The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1914-12-18

Them dinged liners keep on crowdin'
u.s." growled Barnes, with a fisher
mans hate for the floating hotels.
Went by without a toot. See er,
Jes' like tn bankers wife goin' t.
, church on Sunday? A mile minute;
fog or no fog, it's all the same t.
them. They run us down an never
| stop. What tn tarnation we goin'
to do? She'll half t. stay aboard till
tn run is over. l can't afford t. yank
up my mudhook this time O. day."
Guess she can stand three r four
days in our company, smellin' oil
cloths, fish, kerosene, an punk t'bac-
| CO."
IF y don't like tn kind O. t'bacco
l buy buy your own. l amt objectin'
! none"
The mate stepped over to the bunk
and gingerly ran his hand over the
girls head. Gods whiskers, cap'n,
theys a bump as big's a cork on tn
back o. her head! She's struck one
O. them f1oatss all right. Where's tn
| arnica?"
Barnes turned to his locker and rum
mayed about, finally producing an an
cient bottle and some passably clean
cloth used frequently for bandages.
Sometimes man grew careless with
his knife or got in the way of pulley
block. With laundering kindness the
two men bound up the girls head, and
then went about their duties.
For three days Florence evinced not
the slightest inclination to leave the
bunk. She lay on her back either
asleep or with her eyes staring at the
beams above her head. She ate Just
enough to keep her alive; and the
strong black coffee did nothing more
than to make her wakeful. No one
knew what the matter was. There was
the bump, now diminished; but that
1t should leave her in this comatose
state vastly puzzled the men. The
truth is she had suffered slight con-
cussion of the brain, and this, atop of
all the worry she had had for the last
few weeks, was sufficient to cause this
darkness of the mind.
The final cod was cleaned and
packed away in salt, the mudhook
raised, and the schooner Betty set her
sails for the southwest. Barnes real
lied that to save the girl she must
have doctor who knew his business.
Mrs. Barnes would know how to care
for the girl, once she knew what the
trouble was. There would be some
news in the papers. A young and
beautiful woman did not jump from a
big Atlantic liner without the newspa-
pers getting hold of the facts.
A fair wind carried the Betty into
her haven, and shortly after Florence
was sleeping peacefully in feather
bed, ancient, it is true, but none the
less soft and inviting. In all this time
she had not spoken single word.
1.-THE poor young thing" murmured
the motherly Mrs. Barnes. what
beautiful hair! o, John, l wish you
would give up the sea. 1 hate it. It
is terrible. I am always watching
you in my minds eye, in calm wealth
er, in storms. Pieces of wrecks come
ashore, and always wonder over the
death and terror back of them"
Don't y worry none about me
Betty l never take no chances. Now
I'm goin' int tn village an bring
back tn sawbones. He'll tell us what
t. do"
The village doctor shook his grizzled
head gravely.
Shes been hurt and shocked at the
same time. 1t will be many days be-
fore she comes around to herself. Just
let her do as she pleases. Only keep
an eye on her so that she doesn't wan
der off and get lost. I'll watch the
newspapers and if come across any
thing which bears upon the case I'll
notify you"
But he searched the newspapers in
vain, for the simple fact that he did
not think to glance over the old ones.
The village took good deal of in
terest in the affair. They gossiped
about it and strolled out to the Barnes
cottage to satisfy their curiosity. One
thing was certain to their simple
minds: some day Barnes would get a
great sum of money for his kindness.
They had read about such things in
the family story paper. She was a rich
mans daughter; the ring on the un-
known's finger would have fitted out
a fleet
Florence was soon able to walk
about. Ordinary conversation she
seemed to understand; but whenever
the past was preached she would
shake her head with frowning eyes.
Her main diversion consisted of sitting
on the sand dunes and gazing out at
sea.
One day stranger came to town.
He said he represented a life insur.
ance company and was up here from
Boston to take a little vacation. He
sat on the hotel norch that avanino