The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-10-26

shreds of white mist were curling for
lornly above the waves.
The presence of the steamship, tiny
dull spot on the glowing picture, peo-
pied the void with life and banished
poetry with the thinly sheeted ghosts
Of the fog In little more than an
hour she would be abreast of the Gulf
Rock light. The watcher believed-was
almost certain, in fact-that she was
the Princess Royal, homeward bound
from New York to Southampton. From
had risen early enough to catch a first
glimpse Of the English coast were al
ready scanning the trinity rugged out
lines of the Scilly isles and searching
with their glasses for the Lands End
and the Lizard.
In a few hours they would be in
Southampton; that afternoon in Lon
don-London, the Mecca of the world,
from which two years ago he fled with
a loathing akin to terror. The big ship
out there, painting and straining as If
she were beginning, not ending, her
ocean race Of 5000 miles, was carrying
eager hundreds to the pleasures and
follies Of the great city. Yet he, the
man smoking and silently staring at
the growing bank of smoke-a young
man, too; handsome, erect, with the
clean, smooth profile of the aristocrat-
had turned his back on it all and
sought and found peace here in the
gaunt pillar on a lonely rock.
Strange how differently men are con-
stituted. And women! Bah! A hard
look came into his eyes. His mouth set
in stern contempt. For little while
his face bore a steely expression which
would have amazed the man within the
lantern, now singing Justify as he
worked.
But, as the harp Of David caused the
evil spirit to 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, trifle bitterly per-
haps. Behind him the singer roared
genially:
soon we'll be In London Town,
Sing, my lads, yeo ho-o
And see the king in his golden crown
Sing, my lads, yeo ho!"
The man ON the platform seemed tc
be aroused from a painful reverie by
the Jingle so curiously apropos to his
thoughts. He tapped his pipe on the
iron railing and was about to enter the
lantern-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 a mile or less and
drifting slowly nearer with the tide.
AT this hour 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
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 white painted ships life
boat, with broken mast and q sail
trailing over the stern. Its color, with
the sun shining on it, no less than the
vaporous eddies fading down to the
surface Of the sea, had prevented him
from seeing it earlier. Perhaps he
would not have noticed it at all were
1t not for the flashing wings of several
sea birds which accompanied the craft |
in aerial escort.
Even yet 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
visible, but the lighthouse |
keeper knew he was not mistaken. |
Here was a boat adrift, forlorn, de- |
serted It's contour told him that ii |
was no local craft straying adyen-
from island or mainland. It's
presence, waited thus
from ocean wilds, the broken |
spar and tumbled canvas, betokened |
an accident perchance a tragedy.
"Jimv' he cried
illo MAUI, cuSdStu III SHTOuuluB lue |
cleaning lenses from the suns rays, |
came at the call. He was lame, the |
result of a wound received in the |
Egyptian campaign; nevertheless, he |
was quick on his feet.
What do you make of that?" l
The sailor required no more than |
gesture. He shaded his eyes with his |
right hand mere shipboard trick OF |
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 |
she was took aback by a squat. I'm |
less them BIRDS
He spoke in species Of verbal short
hand, but his meaning was clear |
enough, even TO the sentence left I'M
finished. The craft was under no con-
troll. She would drift steadily into the |
bay until the tide turned, wander in |
IN aimless circle for half an hour
thereafter, and then, when the ebb re-
storad direction and force IN tha ci1r-