Arizona state miner., 1926-06-12

sorrow that is come upon me. I'll
stay up here in the open"
"Certes, this will be no safe place
In storm" urged.
But she clung the tighter to us.
"Tll not go down. I'd sooner be
taken by the pirates than go down.
| Down there the noises of the water
and the ship will be like the crying
of the banshee in the Green room
where grandfather died. No, no! In
the cabin there is only death, and the
light Is dim, and the noises will be
whispering at my elbow the livelong
time. I'll have none of it Sure, l
care not what danger there is, if I
can stay up here and meet it in the
open."
eve let you stay" said Peter sooth-
ingly. "Ja, we better let der little
| gal stay, Murray. Bob andt 1, we take
care of her.
"That will we," 1 indorsed him.
My great-uncle eyed me thought
quizzically.
you are, it seems, subject to change
Of opinion, Robert" he remarked. "By
all means let MORA remain with us.
1 daresay she'll be none the worse
for q wett1ng."
But the storm held off throughout
our morning-long chase down the east
coast of the island and then out to
sea to herd the Walrus in from the
north. Coupeau hulled the miserable
craft again and again, and shot away
her foretopmast; but she steadily
clawed offshore and made desperate
attempts to steal ahead of US and win
clear path before the wind. and
when, toward noon, the breeze died
completely the positions of the two
vessels were practically the same as
they had been from the beginning Of
the cat-and-mouse game that Murray
| played.
The Royal James, by nimbler ham
ding, had gained in the last hour, and
was more than a cannon-shot to the
northwest of the Walrus, with the
northernmost of the islands chain Of
hills-the one the pirates called the
Foremost hill-almoSt due southeast
Of us. If the wind sprang up again in
anything like the same quarter the
Walrus was fast In Murray's trap.
She would have the choice Of two
| alternatives: She could stand on and
| fight, with the practical certainty Of
destruction for all hands, or she could
| drive ashore, in which case the crew
might take to the woods, with every
prospect of eluding pursuit, unless
Murray made a determined effort to
comb the islands craggy recesses.
After the long-range battering they
had received all morning, on top Of
| the hammering in the action in the
dark, there was not much doubt that
the Walrus' disorderly crew would
| take the decision into their own hands
| and choose the latter as offering a
| fair chance Of life, no matter how cir
| cumscribed.
The helmsman had just turned the
hour glass, which lay beside the COM
pass in the hooded box in front Of the
steering Wheel when a shout came
| from Martin, who was halfway up
the main-rigging, sweeping the hori-
zon with a glass. My great-uncle had
been pondering the desirability of get
ting out the boats and undertaking to
tow the James within range of the
long eighteens, and he called back
lis it wind?"
"Aye, aye, SIR" roared Martin-and
there was no mildness now in the old
fellows tones. There's the -
-est blow O. wind as ever came
out O. the - bowels o. the sky
! or I'm - - swab as ever was"
He tumbeld from the ratlines and
ran aft to the break of the poop his
face lifted earnestly in appeal.
"Best let me lay an ak to the miz-
zen, sir,' he called.
My great-uncle took snuff, calmly
| deliberate.
"Curb your fears, Martini" he an
| swered. II have weathered a lifetime
of gales in the Royal James. Take in
sail, Of course; but if we sacrificed
| a mast needlessly 'twould cripple us
for weeks. Where away is this wind?'
Martin waved an arm across the
northwestern arc of the horizon.
Look for yourself, cap'n. be an
old man, and 1 never seed the like"
Murray's reply was to swarm up the
mizzen rigging with the uncanny agili-
| ty of which he was capable, and l
climbed after him. We were some
| fifty feet above the deck when we saw
clearly with the naked eye vast
purple canopy arching forward across
the northern sky, a thing of splen.
didly colorful intensity, savagely beau
tiful. Jagged streaks Of lightning
flashed forth from its mirky depths.
A tattered fringe of storm-clouds
whipped out ahead of it like the ten
tacles of some mOnstrous sea-creature.
And it advanced at an incredible
speed, covering miles of sea and sky
in the few moments that we watched
| 1t.
My great-uncle's jaw squared grimly.
"'Tis too late to sacrifice the miz-
f. Zen,' he said. "We'd not have time