Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-04
The Best Wins


llluSGQg lie WOulu nave pONiA yhSN -
at loss to answer it straightway: He
went-well, simply because the fancy
possessed him to do so. At least, SO
ne believed. But not wholly so, either.
Would 1t have occurred to him to start
away in quest of any other couple who
might have been oVertaken by that
fog? And since he was assuredly not
going away in such a hurry to assist
Aubrey Sinclair = whom he would
gladly have left to drift to the other
end of the world-we come back to
the natural inference that Mabel was
really at the bottom of this nasty III
tie expedition.
Having roWed for about quarter OF
a mile from the beach, Archdale laid
in his oars, and hoisted the lug-sail.
The boat felt the weight of the fresh
ening breeze which, coming from the
southwest, set directly over her quar-
ter, and she went skimming through
the water at speed that was scarcely
judicious in such thick weather. But
Archdale had the instincts of the sea;
one could see that by the manner in
which he leaned forward from the
tiller, peering out ahead and frequent
ly glancing at the compass to make
sure that he was holding to the course
he had set himself on starting, as
likely to bring him to within ken OF
the object of his search.
Yet 1t seemed rather a forlorn hope,
too, any prospect of lighting upon the
little boat in which were Mabel and
Sinclair seeing that the horizon was
frequently narrowed down to within
hundred fathoms by the white Vapor-
Gus wreathings, and that it might rea-
sonably be assumed when the fog
rolled down upon them the young fell
low would turn the little crafts head
in the direction where he guessed home
to lie-which change of course might
now be carrying him TO any point OF
the compass.
The ugly feature of it all was the
rapid freshening of the wind-a by no
means uncommon feature of the COM
ing of a sea fog, Archdale had not
been more than about twenty minutes
under way when he was obliged TO
take a reef in his sail, for the punt
was beginning to throw splashes from
the little waves, every moment growing
more lively in the run of them.
-Four hours to dark, and looks like
coming on a dirty night" said Arch
dale looking about him with an air OF
indecision. Can 1 do any good by
giong on after all, or shall l make sure
of getting back to Deal while can?
Ay. but Mabel-with that duffer!"
He held steadily on.
When the fog first came creeping
over the water toward them Aubrey
Sinclair treated the incident as quite
a good joke. Mabel, however, was per-
turbed in her mind. When the blank
ness had eclipsed their horizon down
to within a few hundred yards, shut
ting out the various vessels which had
been in view, she asked: "How are we
going to get back?"
"By turning round and rowing
straight in the direction from which
we have lust come" he answered.
Obvious enough and simple enough.
But if you would know how utterly
misleading the expedient really is, try
in a fog some day, and without any
thing visible upon which to take
bearing. to determine when you are
going straight back in the opposite
direction whence you have come-if
Won can. Sinclair turned the boats
bows about as nearly as he could judge
and gave way with sturdy strokes.
BUT before he had pulled far Mabel
EXPRESSED her conviction that he was
"going wrong" He thought so, too,
and slightly changed course; so that
by the time they both agreed that they
were about right now the little craft
was once more heading away large for
the Goodwins.
Sinclair had fully intended to make
this little boating excursion the oc-
casion for proposing to Mabel; but ne
had not led the conversation in this
direction prior to the coming on of the
fog. and now that they were in the
heart of dense mist and the girl OBJ
viously uneasy, it certainly did not
appear a very opportune time for SEN
timental talk.
"The wind is getting up. SO much
the better 1t is right behind and Will
help us on our way home" said SIN