The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-08-28

went to sleep with a heavy heart.
The next evening he was idling
disconsoIately on the saloon deck
when he saw Miss Osborne coming
toward him.
II have been looking for you,"
she said. "As suppose everybody
will be busy tomorrow morning, ]
may not see you then. But you
seem downcast.
Jimmy shrank from telling her
that he had been dismissed; and.
after all, that was a comparatively
small part of his trouble.
Well" he said, "for one thing,
the end of the voyage is often a
melancholy time. After spending
some weeks with pleasant people,
it's not nice to know they must all
scatter and that you have to part
from friends you have made and
like"
A faint tinge OF color crept in
to Ruth's face; but she smiled.
1T doesn't follow that they're
forgotten" she replied; "and we
may see you at Tacoma; 1t isn't
very far from Vancouver"
Jimmy was not a presumptuous
man, but he saw that she had CIV
en- him a lead and he bitterly re-
GREETED that he could not follow It.
Though of hopeful temperament,
stern experience had taught him
sense. and he recognized that cir
cumstances did not permit of his
dallying with romance. There
was nothing to be gained and
something to be lost by cultivat-
ing the girls acquaintance.
Il may have to sail on a differ
ent run before long" he said.
She gave him a glance of swift
but careful scrutiny.
WELL" she responded, "wheth-
er you come or not, my father and
are in your debt. You have done
much to make this a very pleasant
voyage" She gave him her hand,
which he held a moment. "And,
now, since you wish 1t, goodby!"
III
The sun had dipped behind
a ridge when Jimmy, dressed In
brown Overalls and seaman's
Jersey, sat cooking supper on a
stony beach of Vancouver island.
Near him, a man with a wealth
erbeaten face was engaged in fit
ting plank into the bilge of a
hauled-up sloop. Moran had
been Nova Scotian lobster catch
or before he came to British CO.
lumbia to engage in the new hall
but fishery, which had proved dis
appointing.
Bethune, who lay upon the shin
gle In garments much the worse
for wear, was a "remittance-man"
1t was some time since he had en-
gagged in any exacting occupation,
and now, after using the saw all
day, he was resting from his I'M
accustomed exertions and banter
ing Moran.
Jimmy had met them both In a
second-rate Vancouver boarding
house, to which he had resorted
after failing to find a ship, and
working on the wharf.
The meal Jimmy had been pre-
pairing might have been better,
but Moran admitted that he had
often eaten worse, and after it
was eaten they lay on the single
and lighted their pipes. Bethune,
as usual, was the first to speak.
The lumber, and the canvas
jimmy gets to work upon tomor-
row, have emptied the treasury"
he remarked. IF we incur any
further liabilities, there's a strong
probability of their not being met;
but that gives the job interest"
When you have finished NOR
alizing we'll get to business" Jim
my rejoined. Though I'm a part
ner in the scheme, | know very
little about the wreck you're TAX
ing us up to look for"
"I'll let Moran tell the tale. He
found the vessel"
THE reef" said Moran, Tiles
open to the southwest. A mile off.
and near low island, a bank runs
out into the stream, and the after
half of the wreck lies on the edge
OF 1t, worked well down into the
sand. At low ebb you can see the
end of one or two timbers stick
ing up out of the broken water"
rs it always broken water?"
Jimmy interrupted.
Pretty near, l guess"
Doesn't seem a nice place for
diving Job. How did you get
down to herr"
Stripped and swan down. One
day when 1t fell a calm for a few
hours and Jake was busy patch
Ing the sail, l pulled the dory
across. l went down twice. The
sand was well up her bilge, but
she was holding together. | could
have walked right aft under decks
IL I'd had diving dress; but I'd
been in the water long enough"
Moran apparently thought little
of his exploit; but Jimmy could
appreciate the hardihood he had
shrown. The wreck lay far up on
the northern coast. where the sea
was chilled by currents from the
Pole, and Moran had gone down
to her when the ice was working
in.
But IL she was lost on the reef,
how did she reach the bank mile
away?"
A-lt