Part 57 (1/2)

”Guess you'll ha'e to stop wi' us the night, George”

”--And welcoood lady ”There's always a spare bed for George Bremner in this house Eh! Andrew”

”Ay,--ay!” remarked the old oin' away frae this place,--that I'm tellin' ye”

Like me, Rita was a child of stress and stor wind in her face and hair She gloried in the taste of the salt spray She thrived in the open and sported in the free play of her agile li seereat, cruel, sharks'

teeth of The Ghoul over which the sea was now breaking, away out there at the entrance to the Bay: that rock upon which she had been wrecked in her childhood; that relentless, devilish thing that had robbed her of her ht

Even then, as she and I sca the shore line, over the rocks and headlands,--whenever she gazed out there I fancied I detected a shudder passing over her

For an hour, with nothing to do but pass the ti the shore, until we reached Neil Andrews' little house on the far horn of the Crescent, standing out on the cliffs

We stood on the highest rock, in front of the old fisher in and breaking on the headlands with deafening thundering, showering us with rainbow sprays and sing up the sounds of our voices

Rita kept her eyes away from the horrible rock, which seemed so much nearer to us now than ere in the far back shelter of the Bay

And, indeed, it was nearer, for barely a quarter of a mile divided it from Neil's foreshore But such a quarter of a mile of fury, I had never before seen

Different from Rita, I could hardly take my eyes away from that rock

To me, it see of three different currents and it gave the i everything to its own rapacious maw

Old Man Andre us from hisand came out to us, clad in oilskins and waders

”Guess it's e,” he roared intotiht in this She's sprung up hty quick, too

”Got a nice cup of tea ready, Rita Come on inside, both of you It ain't often I see you up here Co her eyes away far out into the Gulf

”What is it, lass?” shouted the old fellow ”See so out there?”

”It is a boat,” she cried back anxiously ”Yes!--it is a boat”

Old Neil scanned the sea ”Can't see nothing, lass Can you, George?”

I followed the direction of Rita's pointing

”I'm not quite sure,” I answered at last, ”but it looks toaway there to the right”

Neil ran into the house for his telescope

”By God!” he cried, ”it's a tug She's floundering like a duck on ice