Milford chronicle., 1905-02-10

..xfexIcom said Wilbur. mats
r~s-er car,fornia is Mexico. I'd for-
gotten thatw 49,. -.
.rnoon in flung the water eask irons
t,,s tresh water stream and In gather-
tne abalones. which Moran declares
,-.e,.o @ delicious eating, from the rocks
left bare by the tide But nothm
could have exceeded the loneliness %
tbat shore and back land palpitaunA
,nder the logging Of tropical sun.
Tovv hills of sand covered with DrusA
rtTatched back from the shore. ON the
eastern horizon. leagues distant Diuo
masses Of mountains striated VIE
r,irapes swan in the scorching air.
r,be sand was like fire to the touch
Eor ont IN the bay the schooner nuns
rootionless under bare sticks, restlhs
onnarently upon her inverted SHADOW
III And that was all--the fiat, heas
ridden lifld, the sheen OF the open
eiac and the lonely schooner
"Ouiet enough" said Wilbur IN 10"
voice. wondering If there was such =
,lace as San Francisco, with its paYeu
rtreots and cable cars, and II peopio
,-bo hod been his friends there haN
Vver had any real existence.
apo YOU like it?" asked Moran QUICK
II facing him, her thumbs in her belt
sIt,s good fun. How about your
DTts no different than the only llLS
T,ve known. 1 suppose you think it's
o,,ear kind Of a life for a girl. I've
lived by doing things, not oy tnihhlne
things or reading about what olneE
Deonle have done or thought ana !
guess it's what you do that eonnts
~otber than what you think or reao
ahout where's that pinch barr Wen
oct couple more abalones for supper
and then put OF.
THAT was the only talk Of moment
they had during the afternoon. All enS
~osf of their conversation had been OF
those things that Immediately occupied
their attention.
They regained the schooner toward ?
, O'Clock, to find the Cinnamon perpie1e1
and mystifed No explanation was
Sortbcoming. and Charlie gave them
snnner in preoccupied silence. As they
were eating the abalones, which MO
= ran had fried in batter, Charlie SAID;
"sbark all gone! No more catch um
1 him all gone"
"GOne-why2" ,,,
!. .sIo savvv.' said Charlie. "No hkee'
/, no likee. China boy tinkum heap Ian-
nv; too much heap funny"
r. was true. During all the next day
- not a shark was in sight ana lnousu
the crew fshed assiduously TIL oarA
: tbev were rewarded by not so mucn
es bite No one could offer any eA'
y ",Tis strange" said Moran. Never
- = boord of shark leaving this feed be
is fore And you can see with halr an
4 eve that the hands don't like the looks
a. of IT Superstitious beggars! IheJ
need TO be cIumped in the headF"
Tbat same night Wilbur woke in MI
bomuocl, on the focstle head abou
or half past 2. The moon was doWh' ~
as slky one powder of stars. There wa W,
NOT a breath of wind. It was so Sun
od +bs+ he could hear some large nsl
NJ nIeving and breaking of toward IN
- Shore Then. without the least warn
10 ino be felt the schooner begin to III
~ ,,nder him. He rolled out Of his nan
,or mock and stood on the deck. liner
10 could be no doubt of 1.-THE Who'll
on forepart was rising beneath him. ID
a col,ld see the bOwsprit moving upwar
,,t from star to star. Still the sehoohe
lifted; objects on deck began to siiu
I aft. the oil in the deck tubs washe
over: then, as there came WI
n scrambling of the Chinese crew up u
rlaanl
fo'c'stle hatch, she settled again. graz
uallv at first, then, with an aprul
lurch that almost threw him from u
feet. regained her level. Moran III
him in the waist. Charlie came ru
II ming aft.
"Wbat was that? Are we groundini
4 Has she struckT .
n mo. no. We are still fast to {
III kelp. was it a tidal waveT
vi nNonsense! It wouldn't have ma
u died us that way"
Il "Wen. what was it? Listen! (
heavens sake, keep quiet there Il
~ wardw
Wilbur looked over the side INTO
water. The ripples were still ehasl
themselves away from the schoon
II There was nothing else. The sulin'
shut down again. There was mol
sound.
N fro BE Continued