The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-05
A SALVAGE
CASE
B9 W. d. HAYWARD



brought up, nautically speaking. Hands
more accustomed TO the tying of reef
points than of apron strings had led
him since boyhood along the true
path OF sea-righteousness setting up
and tautening the strands of his char
acter until, like springy, well-seasoned
rigging, II could gently but firmly bear
any strain that might be put upon It.
lie had also learned in practical way
something about the Christening and
hardening influences OF the knotted
end of piece of manila rope.
In the light of such training there
was no obvious reason why Capt. Cul-
tor should have developed a startling
amount of sentiment And, to tell the
truth. he hadn't; that is, he wouldn't
admit that he had, which is nearly the
same thing. Yet, strange to relate
he sat quietly I'm his cabin and gazed
lntehr1y' II not wlsIfuliy, at the pho
tograph OF a girl which he had Just
taken out of his desk. This was moth
ing in itself. Any other man with an
eye for beauty would have done the
same thing; but perhaps another fell
low would not have sighed at the
sight of the picture. This Capt. c1il-
tor did, and It altered the case en-
urely. 1t is true that he checked
himself before he finished, but it was
q sigh for all that, and one which en-
compassed a world of meaning.
A. highly imaginative and romantic
person would have at once concluded
that this sailor had somewhere in his
travels, encountered hurricane of
love, the chokod-off sigh being a part
OF the ground swell of emotion which
naturally followed the tempest. Such
conclusion would have been correct,
for Capt. Cutor had long since run
out OF the doldrums OF heart.whole-
ness into the furies Of the tender pas
sion. 1t was rather unfortunate that he
should have struck the furies instead
OF the trade winds, for this made the
sailing more difficult; but to man of
hve-and.twenty, no matter how strong
his character may be, love rarely
comes in gentle puffs.
1t happened, as most love cases hap
pen, in quite natural and not alto
gerner inexplicaDTe manner. II dfT.
fered only from the ordinary in one re-
spect-the way it matured In reality
II didn't mature; it simply came out
of the blue like the white squall and
carried away the rigging of two hearts
so that they both fell together, tan
gled mass Of wreckage.
After recounting the facts It is diff.
cult to see how it could have been
otherwise. The Blenheim was lying
beside Brooklyn dock, undergoing
repairs. At an opposite pier, with 200
feet Of unobscured vision between the
vessels, lay the schooner American
Eagle, owned and commanded by
Jabez Haines. Capt Haines was not
a pleasing man. in the full sense of
the word; he had followed the sea too
long. Even his best friends admitted
that. His enemies called him a selfish,
sour, crochety sea-dog, but they we're
illiberal in their views; for how can
40 years of salt air and very salt
horse produce meekness of spirit
and sweetness of temper?
But whatever people thought of
Capt Haines, not one person could
say that he did not love his ship. The
Eagle was his god, his religion and
his daily bread, He worshiped the
Eagle, would have died for the Eagle,
and the Eagle-well, she was a vessel,
and did not understand. But she
never left port with empty matches.
The second place in Capt. Haines'
affections was held by Sally. What
her father lacked in physical beauty
and it was a good deal-Sally more
than made up by her own personal
charms; and what her father lost by
his roughness, Sally gained by her
gentleness, In short, Sally was an
unaffected lovable girl, quite unversed
in the ways of the world. but possess.
ing a ready appreciation that enabled
her to grasp new conditions without
effort.
Sallys life aboard the Eagle was
not exciting, to say the least. To the
laborers on the dock it appeared to
be a continual round of sewing. Her
favorite seat was in the after COM
panion-way, and there she worked day
in and day out apparently oblivious
to all that went on around her. =
To make a long story short. the
meeting of Capt. Cultor and Sally was
case of love at first sight When
the subject of marriage was men
toned to Sally's father he flew into a
rage. He would not hear of It. Then
one morning Cultor arose to find the
Eagle gone from her dock.
The Blenheim had logged many a
knot and maze many port since
then, but the fortune Of the sea had
never allowed her to fall in with the
Eagle This was a sad state of af-
fairs. Nevertheless, Cultor was philo.
sophical If he couldn't have Sally
In person, he at least could look at
her picture, leaving his imagination to
do the rest. Sometimes his imagina,
! ton raced like screw out OF water
and caused him to see visions of q
vine-covered cottage with trim figure
standing in the doorway, ready TO wei
come him after a long voyage Al
other times II jammed, as rope In q
block sometimes does, Then he sighed
"a weak thing for a man to do who