The Red Cloud chief., 1906-10-05

Of his friends speech.
you fling heredity to the winds,
thenY" he asked.
Brand rose to his feet, as was his
way when deeply moved.
"Thank God, yes!' he cried.
A faint boot came to them through
the chortling of the wind.
"One of our visitors" shouted Brand,
land here we are gossiping as though
snugly seated in armchairs at the fire.
side"
He hurried to the gallery. putting on
IN oilskin coat.
I'VE must win through, and | guess
I'll play ball with my fatber-in-law,"
quoth Pyne to himself as he followed.
This time it was the Falcon alone,
and she %signaled with a lamp that it
was deemed best to defer active opera
lions until the following afternoon.
The tide at dawn would not suit.
She went off, and the two men re-
turned to the grateful shelter of the
service room.
Brand forbade further talk. Pyne
must rest now and relieve him at 3
o'clock. The youngster needed no
feather bed; he was asleep in amaz-
ingly quick time. There Is a supper
less hunger which keeps people awake
at night with q full larder in the house.
The crude article differs from the cul-
tured one so greatly that the man who
hungers of necessity cannot sleep too
much.
Thus far the inhabitants of the light
house had been given quite enough
nutriment to maintain life. There was
no reason why any, even the most deli
cate, should be In real danger during
the next forty-eight hours. But scien-
tifc reasoning and the animal instincts
Of mankind clash at times; In that lay
the danger whose sullen shadow was
deepening the lines in the corners Of
Brands eyes.
Every hour the officer on duty and
some men Of the watch visited him to
report that all was well below. Some
of the less drunken mutineers were
pitifully sober now; the others were
maudlin. Beyond the few words ex-
changed on this and kindred topics he
was left alone with his thoughts
throughout the silent watch. Pyne
slept heavily. CHANGING at times at
the youngsters stalwart figure and
firm, handsome face, Brand found him
self reviewing the buried years. He
thought Of the days when he, too,
looked forth on the world with the
stern enthusiasm Of triumphant youth.
Long forgotten ghosts were resur-
rected, shattered ideals built up again.
He wondered, II the decades rolled
back, would he decide n second time to
abandon the fine career which lay at
his feet and withdraw his grief and his
talents to the %seclusion of lonely rocks
and silent headlands.
He had been happy, as men count
happiness, during the decades. No
cloud had arisen to mar the complete
content Of his life. The blossoming Of
the girls into delightful womanhood was
an increasing joy to him, and 1t was
passing strange that his little house
hold should be plunged into a whirl-
pool of events in the very hour when
their domesticity seemed to be most
assured. The %changeful moods Of the
elements found no counterpart In his
nature. He, knowing the sea, did not
expect it to remain fixed in one aspect.
Whether in calm or storm, the con
trary would surely happen ere many
days had passed. But life was a diff
ferent thing. How came it that at the
very close Of so many years of asso-
citation with the tickle ocean she should
play such a trick on him and his
daughters, infold them with perils,
snatch them from the quiet pleasures
of the life they had planned for the fu-
ture and thrust upon them, eve II
they escaped with their lives, a pub
licity which he, at any rate, abhorred
and ever dreaded?
He harbored no decisions on this
point. He knew that the drama of the
Gulf Rock was now filling the columns
Of newspapers all over the world. He
and his beloved girls would be written
language, pictured by black and white
artists and eulogized by wldeawake
editors eager to make much of a topic
dear to the public mind.
On the rock they were undoubtedly
In grave danger. Death confronted
them-death at Once extraordinary and
CHASTITY. No tyrant Of the middle ages
with all his paraphernalia for wiring
ing truth or lies out Of crlnglni
wretches. had devised such a fate a.
threatened r. the inconstant SEA should
choose to render the reef altogether
unapproachable for many days, Yet Il
help came he an those dear . hW