Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-02-27

starbOard scupper. At the same time
smother of salt water blew over the
port rail, now far above me, to drerch
me as thoroughly as though | had fall
en- overheard. / brushed out my eyes
to find the ship smack on her beam
ends and the wind bowling by from
the sea.
/ had company enough i'll the soup
pers. Only Handy Solomon chung des-
perately to the wheel. jamming his
weight to port in the hope she might
pay up. Thrackles, too, his eye squint
ed along some bearing of his own, was
waiting for her TO drag. Presently 1t
became evident that she was doing so.
whereupon he drew his knife across
our hawSer.
MY God" chartered Pulz at my ear,
IF we go ashore
He did not need to finish. Unless the
Laughing Lass could recover before the
squat had driven her to leeward
scant half mile we should be cooked
alive in the boiling caldron at the
shores edge.
For an interminable time, as it seem
ed to me, we lay absolutely motionless.
The scene is stamped indelibly on my
memory-the bullwarks high above me.
the steep. sleek deck. the piratical fig
ure tense at the wheel, the snarling
water racing from beneath us. the lurid
glow to landward crawling up on us
inch by inch, like hungry wild beast
Then almost imperceptibly the brave
schooner righted The strained lines
on Handy Solomon's carven features
relaxed little by little. Thrackles, star
ing over the side, ret out mighty roar
''Steerage wayr he shouted and eX-
ecuted an awkward clog dance on the
reeling deck.
She moved forward, there was no
doubt of that, for gradually we were
eating toward the wind, but we made
considerable leeway as well. Handy
Solomon, taut as the weather rigging.
took his little advantages one by one
like precious gifts. Light there was
none. The land was blotted out by the
steam and murk which had crept to
sea and now was hurled back by the
wind. All we could do was TO hang
there, tasting the copper of excitement,
waiting for these different forces to ad-
just themselves. Inch by inch we crept
forward; foot by foot we made lee
way. The intenseSt of the lava glow
worked its way from directly abeam
of the quarter. By this we knew we
must be nearly opposite the cove. At
once a new doubt sprang up in our
minds.
A moment ago all the energy of our
desires had gone up in the ambition to
avoid being cast on the beach. Now we
saw that that was not enough. 1t was
necessary to squeeze around the point
where lay the Golden Horn in order to
! avoid the fate that had overtaken her.
Handy Solomon yelled something at
| us. We could not hear, but our own
knowledge told US what it must be,
and with one accord we turned to
| on the foresail. With the peak of IL
hoisted we moved trifle faster, though
the schooner lay over at a perilous
! angle. A moment later the fogs parted
to show US the cliffs looming startling
| ly near. There were the donkey engine
| and the works we had constructed for
| wrecking, and there beside them
watching us reflectively, stood Percy
| Darrow.
| For ten minutes we stared at him
fascinated, during which time the
ship labored against the staggering
| winds, gained and lost in it's buffeting
with the great surges. The breakers
| hurting themselves in wild abandon
against the rocks sent their bac.swash
| of tumbling peaks to our very bilges
The few remains of the Golden Horn
alternately drenched and draining
seemed to picture to us our inevitable
end
1 think we had all selected the same
two points for our bearings" rock
and drop of the cliff holder than the
ordinary. If the rock opened from the
cliff to eastward, we were lost; If il
remained stationary, we were at leas
holding our own; if it opened out t.
westward, we were saved. We watch
ed with strained eagerness impos
sibe to describe. At each momentary
gain or rebuff we uttered calculations
The niger mumbled charms Every
once in awhile one of US would snatch
a glance to leeward at the cruel white
waters, the wbirl of eddies where the
sea was beaten, only to hurry back t.
the rock and tha point of the cliff
whence our message of safety or de
struction was to. be flung. Once