Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 74: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A 1 lets sefnct the tons and tons of ice that sheeted over all, until they threatened to founder, “‘ One consolation in this devil’s weather,” said the skipper, “is that it will keep the cruiser hugging safety behind the harbor bar. | After two weeks of buffeting the skipper was anxiously looking to pick up Wolf Point Light. He knew by dead reckoning: that they must be somewhere off that section of Cape Breton coast. All that afternoon they looked in vain for land. After nightfall it began to snow and soon the air was full of soft, feathery flakes which effectively shut out from view every object at greater dis- tance than a hundred fathoms. All hands were called to pound the ice off cable and running gear, since it was of highest importance to have everything ready fer anchoring or taking in sail at a ae Ss notice. As the night wore on the wind rose to a proper southeast gale, with an accompany- ing blizzard. One of the most. dangerous ‘positions for a mariner is to be caught on a _ lee shore in winter, with an easterly gale of - _ bird in a serpent’s eye. blinding snow. “No time to be poking round the land,” muttered the skipper. For safety’s sake he shifted his course to the northward, and “Jet the Banshee run before the storm. Scudding before the wind under irysail — and jib they were swept up beyond St. Paul’s Island. By the following morning the gale had blown itself out, and Red Alec was overjoyed to make his landfall. There about five miles to the south lay Cape North. Beating up into the lee of the land it fell dead calm, and they were forced to anchor. | ~Cape North, which loomed before them, was the extreme warder of a continent, the end of a mountain range rising sheer a thou- sand feet above the surge. The defiant skipper always felt a certain kinship for that sentinel cape, standing un- daunted against the polar night, and the league long howlings of the storms of a polar ocean. But Little Roary dreaded this spot, as a bound beyond the utmost suzerainty of God. Gazing at the granite bastion that towered ARGOSY-ALLSTORY | WEEKLY, aoe the little piper was filled with dire misgiving, 7 “ Ochan, and it’s a wae night, that brought us to anchor off this fell coast. EF seem to see yon cape raised like a giant’s fist that’s fain to strike.” “* Aye, never ye fear, she kens her ain, we 0’ the Hielan hills are her kith and kin. Did ye ever hear 0’ a man o’ our ilk, that was harmed along these shores? Na, na, she kens her ain.” “Well for me, I would na trust ony ship in sic a place. Sure, these are the seas that God forgot. It’s a dead man’s ocean, and a dead man’s shore. Dinna ye mistake it, skipper, frae the night we was blowed out o’ Judique Harbor we was doomed for an uncanny voyage.” Red Alec laughed contemptuously and went below, where all hands were mugging up with Demerara rum. He would have — jeined them in a glorious carouse, but the presaife of a charm upon his breast re- strained him. Now and again the skipper took a turn on deck. Gazing at the towering, shadowy cape, he found there a fascination as of a The last breath from the southeast had died out, and they lay becalmed, except for an occasional cat’s- paw, which came from any point of the compass, By noon there were indications of an- other storm. This gave uneasiness. Al- though it continued calm during the early part of the afternoon, the barometer fell rapidly, foretelling an approaching gale. Out of respect for these indications Red _ Alec let go his second anchor. A peculiarity of the North Bay in the months of December and January is its sud- den reversion of weather. The wind will blow southeast, fall calm, and then in a short time there will come a gale out of the northwest. It is characteristic of this north- west gale, that it leaps forth unexpectedly like a roaring lion. While the darkness of the night was still falling the sleeping ocean began to show its hate. Long, black, snarling seas appeared, foam flecked with ominous threatening, as the advance guard of a hurricane. “We're in for it,” muttered Red Alec icbooks = — = com (CO) LE Ise