Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-07-31

snips unCerendeu by nGtS and stenciled
his initials within white square on
i've different parts Of their sleek hulls,
thus signifying to an indignant admiral
and three confounded captains (dic-
donary meaning of ''confounded'0 that
these leviathans had been ingoriously
sunk at their paoortags by tozpedoes
1T sounds Uncoavincing,' said Con
| stance. ''YoC must supply details to-
morrow. E~:>,. that Eorrid pun OF
| yours ruins the word
Are we also to supply luncheon?'
chirled in Enid
''1'ieris. the thought have lived on
sandwiches and bottled beer for a
week. There! OF you &C."
lie gave the boat vigorous push
and stood fo-' Il little While at the foot
CT the steps, ostensibiy to light cigar
lie watched Constance shipping the
, rudder while Enid hoisted the sail and
Old Ben piled a pair of oars to carry
! the boat into the fair way of the chan
mel.
They neared the harbor lighthouse
The brown sail filed and the Daisy
got way on ha-. Then she sped round
the end of the solid pier and van
ished, whereupon Lieutenant Stanhope
walked slowly to the promenade,
whence he could see the diminishing
speck of canvas on the shining sea IN
til it was hidden by Clements island.
At last the devotees Of twist and
shag, resting their tired arms on the
railing, were able to exchange COM
| ments
Brace O. fine CELLS, them,'' observed
the acknowledged leader, broken
down captain of a mine abandoned
soon after his birth.
''Fine," agreed his nearest henchman.
Then, catching the gloom of the cap
tain's gaze after Stanhope's retreating
figure, he added:
''But what does that young spark
want, turning their pretty heads for
them, 1 should like to know?''
''They didn't seem particular stuck
on im," ventured another.
''The ways of women is curious"
pronounced the oracle 81 once knew
a gelP'-
But his personal "reminiscences were
not of value. More to the point was
the garbled, but, in the main, accurate
account he gave of the rescue of an
unknown child by one of the keepers
of the Gulf Rock lighthouse on a June
morning eighteen years earlier.
Stephen Brand was the name of the
man, and there was a bit of mystery
about him too. They all knew that
light keeper earned a matter of f7O to
ESQ year-not enough to maintain a
daughter and an adopted child in slap
up style, yTas it? A small villa they
lived in, and a governess they had
and ponies to ride when they were big
enough. The thing was ridiculous,
wasn't it?
Everybody agreed that it was.
People said Brand was swell. Well,
that might or might not be true. The
speaker did not think much of him.
He was a quiet, unsociable chap,
though Jones, Trinity pensioner, who
kept the 'Pilchard and Seine" now,
wouldn't hear wrong word about
him and always called him "cap'n."
A pretty sort of a captain! But, then,
they all knew what an old slow coach
Jones was. They did. Jones' pints
were retailed on the premises for mon
ey down.
Then there was Spence, lame Jim,
who lived at Narration. He told fine
tale about a fight with a shark before
Brand reached the boat in which was
the blessed baby-that very girl, Enid,
they had just seen. Was it true? How
Il lot oI~o
it at the time in the local papers, but
just then his own mind was given to
thoughts of cnlisting, as British ex-
pedition was marching across the des-
ert to relieve Khartum, and cause Cor
Gons death.
No, Brand and the two girls had not
dwclt all the time in Penzance. The
light keepers went all over the king
dom, you know, but he had hit upon
some sort of fog signal fad-Brand
was always a man of fads; he once
told the speaker that all the Polwena
mine wanted was work-and the Gulf
Rock was the best place for trying it.
At his own request the Trinity people |
sent him back there two years ago.
Some folk lad queer tastes, hadn't |
They! And talking so mucn naQ mace /
him dry.
Then the conversation languished, as |
the only obvious remark of any i'm
portance was not forthcoming.
Meanwhile the Daisy sped buoyantly !
toward the southwest. Although she |
was broad in beam and stanch from
thwart to keel, it was no light under
taking to run fourteen miles out and
home in such a craft.
But old Dea Pollard knew what he
was about. Not until the granite pill
lar of the distant Gulf Rock opened up
Leyond earn du was it necessary to
turn the boats head seaward. Even
then, by steering close to the Runnel-
stone, they need not, during two-thirds