Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-11-28
THE IRON LORD
By S. r. CROCKETT
copyri.h, 1907 by 3. R. Crockett All Rights Reserved


one could possibly have been kinder,
said the wife Of his employer.
1t was in June that they sailed away
to the north in these ATTITUDES
month Of uncanny calms and sudden.
uncertain st. Johns eve storms upon
the deadly Cape Wrath seas and
among the black thiak,sown reefs Of
the Hebrides Yet amidst these lay
their course, and neither Vida nor
her mother noticed that a couple Of
roomy whaleboats were the chief new
and striking pieces of naval furniture
on board
After they had passed the Firth of
Pentland and stood westward, they
were pursued by series of chill
northerly winds, not 30 much tempest
uous, as deadly, with the nip Of ice
bergs not far away. Villa lover the
keen Arctic breath, and wished that
they could go far enough Polewards
to catch sight OF Farce, or even Of the
white wastes of the Vatna Jokull
itself But each day her mother shiv-
cred. and wrapped herself In shawls,
and; yet more shawls.
below.
|
Jacob would wish it, she said In an
swer to every remembrance. He is
giving us this chance. We may never
have the like again - and in his own
ship. tool would never forgive my
SELF, No, no. Vida, ! must stay OH
deck"
| Through dreamlike serenity they
sailed first west and then south. Some
times they would keep the same hon-
zon about them all day. The winds,
though chill enough, were so light
that the sails often hung lax and mo-,
tionless. But. all the same, it was
memorable time for the sick woman.
1 81 am happy, Vida, darling" she
would say, as she sat with her daugh-
ter's hand clasped In hers under the
awning which Vida had stretched fol
her. ooh, So happy! / never felt SO
happy in my life II not even when
was first married. You are good
daughter to me, Vida
Everything about them Wa; nice
and after this there coufl be 10 high
err praise.
But. swift as a lion from behind 4
bush. western tempest, gyrattng
landward on the warm swirls Of the
Gulf stream, sprang upon them one
night about ten-of-the-clock For an
hour the winds had whistled plain
lively through the cordage. The sails
were reefed or got in. Quiet amid the
hustle. Vida and her mother sat
watching the west changing from
, dingy orange through powdery blue to
a dusky slate: across which little
, white wisps, like jets of cloud-spray
!. went and came, Then, for the first
: time Captain Helstone addressed his
passengers. He touched his peaked CAP
with a stiff gesture anf begged that
they would go below at once. 1t was
going to be coarse night" They
, were in bad waters and might have
5 to run for the open. The matches
( would need to be, closed.
4 Immediately Mrs. Romer and hel
daughter went below Vida got hel
i. mother to bed before ihe storm caught
q them. Then for forty hours the Good
Intent battled with the winds anC
: waves Of a. North Atlantic storm.
She must have had excellent stuff
:, in her. that old trany schooner or she
!. would never have made SO gallant {
: fight for It. At, first, the women hearc
the din. OF trampling abose them. the
clatterlng of many feet, heavy sudder
falls, the creaking of blocks all IL
e addition to the noises of the sea
y which were deafening enough to tn.
s Iui.accustomed.
/ Vida; i'll and dazed, found ate,
(, while a, troubled .repose. Time ant
y again. awaktng from her doze.. sh'
Q snatched little lantern she had takel
d from the supercargo's room. and will
n infinite staggerings, made her way t.
her. mothers berth. always RETURNING
D. thankful that she was sleeping s.
$, soundly through the turmoil Of tn
l. waters. 3s..,
a. But Vida was too dAsed to motto
h that the sounds aon deck had die
n away and that only the dull shock Q
,r heavy seas and the splash and tun
% BILE of breakers plunging oyer the bu
s. warks could be heard. Also tha Goo
e. Intent swung heavily to he elnrch 9
10 the waves, without buoyancy or lit
re in her. motion.
m Suddenly he girl woke from
in dream III a kind Of wild and awestruc
t. terror It seemed 60 Vida that she wa
ut bored up in. a delG!v place WITH som
10 vague, and imminent peril menacin
her. She had evidently slept long, fc
: it was clear day. She ran to he
mothers little cab;.., and opening ",
"a - -NN -