The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1914-07-09
old Be: I boil ! }
The Prize He Won and What
He Thought He. Would
n. Lose.
BY MYRA NoRTHcLIFE.

Ills name WASH { OlO ben Bolt, but
everybody called him that, and stran-
gers accepted it on the spot as singu-
larry appropriate, for Captain Jim
Staybolt's honest, kind blue eyes, his
brown face and closely curling hair
and his masterful yet good natured
mouth made him indeed seem the en-
bodiment of the famous .'Ben Bolt of
the salt sea gale.' a.. .sl
He wasn't old at all, though he
thought himself aged and beyond all
the dreams of youth because he had
just turned thirty-fve. But then he
had always had an abnormal modesty
about his own masculine charms.
His head, albeit Of pepper and salt,
was filed with practical good sense
that had brought him up from fisher
man to superintendent and part owner
of the Grandson company's big fleet of
smacks.
He had his Office in the cubby of q
water stitled shanty at the end of the
pier, and it's window looked directly
across at a certain young woman
named Kate, dealing out candy, or
anges and cheap cigars to the rolling
crews Of the boats.
There was standing joke among
the boys how the smoking habit took
hold Of everybody after be saw Kate.
It never got to her ears, though, for,
Notwithstanding the candy and cigars,
there was a fine little line Of reticence
about the girl over which no one ever
stepped, not even Hank Raynor, the
vainest and most impudent fellow that
ever trod schooner's deck. But her
pretty bushes and shining eyes gave
the clew to her preference, and Ray
nor, who frequently consumed his en-
tire wait buying cigar, could not
have been said to discourage the i'm
preston.
1t is true the boys joked, but the ma
jor1ty of them swore as we'll, for the
handsome Raynor bore no immaculate
reputation among them.
"Cuss it!'' said Dick Pearsall, mate
Of the Osprey schooner, savagely one
night. why is it woman can never
see an inch from her nose when she's
daffy on a man?''
'Marryin' takes that out of 'em.
though" laughed old Captain Brown,
who was on honorable drydock after
fifty years Of cod and halibut
"Marry1n'!' sneered the mate Of the
dandy, we'll built smack Lucinda V.
Margin! Raynor looks like a mar
rytn' man, don't he? amt no masher
myself, but I tell you that smarty is
just tryin' to show off before us fell
lows. Marry her! Even if he wanted
to he amt fit to wipe her old shoes
Onv'
Nobody dissented. There were
tongues in the fishing port that did not
hesitate to declare that Raynor's skill
as fisherman was far inferior to the
art with which he could wreck coast
ers for living when the owners got
tired Of paying insurance and decided
that it was time to collect some in
stead.
''All the same, he told me it was
fixed up between EN-" insisted Cap
tain Brown. '"That's tellin', l s'pose,
but he didn't say as there was any
thing private about it,
Unnoticed by the men, Captain Jim
Staybolt had come up in time to catch
the last words. He stopped moment
in the shadow of column. When he
moved on his face looked gray and
drawn in the uncertain light.
''Get ready to take the Osprey and
the Lucinda. out next tide" he said
evenly. well have 'em unloaded in
three hours more and ready for sea
again"
He went back, and the group broke
up. Pearsall as he turned caught a
glimpse of his superior's face and won
dered vaguely if ''the boss" were i'll.
With fine sense of honor, Captain
Jim himself had refrained from a look
or word that might compromise Kate,
but the memory Of a chance touch of
her fingers once when she passed back
his change still sent thrill over him.
Since that day she had grown under
his eyes to be the one desirable thing
Of his life. -.
He knew enough Of Raynor to de-
spise the man. Time and again he
had all but prayed he might get actual
cause for interference. Now the shat
tering Of the dream seemed less his
blunder than crime. s
A week afterward Kate's old father
was struck by falling block and laid
on his bed, helpless for life. Her
mother fell i'll Of typhoid. The super
intendent saw the bloom fade from the
girls cheeks, to return only when Ray
nor appeared, and that in nervous
flush. He grew hot and cold alternate
~ at the air Of careless proprietorship
the latter had lately assumed. Then
suddenly the man announced that he
was going away.
Flank has got ship" Captain Jim
heard Kate confide to another girl.
Its schooner running out Of South
Amboy for Norfolk, and the owners
have promised him raise in a few