Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1917-02-17

mined to stick to the wake of the kid.
naperS.
"A little more than halfway between
their starting point and the head of the
bay, the leading boat swung sharply in
toward the shore, then shot into the
mouth of a narrow indentation. For
two or three minutes he could see moth
ing of the other.
Empty of all other craft. weird and
desolate in moonlight, the Little Pc
comic waters widened and then mar
rowed about the flying vessels. Shore
! lights watched them, now dim and far.
now bright and near at hand. Shelter
! Island sound received them. Slapped
their TANKS encOuragingly with its rae
ing waves, sped them with an ebbing
tide that tore Stewards between con-
stricted shores into the loneler wastes
of Gardeners bay, Their relative po-
sitionS were unchanged: still the Trou-
/ bic retained her position.
! When the chase rounded the buoy,
instead of stndinG. as any reasonable
/ beings might have been expected to,
on to Fishers island or at a tangent
north toward the Connecticut Iittoral.
! they swung off something south of east
"a course that could lead them no.
where but to tbs immensities of the
sea itself.
Whitaker's breath caught in his
| throat as he examined this startling
prospect. He shook a dubious. vastly
troubled head. But he held on grimly
| In the face of dire fOrebOdings.
Once out from under the lee of
Gardeners island, heavier run Of
/ waves beset them, catching the boats
almost squarely on the beam: fortu-
! nately a sea of long, smooth, slow
| shOuldering rollers, as yet not angry.
| Now and again, for all that, one would
! favor the Trouble with a uuartering
! slap that sent a shower of spray aboard
| her to drench Whitaker and swash
noisily round the cockpit ere the self
bailing channels could carry it Off. He
was quickly wet to the skin and shiv-
/ ering. The hour was past midnight.
| and the strong air whipping in from
! the open sea had a bitter edge. They
stin had moonlight, but the wind was
! blowing with an insistent, unintermit-
| tent force 1t had not before developed.
A haze, vaguely opalescent, enclrcled
/ the horizon like a ghost of ahsinthe.
| By fOur-thirty, when the twilight was
| moderately bright, Whitaker was bare.
! ~ able to distinguish the leading boat,
! The two seemed as if suspended. strug-
| Cling like impaIed insects, the one In
the midst, the other near the edge, of
a watery pit walled in by vapors.
The end came just before dawn,
with swiftness that stunned.
They were precisely as they had
been, within q certain distance of one
another, toiling on and ever on like
strange misshapen spirits doomed to
run an endless race. The harsh. shape
/ less light of imminent day alone manu-
! featured a color OF difference: Whit.
aker now was able 10 see as two dark
| shapes the men In the body Of the lead.
| ing boat. Now suddenly the man at
| the wheel cried out something IN ter
| rible voice Of fright so high and vehe-
| ment that 1t even carried back against
| the booming gale for Whitaker TO hear.
! simultaneously he put the wheel over,
! with all his might. The other jumped
/ from his seat, only to be thrown back
as the little vessel swung broadside to
/ the sea, heeling until she lay almost on
her beam ends. The next instant she
ceased, incredibly to move-hung mo
/ uonless in that resistless surge. an
amazing, Supplying spectacle. It
seemed minutes before Whitaker could
/ force his wits to comprehend that she
had struck and lay transfixed upon
some submerged rock or reef.
a long, gray roller swept upon and
over her, brimming her cockpit with
foaming water. AS 1t passed he saw
the haif-drowned men release the
coapings 10 which they had chung on
involuntary Impulse to escape being
swept away, scramble upon the cabin
roof, and with one accord abandon
themselves to the win of the next wave
TO follow. As it broke over the boat
and passed, he caught an Instantaneous
glimpse Of their heads and arms bob
ting and beating franucauy us they
whirIed off through the yeasfy welter.
But he saw this without pity or COM
passion. If he had been able 20 have
his viii with them. he would have sunk
noth ten fathoms deep without az in.
stant's respite. His throat was ch0ked
with curses THAI welled up from a
heart wrenched and raging AZ this dls-
c0Yery Of eowardice unparalleled.
They he'd done what they could for
themselves without even hesitaung 70
release the woman imprisoned In the
cabin
DO you think that Miss Fiske