Newspapers / The Tyrrell Tribune (Columbia, … / Jan. 2, 1941, edition 1 / Page 3
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Xhjjjgday* January 2, 1941 THE STRUMPET SEA • By Ben Ames Williams - SYNOPSIS -CHAPTER I—George McAusland was o y* a ” ol <J when he sailed from Amer }* a ♦»? T^w, rt T k , e hls P O3l *» a missionary in the Fiji Islands. A crime he had sh^‘i^ d .V s sis of excitement nad shattered all hls confidence in himself. He felt forced to avoid pretty Mary Doncaster, who boarded the ship at Hon- Sh * WBS en route to visit her {“rents,, who werp missionaries on Gil rS2Llf?* n<, ~ U ¥ r WB * attracted by George s attempts to avoid her. One day George accidentally (ell overboard. CHAPTER n At the rroment when Mary Don caster leaped overboard, George was almost directly below her. She jumped wide of the vessel’s side in order to clear him: and when she came to the surface again, the ship, towering high, was gliding smopthly away across the silent sea. From her decks shouts came back to the girl, and she saw the splash of a grating thrown overboard, and knew help would come quickly. But in the meantime this helpless George McAusland had sunk, sucked under in the burble at the ship’s stern. Mary swam toward the spot where he had disappeared, and saw his floundering arm break the sur face. He coughed and gasped and muttered something: and she heard the words: “Into Thy hands . . .” She felt a hot impatience with him because he did not know how to swim, and because he now surren dered so supinely. She cried: “Don’t talk so You’re not going to drown! You’re all right! I’ve got you. Lie still.” At her voice behind him, George stiffened rigidly, and a little wave crest lapped across his face and into his open mouth, and he gagged and revolved in the water like a croco dile twisting to tear off the gout of flesh in which its teeth are set. He rolled over facing her and tried to clutch at her She dove instantly, escaping his grasp, and ruthlessly caught his foot and pulled him un der water. Then she slipped up past him. clear of his hands that were like talons, and from behind him caught his collar again and drew him to the surface. She was on guard against any sud den movement by George; but he now submitted, rigid as an oar. Yet he was heavy, and his clothes were heavy, and the grating was farther away than she had thought. Before she reached it, she was tired, her heart pounding. The ship now was almost broadside to. She hoped someone aboard had had the wit to keep an eye on them; and then she saw a man in the rigging, pointing in their direction: and when the next swell lifted them, she saw a boat in the water between them and the ship, the oars glinting in the sun, racing this way like a spider. She told George: “Hold on to the grating. Don’t try to climb on it. Just hold on.” His fingers clutched the edge,’ and she released him and moved away out of his reach. He said humbly: “I can’t swim.” She laughed, herself easier now. •T noticed that! You’ll learn. Every one swims in the Islands. I could swim before I could walk, 1 think. The boat’s near.” His teeth were chattering. “You’re not cold,” she said. “That’s just nerves. Don’t worry, we could float like this for days.” She talked more and more swiftly, fighting to hold him up with words; for under her eyes strength visibly flowed out cf him. Yet he must hold on a minute more, a minute more . . . The boat reached them. The mate was in the stern; two sailors at the oars. “Take him first, Mr. Chase, she said quietly. “He’s tiring. They hauled George McAusland over the gunwale, and he collapsed in the bottom of the boat between the oarsmen and the mate. “I H come in over the bow,” she said. The mate swung the boat and she caught the bow and with a deep kick of her feet thrust herself up ward, swung one leg over the gun wale, clambered in. The mate said: "Here’s my coat. Miss Doncaster.’ When they came alongside, the rail was lined above them. A sailor gave Mary a hand up, cupping her foot in his palm, and Captain Keen reached down to help her. On deck. Mrs. Gale had a long coat to put ground the girl. Mrs. Gale said: “Run and change, Mary.” But the girl stayed a mo ment to be sure George was all right. They were rigging a whip to hoist him aboard, since he was still too weak from the shock of his im mersion to help himself. The mate and the sailors watched him grave ly. Mary, understanding that he would not want her to see him thus, went below, leaving him to other hands. George even when he wa« "" oecK was oaYeiy ame 10 stano. oonn Gale said to him: "Well, it’s lu^ky aboard?* Doncaster was Is she?” I d have drowned - Where In her cabin, changing.” ”1 want to thank her.” -i Ik ßl6 ’.' The Brsl thing is dry n,™ “v t I “ U - ana » of rum. \oure blue with cold. Come along.” George followed obediently but he refused the rum. He shook with a teeth-chattering chill til) he had rubbed himself dry and glowing Then he lay down under blankets to warm himself, and slept till John Gale came to rouse him for supper ‘‘ All right?” the older man asked’ “1 thought vou were probably asleep, needed sleep more than any ; thing.” I 1 Tes, I'm fine. I’ll be along.” j But he was slow in dressing, 1 dreading the necessity of meeting ' Mar y and of thanking her. When he came out into the main cabin, the others except John Gale and the i Captain had finished supper and : were already on deck. “Gone to i watch the sunset," the old minister ; explained. “It promised to be fine.” | George was relieved at this post j ponement; but when he and John j Gale presently went on deck—the j sun was gone, the sky fading fast |to the deep blue of night—he faced j hls duty. Mary was in the waist j w ith Mrs. Gale. He went toward ! them, and they saw him corning, and I Mrs. Gale asked: “All right now?” “Fine,” he told her. She said some approving word and went aft, leaving him alone with Mary. He But the girl stayed a moment to be sure George was all right. wished to ask Mrs. Gale to stay; turned to face Mary reluctantly. She I smiled, understanding, and said quickly: “It’s all right. You needn’t thank me.” i “I want to,” he told her, blurting out the words; and then he spoke the phrase he had decided was most I suitable. “I owe you more than I c@n ever pay.” | Mary smiled. M l’m glad you fee! so much in debt to me. It will be : fun to have you try to pay. Be i very nice to me, won’t you?” But : then she relented, seeing his em- J barrassment. and said quickly: “It > wasn’t anything, really. I could have kept you afloat all day.” | “I’m sorry you had to . . .’’ He hesitated. “Well. I mean . . . Well, | I know how brave you were, how hard it was to do what you did.” J Mary frowned a little, puzzled, ! and then suddenly understanding. | “Oh, you mean because I took off a few petticoats?” j He insisted stubbornly: “I know ! what it must have meant to you.” j She touched his hand. “You’re ! sweet; but honestly, I didn’t mind. I j didn’t even think of it. Naturally I ! couldn't swim in a lot of petticoats.” ! And she said, faintly amused: “You , know, Mr. McAusland. you’ll have : to learn to look at so many things : differently on the Islands; to learn new ways.” “I hope instead of—learning their ' ways, I can teach them ours. Do you remember a lot about your childhood down here?” She looked at him in a quick satis ’ faction. “I think that’s the first i question I ever heard you ask,” she declared. “Yes. of course I do. After all, I’ve only been away eight or nine years.” "You seem glad to come back.” “Os course! I’m coming back to my home, to my father and moth er! This is where I live, really. I just went away to school, you know. I lived with my aunt in New Bed ford. Aunt Patty Hanline. Uncle Tom was away all the time: only came home twice. He’s mate on the Venturer, Cap’n Corr’s whaler.” George echoed: "A whaler?” He said with a strong distaste: “Cork ran’s told me stories about the whalers, the whaleships. They’ve ruined these islands. “Whalers aren’t so bad. New Bedford’s full of them. The Ven turer is a fine ship. I know Cap n Corr. His sons are mates aboard her. I knew them both in New Bed ford. Peter was in the same school with me; and Richard too, for a while, years ago He went to sea as cabin boy first, and then came home and came to school for two years, ana tnen went fourtn mate with his father again." Her eyes were dancing, amused at his «*x pression. “I thought Richard was pretty wonderful, and Peter too. of course. Richard was so shy he hard ly looked at me. but I worshiped him. You know how little girls are ” “I'm afraid 1 don’t know much about little girls.” She smiled. 'Or big ones, either, do you, Mr McAusland,” she chal lenged: and then she told him quick ly: “But maybe you’ll see them I Richard and Peter. I mean Cap’n Corr promised to put in at Gilead to see my father and mother on this voyage. Mother’s Uncle Tom’s sister. Maybe we’U find them at Gilead when we get there. I hope so.” He askod in curiously thick tones: | “Why? Because you want to see 1 your uncle again?” . “I want to see them all, of ■ course,” she said. j He said, after a moment, almost wistfully: “I’ve never known young j men. My brothers were a lot older ! than I,” "I know.” she assented softly. 1 "You haven’t known young women ; either, have you?” “No." ‘ , She said, smiling in the darkness, as though he were a child- "I knew you wanted to be friendly with me, but you didn’t quite know how.” “T want to be friendly with every one!” “But specially with me, a little, don’t you?” she urged. “Only you’re sort of afraid?” “I don’t think so!” he protested, half-resenlful. “Oh, but you are," she insisted. "You’re afraid to do the things you want to do.” He swung toward her as though startled; but someone spoke behind them. Suddenly George sneezed. “You’d better go below, hadn’t you?” she suggested. “You’ve taken cold.” He blew his nose. “I’m afraid I have.” They went aft together Mrs. Gale prescribed hot lemonade, but George protested that he was all right, til! he sneezed again. Then he consented to go below. During the days that followed, John Gale was pleased to see that having taken the plunge, George no longer avoided Mary. They were much together, as often forward as on the after deck. Under Corkran’s instructions they practiced rope work and listened to his tall tales. Mary led him to talk of whaling: and sometimes Corkran told of bloody battles with Leviathan that made George’s pulse pound, and sometimes he made them laugh to gether in a gleeful incredulity. • They sighted the tip of Gilead’s highest peak one day as the sea cut the sun’s disk in half. At dawn they were close aboard, or seemed to be, although still ten or twelve miles distant. Mary was with Captain Keen, and George joined them and asked a question: and Mary said: “We’ll come to a big bay present ly. with room for a hundred ships. It runs deep into the Island, over two miles, and there’s a small is land in the mouth of the bay, so there are really two ways in. The bay narro%vs all the way to the beach at the inner end. You’ll see!” Her eyes were happy with anticipation. “Father and Mother will come out to meet us,” she pre dicted. "Will they be keeping a lookout?” “Oh no, but someone will see us.” She pointed ahead. “That’s the en trance, Cap’n Keen. You can’t see it yet, but that rock that looks like a hill with no trees on it is the island in the mouth of the bay.” The Captain asked: “We go In south of it, don’t we?” “Whichever’s easiest, according to the wind. There’s deep water ev erywhere, even close in to shore. The best holding ground is about a mile this side of the beach.” Captain Keen nodded. Mary went forward, George with her; and she pointed out to him things familiar to hei eyes, which his could not yet perceive. “There aren’t any houses any where in sight,” he said. “They’re in among the trees, in the shade,” she told him. “People keep out of the sun down here.” A faint trouble showed in her eyes. “I don’t know why no canoes come off. They must have seen us long ago.” But a moment later she cried, re lieved: “Oh, there they come!” Cap tain Keen and the others joined them in the bow, and Mary bor rowed the Captain’s glass to look for her father and mother. “There’s Jarambo,” she said. She gave the glass to George. “Look,” she said. “That old man in the first canoe. He worships my father, goes' everywhere with him, like a dog.” Captain Keen spoke to the mate. She was close-hauled, the wind light. He said quietly: “Square your fore and main yards, Mr. Chase. Smartly, now.” The mate shouted orders; men swarmed to their tasks; and pres ently the cable slid but through the hawse, men standing by. Mary moved back to the waist while the old man in the canoe drew along side; and she was white now with formless fears. She called some thing to Jarambo in his own tongue; but instead of answering, he dropped his eyes. There was something ter rifying in his silence. A moment later, still without speech, he swung himself aboard. Jarambo produced a folded bit of Daper and offered it to Marv. “No.” the TYRRELL TRIBUNE She took it; she ioouea at jaram- . bo imploringly ' Then her dry eyes 1 raced along the lines, and the color > drained out of her cheeks Old John Gale came quick beside her. and she ( gave him the bit of paper, shak- . ing her head wretchedly. He read , il aloud, slowly. “My dear Daughter, ! “1 thought I could wait for you, but ■ since your mother died 1 am lonely j 1 and tired. 1 cannot wait any longer | 1 have nothing more to do excepi . leave you my love and my blessing, and draw up my feet like good old ‘ Jacob and go home. “Your father, “Ephraim Doncaster.” John Gale read the lette nd >, ; George McAusland said, not under- ; j standing: “Gone home? Didn’t he j know Mary was coming?” John Ga’e said: “Yes, gone home, j Ephraim is dead.” i I (Continued next week) GOOD FENCE SHOULD LAST FARMER 7 TO 12 YEARS j Good wire, properly strung be tween strong, well-braced posts should make a farm fence last from 7 to 12 years, says H. M. El lis, extension agricultural engi neer of N. C. State College. There should be a good coating of galvan izing or zinc on the wire to protect it against the elements, he says. “Some copper in the wire will add still more years of service to the fence,” Ellis stated. “The cop per content should not run lessi than 2-10 of 1 per cent, which is usually spoken of as ‘2O point’ cop per. The quality of the ware is the j main consideration in building fences, and it isn’t good economy to buy cheap wire.” I Ellis also says that for a good, 1 long-lasting fence the quality of the posts and the workmanship in erecting the fence must be of the best. The posts must be big enough, properly spaced, well planted, and well braced. Ts dur able wood is not available, soft timber may be treated with creo sote or otherwise to make the posts last as long as the wire. “It is w’ise,” the specialist de j dared, “to build your fence on pa i per before you start cutting posts and buying wire, North Carolina farmers spend thousands of dollars every year maintaining fences that are not essential; fences that are of the wrong type to keep animals in or out; and fences that are not worth maintaining because of poor material or poor workmanship.” i In conclusion, Ellis said, “fenc ing is an important item of farm management. It protects property i and reduces losses of both crops and livestock. A good fence is also an asset in giving a neat ap pearance and indicating that the i ! farm owner is progressive.” I j POTASH IS DEFICIENT i j IN MOST SOILS OF STATE • | Farmers are thinking of their 1 1941 fertilizer needs, and J. R. Pi -1 | land, associate soil chemist of N. ■ , C. State College, reminds growers i that the majority of North Caro | lina soils are deficient in potash, i ( This is especially true, he says, in I \ soils where cotton, corn, tobacco, i I and vegetable crops of the Coastal 1 i Plain are grown. “In the fertilization of cotton where cotton rust is prevalent, the ; use of fertilizers containing 5 to 8 ‘ per cent potash has materially in -1 creased yields,” Mr. Piland reports. ( i “Sometimes, under severe eondi i | tions of rust, side dressing with I potash has proved beneficial.” The chemist says that, in gen i eral, the soils of the Coastal Plain are relatively low in their potash 1 j BUYING FURS—MinkTßaccoon, j Muskrat, Opossum, etc. Top mar i ket prices—Spot cash. W. C. GLOVER, Elizabeth City, N. C. TWO A-M- AND NOT j§f|f# *Bg A NERVINE TABLET •Wlr^YjUmFnZMr l """ B SBiwa Do You Lie Awake Nights? Millions do. The worst of it is, you never know when a sleepless night is coming. Why not be prepared? DR. MILES Effervescent Nervine Tablets help to quiet the nerves and permit refreshing sleep. Stop in at the drug store to day and get a package. Try Dr. Miles Nervine Tab lets for Nervousness, Sleep lessness due to Nervousness, Nervous Headache, Excita bility, Nervous Irritability. Small Package 35# . Large Package 75# tflFjw Scad foil directions reserves, especially under condi tions of inadequate fertilization. Tobacco has a high requirement for potash, and usually there is a not ed response of the crop to this ele ment with regard to the quality of the leaf produced. The tobacco fertilizer grades now recommended seem to furnish sufficient potash for the production of the crop in most, soils. Explaining the symptoms of po- • tash deficiency, Mr. Piland says, “Potash deficiency is usually ac companied by yellowing of the leaves of the plant, with develop ment of brown spots and death along the margins of the leaves. Cotton, tobacco, corn, soybeans, small grain, vegetables and fruits are all subject to potash deficiency which can easily be identified by its characteristic leaf pattern.” The State College man suggests that where such conditions were noted in crops in 1940, farmers should plan their fertilization pro gram for 1941 so as to eliminate this trouble again. He urges to bacco farmers, especially, to con sider the effect that potash might have on the quality of their crop. BUFFALO CITY NEWS i Mr. and Mrs. B. N. Basnight and little son, Bobby, have returned to their home in Elizabeth City after spending the holidays here. Mr. and Mrs. James F. Weather ly and family spent the holidays here, with their daughter, Mrs. J. V. Pierce. » • D. A. Sawyer of Columbia spent Christmas day here. Mrs. Sawyer and little daughter, Rita, of Co- I lumbia, spent the holidays here. I Mr. and Mrs. Ben F. Shannon and son, Roger, of Titusville, Flor ida, spent Tuesday here as the guests of Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Smith. Mrs. James C. Hassell has re turned after spending sometime at Edenton. Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Smith, Rov Basnight and Nina Smith motored to Manteo Thursday. Mrs. Ernest Rogers of Norfolk was here Sunday. George Ambrose motored to Co lumbia and Elizabeth City Sundav. Gilliam Hassell of Norfolk was here Sunday. r hSE CLASSTFTTP AOS—SW word* a quarter. Th»v do tV*> work r 'nll ns for an ad-taker. * BUYING FURS—Mink. Raccoon, Muskrat, Opossum, etc. Ton mar ket prices—Spot cash. W. C. GLOVER, Elizabeth City, N. C. 1 if M m 1 I Wt mil " f||l I h’J J|| 1 FOR ONLY ll McCall’s Magazine,... Iyr j FOR ONLY k| Farm Journal-Farmer’s Wife... 1 yr. -q —_ __ "Sfj Pathfinder (weekly) 1 y r - { || VarmeV "'l £ ’2**® I Southern Agriculturist 1 yr ’j ihjroMi*™ n „ B j FILL Oil COUPON ■ MAIL TOOA>V^HpHHB | Gentlemen: I enclose $ .I am enclosing the :r ——— f COUPON # POSTOFFICE . - R. F. D today.. -* ' •* . ) SI Throughout 1941 May You and Yours thrive in the charm and gayety of successful ADD MEANING TO “THE” OCCASIONS by saying it with flowers We have potted plants and out flowers—green house fresh. Place your order with Mrs, T. S. Spruill, our Tyrrell Agent IREDELL FLORIST Edenton North Carolina Horses and Mules WE INVITE YOUR INSPECTION C. N. Griffin & Son Water St. Phone 90-W Edenton PAGE THREE
The Tyrrell Tribune (Columbia, N.C.)
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Jan. 2, 1941, edition 1
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