The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-29

the door remained fast, not an inch could
she move it. The ca bin was in the stern
of the vessel and the only windows were
round portfolios, which were screwed
fast, and could be opened at the best of
times only by an EFFORT of strength of
which she was incapable. But desper-
alton nerved her to renewed efforts, and
she stroye with all her might to turn the
iron handle which locked the covers, but
in vain.
1t seemed to her that hours had passed
since she closed that door behind her, the
door which had proved death-trap to
her. The vessel was now rolling each
moment more heavily, the water had
risen so high in the hold that the deck
was but little above the surface. Only
few moments more remained and she
would be carried down, down into the
depths, drowned in the little room in
which she had passed so many happy
hours.
She gave up the struggle. Death was
coming fast. Nothing she could do would
retard his march by even one moment.
For long hours, it seemed to her, she
sat while the roll of the vessel became
more and more sluggish, the water rose
higher and higher across the windows.
1t began to trickle in through the closed
port. She wondered stupidity whether it
would reach the cabin in su1lcient guam
tity to drown her at once or whether she
would live for hours while the water came
in slowly but surely through the close
shut door and the locked portfolio.
Then the present faded away and she
was again the merry schoolgirl playing
about with the boy who had even at that
early day been more to her than any
other of her playmates Little they
thought in those early days of this terri
BILE thing which had come upon her.
Then she remembered the happy days
when she knew of his love, knew that
sooner or later she and he might be TO-
gether at sea far away from the rest of
the world, but not once had they thought
of being separated in the hour of death.
Could it be that death stood, cold and
dread, by her sidel That she was here,
shut in to drown, while he, her lover, her
husband, was in safety without
Again she sprang up and strove with
all her puny might to tear open the cruel
door, but it moved not.
She threw herself face downward upon
the floor and in dumb dispair waited for
the end. She thought that night must
be at hand, for surely it had been many
hours since she had entered the little
cabin.
Suddenly she heard a strange sound
above the rush and rustic of the entering
water. Was the end at handl That
crash on deck must be the fall of mast or
the sound OF disastrous accident which
would end all in a short moment more.
But life and strength came back TO her
with rush, for above the rattle and
crash she heard her husbands voice call
ing her name in accents of terror.
Shrek after Shrek broke from her
stitfened lips, and then came rush of
feet to the door. Blow after blow fell
upon its surface and as it fell in she was
caught in her husbands arms and borne
faiuting to the deck, where she found
several of the crew.
Quickly she was lowered into a boat
lying by the side of the ship, and strong
arms pulled frantically at the oars to
force the boat beyond the reach of the
suction which must come with irresistible
power when the ship, now trem bling for
its last plunge, should be drawn down
into the blue depth. Before the boat had
crossed half the short distance between
the laundering ship and the waiting
steamer there came low cry from the
sailors, and looking back she saw the
craft, which had been her home, sink
slowly down, down beneath the waves
That was the last she knew for days.
When reason returned she found that she
had been taken to a hotel, and had been
lying In stupor for days. 1t was more
than week since the wreck OF the Fox
When able to talk and TO listen she
learned LndG when she lett the side of the
mate he had supposed she had decided to
wait for the captain, and had therefore
left the ship with his boat. The captain
supposed that she was safe in the first
boat and had not learned his mistake I'M
til both men had stood upon the deck Of
the steamer. Then rush had been made
for the sinking ship and she had been
rescued just in time Five minutes more
and not only she, but those who had hur-
ried to her aid would have been carried
down with the doomed ship.
At longest she had been alone no more
than half an hour, and probably not that
length of time. She could scarcely be-
lieve it when she remembered the weary
! hours she had passed alone there, but at
| last they convinced her of the truth.
When she left her cabin on that fateful
morning her hair was dark, glossy brown
| When she rose from her bed o week later
1t was thiCkly streaked with white. and
in little more than month she wore a
crown of snow. 1t did not change in a
night, but fright surely did change its
hue. One month had changed her thick
hair from dark to snow white For a
time she was annoyed by the curiosity
she excited, but in time she had become
used to the stares of surprise which follow
her, and now she hardly notices the in
terest she attracts.
She has got over the nervous effects of
her terrible experience, but has never lost
the sign which the awful fright set upon
her to mark her out from the rest of the
world