The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11

jews harp and a buli's-eye and a pic
ture of the queen. The sea had been
plundered of six Of that weight-siX
fat sleepy fellows. There they lay,
tapping their shiny tails. When the
trader should bring his treasure ship
into the harbor. they would be turned
into raisins and a red handkerchief.
Job vowed it then and there. The sill
YER bellies in the afterhold rippled with
smiles.
They dazzled the eyes of Job Luff.
Here was a length of calico for the
little maid Here were mOlasses and
tea for more winter evenings than one.
Clean chased CLEAN over the scales in
the forehold. The catch shot silvery
flashes back at the sun. This was a
plug OF tobacco; that one would so with
the broose for breakfast; this would
put a pane in the loft window when
the snow flew: that would give the
good wife a new spade There was a
song in the heart of the man. 1t was
the song of the victor. Such catch
it was He would work no more for
three days He would lie in the sun
Of the hillside. He would climb the
cliff and watch the gulls circle over
the sea. 1t was a gunwale load The
sea had been plundered while she
slept.
''The feet do be runnin' hoame. EUR"
said Billy Luf They be scootin' for
the easter tickle"
1t was not yet night "Hoame. by
exclaimed Job.
'Iss. EUR. Eleazar Manuel do be in
the lead He've reef TO his mains
They be goain' fast. EUR. Jacob SeviOr
do be reefin' his sail now"
The sea. as visible from the cove, was
placid: the sky was an uruffied blue.
'.Tkey must be wind t'other side O the
Head" said Job. Pull out. by.
Billy Luff pulled out, with MS heart
i'm a fiutter of fear.
Ii was a gale from the northeast
the raging of the sea: it had burst
from those moody distances which are
beyond the ken of the coast: wherein.
i'm the experience OF the men of the
place. peril turks always. IT had come
like a force bent on ravage There
had been no premonition in sea or sky;
it had caught the little fleet of Ragged
Harbour mapping off Mad Null. The
zenith was overcast with thin clouds
which the wind had torn to shreds.
They spread themselves quickly over
the blue in the west they raced TO
=
waving tatteTs, rose solemnly from the
horizon. which was black.
I'VE be cotched, eur" said Billy Luff-
Windy cove is narrow and precipi-
tous. Above and below the cliffs rise
sheer There is surf in every part.
The water is spread with foam. The
place is noisy with the crash OF wave
against rock. There is 10 harbor
there It is a trap for punts ~ a
gale from the nor east. The trap shuts
when the wind strikes with fun force.
1--WE be cotched. zur.'
II was q question of abandoning the
punt and catch.
You goa ashoare. by" said job
sharply. The punt do be too heavy
Already He pushed the boy aft. BY
Gawd. III take un in safe" He
snatched up the oars. They be no
wind that blows the punt can't ride
out" The fare that proclaimed the
twist in the man was now in his eyes
Get T. hoame by the goat path, man
o'-war way by"
Sure, ! be feared o the leap. Eur"
"Hptr'
Job backed the punt toward a break
in the rock. Billy made ready 10 leap
for the footheld it offered. job let
the punt sweep in with a breaker, stern
in. His oars were poised-alert.
Jump. by"
The water sank. The boat went
down with il as though 20 its wreck.
A black abyss opened before the boy.
He hesitated. job pulled the punt out
Of danger before the breaker had fast
ened its grip upon it, He said nothing.
Il be feared, eur
"Hark Z the gale. by"
The sky was black overhead. 4
strange dusk was filling Windy cove.
The gale was 50 near that they could
hear the sea hiss.
"Iss. zur"
You he true man, o'y"' job ex-
claimed.
Billy crouched to spring. Job let
the punt drift in. ready. as before, to
pull out before the time OF grace was
past. 1t went swiftly to the verge of
the ab-ss.
Now
Billy lcapcd lie landed sure and
chung 10 the rock like a mussel job
/ was breatbIess when he had wrested
the punt from the breakers clutch.
"Oh. fawther" Billy cried. He was
looking down from the solid ground
above. He was overcome by that ter
ror which an advancing storm in
spires.
job had pulled through half the dis
lance TO sea room when the gale
struck the cove The water seethed
about the punt. The spume covered
the man. Noise confused him-noise
compounded and re-echoing. as in a
cavern. It was as though the wind
tried 10 push him into the depths OF
the cove. where the breakers could
grasp him TO his Uiidoing. The wind
swept from a wide place into a mar
row. II was like water rushing through
a straitened channel. In confusion 10
could not prevail against that force
RE drifted back. The distance be-
tween the punt and the breakers di-
unfinished by inches. The space less
eHcd wildly The punt had no part IN
this fight. She was the prize
IT WAS the wind pitted against tho
mans spirit and the sheer strength
OF his arms and back The wind
veered Of sudden II caught the
punt on the port bow and struggled Il
turn~ft broaceide. This was the cri-
sis. Had the right arm OF the man
weakened the wind would have won