White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1925-10-30
ran aft, where another boat was be-
ing lowered.

ran aft, where another boat was be
ing lowered
There was a splintering crash, and
screams. The craft, whaleboat, had
torn loose the block in It's bow, and
now hung straight down, spilling its
occupants into the icy water. These
boats had been on the lee side of the
schooner. The heaviest cutter of all
hung from davits to windward, and as
rushed to her, a giant roller came
over the side, sweeping all before 1t.
The cutter was wrenched free and
smashed against the deck.house, while
the men who had been trying to man
her were killed outright, or washed
over the side.
All but The Hawk. When that
smother Of foam died, we deserted
his great bulk rushing past us but a
few feet away, making for the bow.
Our pistols cracked, and he whirled,
snarling, just long enough to empty
his gun in our direction. Then, drop
ping the sack of gold, he raced for
the bowsprit, his apparent intention
being to dive into the sea, and swim
ashore. Giant in strength and endur-
ance as he was, there was every rea-
son to believe he would make it.
Frantically we shot. We wanted to
kill him, not so much for hankering
to slay as to end his career, destroy
him as we would a mad dog. But our
very anxiety spoiled our aim. He
gained the foot of the bowsprit, and
turned on us with hooking gesture,
just before he took off. I remember
that over and over in my brain beat
the futile thought:
He'll get away! He'll get away!
Well drown here, but he'll get away!"
Perhaps l even closed my eyes, for
when l opened them second later,
expecting to see him gone, 1 saw in
stead something that was to haunt my
dreams for months afterward.
l saw the slight slender form of the
boy Michael, clinging like leech to
the huge bulk Of The Hawk; saw the
irate, snarling in sudden fear, beating
cruelty at the lads face. But some
thing more. Dull glints of something
in the boys hand-rising and falling,
slower and slower-and then, as IL
this nightmare tableau had gone far
enough, a tremendous wave rose up
and blotted both from sight When the
roller was gone, the spot where I had
seen the struggling pair was bare.
Michael, chosen as the instrument to
destroy The Hawk, was even now
down there somewhere inthe cold
brine, locked in death-grip with his
enemy. How he ever managed to
reach the place in time to grapple
with the arch-pirate Is something no
one will ever know.
So passed The Hawk, but the para
dox of his passing was that the evil
he did was inferred with his bones,
but the good lived after him. AS
Witness
The wreck did not break up, and
not many hours after daylight we de-
serted slaty-colored coastguard cut
ter heading in-an answer to our dis
tress signal flying from what re-
NAMED Of the mainmast. And when,
presently we were preparing to en-
bark in the big whaleboat sent over to
fetch us, Herbert Knowlton announced
that he was going to stay behind
Send me over some grub and
boat. I'm going to make camp on the
beach, and salvage this gold" At
that, Mulvane grinned.
There's a chaplain on the ship over
there" he said, "and your sister vows
she won't marry me unless you're
present at the wedding
But the matter Of salvaging that
gold-fully a million dollars worth of
it's another story entirely.
(THE END.)