The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-30
EOening Story
The Gift of the Sea.
BY CLARISSA MACKIE.

|
married them and now as longs
band, why we've got to make the best
of it. But we'd a hull sight ruther
Daisy had married you-what can I
| say to comfort you. Ben"
Ben Raymond's tanned face seemed
to pale. a tired look came into his
dark blue eyes and his firm lips were
a straight hard line that parted in a
grim smile at the shamefaced counte-
nance of William Brewer.
| Don't worry about me. Mr..
brown hand. IT'S a hard blow--if
Daisy-h had only told me she didn't
love me I would have freed her at
once, but don't you and Mrs. Brewer
fret about tit will come out all
right in the end"
you're a son to be proud of, Ben"
said the older man hoarsely as he
went away.
Ben paused with his hand on the
painter of the lighthouse potorboat.
| The smile had faded and there was
only the grimness left on his face.
| The boat was laden with supplies for
the lighthouse, standing clean and
white at the end of the long shoal
two miles from the mainland. Ben
was assistant keeper there, and he
in their seabound home-but it was
| not to be. Therefore. the lighthouse
looked colder and lonelier than ever
as his boat dashed across the bay.
of the week for all the emotion he
| showed when he mounted the stairs
to the coy living room and told his
uncle and aunt the news.
When the keeper and his good wife
had exhausted their anger and the
MONDAY dinner was cleared away Ben
found work to do in the lamp room.
and the two old peoPt0 were left
alone. ut will be made up to him
| some day, my dears The good Lord
will straighten it out! Daisy was a
trifling girl, but because Ben loved
her tried~to like her.
Days. weeks and months went by
and Ben Raymond found that time
was a little solace. He had learned
to think of Daisy as Mrs. Browne. tho
he had never seen her or her dapper
husband.
II expect some day I'll be darned
savagely, as he polished the brasses
and cleaned the big lenses.
1t was wild autumn, with raging
seas and furious winds that shook the
building to its foundation. Folks
ashore arose in the night and looked
off toward Sands Light to see If some
giant sea had not swept 1t away, but
nothing happened until Christmas
week, when a binding snowstorm
held the country in thraIl and the
friendly beams of Sands Light could
scarcely be seen. Thru the smother
ing thickness the big foghorn blared
| warningly. while a bell buoy nearby
had not slept for several days and his
uncle urged him to rest. you'll be
no use to me all tagged out. Benny"
| he said.
I'm all right. Uncle Pete" assured
Ben. We've got to see this old nor
wi ff1o
shoal."
whats that?" beloved the keeper
above the noise of the horn.
Sea gulls-poor critters" muttered
Ben.
Sounds like a cry" The two men
rushed to a window and looked out
At first nothing could be seen but the
Smothering cloud of snoWflakes
There was no sign of an unfortunate
vessel bearing toward the shoal or the
signal fires Of the life saving station
yes. there were the fires miles below
at Kiticut Beach-the life savers were
out tonight. Off Kiticut Beach were
the black rocks where another light
was placed. But still came that in
sistent cry that seemed timed to sound
whenever the foghorn paused
It's on the shoal below-maybe
some one from the wreck off Kiticut,"
shouted Ben, and he pulled on his OIL
skins. Morning was breaking, but
there was not much relief in the blind
ing storm. Ben shot a powerful
searchlight down at the shoal and
elimpsed a mass of something
You'll be drowned" warned his
aunt. But you've got to go, Benny"
For the first time since his broken
engagement Ben laughed outright. He
kissed his amt and made for the
lower floor. Half an hour afterward
| he brought up one by one four people,
three women and one man, survivors
from the wreck of the ship at Kiticut
who had been put into a small boat
ter of Sand Shoal. They were all
warmly dressed, and after the keeper
and his family had worked over them
for hours and put them to bed they
slept all thru the next day and in more
or less degrees of stiffness came down
TO supper, where a steaming fish
| chowder awaited them.
Two of the women were steward
esses on board the wrecked steamer,
while the third was a pa, .enger, a girl
of twenty, with eyes like brown pan
sizes wet with dew and the most ap-
pealing smile Ben had ever seen. She
was evidently in moderate circum-
stances. and it developed that she was
| on her way rom Boston to another
city to find work. The only man from
| the wrecked boat was a cook who could
speak little English, but gave a lusty
hand in helping Ben reach the life
| saving station.
The two women and the cook went
away the following day. but the girl,
who had lost all her belongings in the
wreckA stayed on at Aunt Hannai1's
suggestion. 'Isneed a light hand to
help me with the work." said the
astute old lady. "All this worry and
| furry has upset me terribly and 1t
may take me all winter to feel right
smart again" All of which would
have startled Uncle Pete and Ben had
| they heard it.
So Marjorie Lee stayed on and
| helped q good deal, and they all grew
so fond Of her that they would not let
her go. She was an orphan, and she
had grown to love the sturdy keeper
and his sweet wife, and as for Ben,
he was a hero in her shy eyes.
You are my gift from the sea, Mar
| jorie," he told her one night when
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