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Show j : JImong.tbe Cliffs I . 33j- Margaret E. Jordan. j) Every crag, every glistening grain of ji sarnl on the wild coast, Katherine Mr- i'i Cormack loved. In the gray cliffs she j had many a favorite, sheltered nook ! where she sowed or read, penned her pure thoughts on the white puges of I , hf'T diary, studied the few books of re- I ligioux. instruction the visiting priest j.j left her, sketched in simple words the ! m ories of the saints, or even wrote Im- ji Hginary tales about children of the sea ; and shore. The study and thinking and I wilting Jill went afterward to make I . nappy the Catechism class that gath- I ere. 1 about her as the Sundays came J found. j'f one afternoon, as the girl sat shel- !j tend and hidden in a favorite haunt, I) strange voices attracted her attention . j coming from lx hind the cliff. At first ji she was indifferent, thinking the speak- ; vs would pass by. The next instant. ! realizing that th(v were seating them- j selves for a private conversation, she if resoived to seek another well-known ii r.o.ik. I'.ut sudilenly a sentence fell f upon her ear that chained her to the I spot, and led her to strain every nerve ) to catch the entire bold scheme now j being outlined. rj "Thank Cod T can outwit them:" I'' the piii cried, as tb plotters took it themselves away, "but there's no time to spare, no time even to go to the vil- lage for help. I must keep uncle from landing near the cottage tonight, either with (tr without the treasure he has in his keeping, whatever it is. Just let nie note th'1 names of these two precious pre-cious villains I've been listening to; they may he useful." She scribbled a minute on a bit of paper torn from her notebook, and tucked the scrap carefully care-fully into the depths of her pocket, then f-'pod lightly over the rocks to W here a boat, rested, fastened securely, i It was free and dancing on the waves in a minute. The girl grasped the oars and sped over the water in the direction Fhe knew her uncle would come. Perhaps Per-haps IJenjamin, her IG-year-old brother, broth-er, would be with him. She hoped so. She was quick to think, and pome way to hide the treasure her uncle had must be thought of at once: and the would-be would-be plunderers must be dealt with also. "God speed my oars and hold uncle and P.en on shore until I reach there 8and find them!" she murmured over and over. Reiilamin!" Clear and sharp over the waters rang the girl's voice. She had caught sight of the boy in the distance loosening the boat. "Benjamin! Ben! Benjamin!" He heard the call, and looking over Ithe water saw the girl straining every nerve over the oars. She motioned to kim; be understood, and leaving the i boat as it awaited her coming. Soon I the old man stood by the lad's side. Her story was soon told. "What did they mean. Uncle Tom? What have you got in your keeping?" She glanced at a package, tied up tightly in his colored handkerchief, which he held firmly in his hand. "There's been a bad accident up at the quarry and the men here have all helped. There must have been a listener listen-er by when the foreman entrusted the little heap to me. We thought we were alone." The brave old man was strong in his ! determination of daring the robbers but he soon gave in to the girl's pleading. plead-ing. He could not fail to see that common com-mon sense was on her side. The hoy was silent and deeply thoughtful. Soon he spoke: 'Tncle Tom and Katherine. let me tell you what to do. We can not. as uncle says, leave the money here at the quarry with any one, for the foreman has gone; and as Katherine says, we cannot keep it safely in the cottage, even if we could get it there, for there's not a single safe hiding place in it. If the robbers miss uncle at the pier they'll surely search the cottage. cot-tage. I'm certain we wouldn't risk leaving it out under a ledge anywhere, t'ut there is a. safe place between here and the cottage. Let us take it to the lighthouse. I'll trust anything with Austin Duer." The boy's earnest eyes sought approval ap-proval of his words from the girl. A flush dyed her cheek. Her heart beat quickly". She answered steadily and earnestly: "Yes. indeed, he can be trusted. I'd trust him with this treasure as I'd trust him with my life!" The old man sighed, then smiled. He knew that between the brave lighthouse light-house keeper and the girl so dear to him there was more than friendly In terest. He felt it would not be long before he would be called upon to trust i not merely earthly treasures as now, hut the child of his adoption, to Austin Duer. The boy's words and the girl's ready assent carried the moment. The boat Shot over the waters again, this time with three occupants. The boy outlined out-lined a plan of action for dealing with the would-be plunderers. The old man and the girl fell under hjs quiet generalship, gen-eralship, and caught a good deal of his enthusiasm. Both promised him ready obedience. Both had sense enough to see that cunning, better than physical strength, would outwit the cowards who had planned to waylay way-lay and rob perhaps murder a defenseless de-fenseless old man. Soon the strange lighthouse, strong I yet so skeleton-like, was reached. Austin Aus-tin Duer had seen the boat drawing near and was on the bridge. As the man and girl held the boat steady amid the crested waves the boy reached for the precious package. There was not time for an idle word. "Austin." said the lad, "take this; guard it as the apple of your eye till unci'1 comes for it, but ask no questions. ques-tions. Say a prayer for the scheme we've on hand tonight. Good-by. Keep the bundle safe!" A wave of the old man's hand, an upward look from Katherine's bright eye. and again the boat sped over the water, with the strong young fellow at the o?.vs. "What's up, I wonder," mused the lighthouse keeper, as he lithely climbed the ladders to put away the precious package in safety. Not to the curve of the coast where the cottage stood on the heights, and where by the bater's edge the plunderers plun-derers were hidden, sped he little boat, but adown toward the village, where between two friendly rocks it was secured. se-cured. Lightly its three occupants gained a footpath, and, separating, went to this cottage and that, as the boy had previously directed. Soon there was a gathering of people in the village. The dusk was deepening, deepen-ing, and in the dim light each one seemed armed with a slender pole. The boy went from one to another, till all stood in two single files, one facing the water, the other turned from the village vil-lage toward where the McCormack cottage stood. Silence reigned. The old life-saver took once more to the boat and rowed out, then adown toward the curve, at the pier of which he usually landed. In a loud, free voice he sang a boat song. On the land, above and below the cliffs, moved a Bilent single file of men and boys aye, and of women, too. Among the rocks, hidden, but with ears alert, the two plunderers caught the first note of the boatman's song. "Be ready! He comes!" they whispered. whis-pered. The first stanza is finished, the boatman's boat-man's voice rises louder in the chorus. It is the signal! Above and below the cliffs countless torches are lit and flash their gleaming light hither and thither where all was darkness an Instant be fore. The boatman's song ceases, and from countless throats ling out two names the names Katherine McCormack McCor-mack had heard that afternoon as she sat in the shelter of her favorite nook. Hiding longer was useless, the unfortunate un-fortunate men knew. Armed only with clubs, they could do little in face of such a force. They did what the young leader knew, or at least strongly suspected they would do they came forth piteously craving for mercy. And as they stood surrounded by the torch-armed torch-armed crowd, up the little pier came the old life-saver, secure from all harm. Ben and Katherine were soon by his side. The crowd parted and the three stood before the two craven-faced men. There was silence for a brief space. The old life-saver lifted his hat and the crowd did likewise. They knew the God-fearing old man too well to expect ex-pect aught save words of forgiveness from his lips. "God forgive you. men, as freely as I do, for your willingness to rob me, a poor, defenseless old man. of what was not my own. As He has protected me, why should I chastise you? "But, men, I say to you. on your bended knees, thank Him for preserving preserv-ing you from your intended crime, the robbery of the widow and the fatherless, father-less, the offerings of the poor workmen of one quarry to the sufferers from a terrible accident in another, an offering of-fering that, please God, I'll bring to them tomorrow." "For shame!" muttered a voice in the crowd, just audibly. "For sh" Every voice would have swelled in a cry of dereision, but the old man raised his hand and commanded command-ed silence by the simple gesture. " 'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,' let us say with the Master," came reverently from the old life-saver's lips, as he looked around upon the villagers, who glared at the two prisoners. Then, turning toward the two, he said, gently: "Depart in peace. "Old Tom, the life-saver,' life-saver,' knows you: he knows you are not idle men in need of bread. Go to work tomorrow, men, but remember that your honest life is the price of my silence about tonight's" work. My boat is fast here by the' pier. Row yourselves your-selves across and leave it moored on the other side, by the quarry, for me. Go, men, and God keep you from harm!" They rowed away in the torchlight glimmer, while the whole procession escorted old Tom, Katherine and Benjamin Ben-jamin to the cottage. It is needless to say that Ben from that hour was the hero of the village. Benziger's Magazine. |