White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1935-05-02

| ing the top of fog that it might or
might not be able to dissipate by
noon. Some mackerel fishermen group
ing about the fish house were inclined
to think the fog was in to stay. With
the Gulf Stream flowing northeast far
off shore and the cold Labrador cur
rent pushing southwest along the
coastline and the breezes tickle, any,
body had a right to his guess. This
sea fog that brings the blood to the
girls cheeks is not worth much to the
toiler of the sea, unless perchance, he
| be contrabandiSt.
Tom feared that it might be worth
a lot to Sebastien, who would have
had ample time by now to get round to
his fishing ground.
you and I may not have anything
on the skunk" he said to Robert, "but
Dave MacFarlane has, and we can
work that somehow. Let's run over
and see if he is there, and If he's not
We'll break out the doctor and get his
view on where we all stand"
! Robert YEARLY agreed He felt that
\ SAAASC G11c VI Gllc SHOW lldll
been taken out of his hands, the best
he could do was to trail along, thank
ful that 1t was at least In honest ones
Tom started the engine, and the tide
being far out, gave the rocks jutting
off Whale island wide berth and ap-
preached the Corvette ledge on it's
outer end
just here the fog seemed to have
thinned little, or perhaps the grow
Ing strength of solar rays may have
rendered it pellucid. AS Tom bore
down on the debated ground he shot
suddenly into sort of st-encircled
ampitheater where an astounding
spectacle was in course of being rem
dered. So abruptly did this appear
that it seemed to Tom as if he had
pushed aside a heavy but diaphanous
curtain hung at the entrance to the
arena and found himself an unsus-
pecting but leading figure of the vio-
lent event, like a Spanish fighting bull
loosed from it's shrouded sequestration
to burst into the battle zone of blood
and sand
Two animated objects were present.
ed simultaneously Just ahead lay Sc
bastien's heavy cruiser, with Sebas-
tien by the mizzen shrouds and in the
act of aiming a lethal weapon And
here on Toms port bow was the NOV
ing target, a rowboat vigorously pro-
| PEELED by an oarslnan that Tom recog-
nized instantly as Doctor White.
| The little shallop was badly trimmed
for race with bullets, down in the
bow with a weight that represented an
abstract value greater to Tom than
that of his immortal soul, and con-
crete worth in pounds avoirdupois or
Troy more than it's equivalent in ra-
dunn a substance that to him was no
more luminous.
The immediate effect of this tableau
on Tom was to draw a red film across
his vision. The yell of a blood-lust-
ing corsair burst from his big chest
1t reached -Sebastien, who lowered his
arm He stared for moment at the
boat foaming down on him, then,
mindful of his need to avoid every ap-
| pearance of evil, he shambled to the
other side of the deck and dropped his
weapon overheard. Perhaps 1t was his
intention to deny that there had been
any pistol, that his gesture had been
harmless one, wrongly interpreted as
menacing, or purposely so for the dis
honest motive of putting him in the
| wrong.
If so, it failed to serve him any use
full purpose. Tom, mad as the afore-
mentioned bull and charging as i'm
petuously, neither slowed nor swerved
his boat. The yaWl-rigged cruiser was
lying broadside on to his fore and-aft
dimension. Before any of the three
aboard the anchored vessel could guess
Toms intention, a nemesis had hurtled
from the void. The heavy launch,
nearly straight of bow and built of
solid oak, like many of the boats con-
structed for fishing or party haunting
In those rough, rock strewn waters,
crashed head on into the cruiser pre-
cisely on her most non-resisting point,
which is plumb amidships, and at the
most dangerous angle to the stricken
craft, that of ninety degrees
No small craft could receive such a
body blow and still swim, unless she
were built for Arctic exploration and
the pressure of ice. The launch went
into the punky tub like a woodsman's
AK into rotten log. Some few yards
before the crash, Tom had called to
Robert, Stand by for ram" and
Robert had obeyed this order instantly
by dropping to sitting posture with
his feet braced against the motor box.
Notwithstanding the disparity of
weight between a thirty-foot open
launch and fifteen-ton fishing CRUZ
ser, the latter was considerably listed.
Tom had ra1nmed her nicely as she
rolled away from him on the long low
swell, and as she rolled back again she
bore the launch's bow down almost
awash, SO that the propeller churned
half in air, like an eggbeater. Tom
reversed, and as the cruiser rolled
sluggishly away again the launch
| backed clear.