The San Francisco call. [volume], December 04, 1910, Page 8, Image 8

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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HOW PHILIP WON HIS MEDAL
J. MABEL DILHAN
<* \ GOOD .day for fishing," said
y\ Philip Jackson to himself as he
: bright and' early and re
membered with \u25a0; delight that it was a
holiday and that his father and' mother
were going^ to spend the day at Sausa
lito with some friends, which would
give him the longi desired opportunity
to slip oveiv, to the boathouse, where he
could sit unmolested "with* his rod and
line for several hours; for if there was
one thing that Philip dearly loved it
was fishing. .When but 6 years old he
had been taken by his grandfather to
the river's bank and instructed in* the
art of wooing the wary trout from
their home beneath the shining surface,
so thai he was able to exercise all the
patience required by the successful
•fisherman, and the days on which his
parents visited their -friends at Sausa
lito were indeed red letter days to
Philip.
' With his fishing basket, on his arm
and rod in hand Philip Jumped off the
car as it turned the. curve at the ferry
and ran across the square to his friend,
the worm man, in Commercial street
for his usual supply of bait Today the
worm, vender was generously inclined
and gave Philip, In addition to the
dozen long, fat worms, , half a dozen
clam necks and three sardines, so that
the lad felt quite jubilant as he hur
ried back ta Join his , parents at the
ferry house.
An hour later Philip, having made
his" excuses to the friends, sat con
tentedly oh a wooden sawhorse, cut
ting up his worms and baiting his
hooks. •,
The boathouse was deserted, save for
the. solitary fisherman, who", as he
raised his rod occasionally and flung
his line far out, indulged In a few
rosy hued day dreams. Suddenly a par
ticularly , fascinating plan was dis
turbed be a merry peal of laughter and
skidding foet.
"Hello, fisherman, how are they bit
ing?" called a lively voice, and Philip
hunched up • his red . sweater, as he
turned half way round on the wooden
sawhorse to answer two boys slightly
his senior whom he at once knew to
be Lowell high school boys from the
letters "L. 11. S." printed in red ink
•across the fronts of their • soft gray
felt hats. VThese hats, Philip was fur
ther amused to see, were variously
decorated with quaint cabalistic char
acters and girls' names written acruaa
them in different directions. •
"They haven't begun to bite' yet,- 1
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4. HMO.— THE JUNIOR CALL
Philip replied, "but .they will soon,
. when the tide comes in. I'll. have that
basket full of the finest .little rock, cod
" you ever saw before I go home."
One of I the Lowell boys, catching the
tackle of a boat, caught his foot Jn
• the rope and swung ihimself out over
the water! back and forth several times
with one arm like a circus
performer doing 1 a trapeze act. Once,
missing his balance and his hand slip
ping on ; the smooth, new rope, the
boy nearly fell into the water. , His
companion uttered, a warning cry, and
Philip smiled in derision. : :
. "What's the matter?" he asked. "He's
not afraid of a little A wetting I hope,
on a hot day like this?" "•
; "No," answered, the other boy, .'.'but
. he can't -swim and -neither, can I, so
it might be more than a wetting, don't
you know! 1 '
Philip pursed. his mouth, in a long
drawn whistle. It seemed strange to
him that two boys already In high
school should* not be ' able 'to swim,
he himself having been T a ' swimmer
"since his sixth ye^r. At that early
ago his grandfather. had initiated him
lnto~-the mysteries of swimming, along
with his never to be forgotten in
structions about fishing. How glad he
was now v that he had been favored
with such* a wise and jolly grandfather.
."Cholly, Cholly, come here quick;
mamma wants you; 'cause we're all
"going for a long, long walk, and you
.'may .have" to carry me," called a' wee
speck of humanity, a dainty, bit of
*.pink dre,ss, white bonnet and l6ng,
. floating curls, and the larger of the
boys picked his small sister up
.in his arms" and went to Join his mother
•, on \ the hotel veranda, whence came
-sounds of merriment mlogled with the
strains of music. Saying ''Gbodby"
to. Philip, the other boy, the one who
had been, doing the trapeze act, fol
lowed his friend, . r
• Just then Tony, the Italian boy who
washed dishes in a neighboring cafe,
rowed by in a boat.
"Hey," ho called to Philip. "Got
. enough bait? Do you want some nice
. worms? Hero, catch! A feller left these
this morning, and you c'n have Vm."
Philip, leaning forward, "extended his
hands and caught the crumpled pack
age which Tony flung to him, and, not
to be outdone in generosity, called In
his turn: *
"Wait a minute, you can have this
crab. I brought him up on my line, but
my mother won't let me take him home
because he ain't big enough according
to law; his back ain't six inches across."
Tony grinned as he received fio erub,
and. with, a deft stroke of his oar
shoved his boat alongside the landing
and disappeared from view. In 13 min
utes, however, lie reappeartvl.
"Say,"..he called In a eaur.iouslvraisiid
voice. "Do you want to corns 'out * n
deep water?; v Tiiey. ain't biting here. My
daa {say's he'll .wash my .dishes for
awhile, arid I've got this boat, so if
you'll slide down here we'll go . over
there on tlfe other side of the*, bay. That
fellow in the launch .will give us a
tow if ;the- current's .too strong for me
to pull. . I've got some line," too, find
we'll both fish.". \u25a0\u25a0".?\u25a0\u25a0:". " •'
"Good," replied Philip, "I'll go.". And
grasping the tackle of a boat suNpemlod
high in the air he let himself 'carefully
down into the stern of the waiting
craft 1 below. Takinj? a rudder. l ope in
each hand he began to steer, according
to Tony's direction, towurd tho ..launch
that was going to give them the friend
ly tow. , Tony handled the oars, skill
fully and In. a few minutes had. his boat
secured to the launch, and lh» two boys
settled themselves to enjoy a fast.rol
llcking ride behind the gay little
craft, which puffed merrily . out into
the bay, its flags waving briskly hi the
stiff breeze. ".-.'. "
"Why," said Philip, "wlr.u'e; are we
going? I thought you sai-.l Vo would
Just'go out into deep water, but this,"
as the launch' caught the swell of the
ferry boat and the rowb.oat behind
rocked' and jumped in frantic glee, 'is
going some." . ,' • / .-'
"Oli," replied Tony; r "he iv going to
take his party out "around l^lme point
and back for this trip.. When we g-et to
that, little cove this side of Lime point
we'll drop anchor and fish. The tide
will.be high at noon, and we sue sure
to have a big catch. I've got some sand
wiches, too, so wo" won't be hungry."
"Well, you're a wonder," said Philip,
admiringly. "Who'd have thought you
were up to so much, and without say
ing a word either. It'll be a great sur
prise to my mother when I present her
with a lot of fine fish, for we'll get
bigger ones. out there than near the
wharf, but you must take most of
them, of course, because you have the
boat and the lunch; why, I feel like a
grafter!" \u25a0\u25a0' >i;V*V»^'
"Nonsense," grinned Tony, Immensely
pleased at Philip's appreciation. "I
couldn't come alone, could I? I'm glad
you're along all right." . ; . .
A few minutes more; of the jolly,
dancing ride In tho 'glistening' p'uth of
the little putting launch, and they were
in the midst "of , "a* 'colony of fishing
boats with dozens of lines out on every
side.
"Hey," called Tony to # the engineer of
the launch. "Let us go;* we'll stop here
and anchor. Guess this Is a good spot."
"Well," replied the engineer, "I'll
take you in a bit, a little. ojpre out of
the wind. JJut how do you. youngsters
expect to get back?"
"Oh, -that's easy," answered Tony,
with .superb Indifference. -'.'I Van -pull
\u25a0 In'closo to shore. I'll keep out of the
strong current, bo it's all right. You
d.on't need lo worry about us." . 7' i
"You're very brave,' 1 , the engineer re
plied, with an approving smile, "but
keep pretty tight, right about here,
nnd • be' sure you don't capsize your
boat; then I'll come and get you about
3 o'clock, after the tldo hn« gone out.
Yaii can give mo' a fish fur my supper
if you like, but don't try. to come in
by yourselves; It's too dangerous for
kids, like you, and if you change places
in the boat be careful >how you do it."
With 'that tho engineer turned his
craft around. The fish were coining up in
•good numbers, nea perch and rock cod,
and sorno of the older fishermen In the
nearby . boats looked enviously at the'
youthful anglers. Tony's big black
eyes; were sparkling with delight and
, ho -grinned, without ceasing.
"So, absorbed were they that neither
noticed that the wind was blowing
gradually stronger and stronger, until
finally there was almost a gale in what
but an hour, or two before hnd been a
perfectly sheltered covo. Neither had
they noticed that the other fishing
boats had been one by . one . moving
away, until now. the; two -boys were
alone. Now they suddenly realized that
they must "gefcloser to shore without
delay. Accordingly, raising his anchor.
Tony^ pulled with " all. the . strength of
his young arms ; on the oars, and after
# what.seemed ah hour's time, but was In
reality. but >a few minutes, he got his
; boatrto'a place of safety. .
\u25a0'L Again;. dropping anchor, the fishing
' was : resumed, but this time without
. success.- There ] were no fish at the
new" location, and to make matters
worse vPhllip lost his sinker, and.was
compelled to manufacture one from the
-empty milk bottle, which he filled with
water, carefully and attached
,to his line. Whether the fish did not
-like '.the looks of the new sinker ,. the
boys, had no, means of knowing, but in
any event it proved a "Jonah, and there
were no more bites". ...
''. Suddenly the air was rent by a terri
[ fled scream, and. turning in the direc
tion : from which it came the boys'be
held for an " instant as it cleaved the,
air a small, pink form- with long, float
ing curls, and on an overhanging rock
about 20 feet up^ the bank a woman
and a young girl wringing theirhands
;in horror. .\u25a0-\u25a0-." . . '\u25a0.*!'
. "Oh!", wailed Tony, ."she will drown.
I can't go * for .;\u25a0; her 'because.. I /can't
Bwlpi."." It did not occur to 'the .little
, Italian boy^ that; Philip could.do wliat
he could not dp, and he waVastonlshed '
to see his companion in v'the ' ;watev,
swimming rapidly toward the drowning,
child with strong side strokes,; hand
over, hand. Reaching the little girl -as
she was going down for tho third time,
Philip turned on his back to rest, skill
fully keeping the child's head above
water, and floated, awalting"the arrival
of Tony and the boat. . '
Tenderly Tony pulled the unconscious
child into the boat, his face still white
with fear and his eyes wide with. worir
der and admiration. of Philip's bravery
and prowess. Then, as soon as Philip
had scrambled in, he began to row to
ward^the shore.. In the meantime the
mother 'and aunt of . the little girl and
the two boys, whom Philip: recognized
as liis acquaintances of the earlier part
of the, day, had* scrambled down, the
Vocky sides' of the bank and were
awaiting the landing of the boat, the
mother In an agony of fear that, her
precious child might be already dead.
But, no. Little Geraldlne revived In a
short time after the customary first aid
helps had been administered, and then
it was Philip, shivering with cold.and
the nervousness which had come upon
him after the rescue had been success
fully accomplished, who insisted on
wrapping the little girl in his red
sweater. . . 'v>'*
He also suggested that the entire party
come Into their boat and await the re
turn of. the launch, which would,short
ly come for them, as he was certain
that the engineer would not forget his
promise. \u25a0 . r . i
And sure . enough, there was tho
launch heading straight for them, the
engineer making signals for Tony to
fall in line. What was Philip's sur
prise to see his own father and mother
on board, and what was the astonish
ment and delight of ijls parents when
they heard the story^of Philip's brav
ery and his heroic act In rescuing the
little girl, who would certainly havi;
been drowned before her mother's very
eyes had the two boys not been at
hand in tho boat.
On their return to town Philip and
Tony were the heroes of the day, and
a substantial, purso was collected from
the enthusiastic crowd of people at the
hotel. While Philip's father, und
mother would not allow him to accept
money for doing what was manifestly
his ' duty, they compromised on the
handsonuj medal which a committee
selected by the donors decided should
be bought for him. . Tony'M father,
• however, preferred tho. money, for
with it, ho Bald, he could hire a dish
waaher to take Tony's plueu no that
the little 'fellow could be spared to go
to school. . ...
And thus emled, Aery happily,- the
fishing expedition of\he two boy*.