Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-06-30

 ing fingers.
 They were watching him aboard the brigantinc. He could see a line of heads above her windward rail. Per haps she was of their number. He waved an audacious hand. Some one replied, great shout shattering itself unlntelligibly against the gale, He nei- ther understood nor attempted to reply. His every faculty was concentrated on the supreme moment now at hand.
 Calculating the instant to n nicety. he paid off the sheet and pulled mp the tiller The catboat pivoted on her heel. With crack her sail flapped full and rigid: then. with the untempered might of the wind behind her. she shot like an arrow under the brigantine's bows. so close that the bowsprit of the latter first threatened to impale the sail: next. the bows plunging. crashed down bare two feet behind the cat boats stern.
 Working In frenzy of haste. Kirk wood damned the tiller hard alee, bringing, the eat about. and. trimming the mainsheet as best he might. found himself racing under the brigantine's leeward quarter water pouring in gen erously over the cats.
 I.ufing. he edged nearer. handling his craft as though intending to ram the ,arger vessel. foot by foot short ening the little interval When 1t was four feet he would risk the jump. He crawied out on the overhang. crouch ing on his toes one hand light upon the tller. the other touching the deck. ready ready.
 Abruptly the Alethea shut off the wind: the sail fattened and the cat dropped back In a second the dis tance had doubled. In anguish Kirk wood uttered an exceeding bitter cry. Already he was falling far off her counter
 shout reached him. He was dimly conscious of dark object hurtling through the air Into the cockpit. splashins. something dropped-a coil of rope He fell forward upon it into water eighteen inches deep and for line he had gone to his drowning in an other minute. The cat was sinking.
 As he scrambled to his feet, clutch Ing the life line. heavy wave washed over the waterlogged craft and left it all but submerged. and smart tug on the rope added point to the advice, which. reaching his ears in below like bulls. penetrated the panic Of his wits.
 Jump. Jump. you foo',
 Tn an instant of cchercuce he saw tut the hri"an,iHe was iuflnG. None the less much of the line had already been paid out and there was no rcca ol,nG when the end would be reached Without time to make il fast he hitch ed il twi"c round his waist and chest. once round an arn. aud. graSping li above his head to case its cOnstliction when the tug should come. leaped on the comblng and overheard. 4 green roaring avalanche swept down upon him md the mckless catboat. over whelming both simultaneously
 The agony that was his during the next few minutes can by no means be exaggerated His senses were plotted out in blackness. Then he was breath ing once more. the keen clean air stab ping his lungs. the while he swam m supported iB an ethereal void of. bril- liance. His mouth was full of some thing that burned. liquid hot. acrid and stinging. He gulped. swallowed, slabbered. choked. coughed, attempted to sit up. was aware that he was the focal center of a ring of glaring. burn- ing eyes. like eyes of ravening beasts, and tainted.
 His next conscious impression was of standing up. supported by friendly arms on either side. while somebody was asking him if he could walk q step or two.
 He was partly seated. partly held up. on the edge of the cabin skylight. an object of interest to some half dozen men. seafaring fellows all by their habit, clustered round between him and the windward rail Of their num- Der one stood directly before him. dwarfing his companions as much by his air of command as by his uncom- mon height-tall thin faced and sal low, with hollow. weatherworn cheeks, q mouth like q crooked gash from ear to ear and eyes like dying coals. with which be looked the rescued up and down In one grim, semi-humorous. semi-speculative glance. In hands both huge and red he fondled tenderly a squat brandy flask whose contents had apparently been employed as first aid to the drowning
 As Kirkwood's gaze encountered his the man smiled sourly. jerking his head to one side with singularly de risive air
 "Hi. matey" he clustered "'Ow goes if now? Feelin' 'appicr. eigh?"
 Some. thank you more like a drowned rat" Kirkwood eyed him sheepishy. Il suppose you're the man who threw me that line? I'll have to wait till my head clears up before can thank you properly"
 "DOu't mpntion if j." IIp pf tho lan-