The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-03-02
THE PRIN OEToN UNION: THURsDAY, MARCH >. 19o5

ent, congruous and fitted into her en-
vironment. But how-how was Will
bur to explain her to San Francisco,
and how could his behavior seem else
than ridiculous to the men CT his club
and to the women whose dinner in
They could not understand the change
that had been wrought in him. They
did not know Moran, the savage, half
tanned Valkyrie so suddenly become
woman. Hurry as he would, the
schooner could not be put to sea again
within a fortnight. Even though he
elected to live aboard in the mean
while, the very business of her prep
aration would call him to the city
again and again. Moran could not be
kept a secret. AS it was, all the world
knew of her by now. On the other
hand, he could easily understand her
position. To her it seemed simplicity
itself that they two who loved each
other should sail away and pass their
lives together upon the sea. as she and
her father had done before
Like most men, Wilbur had to walk
when he was thinking hard. IIe sent
the dory back to the schooner with
word to Moran that he would take a
walk around the beach and return in
an hour or two. He set off along the
shore in the direction of Fort Mason,
the old red brick fort at the entrance
to the Golden Gate. At this point in
the Preside government reservation
the land is solitary. Wilbur followed
the line Of the beach to the old fort,
and there on the very threshold of the
western world, at the very outpost of
civilization, sat down in the lee of the
crumbling fortification and scene by
scene reviewed the extraordinary
events of the past six months.
In front of him ran the narrow chan
mel of the Golden Gate; to his right
was the bay and the city; at his left
the open Pacific
He saw himself the day of his ad-
vent aboard the Bertha in his top hat
and froclS coat; saw himself later
''braking down" at the windlass, the
Petrol within hailing distance.
Then the pictures began to thicken
fast: The derelict bark Lady Lefty
rolling to her scuppers, abandoned and
lonely; the "boy" in the wheel box,
Kitchell wrenching open the desk in
the captains stateroom, Captain Stern
ersen buried at sea, his false teeth up
side down; the black fury Of the squat,
and Moran at the wheel; Moran, lying
at full length on the deck, getting the
altitude Of star; Magdalena bay, the
shark fishing, the mysterious lifting
and shuddering of the schooner, the
beachcombers' junk, with it's staring
red eyes; Hoang, naked to the waist,
cleaning with sweat and whale oil;
the ambergris, the race to beach the
sinking schooner, the never to be for
gotten night when he and Moran had
camped together on the beach; Hoang
taken prisoner and the hideous filing
of his teeth; the beachcombers, silent
and watchful behind their sand breast
works; the Chinaman he had killed
tWitching and hiccoughing at his feet;
Moran turned berserker, bursting down
upon him through haze of smoke;
Charlie, dying in the hammock aboard
the schooner, ordering his funeral With
its -four piece horse;" Coronado. the
lnconSruouS scene in the ballroom,
and, last of all, Josie Herrick, in white
duck and kid shoes, giving her hand
| to Moran, in her boots and belt hat
less as ever. her sleeves rolled I'D to
above her elbows, her white, strong
arm extended, her ruddy face and
pale, milk blue eyes gravely observant.
her heavy braids, yellow as ripening
rye, hanging over shoulder and breast.
A sudden explosion of cold wind,
striking down blanketwise and be-
| wildering from out the west, made
Wilbur look up quickly. The gray
sky seemed scudding along close over
head. The bay, the narrow channel
OF the Golden Gate, the outside ocean,
| were all whitening with crests of
| waves. At his feet the huge green
ground swells Numbered to the at
tack of the forts granite foundations.
Through the Gate the bay seemed
rushing out to the Pacific. A bewilder-
ed gull shot by, lacking and slanting
against the gusts that would drive it
out to sea. Evidently the storm was
not far off. Wilbur rose to his feet
and saw the Bertha Millner close in,
unbridled and free as runaway horse,
headed directly for the open sea and
rushing on with all the impetus of
wind and tide.
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