Pennell Institute - Whirlpool Yearbook (Gray, ME)

Page 13 text:

THE WHIRLPOOL 11 when he fell down the schoolhouse stairs last night. Yer see he’s in love wid Clarice Hayes an he wuz a waitin’ roun’ ter pilot ’er home when he saw that air feller we seen back thar come up an march off wid her. He went up stair so’t she wouldn’t see ’im and when ’e gut ready ter come down, he fell down. I wuz just out exercisin’ my nag when I see’s ’im an’ tuk 7?im in an’ tuk ’im ’ome.” “Wal,” said Crane, “that simplifies things; why didn’t ya tell me before?” CrciLe LEAVITT, 721. The Wreck of the ‘‘North Star’’ It was Friday night and the storm had been raging for two days. The “North Star” was due to pass the light that evening, and the light-keeper was occupying himself by reading until he should hear the whistle that would tell him that all was well on board the ship. As midnight approached, however, the book gradually slipped from his hands and his thoughts drifted back to the winter before, when his wife and child had been with him. How much different the long evenings had seemed then! Instead of dreading them as he did now, he had looked forward to them as he would have to a feast. But the spring before, his wife and child had gone with his wife’s brother on a trip to Brazil and the ship “Sea Gull,” on which they had sailed, had never been heard from since it had left port. The keeper was suddenly aroused from these melancholy thoughts, however, by the shrill blast of a whistle. It was the “North Star.’”’ He knew the whistle as one knows a voice. But why did it sound so near? He got up and went to the window, and at each revolution of the light he could see the great ship plowing her way through the waves. He stood at the window, watching her pass, when suddenly he noticed that with each wave the ship drifted nearer the rocks, and it came across him that she had lost her rudder. He rushed out of the house and down to the shore without stopping for his oilskins and was just in time to see the bow of the ship run on to a ledge and stop so short that the masts were broken and thrown forward by the force of the shock. As he stumbled over the rocks to the ship, he could see two of the crew, who had not been killed by the wreckage, adjusting their lifebelts and jumping into the water. When he reached the ship, however, he found only one of the crew alive; the others were lying on the rocks where they had been hurled, and did not move except when some wave larger than the others rolled them farther inshore. He turned his attention to the survivor, who was badly bruised and partially dazed, and who was shouting something

Page 12 text:

LOL PLL OEE LOL, LS Ne ee Swe Be 10 THE WHIRLPOOL dow and drepped out. He walked a way and then rested, until he was taken in by Junk Brown, who happened along. Junk was a thief and he Was just returning from one of his moonlight rides. The next day there was a rumor that the teacher had disappeared and there was a bloody handkerchief on the schoolroom floor. The village deputy was informed and he set out to trace the murderer. Soon there was a crowd at the school-house and everybody was listening to the deputy and some were trying to get a word in edgewise. “T know,” said the deputy, “that this is blood from the brain ’cause I larned that much when I went to the deestriet school years ago. Now this ’ere blood is brain blood and this is a lady’s hankyehief with a ‘TI’ ‘broidered in one corner. ‘H’ stands fer Hayes as sure as [ stand here on my two feet.” “But, Mister Crane,” spoke up Junk Brown, “ I-—--—— “Tut, tut, we doan want none o’ your hash; eny man wid an addicashun ‘van-see all I’ve been a tellin’ ye. Now you, Bill an’ Joe an’ Mike, you all trace them sleigh tracks down by Pig medder, and zry an’ Neb an’ Jim an’ .oeeYes, you Junk might’s well come along.” “But,” said Junk, “I can pete ‘Never mind! You all do what I tells ye to. What am JI deputy of this hull shebang for, anyhow?” “But,” said Shifty, “He might... 1 mean he can...” “Perceed, all hands 0’ ve,” shouted Crane. They walked through woods, over bridges, and after a great many twists and turns they came to a small lake with one of its shores lined with many cottages. The sleigh tracks led to the largest of these and to this one they went. They did not stop to knock but simply walked in. They were no socner inside che cottage than the deputy saw standing before him the school teacher. He stared at her until she said, “Whom do you want, Mr. Crane?” “Why,” said Crane, “why. er ...er why, I—weel, you see, didn’t nobody known where yer wuz hangin’ out an..... an’ as there wuz some blocd down to the school-house an’ a hankychief with a ‘H’ in the corner an’ a lot a blood onto it, an’ some bloody tracks, an’ so we. er... I calkerlated as sombody must er wal... er took your life.” “Oh no,” said Miss Hayes, “only dear Tom came for me and took me out here. Mr. Crane, this is Mr. Raywood, the man I’m engaged to marry.”’ “Pleased to ter meet cher, Mister,’ said Crane, “weel, we must be goin’. C’mon, b’ys.” They took the same road by which they had come, and in two hours ‘ame to the outskirts of the town. “Now,” said Junk, “1 guess I'd a better tell yer now what cher wouldn’t lemme tell yer before. That blocd came from a cut that Steve Cronk gut

Page 14 text:

12 THE WHIRLPOOL about a woman and child who had been forgotten by the crew in their mad rush to get away from the ship. He asked the man where they were and was informed that they were in the captain’s state-room, which was under the bridge. The keeper started for the ship, whose bow was by this time well up on the rocks, and whose stern was under water most of the time. It would be an easy matter to climb up her side, which was hung with wreckage. But would he ever come down again? There was not an even chance that the ship would last two minutes more. He realized all the dangers of boarding the wreck and still he hesitated only an instant. Only an instant, but in that instant the battle in his mind was fought to a finish—the battle on which depended the fate of the woman and child in the captain’s state-room, and in another instant he was upon the deck of the ship. The planks under his feet trembled every time a wave struck the wreck, as he made his way to the room which contained the object of his mission. He reached the door, which he easily opened, and stepped inside. The sobs which came from one of the corners told him that the woman and child were crouched there, waiting death. He wasted no words, but took in his arms the first one he touched, which happened to be the child, and made his way back to the bow, where he tied a rope around the child’s body and lowered her to the rocks. The creaking of the planks was one continuous screech when he started towards the cabin to get the woman, and it seemed that the ship must go to pieces before many more waves struck her. But by some miracle she held together until he, with the help of the sailor whom he had found on the shore, got the woman safely ashore. He himself was halfway down the side of the ship when he felt the ship begin to slide backwards. He let go of the net- work of ropes to which he was clinging, and jumped. The next thing that the light keeper was conscious of was a loud buzzing in his ears and the sound of voices which seemed to come from very far away. The buzzing gradually ceased and the voices gradually grew louder and he realized that he was in bed and that his leg was in splints and was paining him severely. Then it all came to him—the wreck, the rescue, and his jump from the ship. But where were the woman, the child, and the sailor? He opened his eyes. Yes, he was in his own house and the voices came from the other room. But someone was coming toward the door. The door opened and a woman came in. The keeper could hardly believe his eyes. The woman was his wife. MERTON SWEETSER, 720.