The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-06-06
In Shallow
Waters.
By KIRK MCGEE.
Copyright, 1907, by Mary Mckeon.


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 Il begrudg-
ing word or a selfish thought.
Dave was Il young man and popu-
lar one. He was good sailor and q
lucky fisherman. 1t was known that he
was in love and was already engaged
to Captain Bakers daughter Mary, and
the talk was that they We're to be mar
ried the day he assumed his new conf
mand If it had been for Captain Bak-
er to choose q son-in-law from the fifty
single men in the fishing feet, he
would have held out his hand to Dave
in preference. They had fought the
perils of the sea together for three
years, and they had 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 cold and
raw, and the sea heaved up and CUR
gled and growled as if demanding vic
tins. Every craft needed watching.
and none was more closely watched
than the SwOrdfish. There came mo-
ment, however, when the captain was
below for drink OF something hot.
and the mate had his eyes on tramp
steamer shearing her way through the
feet, and that very moment 1t was
when squall struck down with the
swiftness of a cannon ball, and the
Swordfish was thrown on her beam
ends.
1t was inevitable that confusion
should follow. With her masts fiat on
the water and her sails beilying out,
the boat could not right to an even
keel, and it was the mate himself who
seized an AK from it's beckett and cut
away the shrouds, letting the strain
thing to do to save the schooner, ana
he periled his life in the doing of it.
That went for naught, however. No
man is so jealous of his reputation as a
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 1t was that the news ran through
the fleet Of sixty sail almost as if by
telegraph, that the Swordfish had been
dismasted in sauall 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 story to tell
| that quickly spread all over the town.
/ The fisher craft that goes down ut SCI,
Is talked of for week. The fisher
| craft that loses a mast or set Of sails
is not forgotten for six months.
! When the Swordfish came limpins
home week or SO behind all others,
/ there was gulf between master and
mate. The crew were divided in senti-
/
people. When it was known that the
craft had arrived. Mary Baker sat at
the window and waited for her father
/ and lover. They had always come tt
/ the house in company upon their re-
turn. The hours went by, and at lasl
stern set. and hope went out of leI
heart as she saw it. She had heard the
gossip of the early arrivals, but hopet
that it was exaggerated. She knew
that the fleet and the town bad takei
| sides, but she believed in her lover.
/ "Heli never enter my door again.
said the father as he stood and looked
at the girl.
But it couldn't have been his fault
and we are to be-to be married" sh,
protested
"He should have seen the squall. HI
shouldn't have lost his head afterwar,
and cut away the masts. He come
here no more. He shall never be son
in-law of mine l want to hear nothin:
more about it,
That evening Mary received not
from Dave by the hands of boy. II
said not word against her father
He simply asserted that he had don
the best he could and that before see
ing her again he would wait for publ
| opinion to change. He had not los
| the confidence of the owners Of tn
Mary and Jane She would be read
for sea in ten days He hoped that hi
Mary would believe in him and tina
things would come right in the end.
i The reply he received strengthene
and encouraged him, and he wen
about his affairs as if the gossip of th
town were .naught to him. The Mar
and Jane sailed with the fleet. Ayt
more than that, she headed 1t. 1t ha
been predicted that she would prov
| / flier. but when her canvas had bee
!. stretched and her rigging tigh.ened u
: she smoked along like steam. 1t wa
, her misfortune to pass the Swordtis
close aboard. During the two week
on shore Captain Baker and his ol
mate had met three or four times
day, but as total strangers. They coul
have looked into each others eyes nov
but they did not. There was no angs
in the new captains heart. but the otl
er flushed and compressed his lips. an
those who were watching him realize
:, that he felt as If an insult had bee
! put upon him.
r That first voyage Of the new era
9 is still recalled at the fish houses,
9 the sail lofts and Offices and wherey'
! fishermen gather to gossip She shoI
d ened the run to the banks by two day