The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-29

Castro's hat. The darkness swallowed
1t all. / swung Seraphina in front of
me and made her sit low on the stern
sheets beneath my feet. A lot of foam
boiled up around the boat, and we had
the sensation of having been sent flying
from catapult.
Everything was black -wperfectly
black. At intervals, 11eadlong gusts of
rain swept over our heads. ? suppose
l did keep sufficiently cool, but In every
flash of lightning the wind, the sea,
the clouds, the rain and the boat ap-
peared to- rush together, laundering
upon the coast. The line of sands, bor-
dered with belt of foam, Zigzagged
dazzlingly upon an earth as black as
| the clouds; only the headland, with
every vision, remained somber and un-
moved. At last it rose up right before
the boat. Blue lightning streamed on a
line of tumbling waters at its foot.
Was this the entrance? With the
vague notion of shortening sail, let
the sheet go from my hand. There
was jerk, the crack of snapped wood,
and the next flash showed me Castro
| emerging from the ruins of mast and
sail. He uprose, hurting the wreck
from him overheard, then fickered out
Of sight with his arm waving to the
left, and l bore accordingly on the TIL
Ter. In moment saw him again,
erect forward, with the arm pointing to
the right, and / obeyed the signal
The clouds, straining with water and
fire, were, indeed, lighting US on our
way. A wave swelled astern, chasing
us In; rocking frightfully, we glanced
past stationary mass Of foam-a
terrible. Suddenly, the mo-
ton Of the boat changed, and the
f1ickers of lightning fell into small,
land-locked basin. The wind tore deep
burrows in 1t, bowling and scuf1ng
behind the dunes. Spray few from
the whole surface, the entire pool of
bay seemed to heave bodily upwards
and / saw Castro again, with his face
to me this time. 1t was impossible to
steer now; the boat swung and reeled
where she listed; violent shock threw
me sideways off my seat. / felt her
turning over, and, gathering Seraphina
in my arms, / leaped out before she
capsized. / leaped clear out into shall
low water.
/ should never in my life have
thought myself capable of such a feat,
and yet l did it with assurance, with
no effort that / can remember. More
than that managed, after the leap,
to keep my feet in the clinging, stag
ger1ng clutch of water charged with
sand, which swirled heavily about my
knees. 1t kept on hurting itself at my
legs from behind, while 1 waded
across the narrow strip of sand, I
felt the harder ground at last but
not before I had caught momentary
glimpse of black and bulky object
tumbling over and over In the ad-
vanc1ng and withdrawing liquid furry
of the beach.
''Sit still here on the ground"
shouted to Seraphina, though flights
Of spray enveloped us completely. II
am going back for Castro"
f! faced about, putting my head down.
dashed on in the dark; wave went
over my head as I stopped, nearly
waist-deep, cropping. His rotary mo-
ton, in that smother, made it ex-
tremely difficult to obtain any sort of
hold. A little more, and he would
have knocked my legs from under me,
but 1t was as IL my grim determination
were by itself of saving nature. He
submitted to being hauled up the
beach, passively, like a sack. A
thunder-clap seemed to crash new life
into him. He arose and with en-
twined arms and leaning back against
the wind with all our might, Sera-
ph1na and myself were borne along in
his train. He knew of q shelter.
A small plain of coarse grass was
bounded by the steep spur Of a rise.
To the left a little river would burst.
all at once, in all its windings into a
blush sulphurous glow; and between
the crashes of thunder there was
heard the long drawn, whistling
swish of the rushes and cane breaks
springing on the boggy ground We
skfrted the rise
Castro sustained Seraphina on the
other side; but frequently he had to
leave us and move ahead, looking for
the way. 1t was a half f-obliterated
path winding along the less steep Of
the two sides of ravine; and we
struggled after our guide with the un-
thinking fortitude of despair. The
the last hundred yards really stiff. We
did them practically on our hands and
knees
AT the top tried to make OF my body
shelter for Seraphina. The wind
howled and roared over us.
Up! Vamos! The worst is yet be-
fore u.s." shrieked Castro in my ear.
We retraced our steps but now fol-
lowing the edge of that precipice out
Of which we had emerged. / had per-
emptorily insisted on carrying her. She
put her arms round my neck and, to
my uplifted heart she weighed no
heavier than feather. Castro grasp
Ing my arm, guided my steps and gave
me support against the wind.
TT is here" heard him scream.
set Seraphina down A hooked
dart of fire tore in two the thick can
opy of clouds. started back from
the edge.
What! Here2" I yelled.
"Senor--si: There is a cavern be-
low.
had seen a ledge clinging to the
face of the rock.
1t was a cornice inclininE downward
upon the wall OF the precipice, as YOU
see sometimes a fight OF stairs built
against the outside wall of a house.
And it resembled a stair roughly. with
long, sloptng steps, wet with rain.
'Por Dios, senior, do not let US stay
to think here or, we shall perish in this
tempest"
He howled, ges R'llated, shrieked
with all the strength of his lungs. He
knew these tornadoes. Brute beasts
would be found lying dead in the fields
in the morning. This was the begin
| ming only.
DO not look behind you. Do not
look" Castro screamed.
The first downward steps were ter
rible, but as soon as our heads had
sunk below the level of the plain it was
better, for we had turned about to the
| rock, moving sideways, cautiously, one
step at time.
The strain on our prudence was tre-
mendous. The knowledge Of the preci-
pice behind must have affected me.
Explain it as you will, several times
during that descent felt my brain slim
away from my control, and suggest a
desire to fling myself over backward.