The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tides of Barnegat, by F. Hopkinson Smith

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Tides of Barnegat

Author: F. Hopkinson Smith

Posting Date: August 1, 2009 [EBook #4398]
Release Date: August, 2003
First Posted: January 26, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIDES OF BARNEGAT ***

Produced by Duncan Harrod. HTML version by Al Haines.

The Tides Of Barnegat

by

F. Hopkinson Smith

CONTENTS

I THE DOCTOR'S GIG
II SPRING BLOSSOMS
III LITTLE TOD FOGARTY
IV ANN GOSSAWAY'S RED CLOAK
V CAPTAIN NAT'S DECISION
VI A GAME OF CARDS
VII THE EYES OF AN OLD PORTRAIT
VIII AN ARRIVAL
IX THE SPREAD OF FIRE
X A LATE VISITOR
XI MORTON COBDEN'S DAUGHTER
XII A LETTER FROM PARIS
XIII SCOOTSY'S EPITHET
XIV HIGH WATER AT YARDLEY
XV A PACKAGE OF LETTERS
XVI THE BEGINNING OF THE EBB
XVII BREAKERS AHEAD
XVIII THE SWEDE'S STORY
XIX THE BREAKING OF THE DAWN
XX THE UNDERTOW
XXI THE MAN IN THE SLOUCH HAT
XXII THE CLAW OF THE SEA-PUSS

THE TIDES OF BARNEGAT

CHAPTER I

THE DOCTOR'S GIG

One lovely spring morning--and this story begins on a spring morning
some fifty years or more ago--a joy of a morning that made one glad to
be alive, when the radiant sunshine had turned the ribbon of a road
that ran from Warehold village to Barnegat Light and the sea to satin,
the wide marshes to velvet, and the belts of stunted pines to bands of
purple--on this spring morning, then, Martha Sands, the Cobdens' nurse,
was out with her dog Meg. She had taken the little beast to the inner
beach for a bath--a custom of hers when the weather was fine and the
water not too cold--and was returning to Warehold by way of the road,
when, calling the dog to her side, she stopped to feast her eyes on the
picture unrolled at her feet.

To the left of where she stood curved the coast, glistening like a
scimitar, and the strip of yellow beach which divided the narrow bay
from the open sea; to the right, thrust out into the sheen of silver,
lay the s