The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-05-14
anon Walker appeared.

81 thought so. You had better re-
| main here, Walker. We have not long
to wait now for the dawn. and four
| eyes are better than two"
Walker imagined that the skipper
was ready for a chat
Things are in a dweadful mess be-
| low, sir l can't make head or tail Of
the smash"
"Well, that must wait Don't talk.
Keep a sharp lookout"
The engineer could not guess that
the captains pulse was beating a trifle
more rapidly with a certain elation
They were undoubtedly passing White
| Horse island. 1t revealed it's presence
| by DETECTING the tremendous sea river
which ferried the Kansas onward at
| such rate. In fifteen or twenty min
utes Courtenay expected to find indica-
tons Of more northerly set of the
| tide, and he watched the compass in
! tently for the first sign of this return
| to the former course. If the ship cross
ed the current one way or the other
she would certainly be driven ashore
on some outlying spur of the island or
detached sunken reef; hence he must
| actually guess his way. with some
thing Of the acquired sense of the
blind, because the slight chance of ulti-
| mate escape for the ship and her occu-
| pants rested wholly on the assumption
that some ocean byway was leadin.
her to a deep water inlet, where j.
might be possible to drop the anchor.
In eighteen minutes or thereabouts
the needle moved slightly. Courtenay
once more assisted the ship with the
helm. She steadied herself, and the
compass pointed due northeast again.
Walker, though an engineer, knew
enough of navigation to recognize the
apparent impossibility Of the captain
knowledge of his surroundings. The
wheel twisting therefore savored of
magic. But his orders were to look
ahead. and he obeyed.
Soon he thought he could discern an
Irregular pink crescent, with the con-
cave side downward, somewhere in the
blackness beyond the bows. Speedily
it was joined by two others equally
! irregular and somewhat lower.
Captain, dye see yon?" he asked in
a voice tremulous with awe.
Eyes. That is the sun just catching
the SUBMITS Of snow topped hills. 1t
not only foretells the dawn, but is a
sign of fine weather. There are no
clouds over the land or we should not
zee the peaks"
Ere long silver gray light began to
dispel the gloom. The two silent
watchers first saw it overhead, and the
vast dome of day swiftly widened
over the vexed sea. The aftermath of
the storm spread low, dense cloak of
vapor all round. The wind had fallen
so greatly that they could hear the
song Of the rigging. Soon they could
distinguish the outlines Of the heavy
rollers near at hand, and Courtenay
believed that the ship in her passage
encountered in the water several mar
row bands of a bright red color. If
this were so, he knew that the phe-
nomenon was caused by the prawn-
like crustacea which sailors call
whale food" sure sign Of deep wa
ter close to land and. further, an indi-
cation that the current was still flow
ing strongly. while the force of the
sea must have been broken many miles
to westward.
Suddenly he turned to Walker.
do you think you could shin up to
the masthead?' he asked.
81 used to be able to climb bit, sir"
"Well, try the foremast. Up there
am fairly certain you can see over this
Come back if you feel you can't man.
age it. If you succeed, take the best
observations possible and report"
Courtenay was becoming anxious
now. If he dared let go the wheel he
would have climbed the mast himself
Walker set about his mission in a
businesslike manner. He threw off his
thick coat and boots and went for
ward. Halfway up the mast there was
rope LADDER for the use of the sailors
when adjusting pulleys.
The rest of the journey was not diff
cult for an athletic man, and Walker
was quickly an indistinct figure in the
fog. He gained the truck all right and
instantly yelled something. Courtenay
fancied he said:
my God, we-ah on the wocksv'
Whatever it was, Walker did not
wait, but slid downward with such
speed that it was fortunate the rig
ging barred his progress.
And then, even while Courtenay was
shouting some explanation, great
black wall rose out of the deep on the
port bow. 1t was a pinnacle rock high
! as the ships masts, but only few
feet wide at sea level, and the Kansas
sped past this ugly monitor as though
it were buoy in a well marked chan
mel.
Courtenay heard the sea breaking
against it. The ship could not have
been more than sixty feet distant, a
little more than her own beam, and he
fully expected that she would grind
against some outlier in the next in
slant. But the Kansas had a charmed
life. She ran on unscathed and SEEM
ed to be travelling in smoother water
after this escape.
Walkers dark skin was the color of
parchment when he reached the chart