Part 10 (1/2)
She'll coht for that opening It's one chance in a thousand; but it's the only one Are you gao to 't,” was Billy Byrne's laconic rejoinder
As Theriere left the wheel Barbara Harding stepped to the mucker's side
”Let et for the next few rowled the man ”I don't want no skirts in irl drew back, and then turning watched Theriere where he stood ready to cut loose the sail at the proper instant The vessel was now opposite the cleft in the cliffs Theriere had lashed a new sheet in position Now he cut the old one The sail swung around until caught in position by the stout line The antine swung quickly toward the rocks The sail filled, and an instant later the shi+p was dashi+ng to what see what Theriere had done after it was too late to prevent it, dashed madly across the deck toward his junior
”You fool!” he shrieked ”You fool! What are you doing? Driving us straight for the rocks-- upon the French hi saw the attack of the fear-demented man, but she was powerless to prevent it The ood fight; there was nothing that he enjoyed more
He was sorry that he could not take a hand in it, but the wheel demanded all his attention now, so that he was even forced to take his eyes froht rivet them upon the narrow entrance to the cove tohich the Half speed
The other members of the shi+p's company, all unmindful of the battle that at another time would have colued upon the wild channel tohich the brigantine's nose was pointed They sahat Skipper Simms had failed to see--the little cove beyond, and the chance for safety that the bold stroke offered if it proved successful
With steady iant sinews thethe erratic wreck as no one ht have supposed it was in hi watched first Theriere and Si waters tohich he was heading the shi+p
Even the strain of the e contradictions of the burly young ruffian who could at one moment show such traits of cowardliness and the next rise so coolly to the highest pinnacles of courage As she watched him occasionally now she noted for the first time the leonine contour of his head, and she was surprised to note that his features were regular and fine, and then she recalled Billy Mallory and the cowardly kick that she had seen delivered in the face of the unconscious Theriere--with a little shudder of disgust she turned away froed to get on top of Skipper Si to hi reat wave that would bear her well into the maelstrom of the cove's entrance The wind had increased to the proportions of a gale, so that the brigantine was fairly racing either to her dooh the entrance the wave dropped the shi+p, and with ato her feet the vessel struck full alass she broke in tith the terrific impact, and in another instant the waters about her were filled with screa felt herself hurtled fro waters engulfed her She knew that her end had coht hope to win through that lashi+ng hell of waters to the beach beyond For a girl to do it was too hopeless even to contemplate; but she recalled Theriere's words of so short a tie, I intend to go down fighting,” and with the recollection ca, and so she struck out against the powerful waters that swirled her hither and thither, now perilously close to the rocky sides of the entrance, and now into the mad chaos of the channel's center Would to heaven that Theriere were near her, she thought, for if any could save her it would be he
Since she had come to believe in thehad felt renewed hope of eventual salvation, and with the hope had coreater part of her detention upon the Halfainst the awful odds of theMore and more ineffective became her puny efforts, and at last she ceased alle
And then she felt a strong hand grasp her ar over a broad shoulder Quickly she grasped the rough shi+rt that covered the back of her would-be rescuer, and then commenced a battle with the waves that forin the balance; but at last the swied steadily and persistently toward the sandy beach to flounder out at last with an unconscious burden in his ered up out of reach of the water Barbara Harding opened her eyes to look in astonishment into the face of the mucker
CHAPTER IX ODA YORIMOTO
ONLY four men of the Halfmoon's creere lost in the wreck of the vessel All had been crowded in the bohen the shi+p broke in two, and being far-flung by the forward part of the brigantine as it lunged toward the cove on the wave following the one which had dropped the craft upon the reef, with the exception of the four who had perished beneath the wreckage they had been able to swi upon the deck of the doo the time that hope had been at its lowest, had recovered his poise Skipper Siain his bluster He took Theriere to task for the loss of the Halfmoon
”An' ever we 'in' you, you swab you; a-losin' of the finest bark as ever weathered a storin' h in safety an' never lost a bloomin' soul”
”Stow it!” admonished Theriere at last; ”your foolish bluster can't hide the bald fact that you deserted your post in tier We're ashore now, remember, and there is no hty careful how I talked to my betters”
”What's that!” screareaser you, I'll teach you Here, some of you, clap this swab into irons I'll learn him that I'hed in the man's face; but Ward and a couple of hands who had been shown favoritisly toward the second officer
The Frenchlance They were ashore nohere they didn't think that they needed him further and the process of eliht as well come to a sho as later
”Just ato take me alive, and I have no idea that you want to anyhow, and if you start anything in the killing line so withfor all concerned is to divide up this party now once and for all”
As he finished speaking he turned toward Billy Byrne