Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-24
Bv Joseph c.. LINCOLN,

. awa hs And night like this was likely
Lord SAYS l. ITS crazy We'd
But Martin Hartley was already half
way to the skiff. OF course he didn't know
the risk. and / did. but-well. there.
I'm go. says | to Eureka. You head
for the school fast as Your horse can
travel. Tell the Page girl not to let
Duncan touch the boy till the Jordan
man comes or the train comes without
him. You understands
You bet YOU says she. ITS SPLEEN
did; Wen save tho boy and Mr. Hartley
will be all right with her. oh. I'm SO
glad Mr.. Van Brunt want here
She whirled the horse around and off
weather and then ran after Hartley. Save
the boy. A considerable bigger chance
of not saving ourselves. Well. my school
teacher always used to say I'd be
drowned some daft | want hung
first.
I had one reef in when the Dora Bas-
sett swung clear of the outside point of
Ozone Island cove. ] hated to take an
other. for | wanted to make time. But
l had to take ii afore We tackled at the
dead beat and the sloop was laying over
till | thought sure shed fill. The waves
was as big. almost as ever | see in the
bay. and when one would fetch lis on the
starboard bow the biggest half of it
would shoot clean from stem to stern.
We was soaked afore we'd hardly started.
1t couldn't have been much worse unless
twas the middle of February.
| had the tiller and Hartley was for
ard in the cockpit. | was using the
mainsail altogether. although later on
did some of the jib to help her point
up to wind ard There was plenty of
water and would be for hours. so | could
give her the centerboard full. That didn't
bother uS-nOt then.
I was too busy to speak and Martin
didn't seem to care to. He set there.
looking out ahead. and when he turned.
SOS | could see his face. it was set and
quiet. And in his eyes was the look
that I'd seen there once afore-the day
of the pig race. | wouldn't have known
him for the reckless. lazy chap he'd been
for the last month or SO.
The only thing he said to me at this
time was, as | remember it. something
like this:
II know that DR.. Jordan he says. Il
met him at Cambridge at a foot ball
game. ] was there at college and father
came over for the game. The doctor was
one of fathers friends.
That's Iuck.:' says I. Maybe that'll
give you some pull.
'Perhaps So" says he.
IF he won't come" I asks. ''what'l
you do
Hell have to come was all the ain
Swer nc made.
Even this little mite of talk meant hol-
lerins. Your lungs loose. The wind was
rising all the time. tho sea kept getting
more rugged we got where the bay
was wider. and the splashing and bang
ing worse than a waterwhe2l work
ing double watches. After awhile I made
Hartley set side of me. that. when
wanted anything. / could grab his arm.
This was after it got dark. And it got
dark carly. Likewise it begun to rain
The storm that we'd had for the last few
days seemed to be blowing back over us
Seems if 1t Ought to have raned and
blown itself out by this time. but we had
proof that it hadn't.
We want making scarcely anything on
our tacks. The Dora Bassett's good
wind ard boat: too. but she'd fall off and
fall off. BY and by the dark and rain
got so thick that I couldn't see the shore
lights. and had to run by compass and
guess. There want likely to be any
other blame fools afioat to run into us.
still ! gave Hartley horn to blow i'll
case there should be-
Twas lucky I did. Along about twelve.
when we was somewheres i'm the middle
of the bay-off Sandy Bend, l should
thnk-it seemed to me that I heard a
foot in answer to one of Hartley's. He
heard it. too. | guess. for he commenced
to blow hard and fast. 'TWant much
use. for anything that was to wind ard
OF us wouldn't have heard sound And
we only heard that one. l judge. the
noise was blown past us down the gale
come.
All at once we both yelled. Out of the
middle of rain and black comes poking a
big jibboom and a bowsprt. Next min
ute Il tWo-mas ter, with only jib and
reefed fo'sail set. went booming by just
under our stern. I could see a wink of
her for'ard lights. and glimpse of a
Teller holding a lantern by her rail and
staring down at us. His face was big
eyed and scared. I've wondered since
how ours looked 10 him. All the rest was
black hull and waves and roaring. A
macllerel boat trying to run into Maui
beckit Harbor. / guess she was. | cal
late the afternoon hull had fooled 'em into
trying.
We didnx say not hing Only Hartley
looked up me and grinned. ] could
him III the lantern light. l shook my
head and srinned back.
All the time | kept thinking to myself.
Sol Pratt, You old gray-headed fool. this
make ii: you knew afore you started
you couldn't. You'll be in among the
shoals pretty soon. and then you and the
Dora Bassett1l go to smithereens and
cart that poor innocent city man with
YOU. He don't know that. but you do.
And all on account of a red-headed little
tousIy from the back alleys of New
York. and a girl that amt none of Your
relations. Yen deserve what's coming to
YOU.
And yet even Will ! was thinking it. 7
WAS glad was making the try. Glad
for R"dny's sake; particular glad on ac
count of what it might mean to Martin
and Agnes. and glad. TOO. just out of
general cussedness. You see. twas like
a fight: and there's d heap of satisfaction
once in a while in a real old-fa shoned
knock down and drag ont. rough and
tumble tisht-that is. when you're fight
ing for anything worth the row.
The storm kept on: seemed as If twould
never let up. And we kept on. too, three
reefs in by this time and the jib down.
And with every tack | allated we was
making better Roadway toward tho bot
tom than anywheres else. / couldn't see
nothing TO get my bearings from. and
hadn't no idea where we was. except the
general one that. up TO now. and by God s
mercy. We was aflOat.
Then, at last. the gale begun to so
down. A landsnan wouldn't have no.
ticed the change. but | did. 1t stopped
raining. and the wind was easing up. BY
and by the haze broke and I caught a
| glimpse of Middle Ground light. almost
abreast of us. I unbuttoned my ileskin
jacket and looked ut my watch. Half
past two. and only 1hree-quarters OF the
way to WapatOmaC. We'd been eight
| hours and half coming Il distance that
| I've made over and over again. in that
very s!onp in less than three. Hartley
caught my sleeve.
will we get there he shouts. His
| face was all shining with the wet and his
, hair was too tcavy with water even to
/ blow in the wind.
Don't know I hollers back. Well
| Il -, &c I, .