Show S ig santa s gui jg by R RAY BAKER arm copyright 1919 by the mcclure news paper syndicate tin tall sailor stopped whistling when he saw the automobile although his alp remained pursed and vapor continued to form before his mouth lie baited between the fog bell and the lighthouse and stamped his feet energetically getic ally on the beaten snow toe the were cold in spite of heavy overshoes ben dark s automobile he said and he did not say it jov fully lies callan on marle ag in the door of the buelling duelling du elling part of the lighthouse opened and a young imn dressed in a fur coat came out placing a cap also of fur on his licad he paused when he saw the sailor merry christmas said the fur clad one grinning 1 and lie passed on to the automobile climbed in and soon was whirling away same to yuh sang out the sailor although he scowled as he approached appio ached the door through which the other had A light shone forth into the winter night emerged seeing hes gettan gett ln in a hurry about it christmas dont come till tomorrow there was nothing about the sailor to denote that he was a seafaring man unless it w as his rolling gait for he was bundled up touch as the other man although his coat instead of being fur was an old fuzzy blue one had closed some months igo because a large share of the like bad an icy blanket and harry II ammond was obliged to find other pursuits till spring so he fished through the ice and helped keep the village of dennett supplied with food ills knock was answered by a dark eyed girl of three years who smiled brightly hello emelene Emel lne he said and he took her in his arms and asked her about santa and what she expected the old gentleman from the to bring her big dolls what I 1 want she told him trying to spoil the part in his hair and falling because there was not any there to begin with data all just big doll from the adjoining room came another darkened girl of nineteen wiping her hands on an apron harry placed the tot on the floor and as he did so he discovered a pic ture standing on the table it was of a very good looking young man 1 I see sir clark left a present harri said and wished he had kept his thoughts to himself for hie girl flared up les she said with a tinge of de fiance ben claris left me his picture I 1 hope vou lont object the sailor studied the blue pattern in the faded red carpet do much good if I 1 did he responded ou ana he s gettan pretty thick adarie I 1 thought things was pretty well understood between you an me but that was before ben commenced taken you riden and ht up to ton A roan with a car certainty does have an advantage over u poor guys bearie s checks grew red and she tapped her foot look here harry II ammond she said in a voice that sounded like a ringmasters ring masters whip cracking you nor no man Is going to dictate to me mr dark has been very nice besides hes a highly refined gentleman and ou well youre not and you know it ben turned toward the door debbe I 1 better step out 0 it altogether he observed he opened the door and was about to step out when emelene sprang into his arms he kissed the child on the forehead then put her back on the floor and went out remarking to him self that this sure Is some merry christmas that afternoon a storm that had been brewing for days vented its spit on the village and its which included chayton point and the lighthouse A raw stiff wind carried biting pieces of hard know debbe franta chaus ton t tome said the tot as she snuggled up to the alfr lr and listened 10 alie howl ing wind not replied marle who as giang anim the hang room window out or the frozen lake marle was quite sure sinta would not come sinta would have to be her brother frank who was amelines Lm elines father and he was at sloan city 20 miles away helping an ice company put up next summers supply he had promised to bring something for I 1 inclines christmas but marle knew he would not attempt the erlb in the storm frank was the and the government records showed marle to be his assistant frank kept the light burning during the summer and in the winter found jobs of various kinds to perform about the 0 clock through me storm marle heard an automobile horn and presently came a knock on the door ben dirk blanketed with snow stood there when she opened it 1 I cant sta he said or I 1 wont be able to drive back because the roid Is drifting badly I 1 came because I 1 heard some news you II 11 bo interested in II ammond went out on the ice this morning wath his dog team and up at the a fisherman just came in with the news tant the ice had cracked and part of it went out II ammond dlan t have a chance in a ind especially in this storm lie surely must have drowned marle started back horror in her eyes hairy drowned she cried it doean doesn t seem possible are you sure can t you do take me out on the ice in our car perhaps hes still alive liang somewhere on the ice freezing the ice must be firm tor a long out what exclaimed ben go out there in this howling the ice might hold up for a long was but id ruin the car and wed stand a good chance of getting pneumonia it we dlan t get lost and wander into open water early that night the villagers were startled to see a red bar of light shoot from clayton point it was the first time in history that that light which had guided many a ship through sum mer gales had shone forth into a win ter night up in the light tower stood marle looking through the great glass wall striving to pierce the darkness and storm with aies that were red from weeping theres not much hope she mused but theres just a chance hes still alive and the old light might help him for hours she remained at the post watching and batting wat ting all but hopeless midnight found her asleep in a chair close by the light exhausted by her long vigil A scream from below made her wide awake she stumbled down the stairs and groped her way to Emell nes room to her surprise a lamp was burning and there was seated on the bed bouncing a doll fully as large as herself on her knee santa tame cried the little girl and now marle realized that it had been a scream of joy that awakened her santa tame repeated the tot 1 I found this right on my bed unable to understand marle went out into the living room and lighted a on the lounge lay a man his clothes crusted with ice lamp on the lounge lay a roan bis clothes crusted with ice she went to him and put her arms around him harry she sobbed they told me wu were dead that the ice cracked and let ou through the big sailor opened his eyes and dawned yawned iro dead all right dead sleepy he grinned the ice opened up all right but I 1 was on the other side of the crack an by the dogs like alie dickens 1 got over the place before she cracked on the side I 1 got to sloan city without brou trou hie an colln back I 1 skirted the bore at that id got lost only the ol 01 light she took one of his hands and found it cold and rubbed it vigorously but why why did you go she demanded he tried to stifle another yawn illint succeed well was lookin cinta he anaw cred an I 1 her be disappointed |