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Show THE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER. BY FRANK H SWEET. Ill (Copyright. lJrfO. b Frank H Sweet.) ; For six days the thermometer had been soaring nt almost midsummer hoit, soft-critnR soft-critnR the Ico of the Great South Bay until I nearly all Its rohelve power was gone. I Now the ice was a thick, P"tiK' mass, 60 r fatten that even the foot of life-saver pr.-ine upon it firmly would break m throiiRh at many places. It was imposl-m imposl-m ble elth'-r for font pa siv i fur a ho.it Hto be forced through. And to Increase K the seriousness of the case, the Inst two days had brought a fog so gray and dense Has to shut Firo Island from every object t a dozm yards away. II Ojt in mid channel toward the Lon I Island shore and on the ocean side, cur- 11 rents had kept the Ice from freeiing I thickly and had hastened th decomposi-I decomposi-I tlon Already the delayed shipping- wtis It seeking papsficrc toward New Vrk or the t open fr-ea nnd In the fop and the narrow II, channels thr.t were free from Ice wore IE me'-tlnc with disaster. From time t.. lime slfmalr. of iil'-ir. came frm one dIrrc-lB dIrrc-lB tlon or another, and so far a thov were able, the fe-sa ins .stations of Fire I.-- I lajid responded. I Perhaps at no other place In the world II could awlstanei- have been render-d across that barrier of slush Ice. In which IB spaces of open water were bKlnninsr to appear, but thin at no other place in the II world perhaps were there amphibious Scooter. 9K Several of r distinctions Of I I Fire Island were lying on the edge of the If Ice. with pike and scooterlng Iron and MmL onr: across the thwarts ready for Instant fl while their ov.i., r- l tied forward r listening, pe li: c and, for the &oat par K shaking their heads The wind was rls-K rls-K Ing. blowing straight from the sea. In another hour It was likely to freshen Into fa gale Before it the gray fop: was being '' K swirled nml tossf.l nnd eddie d, but Ptlll J I f-r""'"'mPa c'ng and dense a huge wet blanket that seemed writhing In the K"-3 K"-3 W riles of pain. ! I I On all side were the sounds of fog and .i m f'anKflr. bell buoys boat whistles, occa-4 occa-4 E slonal foR horns the pounding and ciush- ' - ' e i h i . in' vessel was I orclng ' I Its way through, and now and then the ominous signal of distress and call for H help Anvuig th ime i sudden dull I booming, toward th ea and evidently at considerable distance The men who were In looked at each other, their faces paling, "A hit! Ship," one of them ald, :'and on the bar Lord help Vm'' ' Yes." assented the man nearest him. "nothing can get to vm that far out, not even scooters. There was a peculiar grinding sound near them. A scooter slid up the beach anil a man sprang out. "The other fellows In yet?" ho asked. ' nl Carey, He brought a man ashore ami sent him up to the station and tht n hurried hack. He said It was a cool barge with two men and a hoy and doe; and tin other .-coolers will bring them In. The keeper ordered us to watch here for other work. What wns youra?" 'Just u sail boat with two young men They called for help becauM they didn t know their surroundings. When I explained ex-plained they decided to remain on board until the ice let them out. They have plenty of provisions and a hiiiik little cabin I heard the ship's call from outside out-side and hurried back I couldn't unite make out the. location In the fog. Anybody Any-body gone'" "Gone?- derisively. "Why, man alive! that's on the bar three miles away. No scooter could ever get there, across the open channel. Besides the Ice has been piled up bv the waves She'll have to wait until the sea opens) so we can use a life boat or the fog lifts so we can scooter out. No one Where are you going? go-ing? ' For the man had swung the bow of his craft back Into the fog and was ngaln hoisting the sails. "Out to the vessel, of course" quietly. "But Its sure death. Jack." rimon-strati rimon-strati d the life-saver sharply 'Don't lie a fool You couldn't pick your way through the fog with that scooter and get back alive " "Maybe not. But that signal sounds like a big boat, nnd if so ther are a good mny folks oat there waiting for help. I'm only one " "Oh. Mr Bowman! " The call was clear and peremptory Jack Bowman pause I with one foot In the scooter, his fac-grdwlng fac-grdwlng set The owner of the voice was the keeper's daughter nnd only the day before she had closed the door Into a future fu-ture which he hul begun to believe would bo his. The sentence. "I shall never marry a man whose future Is bounded by hl? clam hoe and fish trawl, thi world has use for brave deeds," still rang In bis ears. "What is It. Miss Blanch-?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm. "I am In B hurry." "Father says for no one to answer that call Just yet He thinks this wind will soon break up the Ice so the life boat can go out. He says It will be suicldo to attempt at-tempt scooting through this fog. Mr. Bowman! ' her voice rising in sudden die-pleasure, die-pleasure, for the scooti rlsl had sp p 1 Into his craft and thrown out his pike to shove her Into the wind "I'm lorry, Miss Blanche," over his shoulder, "but the keeper's orders are for his own men and not for a poor outside fisherman like me. Besides, the boat may be In sore need and thouch a little si oob r cannot do much It may nt Ua't carry Intelligence In-telligence and perhaps save one or two provided 1 can reach them " The girl s face underwent a sudden change nnd she took an Impetuous step slipped awav Into the fog. Art-thoy waited there, listening, peering, while the hours dragged by, the faces of the men showed something of what they knew to b taking place within the fearsome, fear-some, shifting pall of mist. The scooter was rushing on dropping Into open spaCt I of water, slipping up again upon patches of rotten Ice. swiftly, with scarcels a checking of speed. Its owner knowing time whs of more Importance than caution Anj moment ii nose wis liable to strike some obstruction and throw out Its ocru-pnnt. ocru-pnnt. the wind at that speed might overturn over-turn the scootter or a sudden Jlb'ng wreck It without an Instant's warning, either of which on the waste of rotten Ice held but one possible fate for the owner. Two hours and there came another signal sig-nal of distress close to shore. The waiting wait-ing life-savers dropped Into their scooters and slid out Into the fog. Tbe girl was still tlnre, watching, her face white. Ten minutes more and a scooter's nose jotd-denly jotd-denly slipped from the darkness, almost at her feet, and Jack Bowman sprang out Bending ov er ho lifted a recunih' nt figure from the scooter to the sand. ' will you call some one from Che station sta-tion to carry this man up. Miss Blanche,' he said hurriedly, as he swuuk his or ift back Into the wind. I haven't time. There are others waiting for me." The girl moved forward swiftly, plat Inu; a hand upon his shoulder. "I shall be walling. tOO Jack," she said In a low voice "You must conn- back to me." A tremor went through the man's frame, but he did not pause an Itist.-ntl In ills work. As the craft disappeared In the fog his voice rose strong and resolute nbo e the u bid "Yes, Blanche, I will come back to you." And be did. |