Evening star., 1924-07-13
THE MAN WITH TWO MOUTHS
.TENNYSON


| Bendigo. with the agility of long use
to sudden danger. eased of the sheets
and then Thomasin could sec what
| menaced them. A preventive boat
like themselves with no light save the
wretched glimmer over the compass
had been lying to under her mizzen
and already her men were making sail
Thomasin sat gripping the tiller while
the voices Of her menfolk came to her
! ears.
The topsail." shouted Robin; but
| Bendigo's voice made answer. Not
| till us has tot might rip mast on
| in this gale. Try the jib-
They set the jb and shook out the
reefs in the mainsail. and the Merry
| maid answered to 1t like a race horse
| to the whip. She quiyered all her
length. the tiller pushed like a sentien,
thing against Thomasin's palm and
they went reeling on.
For nearly an hour they ran before
the wind. helped by the flood tide
and all the time the Preventive boat
was slowly gaining on them, for she
was carrying a larger stretch Of can
vas. She was nearly upon them when
the sound of breaking surf told that
they were nearing the Manacles. and
| the tide was still fairly low. Sud
denly Robins voice came again, this
time with a thrill in it: "Now's our
chance" he called. Well hoist the
| topsail and make d run for II inside
OF the Manacles."
He was at the mast as he spoke,
nd oil no ~,
of the unoiled sheave as the topsail
halliards ran through il. The next
moment the mast creaked and bent,
the almost useless jib slackened as
the other sails took all of the wind,
and the Merrymaid shook her nose
and plunged into the broken water
that CLEANED between the blackness
of the mainland and the Manacles.
They'll never dare follow, cried
Bendigo: and even as he did so the
Preventive boat. trusting to her su-
perior speed 70 make good, began to
come around to the wind SO as to
pass the Manacles on the outer side.
The added strain proved too much,
and her mast snapped with a report
like gunshot--the one clean, sharp
sound through all that furry of rush
ing, edgeless noise, and it told it's
own tale to the eager ears on the
Merrymaid. She, under the influence
of the topsail. was burying her bows
at every plunge. and Thomasin knew,
by the sudden cessation of the tilIer's
tug, that the rudder had lifted clear
of the racing water. only to drive
into it again with a blow that sent
her reeling.
Thomasin's fight with the boat she
loved began in real earnest Yawing
stubbornly, the Merrymaid pulled
against the tiller so that the rough
flesh. SO hard had she to grip it to
into the wind.
WITH the breath failing in her
w throat, she had none left to cry
for help. She could only wrestle with
the tiller, which, with all the weight
of the yawing Merrymaid against it.,
seemed about to crush her. Then
hands came over hers in the dark
ness. and even at that moment her
flesh knew Robins.
Tell me if | make a mistake; you
know this hell-pool better than me-"
he called to her through the noise
of the surf, and with an easing of the
muscles SO exquisite as to be almost
pain in ItSelf, she felt him absorb
the weight of the boat into his grip
With the lifting of that strain from
her shoulders and arms came the
realization of how mercilessly his
hands were grinding hers against the
tiller. There was no need for her to
call directions to him; he and she
were so welded in one at the tiller
that the unconscious pull of her arm
beneath his told him, in his state of
receptive tension. what to do more
surely than any words.
They were hrough-through and
safe-and five minutes more saw them
round the point and in calmer water,
where they slipped the cargo; and
soon after they had made the har-
Dor under easy sail, innocent of con-
trahand from stem to stern.
All danger over. Thomasin felt
oddly faint and let her father go on
ahead across the moor while she hung
heavily on Robins arm, her numbed
hands slowly tingling back to life as
they went. Arrived at the cottage,
faint light, that went out even as
they looked, told Of Bendigo's entry.
and Robin set the lantern he carried
on the flagstones between the but
tresses. Thomasin leaned back against
one of them, and the dim light. flick
ering upward, softened her marked
bones and frightened her eyes. Every
defect of skin was hidden--it showed
pale and her mouth velvet dark upon
it. Robins lips fastened on her
throat below her ear and stayed there
Sh Ct and a.,x.