Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-12-19
!. The Dailv
Short Story
MY SECRET.
By Warner Miller.

l nTSi saw HeT, IoSy-cneekSd, laurh-
ing girl who had never known MI.
fortune. We were fisher folk. ana
sailors and lived under the canonv os
heaven; used to the breaking of thu s
wages pm the beach, which at times
lulled us to slumber and at timss
merged with the roar of the teunes,
! was so years old then and whsn
I saw Annie racing over the sands
or climbing the dunes, her hair
streaming behind her, in the wind
felt then in comparison with her
was hundred At any rate knew
that to her l was an old man whils IN
me she was a child. The day would
soon come when some younrster
would carry her off and / left in
world that would be dreary wi,hont
her.
But still she romped and pulled
about, when the water was calm in
her boat, and with bare feet ran on
the sand of windy day like a bird.
"0f tempest-ioving kind
Thus beating up against the wind"
and no Wooer came. The only claim
had on her was ghen she would
sit beside me on the end of the dock
under which the waves were rolling
and l would tell her stories.
Then came sailor lad still in his
teens and he and Annie came together
4 with snap like two magnetized met
| ais. How / envied that boy. He was
a handsome fellow, and in his sailor
! togs, unique costume unlike auy
/ other, / thought it no wonder that
Annie should find a mate in him. An.
MES father and l were chums. he
being but few years older than | and
one day he said to me:
Tom, dye mind this young Crocker
boy, maken up to my Annie?"
The devil tempted me to say he's
no good. 'Twould be a pity for Annie
to throw herself awaNon such us be,
If / had said that Jim Clark would
have sent him away without Annie
But I .braced myself and said, Hes
likely chap, and believe would go
aioft to furl a sail in a hurricane as
quick as any man"
That settled IL The next day Ned
Croker asked Clark for Armies hand,
) and got it.
: l was menden nets on the sand IN
the mornen when I felt pair of arms
) around my neck and turnin' saw An
MES happy face near to mine. She
had come to tell me that she vas to
marry the sailor boy.
Papa says you think well OF him,
4 she said, ''and papa will take your
l opinion of anyone in preference to his
:, own"
I'm glad you're SO happy, my dear.
L said, but the words choked me-
Annie's happiness did not last long
: She married Croker, but he sailed
away from her and never returned
: my words about him to her fathsl
}. were proved. When his ship came ii
we were told that in a hurricane h
went aloft TO furl a sail, when NJ
- other man dared go, and losing hf
? mold was blown overheard.
:, Annie mourned him but she Ia.
: youth on her side and though she wa
:. never the romp she had been was II
time herself again. She turned TO M
for comfort and sometimes / dare
. hope that We might in time be some
= thing more than friends, but fs'
:. years after Croeker's taking OF, sh
= married again, this time the mate Of
: ship that sailed between New Yor
= and Japan. He wasn't the handsom
g sailor lad Croker was, and he didn'
sail with the wind. His ship was
steamer
g. Simmons, this was Annie's husband
l. didn't live much longer than the frs
He came home sick from his first voy
age after their marriage, and thong
lie Annie nursed him tenderiy sh
l. couldn't save him. He died in be
s arms and we buried him in the It'll
2 plot of ground On the hillside, mil
,e back from the village.
lie A big storm ragged on the eoas
II Several miles out was reef, COZ
lf cred with water at high tide. In tn
L afternoon ship was seen TO f0uhde
Is on the edge and within few minute
&c she was broken to pieces. In tim
u wreckage and bodies began to CON
e. in and the beach was soon eoyere
er with both. We did what We could
ar take in and bury the dead. but Nigh
came on before we could clean ii
It. beach.
e, The next day / went with sever
at others to hunt for bodies that Ia
20 drifted northward. We found thel
ne scattered along the beach and burie
a. them as we found them / got sci
70 arated from the rest and came upo
or the body of young man. ! starte
cy the moment | saw him for | recoE
as nized Ned Crocker.
lie He was several years older TIA
at when | had last seen him and ha
ny some beard on his face. but he vi
ag Croker all the same. Before any
the others reached me | had carrlt
RS him back to where there was ear
ay instead Of sand and buried him.
lily found out in time why Croker vi
.er alive the day before found the bod
IN He had found another mate and 4
trs account of his death had been ma
is up to screen his wife from wor
ay blight / have continued the dece
Ter ton never having told her th9 lou
-ry his body. She has long beer hy vi
setsbut the difference in our ages seeT
ma much less than when she was a 81
lie
iel
- ages.ufr- hoo ~ n