Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-05-15
Evening Story
PEGS WHITE WINGS.

BY SILVER TURNER
Copyright, 1917, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)

Newspaper Syndicate.)
| When the captain answered Aye,
aye, sir" to the last orders aloft, Peg
! gle was left alone with the sail shop
| on her hands. 1t stood down on South
| Water street, over ship chambers, a
good. airy sunlit loft, filled with the
| captains belongings and all the imple
ments and paraphernalia of his trade.
He had lived there for eighteen years,
ever since his retirement from the
West Indies trade, ever since Peggie
had been baby.
| And she loved the old loft. 1t had
been her shelter and playground for
, years She knew everything 1t can
tanned and all of the captains custom
ers. So it was quite natural, after the
captains death, for her to keep his
name outside, and his trade up within.
There was old Ben to act as first mate,
so to speak, and Mrs. MacGowan to
look after the sewing Of the sails. Peg
gle was in charge Of customers and
accounts.
Her favorite place was on the cap
tain's old stool over by the front win
dows at his tall wooden desk, where
she could watch the shipping along the
river front. There was the great sweep
ing outline of the big bridge in the dis
tapce, and Brooklyn's shore line OPP
posite Below was the busy market
street, one side of 1t water front, and
the old barges anchored there, where
you could get sea food abundance. AT
night when the lights came out like
varicolored stars Peggie used to think
it was the loveliest spot in all New
York.
Mrs. MacGowen had kept house for
the captain for years In the snug little
flat over the sail shop, so naturally
after he had gone away, she stayed on
looking after Peggie. And with Ben
and his three assistants they remained
a contented household until the com
ing of the Rowing Lou.
One morning after Ben had opened
the old fashioned wooden shutters out
side the windows, and Mrs MACEDONIAN
had started the whirr of her sewing
machine briskly, Peggie, from her
point of vantage in the stool, looked
out and beheld strange craft anchor
ed in the slip where usually the sober
looking James B. Gale lay. lumber
boat from FrOVlQenCe.
This one was a three-master, with
high deck lines. and her PROV stick
ing inquisitively up in the air. She was
ocean going too, and weather beaten,
and she needed sail" badly, Peggie's
business glance discovered, at once.
Her general tone was gray, with
touches of red and black on the cabin
and deck trimmings, and oversher rails
there leaned one lone sailor, with
pipe in his mouth, and a red stockinet
cap on the back of his head,
Looks like Portugee, don't he?'
said Ben. "She must have slipped in
there by night. Never like she'd seen
there by night Never heard her name
before, Looks like she'd seen some
weather."
Peggie could not have told why but
the stranger had fascination for her.
She had grown to know the names Of
nearly all the customary callers along
that water front. and this bird of pas
sage puzzled her. There was evidently
no cargo to unload. End no signs Of ac-
tiyity about her She had Just drifted
in to look around. probably. And then
the door opened, and the master Of the
Rowing Lou came into the shop.
He was tall and young, and no Portu-
guese. not with that rough blonde hair.
and the keen blu" eyes that took in
everything, and fingered longest on
Peggie, even while he spoke to old
Ben.
81 want some ssils for her" he nod
ded vaguely toward the Rowing Lou
out of the window. How long will it
take to get them?"
Ben got out his mcneil, and figured in
his leisurely way. while the strang CAP
tain looked boldly and fiXcdly at the
slender figure on the high stool Yet he
might have been pardoned. for Peggie
that morning was a sight to gladden.
any ones sea wearicd eyes. She wore
pink chambray apron over her dark
blue dress. and a band of black velvet
around her neck. And her reddish
brown hair was piled up high on Ter
small head. perhaps to give her dignity
or to counteract the effect of her
dimples and freckles.
He came often in the next few days.
Ben liked him and so did Mrs. Mac
Gowan. He would sit up on one Of the
long wooden tables and tell stories of
the cruises OF the Rowing Lou that de-
lighted them. She had sailed the seven
seas, now with one cargo. now with an