Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-05-14
|CAP'N Err
BY JOSEPH {. LINCOLN
|Copyright. 1904. BY A. s. Barnes q, Co. Pub
hshcrr. $50 Fdth Avenue. New Iork.
Al Rights Rcscrycd
BY JOSEPH c. LINCOLN

itewashed building with many win .
US. The vegetation about it is lin .
exclusively TO beach grass and .
occasional wild plum bush. The
irest building which may be reach .
without a boat is the life saving sta
b. two miles below. The outer beach
hinges It's shape every winter. The
es tear great holes in its sides and
n, as II in recOmpense, throw up
w shoals and build new promon-
les. From the cable station door
~ In fair weather may be counted
sails Of over a hundred vessels go
and coming between Boston and
wv York. They come and go, and,
u.s. sometimes stop by the way. Then
life saving crews are busy, and
Boston newspapers report another
reck All up and down the outer
zach are the sun whitened bones of
hooners and ships, and all about
em and partially covering them Is
nd, sand, sand, as white and much
parser than graduated sugar.
Hazeltine's postofflce trip and other
brands had taken much more time
ban he anticipated, and more than
vo hours had gone by before he called
pr Captain Fri. During the row to the
each the electrician explained to the
hptain the processes by which break
the cable is located and repaired.
They landed at the little wharf and
Nodded through the heavy sand.
Dismal looking place, isn't lit" said
1azeltine as he opened the back door
( the station.
"Well. 1 don't know. 1t has its good
'ints," replied his companion. Your
heighbors' hens don't scratch up your
Garden, for one thing. What do you do
n hereT
This is the room where we receive
md send. This Is the receiver"
The captain noticed with interest the
recorder, with Its two brass supports
hnd the little glass tube half filled with
NIX that, when the cable was working.
wrote the messages upon the paper
tape travelling beneath It.
Pretty nigh as f1nicky as q watch.
hin't itT' he observed.
Fully as delicate in Its way. Do
you see this little screw on the center
piece7 Turn that q little one way or
the other and the operator on the other
side might send until doomsday. we
wouldn't know It. I'll show you the
#living rooms and the laboratory now
Just then the door at the other end of
the room opened, and a man, whom
Captain Err recognized as one OF the
operators, came In. He started when
he saw Hazeltine and turned to go out
.again. Ralph spoke to him:
Peters" he said, where Is Mr..
LangleyT
Don't know" answered the fellow
grufiy.
Walt a minute. Tell me where Mr.
Langley Is"
"I don't know where he Is. He went
over to the village awhile ago."
Where are the rest Of the menr'
Don't know"
The impudence and thinly yelled hos
tility In the mans tone were unmis
taxable. Hazeltine hesitated, scenes
about to speak and then silently le
the way to the hall
."I'll show you the laboratory late
on" be said. "We'll go up to the tes
ing room now" Then he added, appal
entity as much to himself as to his vii
itor, az told those fellows that
wouldn't be back until noon"
There was a door at the top Of ii
stairs. Ralph opened this quietly. A
they passed through Captain Err n
,ticed that Peters had followed thel
into the hall and stood there looking u
The upper hall had a straw mattir
ON the floor. There was another do'
at the end of the passage, and this WI
ajar. Toward II the electrician wake
rapidly. From the room behind u
door came a shout of laughter; The
some one said:
Better give It another turn, hadr
/. to make sure7 II two turns fixes
no we don't hear for couple Of hou
another one ought to shut 1t up for
week. That's arithmetic, amt itr
The laugh that followed this was c
short by Hazeltines throwing the do
wide open.
Captain Err, close at the electrical
heels, saw long room empty sa
for a few chairs and table In the &C
ter. Upon this table stood the testi
a instruments, exactly like those in I
receiving room downstairs. Three m
l6unged iIsthe chairs, and standing
side thetable, with his fingers upon I
regulating screw at the centerpiece
the, recorder, was another, a big
low. with round, smooth shaved fac
The men In the chairs sprang to tn
feet as Hazeltine came in. The ia
of the individual by the table turn
white, and his fingers fell from
regulating screw as though the lat
was red hot. The captain recogniz
the men. They were day operate
whom he had met in the village ma
times. Incidentally they were avow
friends of the former electrician, p
ker. The name Of the taller one v
Mclaughlin.
No one spoke. Ralph strobe quicl
10 the table, pushed Mclaughlin