Lower coast gazette., 1914-01-17
By Trial Of Storm.
Continued from last week.

linen l nedTu captain OAdChiiio1e
speaking.
He was standing over Bagley and
shaking him, boxing his ears and slap
ping his cheeks. "Get up" he said
"you sojering landlubber. You take
this knife and get forward. When |
say cut, you cut that line to the drag.
Understand" He slapped him again.
Bagley was scared blue, but he was
more scared Of the Captain than he
was of the sea. So forward he crawl
ed, knife in hand, hanging on for dear
life. The moment he started, Hilda
stepped to the wheel, and Captain
Shackmore ran to the little mast used
for flags.
| saw then what he was doing. He
and Hilda had rugged up a little sail
out of an awning, and now he hoisted
it very quickly.
"Cut the line shouted the captain.
"Cut it quick" And then, to Hilda,
lizard to starboard, hard over. She's
making sternway. Spin it over"
Hilda stood there, her feet far apart
on the wet grating, and spunt the wheel
over. The bow turned to the right,
and the sail swelIed out and pulled till
the mast bent. Over she heeled and /
could feel her forge ahead.
lizard aport." Cried Captain Shack
more. And he sprang to Hilda's side.
Round came the bow and off We
swung till the rocks lay almost ahead
just a bit to the right.
If we had been in a bay, we'd have
had no chance at all. But, by good
luck, the rocks were the outer end Of
Simpsons Point. and to the left of
them opened the mouth of the river.
Once past them we should be safe.
1t was the closest thing l ever saw.
There was>one ugly black rock that lay
out beyond all the rest, right in our
course. Just as we came rushing down
upon it, l looked back. What | saw
took my breath away. A monstrous
comber was laundering along after US,
just roaring down out of the sky.
l heard some one scream, and I heard
the captain say to Hilda, very sharp
and stern, "Don't look back" and
then it caught us.
It simply picked up that big Zuleika
and slung her ahead of it like \ toy, in
a perfect boil and tumble of white
water. But she stayed right side up.
and ever while | was looking, / saw the
sharp end of the black rock go shooting
past only a foot or SO away.
Captain Shackmore took off his hat
and waved it. We've made it, he
cried.
We all braced up after that. The
water got calmer, and 50 did every
body. Bagley was the first to turn in
to his usual self. 1t didn't seem five
! minutes before he was telling every
body what to do, and explaining just
what had happened to the engine. BY
the time we had reached the landing,
he seemed to feel that he had saved all
our lives.
1t was almost funny, when we got off
to see how everything went back to the
way it had been. | heard Mrs. Mott
scolding Hilda for not taking better
care of her when she was sick. And
Captain Shackmoretwas as soft spoken
as when we first met him. Only there
was just a look in his eye as if the
storm hadn't quite gone out of it.
Bagley came bustling up to him at
the head of the wharf. well, Cap
tain," he said, "You helped us out
quite a bit you know. Some of those
old sea tricks do come in handy now
and then. And you must let me make
it right with you. A bit of money"
! l saw Captain Shackmore draw him
self up very stiff. "Mr. Bagley he
said, ''I'm not the man to take pay for
saving women and kind. AS for saving
you, I'm not too sure that its a thing
worth paying for. All the pay l want
from you is one thing. ! want you,
next time you're alone, to sit down and
(! solemnly promise yourself that you'll
never again take helpless women and
children out to sea, not till the day
when you get to be a sailor-and that
won't be till Fundy freezes over"
And Bagley didn't say anything
Youths Companion.
W lE4