The San Francisco Sunday Call Louis Joseph Vance - - \u0084\u25a0,- \u25a0 . i (Continued from Chapter X.) won; porarily. :himself dropped - larger vessel. Every minute that\ th« ankle deep regardless. of his laborious iand the windward rail. Of their num- He had at all events In so far Kirkwood ] directly him, a; trailing \u25a0 put coming about but intermittent with the ball- ber one stood before as to win BLACKeluding persever- if;shot,BAGreef" Ipoint slap- putative :Alethea off efforts THE meant the as • two, <dwarfing: companions by for the woman, she felt she had ing Mrs.' Hallam. But to what end? ping his^cheek until ;it stung as the brought -the catboat nearer that goal, ing dish. And the* brigantine and his as much steadily lost rather than gained Abstractedly he tendered his lonely boom; thrtashed overhead. It was as but Kirkwood could do:no more than cockle shell, were drawing together 1his air of command as by hi3uncom- driver, ;•-;'the'; hope try_ in the fisher- with appalling deliberation. imon height; tall, thin faced and sal- ground; the flash of anger sovereign to the and without close a call as he rhad/ known and to trust cheeks, and it, heavy knowledge sickened him v ; man's admission that it< could .be;done. A dozen times he was on the point ]low, with hollow weather worn even looking at crammed the : a little. like, ASthat had colored her cheeks lit weight pocket; an It was all in the boat and the way she "of surrender, as often plucked up hope* ia mouth a crooked gash from ear of change into his ' \u25a0 i eyes dying iwin beacons in her eyes, res- oversight only handled.; <-.'J - as the minutes wore on and he kept to ear, and like coal3. with which she which not won him the \u25a0 fought cabby, ; watched her anxiously, quick \u25a0to above water, he began to believe that which he looked the rescued up and olutely down until they faded to awestruck admiration of the He > may be) approve her merits, as she displayed if he could stick it out his Judgment down in one grim, semihumorous. mere gleams of resentment and deter- but entailed consequences (it semlspeculative he little apprehended. It was with an them. He had . sailed small craft be- and seamanship would be Justified : glance. In hands both forgot catboats, handy though ingenuity huge, tenderly a mination. But she to control her 'absent minded nod that he acquiesced fore—-frail centerboard . ." . human backed \u25a0! and red he fondled lips; and swift, serve, in sum- by"generosity by no con- isquat brandy, flask whose contents had they are the truest indices to in the man's announcement that he and built to ' could means waters, never adequate excuse foolhardi- iapparently, employed as a first a and temperament; might arrange the boat for him. mer/winds and protected triye for his been woman's character about he her. ness. jaid to the drowning. Accordingly cabby disappeared, and ' such' a one as this. Yet liked; and Kirkwood did not overlook the the -:,\u25a0 was, no cen- that was aside, something ir- As Kirkwood's gaze encountered his, s him, shoved off, wading thigh deep in Deep bosomed she with But Kirkwood continued to stare about <Ait hi circumstance that their speci<sus sweet- spiteful waves, terboard, dependent on .her draft Veparable. Wan and grim, he fought the man smiled sourly, jerking 3 eagerly, hopefully. the then . threw him- - it, ness leaving in over gunwales :,ahd shipped- and heavy keel, to hold her on the out." .: :head to one side with a singularly de- had vanished. them He stood on the brink of the Thames self the : estuary, oars. swinging offshore, wind;..stanch and seaworthy; sheathed But that his voice stuck In h,ls risive air. " etraight, set and hard, quite the re- there a possible five miles the Bows rock- throat, • shore; feet, Ing dancing, the dory began with stout plank and ribbed with;sea- parched he could- have shouted "Hi.matey:' he blustorerf. *Ow goe3 from shore to from his al- and to. elation, eventually 'appier. eigh?" verse of attractive. most, shingle sloped forge slowly toward the anchored boat. '•\u25a0> .soried timber," designed ?to keep afloat ;in his when he :it now? Feelin* a broad beach by gained point an "Some, you "So," she said slowly, after a silent gently In their faces the ;wind-. beat gustily, in'\u25a0[ the" wickedest weather brewed the of Intersection thank . more like to the water. ocean. a brlgan- :a eyed time, "you Qtieensborough! picket small, slapping waves, breaking the foul "tempered 'German eighth of mile ahead of the drowned rat." Kirkwood him are not for On one hand a dilapidated and clean; sight sheepishly. "I you're the man corollary admission, dooryard a against the sides, showered them wilth Withal her lines were fine and tine and got of her windward : suppose The of that Mr. fence inclosed the of fish- for all her beany she was calculated freeboard as, most . slowly, the cat- who threw me that line? I'll have to Kirkwood, is that you are for Sheer- erman's cottage, or, better, hovel—if it fine spray. ' — dory lay alongside to. nose narrowly, into the wind and boat forged across her course. wait till my head clears up before I accurately at In time the the < need be described the of his can you properly.** believe," replied wearily, cabby was knocking. catboat, the fisherman .with a gnarled For all that, the moment thank S'l he "that door of which the triumph was yet; he' had "Don't mention it." He of the lan- there are no other stations on this The morning now well advanced. hand grasping the latter's gunwale to actual not was some still to carry off successfully a scheme tern jaws stowed the bottle away with line, after Newington." The sun rode high, a sphere of tar- hold the two , together: With then, — difficulty transshipped-him- that' for sheer audacity of conception jealous, care in one of his immense "It follows, that that Ifol- nished flame in a void of silver gray, Kirkwood pockets, • perturbed self, landing asprawl in the cockpit, and contempt for danger, transcended coat and seized Kirkwood's low." And in answer to his its thin,' cold radiance, striking pallid gone young ETlance, she "Oh, amid a tangle of cordages-slippery with all that had , before. hand in"a grasp that made the added: I'llgrant that sparks from the leaping crests of wind Holding time, syfe enough ; a guide. scales. The skipper followed, with "the catboat on for a man wince. "You're now. .ntuition is sometimes poor whipped waves. In the east a wall of handsomely My nyme's Stryker, Capt'n Wilyum' you George Calendar, clumsy expertness; bringing "the dory's he brought her about a .But if meet so vapor, dull and lusterless, had taken way brlgantine's Stryker. Nothing prevent painter with him and hitching It to little beyond the . .'. Wot's the row? "shall I. can that. Toil body since the dawn, masking the eye can't hinder me." a ring bolt abaft the rudder head. course, and hung in -the of the Lookin' for a friend?" he demanded skies ant shutting down upon the sea as attention, Considerably amused, he chuckled. cuttain, Then, pausing an instant to stare into wind, the leach flapping and tighten- suddenly, Kirkwood's . like some vast and out of the reports rifle shots, and wandered. "Let us talk of other things, Mrs. Hal- heart of this a bitter and vicious wind the east ,with somber eyes, he ship- ing with like — iam," he suggested pleasantly. "How ped the tiller and bent to the the water sloshing about his calves For the memory of the errand that * played like a sword. flap- bailing now altogether out of his had brought him into the. hands oC As your son?" v Shoeburyness halyards.- As the sail rattled up, dish To the north 'loomed — watched the oncoming Captain "William Stryker had come to At this juncture the brakes began vaguely, like a low drifted bank of ping wildly, Kirkwood marked with mmd while he to grind e — so much, time saved vessel, his eyes glistening with antic- the young man very suddenly; and hi3 shriek and upon the wheels. cloud. Off to the right the north light- rell f for it meant eyes The slowed; stopped; and —that it.was already close reefed. ipation. eager, were swiftly roving not train it the ship danced, a tiny fleck of warm crim- brig- • a guard be admon- last the boom was She was footing it smartly, the alone the decks but the wide world voice of could heard son in a wilderness of salty blue wa- But when .at — snoring besides, sight sign \u25a0 passengers thrashing the halyards antine lying down to It and for the or of his lshlng for Queensborough ters, plumed with a myriad of vanish- overhead and Pier to alight and take the branch had been made fast to their cleats, into the wind. Beneath her stem waves heart's desire. ing whitecaps. again erect, peer- • showers, whiter After luffing to pick him up. the "line. In the noise the woman's response Up shelving small, puny the fisherman stood broke in snow white — drowned, the shore distrustfully at wall than the canvas of her bulging jib . brigantine had been again pulled off on was and Kirkwood was hardly wavelets in impotent fury, and ing the distant enough for Freddie dashed of cfoud.