The San Francisco call., 1909-02-14

of surrender, as often plucked up hope;
as the minutes wore on and he kept
above water, he began to believe that
If he could stick 1t out his Judgment
and seamanship would be justified
though human ingenuity backed
by generosity could by no means con-
trive adequate excuse for his foolhardi-
ness.
But that was aside. something ir-
reparable. Wan and grim, he fought
it out.
But that his voice stuck in his
parched throat, he could have shouted
in his elation, when eventually he
gained the point OF intersection an
eighth of a mile ahead Of the brigan-
tine and got sight of her windward
freeboard as, most slowly, the cat
boat forged across her course.
For all that, the moment Of his
actual triumph was not yet; he had
still to carry of successfully scheme
that for sheer audacfty Of conception
and contempt for danger, transcended
all that had gone before.
Holding the catboat on for time,
he brought her about handsomely
little way beyond the brigantine's
course, and hung In the eye of the
wind, the leach tapping and tighten
ing with reports like rifle shots, and
the water sloshing about his calves
bailing dish now altogether out Of his
mind-while he watched the oncoming
vessel, his eyes glistening with antic-
ipation.
She was footing 1t smartly. the brig
antine-lying down to 1t and snoring
into the wind. Beneath her stem waves
broke in snow white showers, whittier
than the canvas Of her bulging jib-
broke and, gnashing their teeth IN
impotent fury swirled and eddied down
her sleek dark hanks. Bobbing, cour-
tesying, she plunged onward, shorten
ing the interval with mighty, leaptpg
bounds. On her bows, with each In
stant the golden letters of her name
grew larger and more legible until
-Alethea!-he could read it plain be-
yond dispute.
Joy welled in his heart. He forgot
all that he had undergone in the pros
pect of what he proposed still to do
in the name of the only woman the
world held for him. UnquestiOning
he had come thus far in her service;
unquestioning, by her side, he was pre-
pared to go still farther, though all
humanity should single her out with
accusing fingers.
They were watching him, aboard
the brigantine; 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
unintelligibly against the gale. He
neither understood nor attempted to
reply; his every faculty was concen-
trated on the supreme moment now
at hand.
Calculating the instant to a nicely,
he paid off the sheet and pulled up
the tiIler. The catboat pivoted on her
heel; with a crack her sail tapped full
and rigid; then, with the untempered
might of the wind behind her, she
shot like an arrow under the brigan-
tines bows, so close that the bowsprit
of the latter first threatened to impale
the sail, next, the bows plunging
crashed down a bare two feet behind
the catboat's stern.
Working in a frenzy OF haste, Kirk
wood jammed the tiller hard alec
bringing the cat about, and, trimming
the mainsheet as best he might, found
himself racing under the brigantine S
leeward quarter-water pouring in
generously over the cats.
Luffing. he edged nearer, handling
his craft as though intending to ram
the larger vessel, foot by foot shorten
ing the little interval When 1t was
four feet, he would risk the jump; he
crawled out on the overhang, crouch
ing on his toes, one hand light upon
the tiller, the other touching the
deck ready
Abruptly the Alethea shut Off the
wind; the sail f1attened and the cat
dropped back. In a second the dis
tance had doubled. In anguish Kirk
wood uttered an exceedingly bitter cry.
Already he was falling far of her
shout reached him. He was dimly
conscious of a dark object hurtling
through the air Into the cockpit.
splashing, something dropped coil
- Al ri If into
water 1S inches deep; and for the first
time realized that. but for that line
he had gone to his drowning in
another minute. The cat was sinking.
AS he scrambled to his feet, clutch
ing the lifeline, heavy wave washed
over the water logged craft and left
it all but submerged; and a 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 foolr'
In an instant of conference he saw
! that the brigantine was luffing; none
the less much of the line had already
been paid out, and there was no reck-
oning when the end would be reached
: without time to make it fast. he
hitched it twice round his waist and
chest, once round an arm. and, grasp
ing it above his head to ease it's con-
striction when the tug should come
leaped on the combing and overheard
A green roaring avalanche swept dowr
upon him and the luckless catbOat,
overwhelming both simultaneously.
The agony that was his during the
next few minutes can by no means be
) exaggerated With such crises the hu-
t man mind Is not fitted adequately tC
cope; it retains no record of the SUI
, preme moment beyond a vague and
incoherent impression of poignant,
soul racking suffering. Kirkwood un-
? derwent a prolonged interval Of semi
sentence, his mind dominated and op-
: pressed by a deathly fear of drown
I ing and a deadening sense of suffoca-
ton, with attendant tortures as o1
being broken on the wheel-limb rend-
} ing from limb; of compression CT his
> ribs that threatened momentarily tC
} crush in his chest; Of a world a-weltel
with dim swirling green half light:
alternating with flashes of binding
} white; of thunderings in his ears like
) salvos from thousand cannon
> And his senses were blotted out II
blackness.
Then he was breathing once more
| the keen clean air stabbing his lungs
= cd In,