Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1941-03-27

|
water through narrowed eyes.
George, looking at the green
slopes rising from the water, the
brown-fanked mountains to the east,
said: cts all forest, isn't it?"
Isaiah shook his head. "That's
tussock grass you're looking at. It
grows ten-twelve feet tall, and from
here it looks like trees for a fact,
but it amt. There amt no trees to
mention, just vines and bushes.
Corkran stopped for a moment
and spoke to George. Reverence,
you'll be needing sun on you, and
warm days again to set you right"
"I'll be fine, yes,' George as
sented. Caught little cold, that's
all; started me coughing again."
Mary, watching Corkran, saw the
solicitude in his eyes. Then he
turned to her, cheerful, smiling
boldly.
Himself here, you and the sun
are the medicine he needs" he said.
"He has you, anyway"
She felt as she often did with
Corkran something unspoken pass
between him and her; she thought
incredulously that somehow he had
guessed her secret and Richard s.
which George must never know.
Hell always have me-" she said
simply. Cali of me. All my life"
Her eyes met Corkran's fairly.
"Aye," he said. you're fine"
Mat Forbes summoned him. George
looked after the sailor as he moved
away.
"You know, Mary, Corkran likes
me-"
81 know"
81 think he's the first man who
ever liked me-" Her hand lay in
his arm. II value his liking me;
and yet by all the tests I know,
he's a graceless, sinful man." He
smiled at himself, at his own in
consistency.
At dinner next day Richard said
they would be ready to depart by
evening if the wind served. "We
might have to watt" he admitted.
'It'u need to come some easterly
to help us out of the Bay" He was
sending both the remaining boats
ashore to fill the casks from pond
the men had found not far from
the beach; and he and Peter would
take one of the guns from the cabin
to try for geese as an addition to
their stores.
When a little later the boats were
gone, the Venturer was almost de-
serted.
Mary became conscious as the
afternoon drew on of a change in
the wind, and looked out through the
small square window above the
bunk and saw that the ship had
swung so that the southern shores
of the bay instead of the northern
were now on that starboard side.
Richard had said an easterly wind
would favor their departure from
Hoakes Bay, and she thought with
lift of spirits that they would de-
part tonight, as soon as the boats
returned. When after while she
heard the first boat bump the ships
side, something in her quickened.
She would be glad to be away, glad
to come north out of this rotting cold
and be warm again.
She heard feet on deck, and lis
tened for Richards voice. She
heard Peter giving orders; then the
creak of the windlass as the first
cask of water was swung aboard.
Someone came down the compan-
ion into the after cabin, and she
thought it was Richard, and WON
dered whether he would come to the
door here to speak to them.
Richard was coming into the main
cabin now, passing the head of the
table. She heard his steps, and
looked through the door and saw not
| Richard but Peter. Peter went into
| the cabin which he and Mat Forbes
| shared; and after a minute or two
| he came out with his arms full of
his belongings and carried them
through the door into the common
room aft. Into Richards cabin!
She stared after him and her heart
began to pound. She rose, and
George walked and asked quickly:
"What is it, Mary? Don't leave
me-"
She nodded in submission, yet she
stood in the door, waiting for Peter
to appear again. Why was he in
Richards cabin? She could hear
the sounds of his movement there.
She began to tremble, not now with
cold She wished to call to Peter,
and her lips were dry and her throat
ached. Then he appeared
He did not speak. She forced
herself to do so. She asked:
"Peter-where's Richard?"
He shook his head, not in negation,
but in sort of submission. He said:
"Mary-Richard' dead.'
Mary for a moment could not
move. She heard herself whispering
monotonously: mo. No. No." She
knew she was shaking her head in
a gesture of denial, refusal to be-
lieve. Richard could not be dead.
He had been so alive. So much in
| him had spoken deeply and clearly