Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-09-30


| Queerly enough, the opportunity
was on the way and close at hand.
A lighted cigarette thrown down a
hall started a blaze, and there was
immediate confusion. A score Of
men dashed in with pals of water,
and after lively fight they got the
better of the flames and saved the
hotel.
Young Walter Davis was one Of
the foremost, and had a budding
mustache singed beyond repair, but
where was young Hugh Lee? Miss
Maude knew, and happened to be
the only on that did.
AT the first alarm he had turned
as white as flour, and while the 9TH
ers crowded forward he had skulked
behind. When the excitement was
over he had no experience to relate
whats wrong with Lee ?" asked
the banker after a couple of days.
SCOT soft corn, maybe" was the
laughing answer.
"Don't be too hard on him. l
think him a rather nice boy.
$50 did | nntil-until the fire the
other day."
"What of the fre?"
"He ran away from it."
"Whewl l thought he was with
u.s."
"He was not Re skulked away
at the first shout and hid behind the
women Father, he's a coward and
has lost my respectp'
''Um! uni / want to think this
over. You say he skulked away, and
yet he was in no danger. Rather
funny
Miss Maude wanted to be alone
and still not be shut up in her
room. Therefore she watched for
chance to reach the beach unob-
served.
Half a mile off the sands was a
big rock. AT low tide it stood up
like house; at high tide the salty
water swept its crest. The fisher
men had been predicting a gale, and
there were signs that it was near.
There was a boat drawn up on
the beach, and what did the girl
who wanted to be alone do but
launch it and take the oars out for
row? She couldn't help notice the
swell and that the tide was coming
in, but she was fair at the oars and
strong in the arms and she headed
/ for the rock and reached it.
She had been sitting there for a
quarter Of an hour when she was
noticed from the hotel and an alarm
giten. It was time and past time.
The gale broke as the tide turned,
! and five minutes later the whitecaps
were dancing and the spray flying.
All the boats except the one she
! took were in the creek, a mile be-
low, but had they been at hand there
was 70 one to launch them. !.
'There isn't man on the coast
who can row against the gale and
tide" said the father of the fishers
and the others looked across at the
girl and shook their heads. Neither
a fathers money nor the tears of a
mother would drive them to face the
peril.
The gale took on new strength,
and the oncoming waves drove the
half-crazed people back, and when
there came a break in the flying
spray and driving clouds all eyes
went to the rock and there were
groans and murmurs. The rock
might be swept clear of human life
the next view they got.
''What is it! What is it~ fifty
voices demanded as a fisherman ran
down into the surf and peered
towards the rock under the sharp of
his hand.
"It's a boat, but they'll never
make it Y
'WhereI Wherep
Don't look! Don't see them
drown ~
Some turned their backs and |
some sat down and covered their |
faces with their hands. i
Then, through foam and spume,
and riding a great roller, a boat
came driving in and was caught and
run high on the beach-Hugh Lee