Evening journal., 1904-07-09
M O r O n
of the
Lady Lefty
CHAPTER Kill

~ ner had been beating up the
const, lighting her way against
northerly winds. butting into head
seas.
The warmth, the stiffness the placid,
browsing quiet OF Magdalena bay,
steaming under the golden eye Of a
tropic heaven. the white, baked beach.
the bay heads. straited with the mi
rage ia the morning, the coruscating
sunset, the enchanted mystery OF the
purple night, with its sheen Of stars
and riding moon. were now replaced by
the hale and vigorous snorting OF the
trades, the roll of breakers to land
ward and the unremitting gallop Of
the unnumbercd multimdes OF gray
green seas careerlng silently past the
schooner their crests occasionally hiss
ing into brusque eruptions Of white
froth or shifting broad on under her
counter showering her decks with a
spout OF icy spray. IL was cold. AT
times thick fogs coaked all the world
OF water. To the east a procession Of
bleak hills defiled slowly southwark.
Lighthouses were passed; streamers OF
smoke on the western horizon marked
the passage Of steamships, and once
they met and passed close by a huge
Cape Horncr. n great deep sea tramp,
all sails set and drawing. rolling slowly
and leisurely in seas that made the
schooner dance
At last the Farallones looked over
the oceans edge TO the north; then
came the whlstling buoy the Seal
rocks, the Heads. Point Reyes. the
Golden Gate hanlSed with the old red
Presldio Lime point with its watching
cannon, and by noon Of gray ana
boisterous day, under lusty wind and
slant OF rain, just five months after
her departure. the Bertha Millner let
20 her anchor in San Francisco bay
some few hundred yards or the life
boat station.
In this berth the schooner was still
three or four miles from the city and
the water front. But Moran detested
any nearer approach to civilization.
and Wilbur himself was willing to
avoid, at least for one day, the pub
licity which he believed the Bertha's
temperance was sure 70 attract He
remembered, too, that the little boat
carried with her a fortune of $780,
600 and decided that until it could
be safely landed and stored It was
not desirable that its existence should
be known along ~the 'front.'.
For days, weeks even, Wilbur had
looked eagerly forward to this return
TO his home. He had seen himself
again in his former haunts. in his club
and in the houses along Pacific avenue
where he was received, but no sooner
had the anchor chain ceased rattling
IN the Berthas hawse pipe than
strange revulsion came upon him. The
new man that seemed 70 have so sud
denly sprung to life within him, the
Wilbur who was the mate Of the Ber-
tha 'Aillner, the Wilbur who belonged
20 Moran, believed that he could see
/nothing to be desired in city life. For
him was the unsteady deck Of schoon-
er, and the great winds and the ire
mend0us wheel OF the oceans rim, and
the horizon that ever fed before his
following PROV; so he told himself, so
he believed. What attractions could
AH' fAt1 0ntA Niilt MnNl UIlUNtMlkHINs
what excitements? He had been flung
or the smoothly spinning circumfer-
ence OF well ordered life out into the
void
He had known romance and the spell
OF the great, simple and primitive emo
tions; he had sat down to eat with huc-
cancers; he had seen the fierce, quick
leap of unleashed passions and had
felt death swoop close at his nape and
pass like "A swift squirt OF cold mir.
City life, his old life, had no charm for
him now. Wilbur honestly believed
that he was changed to his hearts
core. He thought that, like Moran, he
was henceforth to be a sailor Of the
sea, rover. and he saw the rest OF
his existence passed with her aboard
their faithful little schooner They
would have the whole round world as
their playground they held the earth
and the great seas in fief; there was
no one TO let or TO hinder. They two
belonged to each other Once outside
the Heads again and they swept the
land OF cities and OF little things be
hind them, and they two were left
alone once more. alone in the great
world Of romance.
About an hour after her. arrival Off
the station. while Hoang and the hands
were furling the jib and foresail and
getting the dory over the side, Moran
n remarked to Wilbur:
~ ITS good we came in when we did
mate. The glass is going down fast.
and~<he winds breezing up from the
west. We're going TO have blow
The tide win be going out in n little
while. and we never could have come
in against wind and tide"
Moran" said Wilbur, I'm going
ashore-into the station here. There's
a telephone lire there See the wires: /:
csa't SO much as turn my hand over
before ! have some shore going clothes
What 90 yor suppose they would do
70 me II I appeared on Kearney street
IN this cutht2 III ring up the ,yholo
sale chemists IN town and have nm
agent come ont here and talk busincss
20 1s about our ambergris. We've 20,
to pay the men their prize money
Then as soon as We get orr own mon
cy 70 hand we can talk abont over.
havling and Quitting the BERTHA"
Moran refused 10 accompany him
ashore and into tho ilfcboat station
Rooted houses werc an object OF sas
picion to her. Already She had begun