The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-20
Eocning Story
First Mate of the Nancy Ellen
BY H LOUIS RAYBOLD.


laughing girl, her head thrown back,
her slim hands braced against the
tiller.
7 suppose this is our last sail to-
stable House opening tomorrow your
time will be filled with fishing and
sailing parties
well. hope so,' said Jim. his eyes
on the far horizon. 81 shall need all
1 can get to put with whatever the
next fall in the city. Dad won't help
me at ALL" he added bitterly.
Perhaps your father thinks your
portunity lies here" suggested Mary
gently. He is getting old and the
store will soon be too much for him
II know" said Jim impatiently, "but
he can always sell out"
Mary said no more, convinced of the
futility of argument. Why wouldn't
Jim see that here in his old home
town lay his biggest chance of sue
cess?
For miles around W. Newton & Son
, held the e<ade in groceries hardware
and dry goods. and a rapidly growing
trade it was. what with the yearly in
creasing influx of summer people who
crowdedthe hotels and boarding houses
and cottages. This business to which
Jim now contributed part of the name
and few hours every morning, would
eventually become entirely his. Let
him combine some youthful energy
with his fathers reputation and there
was a gold mine in it for him. But
according to Jim the Goddess Success
had her temple only in the city.
If. when the sail was over. Mary
sighed as she helped him fasten the
great for happy days gone by, partly
! with apprehension as to what the fu
ture held in store. ~
Three weeks later as Mar y walked
down North Barnstable's winding, elm
shaded Main street to the postoffice,
Jims father, fussing over a window
! display of canned 'cheeses, beckoned
to her from the store.
Mary" he said, after she had fol-
lowed him into the store, 81 want you
to do something for me. Young Whit
lock, at the Barnstable house, is pes
tering me to death to sell out to him
at a price not half what the business
is worth. But I'm tempted to take
him up. ES more than 1 can man
age alone and Jim is planning to get
out in the fall. But if 1 thought Jim
was putting him up to it, I'd stick it
out till I pass in my checks. I won't
be bulldozed by Jim.
How can I help you?" asked Mary
, as the other paused.
This way" replied the man eagerly.
Find out, if you can, what Jim knows
about it. I haven't mentioned 1t to
him. If it's his doings. I'll have moth
ing to do with it. But if he doesn't
know about it, I'll try and jack up
the other follows offer little, and
close the deal"
I'll do what I can, Mr.. Newton"
Mary agreed and a moment later left
the store. She did not relish the COM
mission. 1t meant arranging a meet
ing with Jim, and she had not seen
Jim since the opening of the hotel.
| That he had gone to several of the
hops with Cynthia Whitlock she had
gathered from very reliable informa-
ton. its source being none other than
| Cynthia's brother, Bert Whitlock,
who was trying to buy Jim's fathers
store.
And It was thru that very same
young man that Mary's first oppor-
| tunity TO see Jim came, when he in
vited her to go sailing with his sister
Cynthia and himself on the Nancy
Ellen.
On the afternoon of the sailing
party, as they stepped aboard the
sloop from the tender, Mary noticed
with a queer little pang that Cynthia
went straight to the helm. That had
| always been Mary's place, and so many
times had she steered that Jim often
told her she knew the channel better
than he did. and called her the Nancy
Ellen's first mate" Evidently she
had lost her job.
1t was on the return sail that Jim
said:
II envy you, Whitlock; born and
brought up in the city-thats where
opportunity lies =
Not always" returned the other
pleasantly. 81 have found very good
opportunity decidedly elsewhere than
in the city. 1t isn't mine yet. I'm still
negotiating-but if get it-well. I'm
satisfied. I supposed you knew it.
want to buy your fathers"
THE shoals! The shoals!" cried
Mary wildly.
Jim leaped for the helm. But be-
fore he could grasp the tiller from
Cynthias hands the Nancy Ellen
struck, paused. shivered from bow to
stern. then slid on to the outer edge of
| the Barren Shoals. - Half turned over.
she was transformed in an instant
from a responsive. buoyant creature
! riding the waves to a thing inert, the
/ plaything of the swells which broke
over it.
Fortunately the day was fair and
the wind off shore. Otherwise she
would not have lasted until the keep
ers of the Narcross light. who had
witnessed the wreck, could launch
their motor boat and hasten to the res
cue with some difficulty the
drenched girls were taken aboard. The
men stayed to manipulate the ropes
with which the craft was eventually
/ hauled off.
That night Mary, a bit shaken UP
and weak. sat IN the coucn nanmock
/ on her little veranda. bathed in the
( fragrance of honeysuckle. How
strong Jim's arms had felt about her.
the second after they struck! But
/ had his action meant anything. or had
/ it been involuntary. the result of a
strange impulse at the moment of pos
i sibIe death? She wanted to extract
/ from 1t the ultimate drop of consola-
! ton, for now that she could report to
! Jim's father her conviction that Jim
/ was in no way responsible for the Of
fer for the business. Jim's father
would sell out and Jim would go to the
: city
! Some one was coming in the gate.
Bert Whitlock. to see if she had gotten
over the effects of her near drowning
/ Not was JIM Quickly he swung up
the walk and veranda steps over to
the hammock beside Mary's slim
white figure.