The Washington times., 1905-12-10
V--The Ammonia Cylinder


Pennyfold. he Will say that you re-
fused because you knew that the Pride
could never catch the Agnes Jane"
10 he wull.-the liard!" cried Isaac.
with a sudden burst of Indignation.
Il never thought on that. miss. A
pretty tale he win be telling in every
public from Bude to Penzance! Come
along gentlemen. come along III show
e a thing and Mark. tn, the liard!'
We ran TO where the little trawler lay
moored to the quay. and tumbled on
board. One man was sitting in her
stern mending some tackle, and Isaac
apparently considered his services suf-
ficient. for he cast off the ropes at
once. Miss Weston was waiting on the
head Of the quay as our boat crept
by. l shall always remember that pic
ture of my darling as she stood on
those old gray stones, with their sea-
weed beard dropping to the swirl of the
tide below The fire of the sunset lit
her tall. graceful figure leaning to the
breeze one hand was to her hair.
the other waving adieu. No fairer fig
ure of encouragement could men desire
who started on perilous adventure
"Good-by, God keep you both" So
she cried to us.
We shouted a reply. but I doubt if
she heard IL, for at that moment the
wind caught the great red sail on our
foremast. swinging it across with a
thunderous tapping that shook the lit
tie vessel from stem TO stern. In
another moment we were rushing for
ward in pursuit. with the spray from
the bow in our faces and a white trail
of foam marking our path from the
land
] do not think that more than ten
minutes had passed from the moment
of our arrival on the quay. though
by my writing It may seem that I have
underestimated the time. The Agnes
Jane was. as far as L could Judge.
about mile away to the southwark.
distance which we decreased TO barely
a thousand yards before the full
strength of the growing wind we
brought reached her. After that. how
ever. we gained very slowly, if at all
/ was never good sailor, a fact
which the long rollers soon recalled to
my remembrance. The occasional
bursts Of spray which flew over
ADDED greatly TO my discomfort. for
my Clothes, thought warm. were not
waterproof have always been siIs-
cepuble Of chills. and the prospect of
passing the night in dripping garments
seriously alarmed me. 1t was, there
lore. with a sense of relief that 1 OBJ
served Isaac produce some oilslxins
ana boots happily lined with flannel
Inc seafar1ng appearance which
assumed did not. however. alIay nv
internal sufferings. which soon became
acute. Huddled on the leeward side or
the boat, 1 watched the chase with an
appearance of interest which was nera
hypocrisy To be sincere. | regarded
my cousin, who was enjoying a pine
OF strons-smelling tobacco on tne
windward side OF me. with more
immediate enInity than felt toward
Marnac himself
Ihe sun sank amidst cloud confa-
grafton OF sullen and thunderous mag
nlhcence- The coastline behind us
darkened and faded until the crests of
the breaking waves rose CHASTITY white
against the gloom of the shrouded land
but fortunately the sky above US was
sun clear. and a silver crescent of the
moon, swinging at an angle as if the
wind had tilted her. showed us the
chase heading southwark Ii was evt-
dently some port in France for which
she pointed. My cousin had fofned
isaac. who was at the tiIIer. and tho
pair conversed in low tones. glancinp
frequently 10 the northwest from
which the wind blew strong and cool
1t was, according TO my renern-
brance, past O'Clock that the STEADY
pressure OF the wind failed. In IT,
place came gusts, fierce and uncertain
spaced with lulls of restless calm. To-
horant as ! was OF sea weather. | he
gan to grow uneasy. There seemed a
menace In the dark, mysterious wall of
CLOUD to Windward, a rampart edged
with silver from the moon. Motionless
IL hung like heavy curtain that at
It's rising would reveal some mon
strous spectacle. For the first time l
realized the insignificance Of our boat.
It's loneliness amidst the hurrying
wastes OF the sea, and my anxiety
passed into alarm. II was about this
time that my nausea suddenly left me.
This was great relief 10 me, for l
was well aware that an excess of sea
sickness may result in n serious pros
tration.
1T was in one Of the IulIs / have
mentioned that Isaac gave nv cousin
the helm and with his mans assistance
lowered the sail on the smaller mast
at the stern which. / believe, is known
pautically as the jigger. They also
feeled the larger canvas on the fore
mast The Agnes Jane, which was now
not more than 400 yards away, showed
no sign oi following our example.
Mark PennyfOld must be mazed. "
Sald isaac on his return aft "E must
have zeen us were chasin' e. vet e
gives We no chance o. speaking i'm.
and now g be CHANGING his boat by
carrying on with that press o. zail
Plaze TO keep thy hand On the tilIer.
zur."
The little Cornishman rolled forward
TO where i sat. and stood. making a
hollow OF his hands. great stiffness
held the sea and air. save for the whis-
per OF the gliding waves
The Agnes Jane, ahoy,'
lie drove the words over the black
waters like the blast Of a trumpet
The Agnes Jane. ahoyi"
Again he called. and this time there
came an answering voice
Help" # cried-the one word-and
was silent. We waited, but that was
all
1t IS no good Treherne." said my
cousin. They have an ugly customer
on board who does not mean 10 be