The Washington times., 1913-07-30


n dOuble-reefed fOresail' reefed
~ upper and lower fore and main
topsails, foretopmast staysail,
and inner boom jib. The growing breeze
lifted the slack out of the starboard or
weather braces. The lone worker in the
darkness led the falls of the lee braces
to the maindeck capstan and hove them
in. And wherever he went he Delayed
rope and line with double hitch. There
was a fnalIty about everything he did.
He set the maintopmast-staysail
hoisting it with the capstan. He would
ride her with that II 1t should be pos
sible of heaving her to after he had
located the bearing Of the storms
center.
He ran aft, only to stop at the en-
trance TO the alleyway. He remembered
the boom jib.
Too much headsa!l with a reefed
spanker," he muttered.
He sped forward again, found the jiD
halyards, and let them go. AS a last
touch Of precaution he bent the tib
clew as a preventer sheet.
Aft he sped again and through the
cabin. A faint murmur came to him
as he ran by the derelict's room. Out
of the pile OF slop-chest stun in the
after-cabin he snatched an oiIskin coat
as he climbed through the companion
way into the lounge.
A flash Of a match brought the bar
ometers dial out Of the blackness-S :03i
An impulse to smash it for its trick
cry seized him. He throttled the i'm
pulse and plunged outside, He thrust
Emily away from the wheel AS he
bent to peer into the pinnacle the gold
woman shuddered at the rage which
distorted his face. Thus men, she
in he
blood-lust upon them. There was some
thing primordial, relentless about him.
He was the elemental man, sensate that
a kill was at hand.
The Daphne was heeling over fur
ther and further under the onslaught
of the rising wind.
The roughness with which LaveIIe
had pushed Emily away from the wheel
started a demon of resentment to life
in her. Her arms were aching 1t had
seemed that the wheel must draw them
from their sockets while she was alone.
Steering the Daphne while Lavelle had
been forward had not been the tame
task of the afternoon.
She stood trembling where this man
had showed her. She could have struck
him.
Get below! Close every porthoIe.
Jump. Then come back and light that
lamp in the lounge
Anger swept her at his brutal tone
Tears blinded her. They were the tears
of a rage of which she had never be-
lieved herself capable. She could not
move.
"Go-onr' he yelled.
A furious squalI twisted the two
words into a shrek. A sea stopped
over the weather quarter and ran hiss
ing across the deck to leeward 1t
sucked hungrily at the gold woman's
feet and ankles. At Its touch her rage
grew. but passed from the man at the
wheel to the sea. II was the sea that
she hated II was the sea that had
spoken through. him. The sea was his
enemy. 1t became in that moment per-
sOnal to herAher enemy.
Thus the spirit of Lavelle reacted
upon the gold woman's. Could she have
seen her face at that instant she would
have seen in It's the same elemental-the
same primitive-passion which had
shocked her in his
The girl ran from the deck and be-
low.
Lavelle saw her when she returned
and lit the lamp in the lounge. She
wore long oilskin. A sou'wester COW
cred her head. Out of the tail of his
rometer. He noted It with a thought
that she had some sense"
She came out to him, and had to
press her lips agaist his ear to make
him hear her message.
g-closed-be-low! Baron
.2sO0!'
That was a fall OF three-tenths of an
inch in less than ten minutes!
The Daphne was in a trap. Some
where near her-sOmewhere in the
southern quadrants of the compass he
tween the east and the West-the cen
ter of a storm was bearing down upon
her. Whether the barometer was living
or telling the truth was of little mo-
ment now. Lavelle knew he could not
be mistaken in the signs OF a revolving
storm. He knew the meaning Of the
wolflike noises and the wing-creakings |
In the air; the oily, sooty sight-kiIling
blackness.
But one sign was absent, and even as |
he noted IL IL appeared-a sickening. |
brick-red coloring, which cuts the ewes
acridly like hay-smoke. II diffused itself |
the blackness without lessen ]
Ing the nights impeutrabuity. With lts |