The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-25

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 Match be lit. sirrs
 1 wha.es uah, cried Shil T can't see. | stand!' "'', undert l lay very still. us' ana | SomeIhins wrong with your. slrxt
 s'r,i said Tankerlane, after a Ion o, pause. Mebbe we'd better 20 beclx to
 uor ven and take 'ee to doctor, No said Shu. in a low voice ..ra,s a me on to Conasea, to Dowsstt,. far,n
 at once, directly we're afoat." oud better go back to Gor,yen. ?,
 saiu rank eriane with a smile. NO, damn you" cried Shil. aTake n, e on 70 conasea. I'll give you a hundred
 pounds if you'll get me to Conasea
 "i.nin the next six hours"
 I'll ask my mate" said Tanker,ane
 HMebbe we can do it." MT Shil will give you hundred
 pounds If you'll get him to conasea | within the next six hours- said vTank :
 eriane as he returned to the two men on deck, and as I am going to give
 you nfty. you'll do well enough over Docs he knoww?' asked YardIev v,th l face. 'a'ie i7 : Yes, he knows. poor chap" And he took it well, did he?o fes, said Tank eriane, "he took it we'll I suggested that we should re-
 turn to Gorehaven and get a doctor. but ne wouldn't listen to me. He in sisted on being taken to Conasea-to
 Dowsetts farm. whoever Dowsett may be-and he's offered you hundred pounds if you'n get him there in six l hours" I'd like to hear that offer repeated. :.
 said Yardley bluntly. Tankerlane flushed, but he kept con ! trol of his temper.
 "Go down and see him yourself.e he | replied quietly. T passed myself of as part owner of the boat when made the bargain. must ask you to con I tinue this innocent piece of deception.
 If he asks you anything about me. | which don't suppose he will, you can 1 tell him my name, William Transom, put wish him to believe am part Bill Yari1ey drowned. I'm a plain | speakin' man." he said, but don't mean no offence, sir, when ask what game you're up to. I like dealin' straight with folk, so as I can know where be all the tifne Iris odd both you two gents should be wantin to go 1 to Con'sea, when no lives out there
 but old Sam Dowsett. doubt if a gent has landed there this twenty years and more"
 If were you. replied Tankerlane, T should mind my own business, ana earn the money that's been offered you Neither my affairs nor the affairs of MT Shil concern you. But you can take 1t from me that you won't get my money
 unless you carry out my orders. and I order you to tell Mir Shil that am a sailor like yourself and part owner of the Hope and Glory. don't suppose he'll ask about me. He's enough else to think of poor chap. But if he does ask, you'll know what answer to give him.
 T beg your pardon, sir,' said Yard ley. "I forgot myself so to speak"
 But in spite of his apology. Yardley went down and ascertained John ShiFs wishes for himself. The blind man in- quired after his previous visitor and learning that his name was William Transom, and part owner of the smack, gave no further thought to the matter. He had, as Tankeriane had suggested, enough already to think of in his dark ness.
 Indeed, it seemed to John ShiI, as he lay there on the hard bunk, and stared into the night, that God had at last brought him down to the lowest depths of misery. He recalled his desperate struggle for life, when the punt had lurched away from under his feet and the waters had closed over his head. He remembered how he had risen to the surface and battled with, the waves till he reached the capsized boat; how he had clung to 1t. and tried to push it shorewards; how he had been afraid to leave it, and swim towards the smooth bank of mud barely two hundred yards away. knowing we'll enough that the water was less treacherous than the slime; how the wind and tide had swept him seawards; and how even the dog had left him at last. preferring, in I spite of the popular tradition, his own safety to death fin the company of his master.
 And then had come the long hours of wind and storm-swept sea and dark ness, and the grim struggle for life. which only hung on the strength of mans muscles and the endurance of his body. And then the cold and hunger, and the thirst and the crashing fury of the clements; and then the roar of surf on a shore the splintering of wood, the cruel blow across the face. and the final clinging to the firm timber of some breakwater, and the sucking back of the sea, and the forward rush of the wave, beating out his life on the pa1i- sade of wood and stone. And then obli- vion, and the half waking in a night wherein he cried for water, and crawl ed landwards seeking it.
 All this he remembered, and he re- called the great joy of knowing that he was saved. and that some fishermen had restored him to life, and that he was to be taken to Conasea Island. And now he knew that all the battle had been in vain, and that the life which had been given back to him was barely worth taking. What use has the world for those who cannot look upon her facet? For such there is pity but no love.
 '"Tis the judgment of God" he nut tered to himself, as he turned over and faced another wall of darkness. "I would have sinned, and she would have sinned for love of me. I would have broken my word and the heart of a good woman. All this I would have done. But God has interyened. Perhaps she Is dead, but whether sine be alive or dead shall never see her face again."
 He cried out in darkness, and Yard ley came numbering down the ladder.
 When can we get off?" he exclaimed. "I must be at Conasea in six hours time."
 "We'l1 get off in bout ten minutes. sir. She'm shiftin' in the sand now. But 4oIf SAA air ts.-