Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1922-11-23
CAST ON THE
WATERS
BY MARIAN LEE


Let it ring. You don't get me out
night like this"
"But somebody wants to get across
the river"
''Then let them SWIM"
"Shall go?"
you'll have 10 if you're so anxious
about it."
With the maudlin and ungracious
words Martin Dale turned over on the
couch on which he lay and the girl.
Alice. threw waterproof cape over
her shoulders and went out into the
darkness and storm.
1t was relief to get away from the
liquor freighted air of the room where
she had sat porting over book in the
feeble lamp light Reading and roam
ing amid nature comprised the only
grateful breaks for Alice in an exist.
ence almost uncomfortable. There was
not possible girl companion within
miles and the rickety, half furnished
old ruin of a building where Martin
Dale had drank and dozed half his
life away had not Il homelike feature
Left an orphan and penniless. her fate
would have been the almshouse had
not Dale. her half-uncle, adopted her.
Alice had become an expert i'm
handling the ferryboat. 1t required
both strength and skill to operate the
great slotted wooden bar which pulled
the boat along the thick rope cable,
but she was able 20 exert both to a
point of careful efficiency. She lit and
set the lantern ON the boat. 1t was
raining hard and blowing a gale, but
she was used to all kinds of weather,
toll and discomfort.
Alice drove the Scow ashore after
crossing the river to find a man of
about thirty pacing restlessly to and
fro and who the moment the craft
came within reach jumped aboard. He
carried a basket quite roomy and COW
cred with piece of waterproof close
" tucked in all about the edges. He
placed this very carefully under the
half boarded space under the sect at
the stern, seemed very sClcitous
about it, but did not seat himself.
Hurry" he spoke. nervously strid-
ing over the wet boards. 81 shall pay
you well if you do"
Alice bent sturdily to her task. She
wondered who the handsome we'll
dressed stranger could be, but her
mind was practically absorbed by her
duties, for never in all her experience
had she faced a more severe task
IN l.
arisen to hurricane and the current
at times swept the bulky, clumsy craft
to the extreme straining point of part
ing the cable.
"Snap" 1t came as she had feared
The ancient knotted, mended rope had
been unable to withstand the present
fierce attack upon its rotted strands.
With shiver and then a series of dir
lying whirls the scow swung out of all,
control.
sHold to something!' she cried, her.
self clinging to an upright at the side
of the craft. The lantern swung loose
and was engulfed, and down stream
the boat swung with those on board
completely at the mercy of wind and
water.
Then there was crack. The craft
had struck rock, parted, fioated on
shattered wreck and Alice, hurled
into the waters, saw the passenger
struggling in midstream. She grasped
the basket as 1T fioated near her and
reached the shore in safety. She set
it on the ground and ran along striv-
ing to discern some further trace of
the passenger. Then. excited and awed,
she hurried home, reused up Dale, and
he, Selling a lantern, fastened away,
his wrecked craft and the imperiled
passenger in his mind.
He never returned and his body was
later recovered at a dam down the
river. And meantime Alice had made
a startling discovery. In the basket
she found babe less than a year old
and under 1t wallet containing q
large amount of bank notes. Con.
corning the child Alice told the entire
true story. The finding of the money
she did not relate. She adopted the
little refugee with a new Joy in life.
using none of the money except for its
needs, and operated a new small boat
at the ferry alone.
Somehow to Alice, inexperienced as
she was, the faith grew in her mind
that some day developments concern
ing the missing passenger and her lit
tie protege would come to light, and
one day two months after that event
ful night she returned from a stroll
In the woods. the little one in her
arms, to confront man seated wait
ing for her outside the ferry house.
He was pale of face, attenuated of
form and suggested a person just con
valescent from a severe spell Of M.
ness. AT once Alice recognized him
as the Inflated passenger. Of the ferry.
boat the night of the storm.
Robert Isle recited what Alice had
anticipated-a marvellous rescue from
drowning and weeks of sickness In
hospital. Then he had started back