CHAPTER III.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 33, 30 April 1881, Page 354

CHAPTER 111.

Darkness seemed to envelop sea and land, and the fury of the storm grew rabid. Spectators .speedily vanished from the pier, and from the shore too, Avhich was made untenable by the rushing surf, which would, when least expected, sweep swiftly from the sands up into the yards and against the houses, and by the stinging, bitter rain peculiar to such a storm, compounded of sea and cloud, spray and fine sand, driving through the garments and almost through the skin. The calm light of the lighthouse was lit, beneath it streamed the lurid flare of the brazier, and beneath it again on the pavement paced the dark, stormy figure of the self-constituted guardian of Twyscar health and reputation. As he tramped sturdily up and down, careless and scarcely conscious of the persistent bulietings of the storm, in his tough, dogged nature, his half-baffled resolution was growing to heroic proportions. As harbour-master Ins will had always been unquestioned as law, and it must be admitted that until this crisis it had ruled fairly and honestly ; — and now that it should be set aside and frustrated was not to be borne. He had resolved and said (in his headstrong heat, he had now half -forgotten why) that that schooner should not enter "his harbour ; and there it was straining at its cables under his very nose — though, indeed, not quite in the harbour ! That meddling young doctor Avould be back by-and-by with cabs or vehicles of some sort to carry away the ' smitten ' people on board and spread the horrible infection throughout the town. 'He slianna ! By the Lord, he shanna !' and the old man clenched his fists. But how? — how? He must be somehow prevented at once, or he could not be prevented at all ; and that would gall and wormwood. Up and down, up and down, with a keen revengeful eye on the deck of the schooner and the skipper who now paced it and now disappeared below. How the outward rush of the undercurrent made the vessel tug and 'pace'

at her cables, which had 1)6001116 somewhat slack, and cracked and creaked with every recurring strain. If they would only snap, then — ! All at once he remembered Sam's reminiscence of ships wrenched from their moorings even in the harbour by the outdraught in°a nor'easter. He noted that the skipper Avas not on deck, and he went and examined both cables. That from the bows had the greater strain and passed through the gap of a large double block and pulley of the kind commonly affixed flat-wise to the edges of piers and quays; the other had less strain, and his heart leapt to observe it was loosely knotted about the moor-ing-post; one of the ties in the knot was already almost undone; he saw clearly now what he Avould do. But the skipper had returned on deck, and he must wait. He entered his snuggery at the base of the lighthouse, and issued again with a hatchet in his hand. By-and-by the skipper went below again ; this Avas Oipplegarth's opportunity. He rapidly arranged the fastenings of the looser cable so that it would drag itself free Avhen fall strain Avere once put upon it. Then he went to the block and pulley, where the other Avas yaAving to and fro and fraying itself, and ke set the sharp edge of the axe for it to rub on. This done he resumed his sturdy, measured tramp on the stones. All unconcious of the fate slowly creeping upon him and his helpless Avife and crew, the skipper Avearily paced the deck and Avondered Avhat delayed the doctor coming to their rescue. Under the load of fear and exhaustion Avhich oppressed him, lie SAVore to himself that, once his dear Susy Avere well, and she and the timber landed in Bideford, never would he set foot on ship again. But Avhy did not the doctor come ? Was it only sleeplessness or Avas it also presentiment that made his heart ache with dread, as lie listened to the roar and hiss of the storm from Avhich the pier sheltered him, and as he watched the wild 11 are of the brazier above, and the grim sinister figure of that hard old man, avlio seemed in his lonely persistent pacing like a Avikl beast waiting to spring on his prey. Why did not the doctor come?— He AA'ent beloAv again and looked at his bonny Avife, iioav sleeping Avitli soothing Avet cloths about her head. He then went forward to see the tAvo men : the boy Avhom he had left by them Avas asleep, and they were tossing and moaning and mumbling. 'Well, Avell, poor lad ! he's as tired as a log.' He gave the men drink and refreshed them Avith cool cloths, and then returned on deck He, poor felloAV ! could not rest. Oh, Avhy did not the doctor ? He caught the rumble of wheels — cab-Avheels — upon the pier : the doctor was coming at last. But the ear of that sinister watchful man above had also caught the sound of wheels. In an instant he Avas at the edge of the pier and bending over, and before the skipper could conceive Avliat he Avas about, the schooner Avas drifting aAvay, and the cables splashed into the sea ! ' You infernal villain ! ' he yelled, and rushed to the wheel.

(To be continued.)