Evening star., 1939-07-30


w glance had fingered. She was not
pretty according to fisherman standards. Her
light brown hair was too unruly, her nose too
stubby and her face too deeply tanned. Stacks
and sailors jersey revealed a body that was
strong and plant but which struck Johnnie as
being bit too slim.
She spoke to him one day, and though she
was the first of the summer people to do so, she
made it seem natural that she should. Asked
what the sudden drop in the barometer meant.
Blow or only rain? Weather did not seem to
follow the glass on the British Columbia coast.
She wandered away as casually as she had ap-
preached; Johnnie decided she was not like the
other girls who came to the float.
He was dead tired the next time he saw her,
had been trolling since dawn and was forking
the last of 500 pounds of spring salmon from
the hold. Johnnie was never handsome, and
now his blond hair needed trimming and comb
ing and his roughly fooled face was covered
with scales, flecks of fish blood and three-day
stubble. The girl surveyed him ooolly. 'You
look like man who needs drink, she said.
Johnnie gr;nned. Il could do with one
Come aboard" and she nodded to big
white craft across the float.
A hard light flashed in Johnnie Nelson's blue
eyes. He knew that sleek, ugly boxlike affair.
the Sea Witch. 1t had 600 horsepower slowed
below and threw wash like destroyer.
so you're the Ross girl, Johnnie said
Her own eyes hardened. "If you mean I'm
Rosemary Ross, yes. Will you come aboard?"
Amt got time" he said, and turned away.
A swift step placed her in front of him. Rage
merged the willful hair, snub nose and freckle
specked tan into something which, even if it
were not the fisheman's idea of beauty, held
one young fsherman's gaze.
"You have time," she snapped.
II don't like your boat, if you want to
know" Johnnie said
whats the matter with it?"
MAY be the boats all right. The way it's
handled don't suit me"
Johnnie forked the last salmon into box.
He did not intend to say any more than that.
Other fishermen were standing near and the
truths he would like to tell the Ross girl we're a
bit rough.
Whatever he might say, Johnnie felt would
be justified. Abner Ross had just completed a
summer home in the Double Island colony
which made the others look like cabins. The
fishermen were not interested in that, but they
were concerned with the two expensive crafts
Ross provided for his daughter
She was always running around in one or the
other. The little black runabout did not cause
wash, but the big white Sea WITCH had rolled
trollers' rails under and had smashed two 0f5
them against floats. The owner of one boat h1d2
lost a weeks fishing while he hauled out foks
repairs, and resentment was bitter
Johnnie had his own grievance. He had
cooked a big meal one evening, after long day
in which salmon did not permit him to eat,
had been ready to sit down just as the Sea
Witch roared past and dumped dishes and food
off the table. He was thinking of that as the
Ross girl faced him angrily.
There's no law against speed" she said.
mo-" he agreed, "or to make people with
rich dads act decent"
The fishermen saw the girls rage moMzh
and edged nearer They looked expectantfy 4
Johnnie. Leave my father out Of III -
cried furiously.
"Al right" Johnnie said. .sBst without
law or dad to do anything. there's slli N1ya:
to make folks behave"
''How would you go about 4? ii?n sss
'Brats playing around with TOO nlasc3a sh11ee
power "a darned good spanking 0usht t6