The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-03-04

waiting at the wrong dock, then
back again to my nice shady
parking space. I finally became
uneasy, which am always loathe
to admit, and began to ask ques-
tons. One woman who was very
familiar with the habits of the
fisherfolk assured me that there
was nothing to worry about and
suggested that they might not
have had any luck early in the
day and that the fish might have
started to bite just as they were
planning to come in. / bit on this
story and went back to my knit
ting, where I waited patiently
until it started to get dark. in
the meantime / talked with sew
eral people about this and that
and watched the little colored
boys doing the flat-foot fluggie
for a nickle, and then counting
their gains with their little curly
heads close together. Finally I
hunted up the wife of another
member of the party, who was
also getting uneasy. She had a
small child with her and that
made it doubly hard for her to
relax. We talked for some time
and I tried to keep her calm with
the same story that the other
woman had told me, but by that
time it was dark and I had be-
gun to imagine all sorts of dis
asters. Two men talking on the
dock attracted my attention, and
as they looked as though they be-
longed there / went straight to
them and asked what they
thought about the delay. It hap
pened that one of the men was
the owner of the missing boat
and they were at that very mo-
ment planning to 60 out and hunt
for it. The Coast Guard had just
left to 60 out toward the Houston
no doubt to check up on every
thing in the vicinity of the Presi
dents party, SO there was no use
waiting to ask their help. These
two men were ready to start and
asked me if I would like to go
along. AS / mentioned before, I
am a very poor sailor and had
no coat with me, but in the face
of danger I forgot these things
and hoped in, after telling the
other woman where ! was going.
l advised her to go home, after
telling her that the party had
probably run out of gas, and pre-
tended to take the matter very
lightly. Honestly, though, 1 didn't
know what to expect.
We started out past where the
big destroyers are anchored and
then on toward the buoys that
fleck the water here and there
and out to where the Houston
had been standing by. The waves
got bigger and bigger and as the
little craft bobbed up and down
the spray came in and sprinkled
me until the men put down the
windows in the front.
Sighted Lost Party
I had no idea what to expect
nor where to look, so when I
asked, I was told to watch for
lights like what were on the boat
we were in and also to watch for
a flare. We went along for some
time seeing nothing unusual UNI
til finally away off in the distance
1 spied a bright light different
from anything l had seen on the
water before, and which looked
like Fourth-of-July flare. l let
out a yell and, sure enough, that
was it. Neither of the men had
seen it and ! felt pretty proud of
the fact that I had an eagle eye.
We turned and started toward the
spot where we had seen the light
and pretty soon could make out
the tiny lights of the boat, bobb-
ing up and down on the waves.
To me it looked as though they
were about to upset, but / did
not allow myself to become
alarmed as the other two didn't
show any excitement. They
wouldn't, anyway, probably. The
time seemed endless and Jas we
drew nearer the men decided that
the other boat was anchored.
Sure enough, when they saw us
drawing near they pulled up
their anchor and got all set. We
circled around them until we
could draw up close enough for
them to throw us a rope, which
failed the first time. AS we
circled them again I let out a
cat-call that I often used when I
was a child and which my hus-
band recognized at once. He was
so surprised and SO happy to
know that / was there that he
told me later that he had a lump
in his throat.
Back On Terra Firma
The second attempt at throw
ing the rope to US was successful,
and again | made myself useful
l,rr nnAnhinn Il nnI hnndixn Ii 70