The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-18

fury was doing He at any rate, told
myself. would die warm.
But the lust for manning had left me-
The last of the boats had gone, and the
women and children who were left had
got to die with us men, and with those
who were infinitely less than men. The
rockets were still spoutjng up in un-
wearied series from the upper bridge, and
once / saw the purser pass me, jaunty as
of yore, with a lii cigar In his fingers, and
an assurance between his teeth that all
would be we'll. But | needed him little.
The chill of deat tn was nipping me with its
agues, and the hopeless minutes were
dragged out intolerably. With lifebelt
/ might-but no; there were women left,
and ] had got to stay.
Then of sudden there burst out roar
and clang of iron, and gush of scalding
steam: and the decks ripped and splintered,
and the steam rushed down In gray, peel
ing clouds No not that death. l vaulted
the rail and sank
The instinct of the swimmer is curious.
l had gone over the side quite satisfied
that escape was hopeless, and intending
10 drown with one long plunge. But no
sooner did the icy water thunder in my
ears than the old instinct made me strike
out for the surface. But / could not
reach It, l swam on for what seemed
to be minutes, hours, years, thousands of
years, my arms aching the veins like to
burst through my skin And then IL came
upon me that the steamer had sunk, and
l was being dragged in her swirl down,
down, down to the dark sea floor; down
down, where it was too cold-down, down.
l opened my eyes and blinked-blnked
again, and saw dimly the rough sea living
room OF fishers. 1t was wainscotted with
hunks round to the rudder-case, and on
the forward bulkhead was fireplace, re-
splendent with brass. / imagined l was
in one of the hunks, but was not very
certain about 1t, and so eoughed inquir-
ingly. Somebody came to my side.
pondered while, and then remarked, II
seem somehow, to know that coat"
IT'S yours" said the some one, Don't
you remember? I'm Mabel Vanrennan."
This was more satisfactory. 1 woke
further and inquired, Where's the other
-AIrs.-er-I forget?"
"Codriugton," said a voice from one OF
the hunks. Here"
/ was getting on. I'm afraid you must
have lost all your c.othes' was the next
thing that occurred to me.
Yes" said the voice. and such lovely
diamonds"
Then came a torrent of sobbing, ana
between sobs: 90 how could l be so
horrid as 10 think of such a thing now
There are only sixty picked up they say.
And all those other poor people drownedl
Isn't il awful to think about?"
Very probably" l said. But we've
saved our own skins, and l don't think
we've anything to be ashamed Of II
wasn't my fault that some one gathered
me up though"
Then a man came In and stared at me
thoughtfuily-a fisherman in clumsy sea
boots and brown patched oilskin.
"Closhish squeak you've had, mister, -
! sold he, slowly We've just passed that
other boat what run you down Shed
about seven foot of her bow gone and
| looked pretty sick. tell you We hailed
her. to know IL she wanted anything. but
| She said No. Got her steering gear fixed
/ up again aud was going to put in Ports
I mouth. She's a Welsh collier bound there
| Rum so, this has been. Where was your
steamer hit?'
Haven't notion"
"wen. what were her water-tight bulk
/ heads doingg'
Very sorry, but l can't tell you"
Him. said the man. Then what do
| you know about III"
| Nothing" said l. except that I'm here
at present and that just now l imagined
I was drowned"
"Wen," seid the man. you won't do
much toward drying any poor beast Of
a sailors ticket at the inquiry, that's one
blessing. IN send you in a can Of tea
and then you'd better sleep. We're stand
ing in for Peuzance, TO bring the news
because there ought to be a reward kick
ing about, and by the time you wake we
/ should be there. SO long"