The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-10-25
CHAPTER XXI.

NV body was flung over the cliff
wv it rushed down through the
summer air feet foremost
Then In obedience to the law Of gray
ity it spun round until at the moment
Of impact with the water the head and
shoulders plunged first into the waves.
At that point the depth OF the sea
was sixty feet at the very base Of the
rock At each half tide and especially
in stormy weather an irresistible cur
rent swept away all sand deposit and
sheered off projecting masses of stone
30 cn'ectually that In the course of time
the overhanging cliff must be under
mined and fall into the sea.
IIigh tide or low, there was always
sufficient water to float q battleship,
and the place was noted as q favorite
nook for salmon, at that season pre-
pairing for their annual visit to the
sylvan streams of the moorland val
Ieys.
The lordly salmon is peculiar in his
habits. Delighting at one period Of the
year to roam through the ocean wilds,
at another he seeks shallow rivers, in
whose murmuring fords he scarce finds
room to turn his portly frame.
And the law protects him most jeal-
ously.
In the river he is guarded like king,
and when he clusters at its mouth,
lazlly making up his mind to try a
change of water as monarch might
visit Homburg for change of air, he
can only be caught under certain Sc
we're restrictions.
He must not be netted within so
many yards of the seward limit of
the estuary. He may not be caught
wholesale. The nets must have a max
imum length of 400 feet. They must
not lie set between z p. m. on Friday
and I a. m. Oh Monday.
Viewed in every aspect, the salmon
is given exceptional chances Of longev-
ity. His price Is high as his culinary
reputation, and the obvious sequel to
all these precautions is that certain
nefarious persons known as poachers
try every artifice to defeat the law
and capture him.
*
quantity Of nets in just such tide
way as the foot of the cliff crowned by
Grange House. None can spy the OPP
erations from the land, while close
watch seaward gives many chances
Of escape from enterprising water bail
IFS, who, moreover, can sometimes be
made conveniently drunk.
Whop Dbiliv, brrflad into @ba Ma ala
sea, his naked body shone white, like
the plumage Of some gigantic bird.
Indeed, a man who was leisurely
pulling coble in zigzag course
while two others paid out net so that
its sweeping curves might embarrass
any wandering salmon who found him
self within its meshes-marked the fall
ing body in its instantaneous passage
and thought at first that some huge sea
fowl had dived after its prey.
But the loud splash startled the three
men. Not so did cormorant or a
white winged solan plunge to secure
an unwary paddock.
The net attendants Strengthened their
backs; the oarsman stood up. The dis
turbance was SO near, so unexpected,
that it alarmed them. They looked
aloft, thinking that a rock had fallen.
They looked to the small eddy caused
by Philips disappearance to see II any
sign would be given explanatory of an
unusual occurrence.
Were Philip thrown from such a
height when in full possession of his
senses In all likelihood such breath as
was in his lungs at the moment Of his
fall would have been expelled by the
time he reached the water.
He must have resisted the rush Of
air, uttered involuntary cries, strug-
gled wildly with his limbs.
But as it CHANGED Mason's rough
handling in carrying him to the bal
cony made active the vital forces that
were restoring him to consciousness.
he was on the very threshold of re-
newed life when he fell, and the
downward fight helped rather than re-
tarded the process. Indeed, the rush Of
air was grateful. He drank in the Wig
orous draft and inflated his lungs read
lily. His sensations were those of
man Immersed In q warm bath, and
the shock of his conclusion with the
surface of the sea In nowise retarded
the recuperative effect of the dive.
or course he was fortunate after fall
Ing from such a height In striking the
water with his right shoulder. No por-
ton Of the human body is so fitted to
bear heavy blow as the shoulders
and upper part of the back Had he
dropped vertically on his head or his
feet he might have sustained serious
injury. AS 1t was, after a tremendous
dive and curve Of many yards be-
meath the sea he bobbed up inside the
salmon net within few feet Of the
boat.
Instantly the fishermen saw that 1t
was a man, an absolutely naked man,
who had thus dropped from the sky.
They were amazed, very frightened
indeed, but they readily hauled at the
dragging net and brought Philip near
er the boat Even at this final stage OF
his adventure he incurred terrible
risk.
Unable to help himself in the least
degree and swallowing salt water rap
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