New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-13

SHE opened the door and passed out
~ leaving him still seated on the bench
She climbed to the wharf and made her way
back to the west bank against the lombard
ment of snow and wind The green light
was palmer now, and nearer; and soon she
made out in the gathering light of the morn
ing the Shadowy outlines Of a schooner under
double-reefed foresail and jib. The craft
lurched to an angle of thirty degrees to lee
ward, she rose on her nose and sank on her
tail to an angle of fifteen, and her hull was
mostly out of sight But she was making
her way, and, even as Mabel looked, the
mainsail fluttered from the boomS. She die
not know, but the men aboard that schooner
were setting a close-reefed mainsail, against
the exigency of hauling on the wind to sal
into the harbor unaided by tug. The fore
boom was to starboard, and she saw It slowly
creep in. She did not know that the canvas
must all be to port when the vessel headed
for the piers. Then the foresall Jibed, and
the mainsail slowly rose and tautened while
the schooner altered her course and headed
directly toward her, seemingly anxious tc
hit the beach beneath her. But the leeway
was at work, and her drift carried her east
ward. 1t was a problem beyond her com
prehension as to whether that schooner
would make the piers or go to the eastward
to the deadly beach.
She watched and prayed for Bill, while
the wind whistled through her upper gar
ments, and the snow protected her body
from the waist down; for she stood in a
drift four feet high. But in the interval be-
tween the snow squalls she looked to lee
ward, and there, in the jaws OF the pier she
saw big black tug, wallowing in the cross
seas, showing her bilge on the lee roll plung-
ing her nose into the combers, and again
lifting into view 1t was Black Jacks tug,
and he had gone out for Bill. , =,
"God love him and bless him. said Mabel.
"Hes good, after all
And so she watched in the growing morn
ing light, and prayed, not only for the man
she loved, but for the other man who loved
her.
DILL was on deck; he had been on deck
- all night. Starting from Port Dalhousie
under lower canvas, with a crew tired out
from the long, hard drill Of taking the
schooner through the Welland Canal, he had
sent his crew below TO sleep, wisely judging
that he would need them, fresh and strong,
when they made port. But before sending
them down he had taken in his mainsal and
close reefed the foresail, which, with the Jlb,
was all that she needed TO make the run by
daylight. And until the first gray lghtened
the darkness to the east he and the helms
man had the deck together, Bill showing the
torch toward the last. Then he called his
mate and his men, and said TO the former;
"Now, YOU know what we've got to do.
The wind is due nor'west, and with this sea
there's little chance Of a tug-nOne whatever
il Black Bill is on tonight. So just as soon
as we see the light, we must Jibe 70 port
very carefully, mind you, on account OF this
old canvaS-and put the reefed mainsall on
her. If it don't carry away, we can sail in. p
"Why,' said the mate, don't someone
kill that black dog?'
Hell get it some day. There's the light.
Loose the mainsail; but before you set 1t
get the foreshcet aft, ready to jibe.
They obcycd him. They loosed the main
sail to the last peak gasket; then, leaving
the fluttering canvas, went to the toreSheet.
Slowly it came in until the boom was nearly
overhead, and the man at the wheel working
like a wood sawyer under the increased diff
Guilty in steering Then Bill sang out:
All ready! Haul taut your boom guy
and hang onto it. Stand by to slack away
one hand; the rest aft to the mainSail. Put
your wheel up this to the man at the
wheel; "bring the light about two points on