The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-11-09

| Il / VI CNOly llSln VI W.
man when the argosy of ex-
~ istence, floating placidly on a
smooth and lazy stream, gathers unto
itself speed, rushes swiftly onward
past familiar landmarks of custom and
convention, boils furiously over resist
ing rocks and ultimately, If not sub
merged in an unknown sea, finds itself
again meandering through new plains
Of wider horizon.
Such perilous passage can never be
foreseen. The rapids may begin where
the trees are highest and the meadows
most luxuriant. No warning is given.
The increased pace Of events is pleas
ant and eXhilarating. Even the last
wild plunge over the cascade is neither
resented nor feared. Some frail craft
are shattered in transit, some wholly
shaken, some emerge with riven sails
and furnished embellishments. A few
not only survive the ordeal, but there
by fit themselves for more daring eX-
ploits, more soul stirring adventures.
When the two girls stood with Ste
phen Brand in the narrow entrance to
the lighthouse, the gravity OF their
bright young faces was due solely to
the fact that their father had announc-
ed the serious accidents which had be-
fallen his assistants. No secret mont
tor whispered that fate in her bold and
merciless dramatic action had roughly
removed two characters from the stage
to clear it for more striking events.
Not once in twenty years has it hap
pened that two out of the three keep
ers maintained on a rock station with
In signaling distance of the shore have
become incapacltated for duty on the
same day. The thing was so bewilder-
ingly sudden, the arrival of Constance
and Enid on the scene so timely and
unexpected, that Brand, a philosopher
of ready decision in most affairs of
life, was at loss what to do for the
best now that help, of sort I'M
dreamed Of, was at hand.
The case of Jackson, who was scald-
ed, was simple enough. The board of
trade medicine chest supplied to each
lighthouse is u facsimile of that car
ried by every seagoing steamship 1t
contained the ordinary remedies for
such an injury, and there would be lit
tie difficulty or danger in lowering the
sufferer to the boat
But Bates affair was different He
lay almost where he had fallen. Brand
had only lifted him into the storeroom
from the foot of the stairs, placing q
pillow beneath his head, and appealing
both to him and to Jackson to endure
their torture unmoved while he went
to signal for assistance.
The problem that confronted him
now was one of judgment. Was it bet
ter to await the coming of the doctor or
endeavor to transfer Bates to the boat?
He consulted Ben Pollard again. The
girls were already climbing the steep
stairs to sympathize with and tend to
the injured men.
do you think it will blow harder,
Ben, when the tide turns?" he asked
The old fellow seemed to regard the
question as most interesting and novel.
Indeed, to him some such query and
its consideration provided the chief
problem of each day. Therefore he
surveyed land, sea and sky most care
fully before he replied:
ut may be almost anything afore
night, Mlsser Brand"
At another time Brand would have
smiled. Today he was nervous, dis
traught wrenched out of the worn rut
of things
Il fancy there is some chance of the
doctor being unable to land when he
reaches the rock. Do you agree with
meT
His voice rang sharply. Ben caught
its note and dropped his weatherwse
eth blow harder, an mebbe shaw
ag'in," he said
81 shall need some help here in that
case, so l will retain the young ladies'
or course you can manage the boat
easily enough without them?"
Pollard grlnned reassuringly.
WEN run straight In WI thiccy
wind" he said.
So they settled it that way, all so
simply.
A man sets up two slim mastS Il
thousand miles apart and flashes COM
prehenslble messages across the void.
The multitude gapes at first, but soon
accepts the thing as reasonable. wire
less telegraphy" is the term, as one
says "by mail"
A whole drama was flowing over a
curve of the earth at that moment. but
the Marconi station was Invisible.
There was no expert in telepathic SEN
sation present to tell Brand and the
fisherman that their commonplace
words covered a magic code
Jackson, white and mute, was lower
ID first. The brave fellow would not
ontent himself with nursing his
gony amid the cushions aft. When
Bates, given some slight strength by a
tiff dose of brandy, was carried with |
infinite care down three flights of steep |
nd narrow stairs and slung to the |
rane in an iron cot to be lowered in |
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