Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-05-14

stern sheets, the ends Of o.na eu;ns
past him in the gale.
"nen l could see again the long boat
was making ready for the dash into the
roaring surf. The oarsmen-there were
sumo t"elve-were laboring to keen the
10" straight on. The tall man was stand
ing up to see where he should on and 7
caught sight Of his white and storm-d;s-
torted face. could not move. conld
noC utter cry; stood trans6xed. scarce
Dreaming, my body taut, waiting to see
what would happen next.
SECONDS passed in the darkness. then
nash, and l saw that the boat had
"eatnered the worst of the surf and was
grinding ON the shore. Four of the men
had leaped out and were hauling hard
| at the sides; the steersman. CANT and
Dlack, still clutched the tiller half
crouchlng, and was shouting. Succeeding
darkness gave me a chance to wonder
what manner of men were these making
ror Alastair, DESERVING their ship ON the
coast, and landing where there was no
narpor, and only a shinge beach, Light
again, and | stood dumfounded. trans
hxed, for [ saw a little procession march
| ing up the beach to the pines east Of me ::
hrst the tall man in the long black, flap
ping cloak, then two men bearing a good
sized box between them, and then two
others, carrying what looked to me
like shovels. Darkness, a terrible roar
of thunder, and l pinched myself to make
sure that was awake.
struck a match and held it behind nv
hand in order that no signal should be
given. My watch told me the hour was
half past one. I found that I was shiv-
ering from the cold, and slipped into my
coat. At every flash of light l was back
at the window. raking the beach with my
eyes. | saw nothing but the grounded
| boat, with number of men standing by,
and far off the tossing hulk of the schoon-
er.
| | did not even dare step into the hall
to call Charles, so afraid was I of losing
something of this remarkable sight Min
utes passed l kept my watch in my
hand. Flash succeeded flash at greater
intervals, but the scene was still the
same: the boat evidently waiting, the far
Their reaches of the beach empty.
Half an hour had gone when my pa
thence was rewarded. The same process
sion appeared from the pines, minus only
so far as I could see-the box that two
of them had carried There was a long
interval of blackness, and then l saw the
long boat plunging again through the
breakers, and the crew struggling to keep
her righted with their oars. l could see
the boat was sharp at either end, and the
men no novices at the dangerous work
of Bleaching. They were gone going back
| to their schooner, and [ felt that the
spirit of mystery was lifting from Alas
| tair.
Still I waited, and in time the scene
lighted, and | saw that the boat had left
something: the tall, cloaked man still
stood upon the beach, gazing seward as
though to catch the last of his mates. l
remember that even in that brief in
stant 7 felt there was something strange
about him, something fantastic, some
thing out of keeping with the New Eng
| land shore.
Darkness shut in, the roar of thunder
lessened, the lightning passed; the outer
world only sent me the deep, distant
booming of the sea upon the cliff. L
stumbled back to bed and pulled the
| clothes about me, full of wonder at what
| nv eyes had seen.
T Law there for a long time, thinking,
coniecturing what all this strange mat
fer meant. Somehow, my quiet beach had
been transformed; the space between the
cliffs now Swallowed forth a mystery, and
vet, preposterous as the idea seemed, [
| felt in some way that [ had always ex-
nected a remarkable something to happen,
NV dreams in some way to come true, for
Aiastair was no common place and was
ft for some surprising history,
| In time l dropped asleep, to dream of
queer things.