across the bay they saw men OF
the stone deck reckoning them te
return. It was half-past three
o'clock. They had promised to have
the raft on the south shore at five
Both agreed that they must wait fol
Vincent and Pence. It seemed strange
they did not appear.
The arch was overhead. 1t looked
like mass of writhing snakes. The
moan in the air took higher key
The lake was shrouded in a dark
| aninn 1,an