Sammie? Never another dance or kiss from Sammie. And oh, the black
disgrace of it if she was lost in the bay, when maybe they found her
body ground to pieces on the ledge! There would be those who would
say--what wouldn't they say--of her that couldn't hide her likin' for
him up to the dance at Shepperd's?

III

The tail of the night found Leary striding over the hills. "Going to
heave her herrin' overboard, are they? And she'll never clear for home,
hah? She won't, eh?" And over the hills he ran. In and out, up and down,
over the crests, and at last down the tangled slope across moss-grown
rocks where lay the tide-tossed kelp, and onto the beach, where in the
dawn he came suddenly on them.

A great shout went up when they were certain 'twas he; and down upon him
presently they bore.

"Two hundred of 'em, maybe," calculated Leary, and looked wistfully
toward where his vessel should have been laying to anchor. "If I weren't
such a hand for skylarkin' she'd be lay-in' there now with Tim Lacy
standin' by the old six-pounder, and she loaded to the muzzle with nails
and one thing and another, ready to sweep the beach of 'em." And
somewhat sadly he waited for the mob; and, waiting, wondered how Bess
was making out, for the squalls were chasing each other off the hills,
and out beyond the little harbor, all whitecapped, lay the open bay.

As a sea sweeps up and buries the lone rock under its surge, so did it
seem to Leary that the mob must overwhelm him as he stood there alone
on the beach. Annihilation! Their gestures and imprecations, as they
drew near, implied nothing less. "Well, let it come!" and from his mind
flew all but one clear idea. He would deal them all the damage he could
before they overbore him; and if under their heels on the sand they
strove to crush the life out of him, he would reach up and grasp as many
as his arms would circle.

And then he heard the hail from behind him. He flashed a look. Yes,
there was the vessel, and it was Tim Lacy calling. She was coming into
the wind. Her jibs were down by the run. Ay, and there was the rattling
of her chain-anchor.

"Skipper, oh, skipper," came the hail again, and he heard the hoisting
of a dory. To one hand was the mob which meant his destruction; to the
other hand by the open water to the vessel if he could make it. He had
farther to go than they, but they were mostly in oilskins, and he was a
rarely active man. That he knew. Away he went over the lit