The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1907-05-02
In Shallow
Waters.
BY klRk MCGEE.
Copyright. 1907. by Mary McKeon.


When it became known throughout
the town and the fishing fleet that aft.
er one more trip to the Banks Dave
Bliss. who had for three years been
mate of the Swordfish under the cap
taincy of Josh Baker, would take out
the Mary and Jane and become cap
tain himself. there was not begrudg-
ing word or selfish thought.
Dave was young man and popu.
lar one. He was a good sailor and
lucky fisherman. 1t was known that he
was In love an1 was already engaged
to Captain Bakers daughter Mary. and
the talk was that they were to be mar
ried the. day he assumed his new COM
mand. II 1t had been for Captain Bak-
er to choose Il son-inlaw from the fifty
single men In the fishing heet, he
would have held OFT his hand to Dave
In preference They had fought the
perils of tie sea together for three
years, and they Lad come to know each
other as landsmen can never know one
another.
Out on the Banks that day it was
squally weather. The air was col and
raw, and the sea heavei up and CUR
gled and growled as II demanding vie
tins. Every craft needed watching,
and none was more closely watched
than the Swordish. There cane Il mo-
ment, however. when the captain was
below for q drink Of something hot,
and the mate had his eyes on tramp
steamer shearlng her way through the
feet, and that very moment 4 was
when a squal struck down with the
swlftness of cannon ball, and the
Swordflsh was thrown on her beam
ends.
II was inevitable that confusion
should follow. With her masts Cat on
the water and her sails bellying out,
the boat could not right to an even
keel, and II was the mate himself who
seized an ak from its beckett and cut
away the shrouds, letting the strain
take them overheard. 1t was the only
thing to do to save the schooner, and
he periled his life in the doing Of 1t.
That went for naught, however. No
man Is so jealous Of his reputation as q
fisherman. He knows. and his owners
know, that there must be accidents at
sea, no matter what the vigilance. but
for all that an accident is smirch and
an injury to his reputation.
So II was that the news ran through
the deet OF sixty sail almost as II by
telegraph, that the Swordcsh had been
dismasted in a squall which had spared
all others. There must have been care
lessness, of course. Captain Baker
blamed Dave Bliss. and Dave Bliss re-
sented the criticism, so the first OF the
feet to reach home had a story TO tell
that quickly spread all over the town.
The fisher craft that goes down at seq
is talked OF for woek. The fisher
craft that loses mast or set Of sails
is not forgotten for six months.
When the Swordfsh came limping
home a week or so behind all others,
there was a gulf between master and
mate. The crew were divided In senti-
ment. 1t was the same with the towns
people. When 1t was known that the
craft had arrived, Mary Baker sat at
the window and waited for her father
and lover. They had always come to
the house In company upon their re-
turn. The hours went by, and at last
the father arrived alone. His face was
stern set, and hope went out Of her
heart as she saw it, She had heard the
gossip Of the early arrivals, but hoped
that it was exaggerated. She knew
that the fleet and the town had taken
sides, but she believed In her lover.
Hell never enter my door again.
said the father as he stood and looked
at the girl.
"But ii couldn't have been his fault
and we are to be-to be married." she
protested.
"He should have seen the squall. He
shouldn't have lost his head afterward
and cut away the masts. He comes
here no more. He shall never be SON
in-law of mine. want to hear nothing
more about It,"
That evening Mary received a note
from Dave by the hands of boy. sIe
said not a word against her father
He simply asserted that he had done
the best he could and that before see.
ing her again he would wait for public
opinion to change. He had not lost
the confidence Of the owners Of the
Mary and Jane. She would he ready
for sea in ten days. He hoped that his
Mary would believe In him and that
things would come right in the end.
The reply he received strengthened
and encouraged him, and he went
about his affairs as II the gossip Of the
town were naught to him. The Mary
and Jane sailed with the feet. Aye,
more than that she headed 1t. 1t had
been predicted that she would prove
a fiier, but when her canvas had been
stretched and her rigging tightened up
she smoked along like steam. 1t was
her misfortune to pass the swordfsh
rl0aA ahnar1 nnrip1 tho tx-n x.,aaLu