The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1912-12-30
THE BRAMBLY
COTTAGE
The Story of a Rescue
By CLARlSSA MACKIE

I
stranger. who carried fishing rods and
basket. What sa-ay?" he drawled.
cupping one freckled hand around a
large and leathery ear.
81 asked if there was good fishing
in the lake." repeated the man pa
tiently.
sometimes there is and sometimes
there ain't.'' returned Mr.. Kittredge'
with an enigmatic smile.
"How's that?"
'Tt all depends on Faustina STAND
ish." chuckled Leander. 1T all de-
ponds on Faustina"
The stranger looked puzzled. who
is Faustina Standish?"
i .She owns the lake and it's her say
/ so whether there's fish to be caught or
not"
"Oh, l didn't know it was private
1 property, The people at the hotel SAID
any one could fish there"
Belongs to Faustina. It's her say
So"
Where does she live"
"Down in that brambly cottage at
the shore now. In the winter time
she moves up to her house in the vii
lage. Some day Faustina III get ketch-
ed by high tide or something and
cottage and all IL float off" Leander
shook with silent mirth.
Tide! l thought it was fresh wa
ter lake
Its a bay-nothing more or less
than a leetle salt water bay, with just
the teeniest outlet to the sound
Standishes have always owned the
bay, and now it's Faustina's. and she's
got a cottage down there that has its
feet in the water sometimes. She and
that grampussing old black cook,
Cleopatra, have it all to themselves
from June to October"
mo harm in asking permission to
fish," ventured the stranger. And.
following Lenders guiding finger. he
turned into another woody road that
led him down to the waters edge.
Davis Emery paused in sheer admi-
ration of the tiny bay, perhaps quar-
ter Of a mile in diameter, Tipped by a
snow white sandy beach with back
ground of gently sloping pastures and
cedar clothed hillsides. Directly OPP
posite was a rift In the white beach
that showed the channel, with dark
rim of the sound beyond. The sky
was blue, and the water reflected the
pure tint. The tide had been an I'M
usually high one, for bits Of dried
driftwood were floating away from the
high water mark Long lines of dead
Il -
the ebbing tide
Nowhere along the beach was there
sign of "brambly cottage" such as
Leander Kittredge had described
Not far from where he was standing,
4 however, there was a small building
] whiteWashed outside and in and speck-
lessIy clean. An indignant cIucking
from a nesting box in one corner re-
4 vealed that this was a chicken house
and it was evident that the tide had
4 Tapped the floor of the building. for
the sand lay in little ritf1ed, damp
q lines
If this was Faustina Standish's
4 chicken house her brambly cottage
could not be far away. But look as
he might up and down the beach he
saw nothing save a sweep of wet sand
and glistening pebbles.
All at once Emery saw it in the mos
s unexpected place. There bobbin.
drunkenly in the middle of the littl,
bay, was a small white cottage over
run with red roses. The water swasheC
around the tiny porch and broke il
white foam against the sides of tn,
building. From a small iron chime,
smoke poured forth as If this unex
pected trip on the water had not hin
dered the round of domestic duties
Up on balcony above the porch wo
man was sitting composedly, reading
book
There was only one thing for Davi
Emery to do and that was to rescu
the damsel as quickly as possible. L
order to do that he must have a boat
and, looking about, he soon made tn
unpleasant discovery that there wer
three very capable looking small boat
adrift on the bay. He raced madly u
b the shore aud found nothing save
broken oar half buried in the sal
8 grass. With this in his hand he wen
b back to the chicken coop and Their
behind It, resting on the slOping banE
We're the outlines of a fat bottome
skiff beneath a covering of tarpauIi
3 and dried seaweed
n After fifteen minutes labor he ha
the covering cleared away and til
3 boat afoat. Rowlocks there wer
none, but Emery could paddle eve
with broken oar, so he pushed off an
went bobbing slowly toward the bran
bly, cottage, which was also bobb1n
on the tide and headed straight fc
the narrow, wicked looking channel
Perhaps the girl had sudden
thought of the channel, for all at ono
she arose and went to the railing an
leaned over and looked long and anx
ously at the course Of the cottage. Sb
saw Emery just then, and in respons
81 to his hail he heard faint response.
The current was Stropox>sr nov, -