Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-07-27


without 80 much as a look before him,
he lowered himself on to the twisted
battens below. with the clean water
raining on 10 him from above and
muddy Wavelets squirting up from be-
low, and then when the steamer gave
heavy Scend and the more solid wash
from bCioW smote him heavily upon
the thighs he loosed his grip and diN-ed
like a stone through the brimmin+s
shattWdy of the hatch
Seconds passed, a minute, two min
utes, and still ne did not reappear.
Three minutes. Then the rounded out
lines OF something black rolled TO the
surface and surged about Imply With
the sWill Of the water
For "A While il staid so; then, swung
by heavier pitch of the steamer, was
washed 20 the back Of a stanchion,
where IT hung. The shopping water be-
meath ebbed steadily. ihc valve in the
steamers bottom had been closed
During whole hour Patrick Cnm-
bel lodged behind that iron pillar a
mere bonel@as mass of 1esh and clothes
and then the pains OF life came tnto
him again with shivers and shutter
iugs. The thin gray light OF the dawn
was altering down through the Jagged
opening above when first the trembling
Ids slid from his cyeballs, but for still
another thirty minutes he was a thing
OF no wit breathing, truly. but caring
naught for all the world contained
Then sucking, sobbing noise from
the depths OF the hold far beneath
broke upon his ear, and the languid
brain began 70 work. With an effort
he sat up, diZZily holding TO the pill
lar trying 20 think whore he was and
how ran recent history, and by degrees
the details strUlcd back 10 him He-
fore, however, he had gathered all hrs
senses or a working quantum of
strength he had a visitor in the shape
OF the donkeyInan. who clattered up
over the decks with plate shod boots
and crouChe1 at the top of the gap
above on knees and hands
Have YOU been getting hurt now"
inquired the newcomer
About nine-tenths drowned, fancy,
If that counts. But I'm about all right
again now
You don't look IT," replied the dom
keyman candidly Barring the tan
you'd be blue and lard color about the
face this minute But ] feared there
Was something gone wrong through not
seeing SO on the bridge, SO | npp,-d
into the chartrcom and pocketcd a
whisky bottle that was lying cOnven-
lent in caee-Pull AZ the small end
sor'
The bottle was handed down. and
Cambel lifted II his teeth chatterinC
tstiIlNl NiHf lfNtsi| t'hF EdEN0HtiE, DllN
the spirit drove color into his face and
set the sluggish blood once more on
:ts appointed journey through his hands
ana trunk.
What has occurred since lcft
you2' he asked
Wei. first, sor the captain and my
self had a little friendly discussion
about what's been happening, and came
TO a bit Of financial agreement But
viii say that / figured me new terms
very low when / understood IL was "A
tnriile of conspiracy that. Ye wanted me
to stand in at. And then, sOr we went
below TO the engine room and turned
steam into the bilge pumps to hea1-e
this nasty slop of water after which.
as chief / set about making a repair
to the low pressure engine You SEQ
when that explosion took place a Bit
of casting jumped into the crank pit
and got jammed there hard before they
could stop her. I've had fair do at
elbow work cutting it out cold, but It's
clear now, and she runs as swectly az
she did the day she left the shops. But
oh, Mr.. Cambel, l wish you could see
the old man. The sight Of that littIe
chap shoveling Goals and swearing and
tumbiirg and burning himself is enough
10 make the ghosts Of some dead fire.
men ! know about grin and dances
and jigs in their graves"
y
garrulous and evidently lusted for a
considerable chat but with returning
strength Cafnbel's anxiety grew on him
again and he climbed out on deck
keen TO be once more i'm action His
knees were lottery, and the dCnkeyman
gave him an arm aft. But when he
had climbed up the ladder and gained
the bridge deck he stood for a minute
staring, then threw up his hands and
pitched forward onto the planking as
though a bullet had smitten the life
in his brain
The big donkeyman also was startled
out Of the morning mists of the south
there had come up "a small center
board schooner of some fifteen toms
an oysterman perhaps in the season
and now a sponge gatherer or a mere
coaster She was coming down over
the seas dry as a gull. driving along
under her boom foresail and lib The
donkeyman's eye hung on her as she
spurged past tho rust streaked flank OF
the steam or some twenty fathoms away
not because the sight Of a little white
painted schooner was new 20 him not
because he was impressed by tho dan
ger TO the Port Edes' enterprise in her
being seen by any one. but on account
or the tiny vessel being handled. In
what 10 her was distinctly ugly wealth
er by so extraordinary a person az a
E'uiiS anu pretty SlIl. NO one else was
on deck, and the girl sat on the coarn-
Ing of the cockpit, tiller i'm one hand.
tiller rope in the other as unconcern-
edly as though she had been an ancient
mariner bred and aged in fore and
alters.
She was a girl, too with looks much
TO the lrishmans liking, with cuppe-
req hair whose ends blew out from be-
meath green Italian nightcap laugh
ing, impudent features. with the color
whipped up into warm pinks by the
wind; o figure OF pretty curves. and the
shapelist little brown fists ia the world
splaYed on the tillcr and gripping the
restraining tiller rope. She was pretty
much up to the eyes in her steering bvt
she found time to throw an oeiiiad to-
ward the steamer, which Mr. Sullivan
answered with yell intended 10 show
hic complete admiration and a swirl of
his greasy cap II was then that Cam
be- fell. and The donkeyman took his
eyes from the schooner ana picked him
up ana once more applied the whisky
bottle. More drowned than | thought
for" he mutttered. '1tIl be a pigs
mess for us II he goes H."
But Patric!; Cambcl had not famed
through the effect of his recent strug-
81 alone Il was quite another matter
which had dealt him the suniclng
shock
ac had seen the sister OF the woman TO
whom he had once been affianced: who
bad discarded aim for another man:
VINO had driva him from a sedatc
English life ~ be wanderer and
}lg1hcnd upon the taco OF the earth
his roaming had begun and continued
cu.y because Tine image OF this one
wciGan had refused 10 leave his
thoughts, md the half sarcastic nick
r&n.c ol ne great traveller had been
gained without any seeking on his part
Rive long desperate years had passed
since tlC blow iell upon him. and time
Wa@ doing its work. He had begun 20
fp-gct her, to promise himself that, this
present euta7p-.se accomplished, he
would eliminate the past and lead a
newer ana different life. and get there,
C.! the most unlikely corner of Gods
Garth, her sister passed like a stage
figure befc:g his eyes, the sister from
whom Ghc WaH never parted