Prev | Current Page 205 | Next

Cooper, James A.

"Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper"


Louise, who was shielding her eyes from the flying spray under the
sharp of her hand and watching the head and shoulders of Lawford as he
plowed through the jumping waves with a great overhand stroke, suddenly
shrieked aloud:
"Oh, Betty!"
"What's the matter? Land sakes!"
Both saw the peril threatening the swimmer. The light skiff at the end
of the long painter whipped around when the line tautened. As Betty
cried out in echo to Louise's wail, the gunnel of the skiff crashed
down upon Lawford's head and shoulders.
"Oh! Oh! He's hurt!" cried Louise.
"He's drowned--dead!" ejaculated Betty Gallup. "Here, Miss Lou, you
take the wheel----"
But the girl had no intention of letting the old woman go overboard.
Betty in her heavy boots would be wellnigh helpless in the choppy sea.
If it were possible to rescue Lawford Tapp she would do it herself.
The human mind is a wonderfully constituted--mechanism, may we call it?
It receives and registers impressions that are seemingly incoordinate;
then of a sudden each cog slips into place and the perfection of a
belief, of an opinion, of a desire, even of a most momentous discovery,
is attained.


Pages:
193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217