The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1907-08-22

To Miss Ruth In her poverty the loss
of her gardeu stuff would have been a
very serious matter. She was truly
grateful to Teddy for saving it and
told him 80 with some warmth.
Being thus encouraged, he was en-
bodened to ask her If she wouldn't
some time or another let him take u
look around in her oil house And Miss
Ruth, still mellowed by her gratitude,
said almost kindly that maybe some
time or other she would.
Nye's wharf down on the point was
where the boys usually went in swim
ming. Marbles wharf was nearer, but
because Of the bar the swimming was
not very good there, even at high wa.
ter But it happened one hot June day
that Teddy felt too lazy to walk all the
way down to the point, so he thought
he would just step down to Marbles
wharf and get cooled off little
Although it was low water and the
bar was bare, there was cool looking
pool just in front of and shaded by the
old oil house, and into this pool he set
tied down very comfortably. While he
was sitting OH the sandy bottom in this
pleasant place, with only his head out
of water, he made a very exciting and
delightful discovery.
1t was dead low tide, and the stone
foundation wall of the oil house was
bare clear down to the tops of the piles
on which 1t rested The sliding door
was out of water entirely. To his joy
Teddy perceived that so large part of
one corner of this door had been knock
ed away, probably by bang from the
nose Of some badly steered boat in
long past time, that boy twice as big
as he was could wriggle through the
hole!
He gave look up and down the rlv-
er to see If anybody in boat was in
sight, and then, having assured himself
that the coast was clear, he slipped
out of the water and across the bit of
bare sand and through the hole.
He found himself in something like a
little open dock in the floor of the oil
house, evidently a place where in for
mer times a boat had been kept Steps,
black rotten with age, led to the level
of the floor. Up these slippery steps
Teddy went gingerly. His first object
of investigation was the shadowy place
under the stairway. He found that he
had been right 1t was cannon, lit
tie six pounder, such as whalers used
to carry to fire signals with, and it was
a regular little beauty.
He did not stop to examine the other
| interesting things which We're scattered
about him. With these, thanks to his
frequent peepings through the cracks,
he already was tolerably familiar The
sail loft was an undiscovered country
that he longed to explore, so up the
stairway that led to it he went two
steps at a time. The loft was far light
er than the room below, for the sun
beams came through the cracks In the
walls. 1t was n great bare place, with
some old sails piled up IN one corner,
some sail making gear still lying on q
little bench and some chalk marks still
on the floor that doubtless showed the
exact cut of the Harmony Homes last
suit of sails.
There was something little awe
5Oilic III tiGoC just ttS
Captain Marble, years and years be-
fore, had left them, but unpleasant
thoughts of this nature were driven
quickly and completely out of Teddy's
head as he caught sight of II delightful
fat little tub of boat standing close
to the side wall at the end of the build
ing nearest to the water carefully
checked up on blocks SO that it stood
ON an even keel. The oars and little
mast with the sail wrapped around it
lay fore and aft on the thwarts, and the
rudder, all ready to be shipped was
lying in the stern sheets. Running
tackle was rove to rings In the bow
and stern, and to stout hooks In the
rdgepole of the roof. The ends of the
lines were coiled away neatly over be-
laying pins in two of the upright
beams.
Then Teddy perceived that a great
trapdoor rigged with CONFERENCE.-The
opened in the floor just over the little
dock below Obviously this was the
Identical boat for which the dock had
been built.
AS he thought of what fun he could
have in that boat, along with Noah
Barkum and Lem Harbud and Pud
Nye and perhaps Sam Wyburn, he
forgot everything else in the world
He wanted to go right to work at
swinging the boat up by the tackle and
then lowering her through the trap
door, but he found, TO his surprise, by
the way that the light was fading, that
the sun must be nearly down. Accord
ingly he went downstairs again and
found that the tide was half In and |
that the hole In the door was foot |
under water.
There was pin that held the door |
down, and when he had pulled this out |
he found that he could raise the door |
easily, for 1t also was hung with coun- |
terweights; SO he got out without div
ing and pulled the door down again. |
Even at high tide he saw that the wa
ter would not be much more than two |
feet deep. Now that the door was not |
fastened he would roll up his trousers
and wade In whenever he chose.
1t was just half tide the next morn
ing when he went down to the wharf,
and there was only about a foot OF wa
ter at the sliding door He was bare
footed TO start with and II did not take
him many minutes TO roll up his trou-
sers. slip down the edge OF the wharf,
open the door and shut it behind him
and then seamper upstairs to the sail