Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-07
CHAPTER V-Continued.

iN"eS o'-iu scb "a ouSht W pc Va
EN-. I've heard you whooping for the
Martin have when you were up town?
BY the way. where is Martini
He was so everlasting comfortable and
sassy. and ] was SO billing hot and nerv-
Gus. that II made me mad.
Hes gone home on the train" I snap
ped out. Got a headache
Headache, Ell? Humph. What did
you have up town and where did you get
it,
Never mind where we got it," saws I
you'll get headache from setting up
stuck on shOal all night If you don't
get aboard that boat. Look at them
clouds.
He looked at 'em. All" he SAYS
/ didn't know what he meant and
didn't care.
WHALE" says l. We'll. we'll be lucky
If we amt the Jonahs. Get aboard with
name. will you; il you want to fetch
port tonight
Lord James looked like he'd like to put
another cad on me. but his boss was
round and he dassent talk back. Be-
tween us We loaded the dunnage. Then
Van got aboard. deliberate enough to try
parsons patience. and I cast loose and
got sail on the Dora Bassett. We'd made
a start. anyhow.
But ii turned out that was all We
| made. Van commenced to ask me more
about Hartley. and afore I could tell him
the news about the pig race and the rest
the Dora Bassett run her nose on a sand
fiat and there she stuck. l was afraid Of
that tide all along
I tried to get her of with the oar hut
twas no go. Then I pulled the skiff
alongside-the one we'd been towing
astern-and got into that and tried that
way But that wouldn't work either.
Finally I jumped overheard up to my
waist and then I got her off.
But she stuck again afore We got out
Of the cove. ] splashed and showed and
worked for another half hour or so. the
wind dying out and the fog drifting in.
Time / got her af1oat this time and had
listened to a steady stretch of Van
Brunt's lazy sarcasms. my temper was
worn to shoestrtngs. Consarn the man!
1t didn't seem to make no difference to
him whether he got home that night or a
week from then.
We got out Of that blessed cove and
into the channel somewheres around 6
O'Clock. Then twas a dead beat home
and the breeze pretty nigh gone. few
minutes and the fog shut down on U.S.
wet and thick and heavy as ever I see it,
We poked along for an hour more.
and then twas most dark and we want
half way to Wellmouth. Lord James was
in his usual position. hanging on to the
one side to t'other If he was afraid
Of being hit when he want looking. I'd
pretty nigh scalped him with the boom
once or twice. and now he ducked when
ever the tiller squeaked. He certainly
looked like a statue Of misery i'm a foun-
tain. with the fog dripping on his side
whiskers.
Van was stretched out on the locker
blowing smoke rings and spouting poetry
I'd been too busy to tell him a word
about his girls being in the neighbor-
hood Fact is. / didn't like the feel Of
things. 1 believed there was wind COM
ing
See here" says l. finally, lone of you
eve out for shoals. We're on the edge of
the channel here and i want to be in
deep water afore a squall hits U.s. 1 CAL
late there's one pretty nigh due
His lordship just stared at me fishy-
eyed and pitiful. AS for Van. he went on
reciting something about being on the
sea. with the blue above and the blue
below" He want going to str-not
him.
Look here" I says. IF we strike a
sand bar and a squall strikes us at the
same time we'll go below, way down.
where it's big sight bluer than tits here.
cording to the minister's tell. Go for'ard
On lookout. won't you?
So he went, though l doubt If he d have
known a bar when he see one-not that
kind anyway
Pretty soon the breeze give out alto
gether. And then. from off in the dis
lduCc, HedTQ d nOlS6, q TuSDln&, roaring
kind of noise.
'Hark-' 1 yells. do you hear that?
Here she comes. Down with the jib
Haul on that rope. Mr. Van, will you?
No, no. Tother one! T'other one. God
frey scissors. Here you Opper. hang on
to that tiller. Keep her just as she is"
/ made long ARM grabbed that valet
man by the collar. yanked him into the
sternsheets and damned the tiler into his
hand. Then took a flying leap forard.
he,
the peak ballard. having a notion. 1t
seemed, that il ought to belong to the
jib.
The squall struck us. The fog split into
pieces, same as rotten tops'l The
Dora Bassett heeled over till / thought
she was going on her beam ends. His
lordship turned loose a yell like a tug
boat whistle. let's go the tiller and dives
head first into the cockpit amidships AS
for me. was swinging out over the side
with my whole weight on the jib down
haul. paving air with my feet and trying
to get back my balance.
That downhaul was old and some rot
ten. 1t broke and I went overheard with
a howl and splash.
| went down far enough to begin to get
glimpses of that blue place I was speak
ing of just now. Then | paved up for
air When my head stuck out of water
there was something big and black
swooping past it. I made a grab and
caught hold. AS luck would have it twas
the skin we was towing astern.
l climbed into that skiff like cat I'D a |
tree. / was full of salt water-eyes and |
all-but I could see the Dora Bassett |
topping ahead of me with her gaff half |
way down her mast. Seems the ballard /
had broken just after the downhaul did |
1 roared. sputtering kind of roar. And |
then Vans head stuck out over the !
slOop's stern.
God sakes!' says he. Are you
"Drowned.' hollers Think I'm a
pesky lubber just cause YOU" I had |
to stop here to cough / was a regular
tank. as YOU might say, OF salt water.
Good heavens" says Van. do they
always do that-boats. I mean?''
Always do | was so mad at my
self and all creation that I could scarcely
answer "Oh. suffering mighty! if ever
go to sea again with a parcel Of
Catch a hold of that tiller, Bring her
into the wind. Cast off that mainsheet,
Cast it off! Here comes another one.'
L suppose mainsheets are kind of scarce
On the street. Anyhow. l see that he
1idn't know what ! meant
THAT rope at the STERN" I hollers.
1ancing around in the skiff. Cast II off.
Livelyw
The second squat struck us. I see the
Dora Bassett drive off I'm a sweeping half
circle. the end of the boom knocking the
ops of the waves to pieces and the spray
lying like d waterfall. And. louder than
Inc wind OF anything else, I could hear
Lord James bellering for home and
mother.
,ther fish to fry. There was two OF
hree ropes at the sailboat's stern and