Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-02-23

fraIl round the mainmast. The water
streamed of through the splintered
bulwarks. The captain caught his
breath and rubbed his eyes clear. A
hoarse yell came from the lookout:
Schooner dead ahead"
Out of the blackness beyond the
bowsprit lurched another Georges
man. The instant Treat set eyes on
her he knew that the crisis had come.
She was drifting broadside on, with
no possibility of passing to port or
starboard. Tho cable must be cut at
once. Every second was precious.
Letting go the fore-sheet. he start
ed to run forward. Again a monster
sea was upon him before he realized
1t. He made one vain grab at the
rail. The next second his legs were
knocked from under him, and he was
swept down a second time into the
slaughter-house.
In a moment he mad regained lis
feet. His head was whirling from
violent thump upon the deck; but he
was fully alive to the situation. He
must recover his ak and cut the cable
Immediately. AS the sea rolled off,
he staggered forward along the slip
perry planks.
The Emeline pitched into the
trough. 1t was an easy matter for
him to dart down the sloping deck to
the windlass. To his horror the ak
had vanished from the spot where he
had dropped it. He shot a quick
glance about; it was nowhere to be
seen. The sea had washed 1t down
the deck, and possibly overheard!
! The schooner rose to meet the COM
ing billow. AS 1t struck the bow, the
taut cable dwindled and sang out.
Beyond it's curling crest rose the bare
poles of the stranger. The next wave
would hurl her on top Of the Emeline.
From the fore-gaff Lombard had
helplessly watched his commander
searching for the ak. He was too
experienced a Georgesman not to
realize the catastrophe that impend-
ed. Painfully he scanned the wet
planks which sparkled in the dim Ian
tern-light. Halfway down to the
break his eye detected the glitter of
steel. 1t was the ak, lying close to a
stanchion, and all but swept over
board by the last sea.
I The lookout's cry rose above the
tempest.
There, cap, there" he screamed.
Captain Ben's eyes followed the
pointing hand. In less than five Sec
onds his fingers were locked round
the helve. He turned, and darted
toward the windlass.
The Emeline was Juggling at her
cable in the trough, headed straight
for the drifting schooner, which
seemed to the captains Mortified gaze
to be hanging right over him.
The sea hurled the stranger for
ward. The bowsprit of the Emeline
rose. It's tip was not ten feet from
the other hull. A moment more, and
the crash would come; and both
would go down together.
, Just then the captain swung the
ak aloft. Down hurtled the keen
blade through the hempen strands,
where they ground on the whelps of
the windlass!
The cable parted. It's short end
whipped the deck; the other whisked
through the hawse-pipe quicker than
eye could follow. The vessel, freed
at last from the bond at which she
had tugged all night, shot back a full
hundred feet as the heavy sea struck
her bow, flinging Captain Ben on his
face, while the stranger settled harm
lessly into the place she had left!
After her first wild leap the Fme-
line swung broadside to the gale, and
as she was more lightly loaded than
the other, gradually drifted out of
sight of her. The crew, who all night
in forecastle and cabin had been
ready for a sudden call, soon hoisted
a two-reefed foresail. In few min
utes they got steerage way, scudded
thirty miles off the Banks, and hove
to. The next day, when the storm
abated, they ran for Gloucester to
refit.-Youth's Companion.