The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1897-03-11

| telegram 10 the London people VIII 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
| IL is not much, to be sure, but still il
puts you on equal terms, while il we
had got into Queenstown last night that
would have been impossible"
Kenyon laughed.
well" he said, "for such result the
cause is rather tremendous, isn'tit? 1t
is something like burning down the
house to roast the pigl"
Shortly after ten o'clock the atmos-
| phcre cleared and showed in the dis
| tance n steamer, westward bound. 1t
evidently belonged to one of the great
ocean lines. The moment it was sight
ed there fluttered 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 long, dark trail, like
the tail of "A comet, fioated out behind
her, but no notice was taken of the fiut-
tering 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 u 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 vcstige of her remained in the hor-
lion, went back to their deck chairs,
feeling more respondent than ever.
Fleming, however, claimed that if
| people were to drown, it was lust ns
well to drown jolly as mournful, and
so he invited everybody to take drink
at his expense; generous offer, which
all the habitues of the smoking-room
took advantage Of.
MY idea is this" said Fleming. as he
slipped the cocktail which was brought
! to him; ''if anything 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
Hown 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
Iii itself was ominous to those who
knew. 1t showed that the engineer had
given up all hope of repairing the dam
| cge, whatever it was, and the real cnusc
| OF the disaster was as much a mystery
| as ever. Shortly before lunch il 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, and
swung it out on the davits until it hung
over the sea.
GRADUALLY rumor took form, aud il
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 Queenstown
for tugs to bring the steamer in. The
captain still maintained that there was
no danger whatever, and it was only to
prevent delay that this eXpedent was
about To be tried
DO you know what they are going
to do?" cried Edith Longworth, in a
state of great excitement, to John Ken
yon.
Kenyon had been walking the deck
with Wentworth, who now had gone
below.
Il have heard" said Kenyon" that
they intend trying to reach the coast"
Exactly. Now, why should you not
send Il telegram to your people in Lon
don, and have the reports forwarded
at once? The chances are that Miss
brewster will never think of senGlng
her cablegram with the officer who is
going to make the trip; then you will
be clear day or two ahead of her. and
everything will be all right. In fact.
when she understands what has been
done, she probably will not send her
message at ALL"
by George!" cried Kenyon, that is
good idea. | will see the mate at
once and find out whether he will lake
the telegram"
lie went accordingly and spoke to
the mate about sending message with
HIM. The officer said that any passen-
ger who wished to send a telegraphic
message would be at liberty to do so.
He would take charge of the kilograms
very gladly. Kenyon went down to
his stateroom and told Wentworth
what was going to be done. For the
first time in days George Wentworth
exhibited something like energy. lie
went to the steward and bought the
stamps to put on the telegram while
John Kenyon wrote it.
The message was given to the man.
who put it into his inside pocket, and
then Kenyon thought all was safe, but
Miss Longworth was not so sure of
that. Jennie Brewster sat in her deck
chair, calmly reading her usual paper
covered novel. She apparently knew
nothing of what was going on, and
Edith Longworth, nervous with sup