1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



65 



A COAST llOMANCE. 



To tell the t^tory it is necessary to go 

 back two years, when the three cliaracters 

 Tjlaying part in the romance lived in the 

 little town of Cape May. They wore Dor- 

 othy Mosher, a young woman of 19 years; 

 Alix Wint, a fanner, and John Christo- 

 pher, a young oysternian. Dorothy was 

 the belle of the town, and there was a 

 etrong rivalry for her favors between Wint 

 aiid Christopher. The girl enjoyed the 

 contest and refused to encourage one more 

 than she did tl^ other. 



The young men kept up the siege sev- 

 eral months and finally lost- their temper. 

 The oysterman Christopher went one day 

 and said: "Alix, I'm getting tired of this 

 fight between us for Dorothy. I'm willing 

 to go into a ring with you and see who's 

 the best man. If you are, I'll get out of 

 the way, and if I'm the better man than 

 you, then you iiiust leave Dorothy to me." 



Wint agreed to the proposition, and in 

 the presence of a large number of their 

 friends the young men stripped one night 

 in a fishhouse on the beach and fought 

 like tigers for the girl they loved. They 

 were pretty evenly matched, and it was 

 a long tin)e before the contest ended. It 

 finally came to a close with the knocking 

 out of Christopher. 



Christopher took his defeat deeply to 

 heart, and he left the town. He had saved 

 money and invested in a schooner that 

 was engaged in the coasting business. He 

 Bailed a few weeks as mate of the vessel 

 and then became her captain. Meantime 

 Wint wooed Dorothy more ardently than 

 ever, but he got but little satisfaction 

 from the girl, who blamed him tordrivijig 

 Christopher away. He believed that he 

 would win her for his wife sooner or later 

 and persisted in giving her attention Ho 

 was not a little surprised one morning to 

 find that the nigiit before Dorothy had 

 disappeared from town. Her friends went 

 in search of her and found that she had 

 been secretly married to Christopher, who 

 had taken her aboard his schooner to live. 



The discovery that the girl loved his 

 rival best was a severe blow to Wint, who 

 found it impossible to content himself on 

 the farm. Ho finally found his surround- 

 ings uncongenial, and disposing of the 

 farm joined the life saving station at 

 Hereford inlet. In the excitement of this 

 wild life he did his best to forget Dorothy. 

 He was considered the bravest of the crew. 

 There was no wind or weather in which lie 

 was afraid to put out in the lifeboat, and 

 he seemed happiest when in the midst of 

 a storm on the sea. Some thought that 

 his mind was unbalanced, and the advis- 

 ability of dischareinehim from the service 



naa oeen consmerea, due tne raithfulness 

 with which he always performed his duties 

 argued strongly in liis favor. 



Last Thursday was a stormy day on the 

 Jersey roast. The wind blew fearfully in- 

 land, and the wreckers kept a sharp look- 

 out for vessels in distress. All day the 

 rain came down, but at sundown the 

 clouds broke and fled, but the wind in- 

 creased its strength, and the surf of Here- 

 ford inlet ran higher by many feet than 

 the roof of tlio life saving station. About 

 midnight the patrol of the beach saw a 

 rocket curve through the darkness. It 

 was quickly followed by a second and a 

 third. A vessel of some sort was in dis- 

 tress in the vicinity of North bar. The 

 crew was ardused, and the lifeboat got in 

 readiness, but it was impossible to launch 

 it, so terrible was the surf. Answering 

 signals were given to encourage the unfor- 

 tunates on the foundered vessel. When 

 day broke, t'le wind began to die out, and 

 by sunrise the surf had lessened in force. 



Nearly a mile from the shore the masts 

 and rigging of a schooner were visible 

 above the tumbling waters, and at the 

 head of the mainm/ist was seen a dark ob- 

 ject. The vess(!] was completely sub- 

 merged, and the masts were swaying like 

 reeds. Evidently one of the crew had been 

 lashed to the mast. After several vain at- 

 tempts the lifeboat was finally launched, 

 and the sturdy crew sent it across the 

 waves as rapidly as it was possible for 

 them to do. They finally came near 

 enough to the wreck to see that the object 

 at the masthead was a woman. She was 

 alive and encouraged the crew in the life- 

 boat by waving her arms. As the lifeboat 

 came nearer it was found that it would be 

 extremely dangerous to attempt to take 

 the woman off until the waves had subsid- 

 ed, for parts of the shattered hull project- 

 ed above the water, and to be dashed upon 

 them meant quick destruction. While the 

 crew was debating what it was best to do, 

 Wint caught up a fieldglass and turned 

 it on tlie woman. An instant later the 

 other memliers of the crew were surprised 

 to hear him exclaim, "It's Dorothy!" He 

 held the glass to his eyes for a few seconds, 

 as if to make sure that he was right, rheu 

 tossed it into the cuddy, and snatching up 

 a life preserver fastened it under his arms, 

 and tying a rope around his waist ordered 

 the men to pull the boat as close to the 

 wreck as they dared to. The captain re- 

 monstrated with tho man, but he calmly 

 told him that if the boat wasn't put nearer 

 he would jump in ihvvo and try to swim 

 to tho woman's rescue. 



The captain saw it was useless to pro- 

 test, and ho told the crew to do as Wint 

 desired. Wint fastened one end of tho 

 rope that was ai'oiind his waist to a cleat 



