The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-05-26
So
THE GREEN AMP
~ cODyrght-Frank A Nunsey C
ANVlP
Copyright-Frank A. Munsey &C

something this effect once. but the
roaring of K gale snatched the words
from his and th ,u 4Bs, them fnn i ind from
The ScuI 4. leveled et first by the force
of the TEN est. soon rose and danced in
revelry-c; ting up gleeful waVelets to
fiaunt the, WhitecaDs and cheer or the
riot; sh0St. choppy, dangerous sea Tor
any craft 10 ride.
We battled on. I say. breathless. but
enjoying ourselves. and by now. l be-
lieve. thinking but little Of our destina-
ton or the purpose of our journey. We
fought our way. half-drowned, more
than hGlf-breathless by reason of the
wind that tore the air from our gasPlpS
lips. but determined, and possessed by
awe and overpoWering Arbitration Tor
the splendOr Of the storm.
And thus. staggering and fighting
every inch of the path. we finally
reached the walls OF the old Delapierre
place and took an instants shelter in
the lee OF huge live oak. broad boiled
but tTmbling.
BY now the rain had spent itself some
what; but the wind continued with an
unabated force and the lightning was
all but incessant-
Standing there, 7 felt Faraday catch
at my arm. and vivid flash showed me
his face turned toward the sea, his
near sighted ewes straining with effort.
Look Luke" he screamed in my
ear drum ''Look-there's a boat out
.'IVhere?'' I howIed back at him.
Near the end of the pier. See her
masthead hght2 BY Jove. 1 believe
she $ moored there
1 looked and saw that he was right.
At the end Of the pier a little craft
was pitching and tossing and, no
the piles. The lightning showed her
masts bare, with the canvas snugly
furled on the booms.
IN bet" Faraday began 10 shrek
aaHn a 4 IA
me in fragmentary shatches, TN bet
-sloop's-DeaIs. What-think?
I'm going down-to her"
Don't be a foolI'
"DeaIs-teH you. Come-long. I'm
going"
And he actually started. and I
promptly after him. knowing full well
how bOotless fl would be to argue
with the man, and knowing much
better that we were taking our lives
in our hands by attempting 20 trav-
cree that ancient, rickety pier.
But taraday must 90, and where he
went there went l.
Once upon the pier itself. we aban-
dOned ali attempts TO walk erect, and
went down on our hands and knees
TO crawl as cautiously as we might
over the worm-eaten planking and
along the rotten timberS Of that
Qutvertng. Quaking structure
We made it. How l don't precisely
know. We made il sOmehow-princi-
nallN. presume. because we are re-
served for a worse death a lingering
one at the hands Of the Fool Killer -
Ny hands were torn and bleeding.
the palms fun Of splinters. and as TO
my shins, each was destf ute Of skin
when at length we pumped down
upon the deck Of the little vessel. as
totally exhausted as we had been
that former time when We had made
the journey down the same pier un-
der more favorable auspices.
] sat still for a few seconds, nursing
my labOring chest and cursing my
painful hands. and Faraday, I suppose.
did likewise. At any rate after a few
moments, / felt him tug AZ my sleeve
Luke" he cried. ''Was that you %
''What-mean2" I painted.
Some one brushed against me just
now, and"
Not I, Tom. But"
At that word the sloop gave a leap
and a lunge, and I sailed gracefully
across the deck and tried TO hammer
in the port bulwark with my head.
I jumped up on my knees. trying to
crawl away, and dimly conscious that
something had happened. For one
thing, the sloop had developed a ten
dency toward standing on it's jibboora,
which was infinitely discOncerting and
quite unbelievable in a vessel tied up 10
Z a pier
In fine, We twain UnmitiEated idiots
were adrift in a COckleshell In the
midst Of storm Of frantic fury.