The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-11-07
ABATTLE WITH OLD GRAY
How Fight With Huge Sea Lion Kept the Lantern
Of Lighthouse from Being Lit
By Denion Clyt n Youths Companion
By Dsnison Gift, in Youths Companion

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of his head and leisurely joined his
mates.
Rushing down, Gregory Slam
med the door. "A whole fort
nights supply!" he said to himself
bitterly, as he surveyed the dire
waste of oil. ''And the Sequoia
won't be round again for another
weekp'
Plainly, he would have to 60 in
the launch to Pigeon Point for a
new supply of oil; but the breakers
continued to run so strong that he
could not leave with safety until
almost four o'clock that afternoon.
At that hour he dragged the launch
from it's berth under the tower,
slid it in to the waves and pushed
off with an oar.
Soon the little craft was chug-
chugging northward. An hour
later Gregory passed the tower of
the wireless station on a neighbor-
ing reef; ne veered north by east
and shortly ran into the jetty on
the point. Capt. Donaldson was
amazed to hear of the assault of
the sea lions. He gave Gregory
an order for four fve-gallon cans
of kerosene. It was nearly sunset
when Gregory started back to the
island.
At first the sea was as if bur-
nished red with the setting sun.
But as the little craft ran back to-
ward the island Gregory was
startled to see sweeping down upon
him the most insidious enemy of
shipping that turks off the Cali
fornia coast-a summer fog. One
moment the horizon was clear; the
next the sun was swept from view
and the golden world became leaden
gray-cold, cheerless and i'm
penetrable.
The island was still more than a
mile away. To windward Gregory
heard the booming of a fog bell,
which guided him away from some
perilous rips.
As the launch sped on, huge
combers broke aft over the gun
vale and drenched the boy. The
wild clangor of the bell soon died
away. The wind whipped the fog
past the launch in CHASTITY shreds.
A few minutes later Gregory heard
the distant barking of sea lions on
the island.
A dense fog bank-and no light
at Ano Nuevo! Gregory's face
grew white with fear. What of
the ships that depended on the
lighta The Harvard, filled with
passengers from the southern
beaches, would pass at seven
o'clock.
As the launch raced toward the
sound of the sea lions Gregory re-
allied that the roars of the herd
were of unusual volume. Were
they fightingg Was some am
bilious bull trying to wrest Old
Gray's supremacy from himg
Peering through the gloom
ahead, Gregory made out the lead
en-hued granite rocks of the
island. Dexterously he steered
the bow of the launch into shell
tered recess. Above, the lantern,
half hidden by scudding pillows of
fog, was dark. The Harvard was
shortly due, and for the first time
in twenty years Ano Nuevo Light
was dark in mist!
Picking up can of oil, Gregory
hurried up the broken, SHINY
rocks; but suddenly he stopped
The tower was twenty feet ahead
of him. Massed in front of it were
huge brown and gray bodies that
seemed welded into a squirming,
velvety rug. At the top of the
rug, roaring in fury, stood OLD
Gray, with his strong, white teeth
barred, his whiskers bristling and
his eyes big with anger. Close
under him was a powerful, silky,