Evening star., 1912-09-01

IIOHl tle nltDOdl, SldIlolIlS up " "IluWdlu
with the end of hawser. From its bowels
a figure rose up, hurtling line Big Jem
Casco! Then the sailors hauled in, and Casco
went up, hand over hand, and the Algonquin's S
crew started climbing down.
The cutter must have seen the peril too,
and Ships Bottoms preparations for the
rescue. She swung off to one side, training
her searchlights on the wreck, lighting up
the scene like day. One beam of light fell
on the hydroplane, and Welsh laughed.
"Oh I'm booked too! Soon as she fops
over on me-bang. This Gosh!"
The hydroplane was working! He had
not shut off the motor, and now it moved
with an intermittent purring, the fanwheel,
hung high above the wash, lashlng out be-
hind. The bird-ship was still fast, her alumni
mum runners glued to the sea; but the motor
was gathering courage. Welsh watched.
raging.
Twice more the lifecar washed back to the
wreck, each time carrying away her load of
sailors. The third time she nearly came to
grief A sudden burst of smoke streamed
upward srnothering the scene. The sea had
reached the fires. The ship was down to her
fore peak now, tunnels and deckhouses under
water When the smoke cleared the lifecar
was gone. The single survivor remained in
the triangular scrap of wreckage.
That was Casco doing the "hero act"
surrendering his place in the hfecar! He
was balancing up there, bathed in the reve-
nue. searchlights, which picked out his ribbed
life jacket, strapped round his mighty chest.
The whole ship had slumped. Over the
sinking bow Welsh saw Ships Bottoms boat,
packed with the saved crew.
But the hydroplane was moving at last;
and, as one notices little things, Welsh saw
the burnt-out handle of his Coston torch
swept away from where it had clung all
through the driving wash.
Afterward he had cause to remember that.
He knew now only that he was free.
Il bet the Algonquin's plugged up that
hole in the sea an let me loose!" he said. "In
get Casco myself"
THE hydroplane lurched out again-out
of the whirlpool this time! The motor
worked strong. On both quarters OF the
freighters sinking bow the breakers crashed
back; but Welsh bored up between them:
Going shoreward he'd probably turn head
over heels; but "Big Jem's first rate ballast,
at that!" he chuckled.
The hydroplane had not done SO badly,
after all! She had saved Ships Bottoms
face; she had fetched in the revenue cutter
and fiared out the lifeboat. And now she
was going to save lem Casco, the man who
was worth them ALL
Across the maelstrom of wreckage he
drove the whirring machine, regardless of
the suction that could drag down any other
craft but this. Nothing could sink the hy
droplane! She was built for just such emer-
gencies, skimming on her alright pontoons,
buoyed up by the very blast that fought her
back, despite her battered planes. Over
riffraff and water she vaulted, landing on her
upcurved runners right over the wreck; for
the bow had vanished. Casco sprang as the
waters snatched for him, sprawling in heap
on the hydroplane's deck.
Gall down." Welsh shouted gleefully.
"Never lost man
"The little white dog!' Casco gasped.
@D'ye see the terrier?"
3The dog?" said Welsh. aye lost pore
kiyi, arter all | done?"
Hydroplane and men were whirling shore
ward. A biscuit toss away a white object
bobbed on the surface, sending up pitiful
yap. Welsh jerked the seat strap loose.
"Take her, Jem!" he snarled. @Im goin'
to get that tike!'
He sprang far out, swimming strong, hand
over hand. The white terrier went under,
and Welsh with him, diving and swimming
down, following the struggling speck. His
lungs were bursting even when he grasped
it; but you can't drown a Barnegat man.
In the act of turning upward, he caught