Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-08-27
JAMES SHARK
BY MARY A. MURDOCH.


] w. 1871 D A4GA8aFt -NEhsEG per LGiEaLE-g
James glance triumphantly swept
the long stretch OF deserted beach.
+ Not soul in sight For an hour at
least she might confidently expect TO
keep all this wonder to herself Glee-
! fully she vIsioned the chagrin Of Tom,
not TO mention her haIf-dozen other
/ satellites, when they should have dis
+ covered her to have already taken her
I morning dip. without their ubiquitous
ministrations.
Ii was five o'clock, and half an hour
before sunrise. Jane waded out to-
wards a not distant sand bar, her eyes
fixed on the eastern sky, where the
gray mist was parting, to reveal hid
den color treasure Of orange and gold.
She felt suddenly awed How big ev-
erything was How tiny her hands
seemed, buoyed in front OF her on the
surface of the water At that mo-
ment she half wished for a chance TO
snub the owner Of certain steadying
If presunptuous arm. then shaking off
the weakness and determined to glory
in her new found freedom, she plunged,
squealing irrepressibly, into an on
coming wave and swan with an even,
sure stroke for the bar
Once there she turned to glance at
the hotel, oddly somnolent in the half
light. then with a suro1or sniff, in
tended Tor its lazy inmates. she
stretched luXuriously on the sand and
gave herself up to the enjoyment of
the spectacle to the eastward. For
full half-h0ur She watched and mar
veled and dreamed How trivial now
seemed yesterdays prepexities and
intrigues. Her unaccomtably poor
showing at the tennis tournament, that
cataclysmic error which had caused
her partner to view her in stunned
surpriSe-how little such things real
" mattered. She remembered with a
certain sense of shame the fiirtations
which had marked her stay ait this
most popular of beach resorts. What
poor sport it was, after all Hence
forth she determined TO repress the
eternal Eve in her and to save her
smiles for-him. And delightful
speculation gripped her as to Nho-he
might be.
a cold tongue of wafer Tapped her
bathing slipper and she jumped UP,
shiyering The tide had risen. Jeal-
Gus waves We're already trying TO edge
her oft her perch. She fused with
her cap in preparation for the swim
back, pauSing for a last look at the
King of Day, now well over the rim
of the world
For a while she stood there
charming figure in her modiSh sea
suit, eyes agleam with youths love
of life, curling tendrils of gold whip
ping her creamy throat. Suddenly
she stitfened and a sharp cry escaped
her.
Graded between two of the larger
overlapping waves she had espied
something sinister and white. a gleam-
ing mass that moved and gowed in
/ the long rays Of the morning light.
A sort of numbness seized her. as
through fer mind there flashed all
the stories she had heard recounted
of the whitebelhed terror which many
of the hotel habitues were reputed'
70 have glimpsed Whereabouts. always
from the asylum of a dock.
Jane viewed deSpairingly the fast
diminishing strip Of sand. Ten min
utes at the most, and she would have
to take her chances with the thing
in the water. On the verge OF faint
ing, She YET managed to find her voice.
At first thin and weak. desperation
lent it strength. A favoring breeze
aided her, and the cry which reused
half a hundred sleepy vacationists
from their beds was that Of Tom !"
Tom heard with the rest. and not
one OF the wondering watchers saw
anything grotesque in his pajama-clad
figure rs it flew TO the waters edge.
Get a boat, Tom" Jane screamed
then toppled and fell.
But Tom didn't 20 back. few
minutes and he had In his arms q
strangely docile Jane, who could only
whisper family, Tom, darling Tom"
and who chung piteously to him.
As he swan back TO the beach. now
thronged with half-clad people, his
precious burden held close he was
too deliriously happy to wonder why
Jane conceded the best swimmer in
the crowd. had not dared negotiate
the short distance Time enough for
explanations later-for The present
life was very sweet. with that soft
Tom. darling Tom i'm his ears.