United States or Estonia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


So did that unknown oarsman. They were all bravely tugging at the heavy oars. Tunis had faith in them. Zebedee suddenly plunged across the pitching deck and reached the rail where Tunis stood. Discipline at least seagoing etiquette had been somewhat in abeyance aboard the Seamew during the last few hours. Zeb caught the skipper by the arm. "See her?" he bawled into the ear of the surprised Tunis.

Little by little as the Seamew who was not quite certain as to her berth, rode at anchor, the town came to life again. Men of marine appearance, in baggy trousers and tight jerseys, came slowly on to the quay and stared meditatively at the water or shouted vehemently at other men, who had got into small boats to bale them out with rusty cans.

"Trust me," agreed the captain of the Seamew, and followed after little John-Ed with such tremendous strides that the latter had to run to keep ahead of him. Tunis was led to that point on the bluff from which a curl of smoke from the cabin chimney could be seen. He halted almost in horror stricken to the heart when he understood. "Alone?" he muttered. "Yep," was the reply.

"What's that?" "See her hair? It's a girl! As I'm a living sinner, it's a girl! Pulling number three oar, Captain Latham! Did you ever?" Clinging to a stay, the captain of the Seamew flung himself far over the rail as the schooner chanced to roll. He could look down into the approaching lifeboat. He saw the loosened, dark locks of the girl who was pulling at number three oar.

By extracting a promise from Ida May that she would talk to nobody for the present especially about the connection of the captain of the Seamew with Ida May's affairs Sheila believed she had entered a wedge which might open the way for the young man to escape from a situation which threatened both his reputation and his peace of mind. To save Tunis! She was fairly obsessed by that thought.

The creaking of the hawsers and the "heave hos" of the crew as they warped the Seamew in to the wharf awoke the girl passenger in the cabin. There was little fancy about the schooner's after house, but it was comfortable. There was a tarry smell about the place that rather pleased the girl. The lamp over the round table vibrated in its gimbals, but did not swing.

And those hours of torture that had followed had eaten like acid into Sheila's soul. She had by no means recovered herself when Tunis had his brief interview with her. Had she not shut herself away from him refused to even discuss the situation with the troubled skipper of the Seamew she must have broken down, given way to that womanly weakness born of love for the man of her choice.

Old Bill, meanwhile, stood aft by the taffrail with the lead- line in his hand, anxiously noting the shoaling water as the smack drifted sternward toward the wreck. "Hold on, for'ard," he shouted at last, when the little Seamew had driven so far in upon the sand that there was little more than a foot of water beneath her keel when she sank into the trough of the sea.

To few is vouchsafed that knowledge which makes all clear before the mental vision. Tunis Latham's perspicacity did not compass this thing. He did not grasp the psychological moment, as we moderns call it, and consummate there and then the only reasonable and righteous plan that it was given him to complete. The captain of the Seamew was a young man very much in love.

Something which caught her in a mighty grasp and crushed her soft face against a long, stiff beard. Laughing and crying together she put her arms about its neck and clung to it convulsively. "There, there, my lass!" said Captain Gething at last. "We only stopped you by a miracle," said Annis hysterically. "The Seamew is alongside, and why you wanted to run away again I don't know."