The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-03-31
ICHAPTER vII-CoNTINuED. I


churned up the water, and the ship
sailed west towards the inevitable.
The fog still hung thick over the
water, and the men ut the bows had
twice signalled to the bridge that dan
ger lay ahead, and twice the steamer
turned aside and vague shadowy forms
Of fishing-boats drifted past in the
mist.
Very few passengers ventured out OF
the saloons. Only here and there a
rubber-clad passenger braved the cold,
raw wind and the wet decks and murlSy
air. Among these, one man, in an alb
surd ulster dragging his heels after the
manner of the feminine-looking foot
men at the doors OF Fifth Avenue car
riages, slowly paced the deck, silent
and bitter with himself and all the
world His luck had turned. The
smoking-room bets were declared off,
that was sonnething-but at what n
fearful cost! lie had saved his money
land met the one man in the world
whom he held in mortal dread--on
shipboard, too, and an officer of the
ship, in whose hand all their lives were
held--shut up on ship with a man
who he felt sure in his cowardly little
soul would not hesitate to throw him
into the sea. The situation was more
horrible than any he had read in the
widest French novel. That nothing
Of the kind could happen never entered
his head. His mind was completely
unstrung by terror and remorse At
any moment his wife Julie might come
upon deck and insist upon her rights.
lie felt sure she had gone to Paris and
was now returning to New York
for no purpose except to esta blish in
some way her position as his wife.
lie walked to and fro on the deck
not far from the bows. 1t was not the
test place, but since he came up from
the saloon the pilot, dressed in oil
cloth the color of gold, had come out
upon the bridge, and he dared not
pass under the bridge to reach pleas
anter part of the deck. Nor did he
dare to go below and pass through the
saloon, for he must in so doing pass
his wife'S state-room door, and he
dared not meet her alone lie was
practically IN trap, and he must
keep TO the farther end, near
est the bow, and stay there
until chilled to the bone in the
bitter wind and searching fog.
Seeing n man at the extreme end of the
bows standing like an ld-gold statue
and dripping at every angle, he went
towards him and stood at the rail,
looking down at the curling foam
above the ships forefoot.
How swiftly the enormous mass
swept through the water nearer and
yet nearer, every second, to the land
to exposure and misery. Even as he
her port, n mile nearer to his disgrace.
Suddenly there came over the gray
water a faint moan.
The oilcloth-clad figure beside him
started and leaned forward, as if to
listen. Again that moan-far away,
blood-chilling in its mystery. To the
young man it seemed the despairing
cry of some lost soul.
Again it spoke. To his fevered i'm
agination it was as the cry of child
perishing of neglect-the moan of
starvation, misery and despair. His
heart seemed to freeze, and he slipped
on the wet deck and fell down, limp
mass by the rail. The yellow mariner
kicked him aside with an oath, and
shouted some strange words backward
towards the affrighted sailors on deck
and officers on the bridge.
Below, the big bell changed, and the
engineers sprang up and with tremen-
dous efforts pulled at the valves, that
the mighty engine stop lest all be lost.
An instant's silence in the engine
room, and then the bell changed twice.
Reverse! reverse for dear life! The
ponderous link motion strained under
the stress of the small engine that
pulled and roared to force it over. 1t
was done, and then through the mighty
cylinders rushed again the insistcnt
steam. Every eccentric turned to guide
the power in new direction, and the
whole awful force Of the engine, 9, 600
horses straining as one frantic beast,
was bent to resist the terrific momen-
tum of the ship, lest disaster over
whclm all.
The ship shook in the sea, and every
heart on board seemed to stop with
chilling suspense.
On the bridge the Captain stood
with blanched face, cxpectant, reso-
lutte, fearful, yet confident in his inn
mense machine. His heart seemed to
keep time with the revolutions of the
straining screw.
She slowed-stopped.
by his side stood his pilot, con-
founded with alarm and astonishment
Thought you said. Johnson, we
were twenty miles south of Nantucket;
and here we are right on the land"
II dunno! give it up. ! must be
brcakin' all up. Lemme get down.
I'll never take 'tiller again. don't
know what It means. / don't know
where we be. Hark! What's that?"
ITS the buoy. We have passed to
starboard of it,
mo Listen. It's fsh-horn."
A number of passengers had come
mt of the saloon and were talking