| Show A LOCK OF HAIR HAIE n n E was sitting on a Z ir M log apposite tile post postoffice office wailing r for the coming of 0 I 1 rk the that i brings mall mail ta U peninsular vil villas ligis W ile he looked at me ine avith ft ath frank curiosity t y you aro a reso r t e r a I 1 nt you ile he asked Is the peninsular title lor for a bummer boarder I 1 admitted that I 1 was mrs jirs knut OI Ol esons ro sorter and had arrived on the richwood lUch Rich good boat eiery summer we have em he said proudly last year there was six resor re sorters lers in abraham coming and going wont you set down on this I 1 log ho he asked the et at agell be hero in bout twenty minutes I 1 can hear bear it jingling along the bay road now ile he was the picture of venerable old age as he sat there in the sunshine his hair was like the white whitecaps caps on the bay his color was ot of the rich brown that comes on a fair skin shin long exposed to wind and weather and his eyes were yet of 0 a brave blue ile he wore an old coat jeans pantaloons and gny gay carpet slippers the favorite footgear of 0 the peninsular sailor when ashore youve been a sailor I 1 ventured as lie he was looking across the bay to where the cliff came up tip from the water like an uncouth giant fresh from the bath deen a sailor well I 1 should sa say y so BO lie answered with good natured derision im capt zenos hall and boy and man I 1 sailed the lakes for alf ty years I 1 to bo be master ot of the 1 M I jones the best three master maste r that ever put into this harbor she was a boat you dont see her like since them blamed steamers are spoiling tile the lake trade it dont take no sense to run them thein just stand on the bridge and see that you don dont t run in shore now theres line fine pints bout about p running a sailing vessel you dont have an old propeller churning away whether theres a fair wind or a calm you must have hae had strange adventures in your day adventures and wrecking and every kind of a time he responded ive been on a schooner that caught afire in the middle of 0 superior and I 1 was wrecked in the wust squall that ever blew on erie but about the queerest thing that ever happened to me was right over there at eagle island he pointed to the low crescent shaped island inland that lay near the entrance to abraham bay that it was true makes it all the queerer I 1 answered that a title tine story was oft ottin ri stran stranger gr than those in the maga sines now youre talking sense he replied heartily for there never wa no truer story going than this ono one and agin there no queerer one but araps you care to hear it he concluded artfully I 1 protested that my ufa life would be incomplete until I 1 had heard his yarn well he began settling himself comfortably on his log about fifteen years ago when I 1 was sailing the cal 4 11 cm I 1 WATCHED EM CLUTCHING THE RAIL asty INT jones I 1 was running between green bay and flour and provisions I 1 hing here in abraham then but I 1 used to put in at eagle island whenever the weather got rough for its the best harbor in the whole green bay inside that basin youre just as quiet as it if you were in the arms of your mother we was on the down trip light and out by chambers island the wind went down and I 1 saw it was going to be a dead caaso I 1 said wed pui into eagle harbor for the night it was dark by the time wed got our anchorage and et ct supper but the mate and the crew took the yawl boat and went ashore they moron moren got out ot of hearing when the took 00 it said he was about out ot of butter and he pulled oer to the village in the dingey to get some more 1 I was left alone and I 1 set on top of the tha cabin a smoking and looking at the path the moon made on the water for the whole boy bay was ds as smooth as it if oil dil had been poured on it I 1 thought I 1 heard a noise forward a splashing and gurgling I 1 listened a bit and then I 1 went as tar far as the foremast faint I 1 aint afeard ot of squalls or human beings but t saw something that made me shake like I 1 had a chill I 1 saw two hands gripping the gi gunwale and they was dead hands they was little but they bad long lone crooked nalls nails end and broad thumb that looked loodea as if it could choke the breath from a mans throat I 1 watched ent cm clutching tire hie rail and in a minute a head came up ill and the eyes looked straight into mine As I 1 said before I 1 aint no coward but them eyes just drew out my grit they was long and not very wide open and the color of blue steel dut but the mouth was worse tor for it was the only red in the ins white face anti and the upper lip was short abort and showed tire the little sharp teeth the mouth was smiling but it made your heart sick and the head bad long yeller hair that was dripping apt t and all tangled up lip with weeds eds and anis shells while I 1 was staring it came over rao me that it 11 was a woman a dead woman when shed got on docic slie she walked aft paying no more attention to me than it if id been the capstan then two men came crawling up the side they pretty to look aland at and ono one had a blue sear scar clear across his cheek but after I 1 seen the woman I 1 could stand them all of 0 em cm had the laces faces ot of drowned folks and where they walked the deck was sloshing slashing shing with water I 1 crept behind them as they went aft and I 1 saw em all go eo down tho the cabin stairs then I 1 stretched out on the roof and looked through the skylight they was sitting round the table and their mouths moved like they was talking but they make no sound though they understood what each other was sayin saying all at the tallest man he was old with gray hair reached across the table and struck the other on the cheek check and the blue scar opened and bled like it was a fresh cut though there any knife that I 1 could see the woman slipped behind the old man and she put her hands bands round his throat so that her thumbs pressed deep into the flesh ile ha tried to got get free but she pressed his throat till her fingers locked round it when she let go he fell with ills his face on the table then she and the man with the cut cheek dragged him upstairs and I 1 could hear the thump of 0 his boot heels as they hit I 1 was hid behind the mizzen mast but I 1 peeked out and saw them heave him overboard and then I 1 heard the splash then the woman laughed out loud it was the first sound that from their lips and her laugh was waa worse than her face it was and clear like the high notes note 8 of ap a planner I 1 but it froze your blood bloo d th then en she turned and she wiped th the e ma mans its bloody cheek with her hair and her eyes shone like green starboard lights on a clear night just then I 1 could hear the click of the oars in the rowlocks row locks it was the cook coming back I 1 can tell you it was music to my ears the man and woman started toward the side and I 1 tollered toll foll ered em cm I 1 caught the woman moman by her hair whipped out my knife and cut off a strand just in time too tor for they were over the ship side like a fi lash 1 all when the cook had raised his boat and hung it from the davits he came aft and found me holding the bit ot of hair in my hand and staring at it like I 1 was crazy we went below and I 1 had a nip of something then I 1 told him happened lie gave me a sharp look and asked me it if I 1 never heard the yarn I 1 said that I 1 was dragging without anchorage and if he knew what it all meant to t tell ii in me lie he was an old teller feller that had cooked in halt half the galleys on oil the lakes and knew every craft from duluth to buffalo lie said lie he guessed I 1 never heard the early history of the calisay M jones and I 1 had to admit that I 1 know anything except that shed been built about eight years when the hiles brothers bought her and made mo me master ile he said two or three parties and owned her before and that her first captain was an air old feller that list to take his daughter with him in the summer ills his mate wa young and he and the girl took a liking to each other but the old man hear of their marrying and w was s going to discharge him as soon as they got back to the home port before that hat though they was right here in eagle harbor and in the evening the crew all went ashore just ns as mine did thu the old man and the mats mate had a quarrel and the captain cut the wate mate with a long knife then the girl crept up tip behind the father and choked ill him m to death and she and the mate dragged him up the stairs and chucked him overboard then they saw the cabin boy a peeping at em from behind a mast lied hed been asleep when the oth ers seen whole killing lie he run from era em and hid in the hold and they put oft off in III the second yawl boat sose to be gone when the crew came back they was waa never seen again for in tile the night a white squall came up and they was thought to have got their just deserts by being drowned the cook said it no uncommon thing for the dead folks to return to the places where did deeds of wrong so that when the M jones put into the harbor where t I 1 d done one murder they was just drawn to her like iron filings is drawn to a magnet I 1 might a bell believed eved that it was all a dream it if I 1 had that lock of 0 hair in my it hand and but that was evi evidence it I 1 answered that it was most convincing evidence but I 1 was unprepared for the next move ot of the ancient captain ive got it right here in my weskit pocket and ill show it to you he said drav drawing ving out a small battered locket which he opened and handed to me it was an old fashioned locket such as used to be exchanged by sweethearts under the round glass was a wisp of 0 pale coarse hair tied in a sailors knot its avery a very interesting relic I 1 said feebly as I 1 handel it back yes it Is the captain ping the lid shut and a queer th ng 19 about it Is that it il i the same ident identical JT ital I 1 color as aa my first cifes hair one of 0 the queerest things about tile the whole business and the good old man carefully deposited his relic in his waistcoat pocket docket |
