Show C iYDE ALISON MAN r = Capt Riley was Intently watching from his netloft window the approach of his biggest fishing tug the Alice Riley Even In the Inner harbor she was pitching and rolling In the December Decem-ber seas and was sheathed In Ice from bobbing timber head to the overhang aft Not a boxful not one he groaned seeing tho nested flsh boxes still lashed to tho deckhouse roof But the boys II get their pay somehow theyll get It If I have to slap a mortgage mort-gage on all the outfit No one else should know It but the truth was Christmas cheer was not In Capt Illloys heart as he turned gravely to tho twinereeling he had busied himself him-self with since ho broke his ankle and Billy Noonan had proudly taken out the Alice Riley the most powerful tug that fished ort Skllllgalce In the Straits of Mackinac Tho tug tied up to the dock with a bump there was some shouting heavy footsteps clumping on the Icy wharf then up tho shaky stairs and the door flew open letting In 8 blast of raw north wind and an Icecoated being In oil skins who presently shed his chrysalis chrys-alis and became a crestfallen skipper a ourlyhalred alert young fellow who almost hugged tho roaring stove for he was drenched and shivering Not a pound capn was his greeting greet-ing Breezed up so we couldnt touch the nets he added Old Michigan must be cuttln np considerable the old man answered cheerily Never mind boy yell get em next time But Billy Noonan knew how bad the fishing had been all year and could figure as well as his employer how bad matters must be Not a man of them if i 1 > ax nKN V Got a Line to Her I all but loved tho grizzled old man and marveled at him for he knew the lake bottom from Point Betslo to the great log railway that scarred the bluffs north of Waugoshance light as most men know dry land Billy Noonan however also loved tho old captains daughter Mary and had hoped how he had hopedto bring In a big catch of whitefish when he was given the big tug to lift the last nets of the year Now a lean Christmas a very lean Christmas seemed certain In the Riley homea home for all homeless lads at Christmas time Mnrys laugh had been Infrequent of late and her muni I ment had been forced Hero she was herself In the doorway door-way as the crew clumped In Billy Noonan she called dont you know youll swamp the tug with the fish Jammed to the gun walls no There was a note In her raillery that cut him to the quick How queenly she was this straight blueeyed brunette wrapped wrap-ped In the captains oilskins flushed from facing the storm Billy Noonan lay awake that night notwithstanding the long day at the wheel of the lurching tug Through his window he stared out at the blackness black-ness and he listened to the walling wind walling It seemed to him complaint com-plaint at the year of misfortunes and pitiful catches of fish walling complaint com-plaint at the wages and prices of flsh fixed by the union that made the lot of Capt Riley so hard in an off year Far out on the Charlovolx pier no white light shone up and down the angry lake the lighthouses and lightships light-ships were nowhere else on watch the fog signals were silent although belated barges still stumbled up and down the lake Suddenly a flash In tho north and another und another the flash of rockets brought him out of bed This side o Waugoshanco about Wnlfb Shoals ho calculated Bud place with this wind He shook his bedfellow Kelly the fireman and finally roused him Get out Kell someones In trouble near the straits and maybe the Alice Rllnv can get a line to her first Kelly know what thdt would mean at least MOO a day for the old man and he know tbo need Everyone said the Alice Riley had an uncommon crew two hours later the tugs whistle blew four booming blasts In the darkness strong ahead and five more that were Billys farewell fare-well to Mary If she was awake or cared Sho saw from her bedroom window the tug steam through the channel sparks flying weirdly in tho wind out to the open lake where no light shone to mark the way for tho 30 miles of desperate tusslo with waves that how at times burled tho very deckhouse roof Again tho five short blasts as the starboard light turned north beyond the pier then was gone Heres hopln growled Billy as he whirled the wheel over He was hangIng hang-Ing on grimly for at times the tug stood about on end A sea smashed one of the pilothouse windows and ho fixed It as best he could by the dim binnacle light He lashed the wheel to a course two points east of north In the blackness he could see only the white crests of waves The panting of the tugs exhaust told him Kelly was stoklmjllkea fiend and that ONeil was squeezing the last ounce out of his big engine 16 square Ahead was blackness black-ness the maddened waters and the infrequent in-frequent flash of rockets It was still dark when Billy saw as the tug topped a great wave a ships light ahead twinkle a moment where the whitecaps marked White Shoals At dawn he had a line to the derelict and the great soven inch hauser was going to her overside an hour later they were fast by the forward towing post It Would be easy in such a seato sea-to trip on the hauser and turn turtle or to be snatched by a great wave and have the hauser break The barge on the shoal was an ore freighter loaded to the waters edge a heavy tow With his hand on the bell cord to signal to ONeil Billy muttered Heres for Mary and betterIt He rang tile engines started then crash Billys Christmas wishes were cut short the tow post was gone and water poured Into the hole In torrents It was hours later when they got that hauser again when the tugs hoarse whIstle roared All right and the bellow of the stranded barge replied It was dreary work and Dilly and the crew were gaunt with hunger and weariness Again slowly In the teeth of the wind they went ahead jerked tremendously tremen-dously at intervals when the waves snatched the tow When they were getting into deeper water ONells engines en-gines suddenly stopped and ten minutes min-utes later the barge had drifted back to the shoal The eccentric had slipped slip-ped the tug was but driftwood bad business in such a sea Billy Noonan and ONeil kept her afloat someway and all the time Billy still clutching the wheel was mutterIng mutter-Ing of Mary and Christmas he had strange vagaries but was still sane asa as-a skipper When at last the frantic hammering In the engine room ceased near evening of the next day they were still near to the barge that was pounding on the shoals The sun broke through the clouds a red sun near to setting beyond the tossing waters wa-ters the sunset of Christmas eve It was never clear how they got the slow steel barge to move so fast once they got her pff again But In the midnight hours when St Nick Kris Krtngel and all the Christmas fairies were abroad on land when the last embers of the YUle logs smouldered cozily under lines of stockings In many many homes the Alice Rlleys deep whistle sounded off the Charle volx pier Capt Riley still sat before his fireplace waiting hopefullyas was his nature But for the hundredth time he looked about the room at Marys pitiful efforts at Christmas decorations Suddenly he heard faint but unmistakable the bass call of tea Alice Riley Instantly he picked up his crutch and rapped on the door of Marys room So quickly did she appear suspiciously sus-piciously redeyed but smiling she must have been awake too Listen he cried holding up his hand Boooooom boooooom boooooom All right Again deep full and growing less faint the whistle sounded All right That means u Christmas for all of us Mary In spite of tho fish Then there came a succession of short sharp toots and the captain stared perplexed With a twinkle he turned to Mary Do you know what that means Mary ho asked Sho Hushed crimson but before she put her arms about her father with a hug that he understood she flashed her answer from the bow window with a lamp The captain smiling for a long tune sat looking at a picture over the mantel the picture of her mother Merry Christmas he said to the pic ture very softly I knew It would come Billy brought Itand Billy had It an unforgetable Christmas with the Rlleys When at last ho rolled In with Kelly the fireman would have his Jokebe called It Mary Christmas Copyright 1907 by Wright A Patterson |