The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1904-06-09

n and ffty pounds his biggest catcl
le His balance at the Astoria Crescer
d was bettered some nine dollars by tw
70 weeks work And Andrew had n
d boat-puller to share his profits, bu
b toiled alone, he and his alarm cloc
!. that warned him to wake and ~or
q when sleep was heavy upon him
, One Sunday at noon Andrew cam
down from the little house under tn
+ hill. shambiing sullenly out on tn
( wharf to where his boat lay nosing
Q fender pile. His pipe was gripped IL
> his teeth. and he ragged that the day
should be 50 fine when he must 60 oui
: and spend 1t In a dirty boat alone
! while his wife sat In white anger al
his parting silence.
After q slow look over the BAY be
Jolted down the ladder. pulled his boat
In sharply and dropped on the net.
heaped smidships. Then with quick
jerks he stepped the mast. threw on
the riding line, and with a thrust of
an oar was out In the stream Five
minutes later No. 345 was speeding
across toward the deep calm in the lee
Of the Washington hills Bowed In the
stern was Andrew Hansen, clutching
his tiller in one hairy hand and hold
ing the sheet in the other. Only once
did he glance back, to see II the fish
warden's launch was still tied up by
her dock For Sunday. until nix
O'Clock in the evening. is closed.
Sunset found him below Sand IL
land slowing the last fathoms of his
reeking net A dozen poor fish aid
back and forth In the well to the tum-
BILE Of the boat Andrew flung In the
last armful Of net. and stood up to
ease his aching back His eye caught
a solitary pink cloud riding high in
the evening sky, and his gaze fastened
ON 1t truculently.
Gradually the ocean wind chilled.
and the dusk came on like pufrs of
smoke before It The crystal Of the
lee shores dimmmed, and the bar
leaped higher against the blackened
embers Of the west The clear CLEAN
from a lighthouse threaded the twi-
light, and No 345 plunged wildly over
gray combers- Still Andrew poised
his bulk over the boat, and as the
seas, rising with the tide, tossed 1t an
grly, his grim face hardened Before
his mind rose the image Of the man.
ager who had cheated him, Of the fell
low fisherfolk who had looked at him
quizzically, or hostilely, or pftyingly
His big fists clenched because, were
1t not for one thing, he was strong |
enough TO fend against them all That |
one thing had ridden his heart till the
very thought of IT made his teeth
fasten IN his lips and the blood swell
his veins to bursting.
With a sudden access of rage, he
pulled on. of his jacket pocket bis fish
book an. held its almost obliterated
pcges up before him. The grabbed
scrawls Of many wefghers were jun
bled in Its rude columns. But hate
new the false entries. and his finger,
'hriveled by the cold brine. shook az .
( traced them out Then the vision |
Il the little home under the hill.
'ale-faced wife, and a babe with tiny
Ists blurred his sight and effaced the !
ordid characters And then a sand
aden wave fell on No. 345, and flooded s
till Andrew was knee-deep In water.
With leap he seized an oar. swung
ne boat round till it met the next I
oller head on. and with a few swift o
srks raised the sail. The wind was C
citing up fast. but In pure defiance Il
e put In the spirit. and. before No. \
Is could yield dangerously to its pres Z
IRE. drove the boat into the eye of the {
ale with another sweep Of the oar.
nd then fell upon the tfller The c
sh-book foated In the water among F
lie Shiny chums. 4
1t was black night. and Andrew set
} scanning the lights before running D
p the bay. The roar of the surf was II
rowing shriller and the foam that a
lew past him was alive, not dead "
ON long drifting. In his wide sweep )
the rivers mouth he caught sight OF
a strange light OF the south end of CT
e bar. He looked again and again. 81
q forgot his wrath In this new mat p'
r. and peered under the foot of bis al
. boat was half waterlogged and
at his catch was stopping about in m
g bottom For Andrew knew that al
at glimmer was on another boat and NJ
ON Its position he also knew that
was driving into the terror Of all bt
DO use Astoria Bay. the chops OF hs
atsop Spit. tn
Then bis anger came over him again te
ad 1t not been for the false entry IL
bis fsh-book, and the harsh injus- 10
q OF the manager. he would not now pu
out In the night, helplessly watch
8 some unknown fellow struggling IN
tn death. He seemed to catch a
mpse Of a smart house, with a red 10
e In a CRATE. and the manager Of the
tor1a Crescent toasting himself and III
king to bis wife. His own clothes pi'
re sour upon him, and the brine ma
about his eyes made It tor w
q to look into the wind Then, with
ienant curse at the transient vision, wa
stopped to his net. and. missing It Kn
hons at an armful, thrust It over va
side. 1t Ii the last sacrifice a Co sni
,bfa river fisherman makes. But pa
in the tossing surges Of the bar he
? sill a wavering light la
No. 345 answered her cna
N quickly. With one hand on the ret
d Andrew baled In Wild haste with ~
other. throwing sne water to lee ing
d and looking to the lashings of nou
heavy ballast-bags- Then. when sA'
was clear ~ be could make II, be ing
terously undid his cumbersome rrA
'et and stuffed II under the thwart L
ther Iull u ths wind allowed him tbs