The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-02-26


cially pressed. He wants to sell
her"
THAT means he wants ready
money. You could hardly get hel
on credit, | reckon?"
81 reckon not. But wait til,
YOU hear this! His agents the
same French banker here in Cher
bourg my father transacts bust
ness with. I've convinced this
banker that Mr.. Cabell Banks, Sc
Nor of Boston would want me to
have the ship to get home in, and
that he'd like me to have enough
money advanced to outfit the clip
per and pay the crew for five
weeks. The chief expense will be
a pair of long guns, properly
mounted. but he'll stand for it.
It's a perfect situation, friend
Whitfield. Who're we to snipe at
fate"
"A Baltimore clippers not safe,
Banks. Those Marylanders are
mad to build them. Too flimsy.
Too fast E"
TOO flimsy, | grant you. But
not too fast. Nothing could be
TOO fast for us now. Do you real
ize, Jerry, we've got no right to
fight the British till we get our
commissions? If we tried 1t we'd
be pirates instead of privateers.
We've got TO get home, and quick.
Wen De u hare pursued by a hum
dred hounds, this crossing"
you've convinced me-" Jerry
said. 1t had occurred to him that
no shin could be too fast to get
Polly home in. After they'd made
America they could trade the
thing for a stout New England
craft that wouldn't topple in a
gale or crush like an eggshell
when fired on.
Ten days later in the small har-
Dor of Carteret Polly Whitfield
went aboard the clipper Gray
Gull owned and captained by Mr..
Cabell Banks, junior, of Boston,
and whose first mate was Jere-
miah Whitfield of Newburyport,
Massachusetts,.
We've kept her old name, "
Cabell explained to Polly as ne
escorted her aboard. 1--WE heard
the name Revenge, that we had
such a banker for, is already in
USE" ..
Gray Gull seems suitable"
Polly said. She looked up du-
biously at the remarkably tall
masts, so different from Cousin
Tins stout, heavy ones. These
masts seemed to dwarf the slender
hull from which they sprang.
There was so little freeboard visi-
BILE that the Gray Gull seemed
shallow as well as slender; when
Polly mentioned this to Jerry, who
had come from below to take her
in charge, he assured her that the
Gull belied her looks. She had a
stout keel, he said, as sturdily
laid as if New England carpenters
had built her. Already he was
proudly possessive, like a loving
relative showing off a beloved
child. And so was Cabell.
Polly thought: Even before
they've put to sea they're crazy
about their Gray Gull! How much
more Jerrys going to love hel
after he's sailed her a whilev' She
knew the way of men with ships,
for her father had been a typical
seafaring man. After he lost his
Proud Lyme off Nantucket five
years ago he grieved for her as
he grieved for his wife, who died
the same year.
Not the least of Jerry's pride in
the Gray Gull was the beautiful
! quarters for Polly. He took hel
there now and watched ne rank.
iously as she looked around her,
When she exclaimed with delight
over the white painted walls and
the warm carpet on the floor he
was touched and pleased. ats
none too good for you" he said
He told her that there had been
one long cabin, but Cabell had
had a partition built, generously
giving them the larger quarters
and reserving the smaller for him.
self. ..".df.
Jerry left her, and a sailor
brought her little trunk into the
cabin and slowed it beneath the
bunk. That's shipshaper' she
told the shy lad. He seemed very
young, not over II, and Polly
opened a box of French pastry
she was carrying and gave him
some. When she was alone she
took off her bonnet and sea coat
feeling that she was one with all
the women on earth who had fol
lowed their men to sea. Though
she was the least of them, she
would not shame them.
For those on board the GRAY
Gull the hard part must come
now. The waiting. The watchful
waiting. The run to sea when the
time came. Though no English
vessels patroled the insignificant
harbor, one knew that they lurked
to the north, watching Cherbourg
and to the southwest, blockadine
Brest. The Gray Gull must take
her chance. Her 50-odd sailors
were impatient to be off-Ameri
cans, most, weary of an enforced
soJourn on the wrong side of the
Atlantic.
Polly sensed the tenseness thai
first Oi0bt oboar1 TIL Sooa,c