Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-07-13
7 II E ,..;; '; Tracy.
PILLAR Of !; r.: 4: Of
~ Morning"
Copyright. 1901
AZ "a 81 J.


Clean, smooth profile Of tile aristocrat -
hal turned his back on it all and
sought and found peace here III the
gaunt pillar on Il lonely rock.
Strange how differently men are con
stitutrl And women. Bah. \ hard
look came into his eyes. His mouth set
In Il stern contempt. For q little while
his fac" bore a stecly expression which
! would have amazed the man within the
lantern. how singing Justify rs he
| worked
But. rs the harp OF David caused the
| evil spirit t. depart from Saul, SO did
the music Of the morning chase away
the lurking devil of memory which
! sprang upon the lighthouse keeper with
the sight of the vessel.
He smiled again, n trifle bitterly per
haps. Behind him the singer roared
genially:
soon We'll be in London Town.
Sing. my lads. yeo hoo.
And see the king In his golden crown,
Sing, my lads. yeo hor'
! The man on the platform seemed to
be aroused from painful reverie by
the jingle 50 curiOusly apropos to his
thoughts. He tapped his pipe on the
iron railing and was about to enter the
lanlern-and SO to the region Of sleep
beneath-when suddenly his glance,
trained to an acuteness not dreamed Of
by folk ashore, rested on some object
seemingly distant u mile or less and
drifting slowly nearer with the tide.
At this hour q two knot current
swept to the east around and over the
! treacherOus reef whose sunken fangs
were marked by the lighthouse. In
calm weather. such as prevailed just
then. it was difficult enough to effect n
landing at the base Of the rock. but
this same smiling water race became
an awful. raging, tearing fury when
the waves were dashed into a storm.
He pocketed his pipe and stood with
hands clinched on the rail, gazing In
! tently at a white painted ships life
boat, with q broken mast and a sail
trailing over the stern. Its color, with
the sun shining on 1t, no less than the
vaporOus eddies fading down to the
surface Of the sea, had prevented him
| from seeing 1t earlier. Perhaps he
would not have noticed 1t at all were
1t not for the flashing wings Of several
sea birds which accompanied the craft
in aerial escort.
Even yet q landsman would have
stared insolently In that direction and
declared that there was naught else
In sight save the steamer, whose tall
masts and two black tunnels were now
distinctly visible, but the lighthouse
keeper knew he was not mistaken.
Here was a boat adrift, forlorn. de-
serted. Its contour told him that it
was no local craft straying adven-
turOusly from island or mainland. Its
unexpected presence. waited thus
strangely from ocean wilds. the broken
spar and tumbled canvas. betokened
an accident. perchance q tragedy.
"Jim" he cried.
His mate, engaged In shrouding the
cleaning lenses from the suns rays,
came at the call. He was lame. the
result of a wound received In the
/ AA6J Ptioh NdARulBue GIluCleSSs u6
was quick ON his feet.
"What do you make of that"
The sailor required no more than
gesture. He shaded his eyes with his
right hand. mere shipboard trick of
concentrating vision and brain, for
the rising sun was almost behind him.
"Ships boat" he answered laconical-
". Collision. expect. There's bin
no blow to speak Of for days. But
they're gone. Knocked overheard when
Bhe was took aback by q squat. Un-
less them BIRDS
He spoke in species Of verbal short
hand. but his meaning was clear
enough. even to the sentence left IN
finished. The craft was under no con-
troll. She would drift steadily into the
bay until the tide turned, wander In
an aimless circle for half an hour
thereafter. and then. when the ebb re-
stored direction and force to the cur
rent. voyage forth again to the tabled
! realm Of LyOnnesse.
| For little while they stood together
in silence. Jim suddenly Quilted his
companion and came back with a glass.
He poised it with the precision of a
Bisley marksman and began to speak
again jerkily:
"StOve In forrard, above the water
line. Wouldn't live two minutes In a
sea. SOmethin' lynn In the bows.
Can't make it out. And there's a
couple Of cormorants perched on the
gunwale. But she'll pass within 200
yards on her present course, an the
tide'll hold long enough for that"
The other man looked around. From
that elevated perch, 100 feet above
high water mark, he could survey a
vast area of sea. Excepting the ap-
preaching steamer-which would fit
past q mile away to the southland q
few distant brown specks which be-
tokened a shoal of Penzance fishing
emacks making the best Of the tide
eastward-there was not a sail in
sight
Il think we should try to get hold
| Of her." he said.
Jim kept his eye glued to the tele-
scope.
"'Tain't worth It, cap'n. The sal.
wage III only be pound or two, not
but what an extry suvrin comes in