The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-06

The september uaS 80 baar
and forbidding. The sky. had been
overcast with ominous clouds. the
clouds with feathery edges that seem
ed hung 40 low that they swept the
Gulf The weather sailors knew
the meaning OF the feathery edges
and they sent their vessels around the
end Of santa Rosa Island. where the
guns of Pickens and MacRae grimly
Commanded the narrow gate to Pensa-
coia's harbor. The Gulf Is no SAFE
mace for craft Of steam or sail when
featherly clouds hang low in equinoxial
The night fell hastily and the gloomy
day had no twilight. The sea was sui
len and restless. like the suppressed
anger of woman. captain nooert
Broadbent veteran seaman and veteran
life saver paced the wooden verandah
If the Santa Rosa Life Saving Station.
A score Of years in the service spent
at the edge Of the Gulf had made him
acquainted with the subtle dangers OF
the Gulf when 1t was dashed into a
frenzy by West Indian storm. The
walls of the station bore an official
notice from the Pensacola observatory
saying, Tropical storm forming in the
Yucatan channel. Probable course is
northward or northwest through the
Gulf. All sailing vessels and low-pow-
cred steam vessels had better remain
in port"
The harbor was dotted with vessels
of steam ad sail: Men clambered aloft
in the rigging and the creak of wind
lasses and the rattle OF anchor chains
could be heard from every quarter. The
bay had lost its splendor of tropical
beauty. On summers afternoon at
sunset, with the red light from the
Western sky gliding the beach into a
golden strand, with the white caps
purring and breaking on the beach and
the pines in the distance on Santa
Rosa Island standing out against the
blue sky like a great piece of delicate
lace. there Is no spot SO beautiful with
the mysterious beauty of the sea as
the Florida waters and their encirclins
beaches.
The sight Of 1t in summer calls to
mind the electric description Of the
tropical east and its mysticism, wrought
by Kipling into one of the few great
poems of the last century. The on.
locker runs over the haunting refrain
Of Kipling's
"On the road to Mandalay
Where the flying fishes play
And the storm comes up like thunder
Over China across the bay"
Captain Broadbent watched the heav.
ing sea as the breakers rolled sullenly
on the sands of Santa Rosa. The
feathery clouds crossed and recrossed
and merged into each other. The
Storm Spirit was marshalling his bat.
talions. Death and Destruction were
his adtutants and they rode with hin
as mis- aides. There would he work
for the life boat that night. Captain
Broadbent saw the fierce and restless
clouds and he knew that. his crew
brave and trained, would have a field
for the display OF their skill and cour.
age.
Run Out the Life Boat.
He saw the crew together on the
Run out the life boat on the beach,
he called to them sharply.
AYE, aye. SIR and the white clad sail
ors and life savers had already throw
open the wide barn like door that shu
in the life boat Ready hands ran tn
boat out on the sands. With Captain
Broadbent directing a heavy ancho
hawser played into the life boat an
made fast. 1t was well to be prepar
ed.
In the house, women Of the life saw
ing station were busy about thei
household duties. with alarmed look
now and then at the forbidding sky an
the uneasy sea only a few yards away
mere WeT CHllOTu III tn nOueS, DuC Tn
There were children in tn
houses. but the noise of thei
play had subsidized into fright
ened silence. The station wa
clothed in an atmosphere of alarm an
1isquiet, to which 1t had heretofore bee
stranger.
A few yards away on the beach wa
big wooden bathing pavilion. to whic
visitors came to battle themselves in tn
marine beauties of the Florida beach
and to struggle with the tumblin
breakers. But there were no visitor
on this storm threatened evening. Wo
men and children were here. too, In
hushed and frightened atmosphere. !
low narrow strip Of sand. five mile
from the shore. is an i'll place for wo
men and children when the Storm Spiri
marches and Death rides in his trair
The sullenness Of the sea at 10 o'cloc
had broken into anger. A gale wa
sweeping over the island and the break
ers were tapping at the bottom Of tn
life boat. which at nightfall had bee
set back yards from the water lin.
In the pines and around the caves o