The Irish standard., 1896-08-15

seem to be suffering any an&lety De
vcause of our situation
e =. Really she replied, 81 was not
thinking of,that at. all, but about some
thing else. Can you not guess what
it is?;'
"No," he answered, hesitatingly.
''What is it?''
"Have you forgotten that This is Sum
day morning?"
: 'Is it? OF course it is. So far as I
ain concerned, time seemed tostopwhen
the engines broke down. But Edo not
understand why Sunday means any,
thing in particular"
Don't you? Well, for & person who
has been thinking for the last two or
three days very earnestly on one partic-
ular subject, am astonished at you.
Sunday morning, and no land in sight!
Reflect for a moment"
Kenyon's face frightened.
''Ah," he cried, II sec what you mean
now. Miss Brewster's cable message
will not appear in this mornings New
York Argus" i.
"Of course it will not; and don't you
see, also, that when we do arrive you
will have an equal chance#in the race.
If we get in before next Sunday, your
telegram to the London people will go
as quickly as her cable dispatches to
New York; thus you will be saved the
humiliation of seeing the substance of
your report in the London papers be-
fore the directors see the report itself.
It is not much, to be sure, but still it
puts you on equal terms, while if we
had got into Queenstown last night that
would have been impossible"
Kenyon laughed. IL p"
sWell," he said, ''for such q result the
cause is rather tremendous, isn'tit? It
is SOME thing like burning. down the
house to roast the pigv' ..'..
:. Shortly after ten o'clock the atmos-
phere cleared and showed in the dis
tance steamer, westward bound. 1t
evidently belonged to one of the great
ocean lines. The moment it was sight
ed there futtered up in the masthead a
number of signal flags, and people
crowded to the side Of the ship to watch,
the effect on the outgoing vessel. Min
ute after minute passed, but there was
no response from the other, liner. Peo-
pie watched her with breathless anx-
iety, as though their fate depended on
their noticing their signals. OF course,
everybody thought that she must see
them, but still she steamed westward.
"A cloud of black smoke came out of her
funnel and then a long, dark trail, like
the tail of comet, hoated out behind
her, but no notice was taken of the fut-
stering flags at the masthead. For more
than an hour the steamer was in sight;
then she gradually faded away into the
west, and finally disappeared.
This incident had a very depressing
effect on the passengers Of the disabled
ship. Although every officer had main
tanned there was no danger, yet the
floating away of. that steamer seemed
somehow to leave them alone, and peo-
pie, after gazing toward the west. until
not vestige of her remained in the hor-.
lion, went back to their deck chairs,
feeling more respondent than ever.
Fleming, however, claimed that if
well to drown jolly as mournful, and
SO he invited every body to takesa drink
at his expense; agenerous offer, which
all the habitues of the smoling-room
took advantage of. Vi
"Afy idea is this said Fleming, as he
slipped the cocktail which was brought
to him; eff any thing happens, let it
happen; if nothing happens, why then
let nothing happen. There is no use
worrying about anything, especially
something we cannot help. Here we
are on the ocean in a disabled vessel;
very good; we cannot do anything
about it, and, so long as the bar remains
open, gentlemen, here's to you!"
And with this cheerful philosophy
the New York politician swallowed
down the liquor he had paid for.
Still the swish of water from the
pumps could be heard, but the metallic
clanking Of steel on steel no longer
came up from the engine room. This
in itself was onlinous to those who
knew. It showed that the engineer had
given up all hope Of repairing the dam
age, whateyerit was, and the real cause
of the disaster wassas much g mystery
as ever. Shortly before lunch it be-
came evident to the people on board the
ship that something was about to be.
done. The sailors undid the fasten-
ings Of one Of the large boats, aud
swung.i it out on the dayits until it hung
over the sea. :, s. 4&...
Gradually rumor took form; and it
became known that one Of the officers
and some of the crew were about. to
make an attempt to reach the coast of
ireland and telegraph to- uesnstown
for tugs to bring the steamer II. The
i captain still slnnin tanned that there was
no danger whatever. and it was only to
prevent delay that this edient was.
about to be tried. 5s.
Do you know what they are going
to do?'' cried Edith IONS worth. il .
stateof great excl Il sttio johnK en-.
MAJ lyeen the deck
81