Witches Cove

riving fog he seemed to see a face. The muscles of that face were tw

pt up from the shadowy recesses of his brain. A very vivid image, it r

airly spooky, as if he had sent us out to ge

heart of a great wave, "he didn't know. No one could foretell such a storm fou

wenty-foot fishing boat went plunging down the other side. For a matter of seconds

eld a protecting canvas across the prow of his boat. "Be dan

he stared into the fog. "Wish

across his eyes. The face, the crafty smile, were there a

ty big. Wanta go. Boat too small, mine. Too far fr

n at a crate where a mass of legs, eyes and great green pinchers squirmed and twisted while the boat

hed girls, Pearl and Ruth, who sat hud

mself, taking a fresh grip on his ste

ewhere out there in the fog, perhaps very near, scarcely a mile long, a mere granite boulder jutting out of the sea, was the island called Monhegan. Smaller roc

hen of a sudden a sigh of satisfaction escaped his lips. Towering a

he whispered.

hat led to Monhegan's cozy harbor was narrow. It was guarded by nature's sentinels-black and frowning rocks on one side, reefs booming and white on th

tle," he exulted,

he present struggle, the questions regarding Tomingo and the lo

the island of Monhegan, Booth Bay Harbor, in safety. There they had taken up the

t near Monhegan, where the lobster fishing was unusually good. Without thinking much about it, he had followed the tip. T

ts with codfish heads, then dropped them one by one along the reef. After adjusting the bright red floats, each marked with

e had thought to himself. "But the reefs close in are

promise. Fair weather had continued while he was visiting the shoal. The work of lifting the traps had been particularly difficult. Ruth had given him a ready hand at this. Six traps were fairly loade

boy told himself as he thought

ain. "Why did he tell me about it

as for many long years been a hard-fought and bitter one. At times floats have been cut and traps set adrift and sharp battles fought with fi

n mine. I wouldn't want to come this far in it myself. But some of his friends and fe

it somewhere, I'll be bound, and I'll find it soon enou

arely before him. He had been told enough to know that this was the back of the island, that h

etting his teeth hard, "but if the ol

th the boy as long as the stars shine down

voice, hoarse and insistent, never ending, the voice of Manana, the great fog horn that,

ke a frightened rabbit leaping from wave to wave, he steered clear of Black Head, White Head and Skull Rock, t

difficult to see ten yards before him. He needed to get in at once. For all this, the mysterious light intrigued him. Beginning at the right, it moved s

the crest of the great rock that lay before Monhegan. On Monhegan a powerful light was set. As it playe

"What real heroes are those who live on t

him he had caught an appalling sound, th

e waves there were breaking mountain high. Turning his boat squarely about, he set his engine to doing its b

oment the engine, deluged by a greater se

other way." He s

n as long as he dared. Then, swinging through a quarter circle he shot straight ahead. Five minutes later, drenched to the skin,

revealed a boyish face. "Pretty lucky you g

, "only I caught the gleam on the

e boy. "I'll take yo

a surprised tone as the light of

rs," sa

out a whistle of surpris

ant to tell that. He hadn't liked the sound

ut allowing time for further remarks, "All set? Hop in t

two girls and Don ashore, Don wo

d he have meant? He wanted to as

silence broken. They were passing a boat

hat for?"

d. Keep lobs

they kee

explained. "We like a lobster salad now and then. They keep them for us.

was a steady market for them and they were to be caught out her

t the few lights that gleamed through the fo

t's small. We're full up. Couldn't crowd one mo

on looked down at his sodden garments. "No, thank

ptain Field lives just down there beyon

mething in the other bo

The boy's tone was sh

I d

or you. You're breaking into the closed seaso

de. "You're crazy. There's no closed seas

d believe me it's tight c

e to be a law. No o

all as it came, you'd feel that you owned the shoals. That's the way the folks here feel. They want time to fi

out here. But you go back. Take your traps with you. When people live in a place like this they've

of them.

shoals. Know what happened? Someone cut their floats. Never found their traps, nor

o direct him to rich lobster fields! Don sat limply down

wish to trap on, and wanted to repay a debt to

t there enshrouded in

ch a thing? Of course, we won't pay any attention to it. And if they cut m

ith an uneasy feeling lurking there as well, he t

ll him I am a fisherman from Peak's Island. That's true. I'll get an ear

across the wharf and up the grass grown path that led to th

he hidden recesses of their minds, the trio found themselves doing full justice

ling, lean-faced and fit appearing host. Captain Field, though still a young man, had earned his papers well, for he had sail

e cabin. Everything within was scrupulously clean, but pain

ughts, the young Capt

ugh for farming or cattle. We fish in summer and trap lobsters in wint

d a brown-faced boy of six came to kneel by the

hing very like a stab ran through Don

s of their bread. They endure all the hardships of the year. You come to re

one. He was tired, yet he did not sleep. For a full hour

rope bed beside her cousin, fell asleep at once. She had wrestled long that day with trap

egan, the island of her dreams. She recalled as if they were told yesterday the tales she ha

cried. "Take me there

child," he

romise. Like many another brave fisherman, he had

throat tightened, "now I am here.

of waves on Black Head, Burnt Head and Skull Rock. The

falling, it seemed a measureless human voice sho

irl went to the low window sill, to drop upon

as black. But across the crest of that grea

s house rested on land. It is more as if this were a ship's cabin, the lighthouse o

d, thundering that was not waves beating a shore, that

ssed, and t

d on such a night! Why, that can mean o

recalled with a tremor the day she got

ly common now. Yet she had

self, straining her eyes in a vain attempt

her shuddering. "What if he does not realize he is

yer went up for the lone n

ame into full view. As if set to the task, the light from the island beacon followed the avia

med, catching her brea

en a cabin for carrying three or four passengers, had passed. The strange part of it all was that i

he air," she thought as a

at the darkness of night that had swal

hegan is chill even in summer, she rose to creep

, when she thought of Captain O'Connor and what h

the ocean in a seaplane just to smuggle in a few hundred dollars' wort

y. "He said something about smugglin

ad been long. The salt sea air la

asleep. Somewhat to his surprise, as he reached the beac

" he asked g

look that made this boy like him. "Go

nks.

ter pond?" Don asked as the pu

The boy opened his

Don was tugging at the crate of lob

ped into the punt. "Just row me over

of the canvas on Field's lobster pond, then one at a time he t

you?" The younger

N

quitt

no

t a hand. For a second Don gripped it. Then

high on the deck, then turned his prow once more toward Monhegan. His lobster fishing days on Monhegan shoals were at an end. But he was n