The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-10-12

but the woman lay with her eyes wide
open, looking upward at the drifting
spume. Her eyes met mine, and she
sat up, grasping the gunwale with
one hand, and stared about her over
the drear expanse Of sea.
"There is nothing In sight 2" she
spoke YEARLY. "Are you sure Mr.. Car
rington made his escape?"
"As certain as / can be. ! did not
see him after left the party In the
after cabin last evening. But McCann
insists that he came on deck. and
joined the others In lowering the boats
Beyond doubt he got away safely. and
was picked up by the liner"
She was silent for some time, her
gaze on the man sleeping in the bows.
He rolled over, revealing his face. gray
and haggard in the dawn.
"WhO-who Is that mann" she ques-
toned. "YOu call him Mccain; Is he
sailor?"
"No; he was one of the guests. He
Is a rich mans son, who occasionally
takes flyer on Wall street"
"Not-not Fergus McCann?"
II believe that is his name, now that
you recall 1t. Why? Did you ever
know the fellow?"
"Only by reputation, which is not
the best. He was involved rather I'M
pleasantly in the Bascom shooting
case"
"Aye, remember. / read about the
affair in n Chicago paper at the time
but failed to comprehend it was this
Mccain who was involved. DID Bas-
com die?"
"He will be crippled for life; of
course his assailant may not have been
entirely to blame-it was drunken
quarrel over woman"
SWELL" l said quietly, "the man is
in for Il job Of sailor work here, wheth-
er it pleases him, or not. He acted
bit sullen last night, but / am in no
mood just now to baby him. Have you
ever steered boat with an oar, Miss
Vera?"
81 have done lots Of canoeing, and
last summer at Palm Beach," she
stopped laughing ut the slip "Yes,
actually at Palm Beach, steered some
larger boats. II believe l could"
"You will find this somewhat diff
ferent. Still, there is not much of
trick to 1t, and / am going to let you
try your hand. Do you think you can
hold her all right?"
"Of course / can" almost indignant
ly. Really, Mr.. Hollis, have steered
boats in verse seas than this. If the
oar wasn't quite so heavy"
"There is no steering paddle aboard.
Well, if anything goes wrong, sing out.
I'm going to rout out that fellow for
ward, and get at our work."
I cannot say that Mccain was par
ticularly pleasant about it; he had a
way of showing that he rather resent
ed my assumption of authority, and
performed what / ordered with a de-
liberation which was almost insolent.
However, he made no open revolt, and
thought 1t best not to anger the man
unnecessarily. We worked steadily for
an hour, the fellow proving practically
useless, except to hand me the article
required, or to throw his weight on a
ropes end. Vera succeeded in holding
the boat steady, although thought the
weight Of the waves increased as
though we were on the outer edge Of
some storm.
dashed an oar upright to thwart,
bracing it securely by ropes to oar
locks on either side; then secured the
broken paddle handle as spar, notch
ing the oar to give purchase, and rugged
up the tarpaulin, being compelled to
use rope-ends to secure it in position.
1t was a rough job, yet the stiff canvas
bellied out in the wind, and was con-
scious Of thrill Of hope, as I crept
back to the stern sheets, grasped the
steering oar, and headed the boat into
the southwest.