The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-01-12

held tenaciously to the tack. Within
| fifty yards of the Preside came the
command again:
Stand by for stays
Once more, her bows dancing, her
cordage rafting, her sails tapping
noisily, the schooner came about. AK
| iously Wilbur observed the bowsprit
as it circled like hand on dial,
watching where now it would point.
It wavered. tluctuated, rose, fell, then
! settled easily, pointing toward Lime
point. Wilbur felt sudden coldness-
at his heart
This isn't going to be so much fun"
he muttered between his teeth. The
schooner was not bound up the bay
for Alvlso nor to Vallejo for grain.
The track toward Lime point could
mean but one thing The wind was
freshening from the nor'west, the ebb
tide rushing out to meet the ocean like
mill race. At every moment the Gold
en- Gate opened out wider, and within
two minutes after the time of the last
tack the Bertha Millner heeled to
great gust that had come booming in
between the heads, straight from the
open Pacific
STAND by for stays
AS before. one of the Chinese hands
stood by the sail rope of the jib.
DRAW y'r jib."
The lib filled. The schooner came
| about on the port tack: Lime point fell
away over the stern rail- The huge
ground swells began to come in, and
as she rose and bowed to the first of
these it was precisely as though the
Bertha Millner were making her cour-
| tesy to the great gray ocean, now for,
| the first time in full sight on her star
board quarter
The schooner was beating out to sea
! through the middle channel. Once
| clear of the Golden Gate. she stood
| over toward the Cliff House, then on
the next tack cleared Point Bonita
The sea began building up in deadly
| earnest. They We're about to cross the
| bar. Everything was battened down,
the scuppers were awash, and the
| haWse holes spouted like fountains aft
er every plunge. Once the captain or
| dered all men aloft, just in time to es-
| cape gigantic dull green roller that
| broke like a Niagara over the schoon-
| er's bows, smothering the decks knee
deep in a twinkling.
The wind blew violent and cold. the
spray was flying like icy small shot
into
ner rolled and plunged and heaved and
| sank. Wilbur was drenched to the skin
| and sore in every joint from being
shunted from rail to mast and from
mast to rail again.
The cordage sang like harp strings
| The schooner's forefoot crushed down
| into the heaving water with kissing
like that of steam, blocks ratified, the
| captain beloved his orders, rope ends
logged the hollow deck till it rever-
berated like drumhead. The crossing
of the bar was one long half hour of
| confusion and discordant sound.
When they were across the bar the
captain ordered the cook to give the
men their food
Cit ford, sonny he added, fixing
Wilbur with his eye. "Git forrd. This
is tawble dee hote, savy?"
Wilbur crawled forward on the reel
ing deck, holding on now to a mast,
now to Delaying pin, now to stay,
watching his chance and going on be-
tween the inebriated plunges of the
schooner
He descended the fo'c'stle hatch. The
Cinnamon were already there, sitting
on the edges of their hunks. On the
floor, at the bottom of the ladder, punk
sticks were burning in an old tomato
can.
Charlie brought in supper - stewed
beef and pork in bread pan and a