A BOY MAKES A CHANCE

Evening Star, Issue 21974, 9 March 1935, Page 5

A BOY MAKES A CHANCE

A GOOD-NIGHT TALE The harbour master looked at little Bob Kent. “ I’m sorry, my lad,” he said kindly, “ but I’m afraid that I cannot let you work as a pilot; you are much too young.” “ But I know all about it,” said Bob. “ I have sailed with my daddy, who is a pilot, on many trips, and he was always teaching me. I know every sandbank down the channel and all about the tides.” The harbour master nodded. He knew all about Bob; he knew that Pilot Kent, Bob’s daddy, had been hurt in a shipwreck and would have to stay in bed for a long time, and he knew* that Bob’s mummy and his two little sisters and brother would not have . much money except that which Bob earned by fishing. “ You’re a brave lad, Bob,” said the kind man, “ and if I could help you 1 would; but I can’t take your word that you are a good pilot. You must pass examinations, and you are too poor yet to go in for them. Go back to your fishing, then come again in a few years' time.” Poor Bob left the office feeling very heartbroken. He knew that he could earn more money as a pilot than ho could as a fisherman, and besides tho food the others wanted his daddy required special things to make him well again. “What can I do?” he asked his brother Dan. “ I reckon we must keep on,fishing,’ said Dan. ' “ Perhaps something will turn up. The tide is turning now Come along; we’ll go and see if_we have better luck with our nets this after noon.” Bob shook his head at the thoughts of anything turning up, but he gathered up the nets, and followed Dan down to their little boat on the beach. It was a rough day. The waves thundered in over the shingle. “ It is good weather to catch mackerel,” said Dan. “If we catch a lot I’ll take them round to the big houses after tea and sell them for a good price.” They pushed their little boat off and sailed a long way down the channel. There they dropped their nets and anchored their boat. The fish swimming along would become entangled in the nets, and all they would have to do would bo to pull them up. It just meant waiting. _ Dan _ busied himself mending an old sail, while Bob looked round at the ships that were sailing up and down. Suddenly he caught Dan by the arm. “ Look, Dan, look at that big sailing yacht coming along,” he cried. Dan looked up and saw a fine large sailing boat coming towards them. “'Well, what of it?” he asked. “ Why, don’t you see she is going straight for the Mumbles rocks. She won’t be able to see them, for they are under water now, but she is sure to hit them and become a wreck. Quick; pull up the anchor.” “ Wnat about our, nets?” cried Dan. “Leave them; we have no time to lose. She is sailing so fast,” shouted Bob. ' , He leant over with his big sailor’s knife, and cut the rope that held the boat to the nets. They he pulled up their big sail. V You row, Dan,” he shouted; “ I’ll steer.” The big yacht was getting nearer and nearer the rocks. Bob ran up into the front of his own boat and shouted, waving a piece of sailcloth at the same time. “Pull up, Dan!” he cried. “They haven’t seen us yet.” They drew closer to the big yacht. Bob waved more frantically than ever. “ Ahoy-y!” he cried as loudly as ho could. “Go about, you are on the edge of the Mumbles.” A man ran forward, and looked over at them. “What’s that?” he yelled. Bob pointed to the water in front of them. “The Mumbles rocks,” he cried. The man on the yacht waved his hand. He quickly understood,, and shouted an order to the crew. Right on the edge of the white water that showed where the rocks were, the big yacht swung round and escaped—just in the nick of time. Bob heaved a sigh of relief. “Hurrah, she’s safe!” he cried. “ But she’s heaving to,”, cried Dan. And the yacht had turned round facing the wind, so that she had stopped, with all her sails flapping. “They are waving ,to us,” said Dan. “They want something!” The two boys pulled up to the yacht. A fine-looking gentleman looked down on them. “ Come aboard, you boys. I want to speak to you,” he said. Bob and Dan clambered aboard. They followed a sailor down into the cabin, where .the gentleman sat at a table. “ You’ve saved my yacht, and I want to thank you,” he said. “Wo might have lost our lives, and we certainly would have lost onr boat. Your warning shout came just in time!” “That’s nothing, sir,” said Bob; "we would do it for anybody!” “ I know you would,” was the yachtsman’s reply: “you are two brave boys. I wish I could show you how grateful I am. Is there anything I can do —perhaps I can help you in some way?” Boh looked at Dan, then he blurted “Please, do you want a pilot, sir?” " Well, I do. But why do you ask -' - ' Then Bob told him the story, all about his daddy and what the harbourmaster had said. And when lie had finished tho gentleman patted him on the shoulder, “ You are just tho boy that will make a good pilot,” he said. “ I know tho authorities very well, and will see that you have the training to pass your exams. And I will arrange that your daddy is looked after at the same time. I will come ashore and see him tonight.” And as the two boys rowed hark home, thinking it all must be a dream, Dan said: “We have lost our nets, you know, Bob.” “ What does that matter?” laughed Bob. “I am going to be a pilot and earn a lot more money than I can by fishing for mackerel.” And he did, too.