The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-07-03
H I 6 II r Id E
:S1( frances lama
She was looking for shipmecked treasure
But the tide brought in castaway love-
Chapter One
Salvage

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~ OMETHING was float
- ing on the water about
-, two or three miles off
~ shore. It could be al
most anything, Jan re-
fiected, but it was probably a
dead barracuda.
The annoying thing about
curiosity is that it won't leave
you alone until you satisfy it.
Rigid self-discipline was the only
means of counteracting it, Jan de-
cided. She attempted discipline
by laying down her binoculars,
stepping back from the parapet,
and surveying her latest work of
art with a critical frown.
"Tt's terrible -rotten!"
she pronounced, adding, "as U.s.
ual."
Carefully, rebellion ranking in
her eyes, she picked up a cloth
and wiped the canvas clean, eras-
ing an impossibly blue and cheer
full sea supporting an impossibly
neat white ship.
"Why can't do it?" she cried.
her young face tight with despair.
"Why?"
She knew there was no answer
which could satisfy. Loving the
wide sweep of ocean stretching
before he from this roof-top, low
ing to paint, having studied and
studied ART. still she could not
catch that essence of beauty and
briny majesty on canvas.
No use trying to do anything
more today, she thought. The sun
was setting with a splendor that
Knocked her futile attempts to
catch it with a paint brush. The
tide was running u, curling white
and foamy on the brown sand be-
fore her house, depositing its bur-
den of shells, seaWee and tiny
sand crabs. Jan snatched up the
binoculars from herdeck chair and
stared out over the water. That
something still Dobbed around in
the trou n of the waves way out
beyond the fishing pier. It wasn't
a boat nor a box-it looked hui
mani
She resisted the impulse to run
for her boat and investigate.
Surely no human being would be
swimming in a cold March sea
with evening coming on, and if
they were, they would certainly
swim in now with the tide. An
other hour and the high tide
would give way to the dragging
heavy ebb. With a shrug she put
her paints and the canvas in wa
terproof locker and began to fold
the easel. Again she picked up
the binoculars. The bobbing thing
was farther out now.
'You may as well gol" she
scolded herself. 'If you don't
you'll be imagining fantastic
things such as silks, golden coins.
or abandoned animals floating
around out there. Of course you
needn't worry about the dinner
you should be cooking"
Lifting a trap door she stepped
down on ladder and scrambled
into the depths of the house. On
the way to the front door she
picked up thick sweater and
scarf to tie down her sun-bleached
curls. Shed be warm enough in
her old flannel slackS and sweat
shirt. She hurried past hamburger
stands still boarded up from win
ter, past a few prematurely and
hopefully opened concessions. to
the end Of the long pier where
she kept her combination sail and
motor boat and where the big
deep sea fishing barges anchored.
Leave Me Alone
"VLTHATS up?" the lifeguard
w called from the float below.
AFTER more salvage? Or another
cat in distress?"
Hello, Frank. Oh, don't know
what il is. ! saw something toss
ing around out there and my wo-
mans curiosity got the better of
me. You didn't see anyone go in
for a swim, did you?"
"No, Jan. Too cold yet. Want
me to 60 out with your"
81 can manage, thanks. You
might run over to the house.