The Mena star., 1899-07-06
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.

no cold, and darker-darker. The helmet seemed filed with rushing noises, with wbisperings and mocking laughter. l tried to tear away the lead weights which hung from my belt and shoul- ders, but they wouldn't budge. For a moment or two I must have become delirious; I was kissing Dorotea's sweet lips, McPherson was talking about Gladstone in his broadest Scotch, Sam Hung Foo was making bobbery about pink devil with red stomach and gilded ears, every face I ever knew flashed before my eyes as if tbe lens were kinetcscope. Then there came jerk at the line! 1t must have caught on some mething. I knew 1 hadn't fastened the other end. To stay at that depth another second would have meant inconsistencies and death. Fearing with every tug that my weight, added to that of the rock, would pull the line loose, I hauled myself Gp, hand over hand, though the exertion was so great on account of the pressure that every motion seemed likely to burst blood vessel. Of course, in doing this the air in the knapsack counted for a good deal; in all probability l couldn't have sunk much lower unless it had exploded; l but the weights would have held me at q that depth had it not been for that # slender bit of rope. For several fath- & oms it needed but the slightest tug to z send me shooting upward. and as the q pressure increased l was better able # to use my arms. My strength was go- * ing fast, however, and nothing but the $ animal instinct to fight for life saved < me. Approaching the surface, 1 be- E came weaker--or it required more # strength to haul the extra weight and when I finally got my arms across ! the gunwae and outrigger it was inn q possible to move another inch. The * supply of air had given out, and my E last conscious motion was to unscrew # the helmet lens.
 # In few moments the fresh air re- #viYed me, and l succeeded in crawling # into the proa. Then l got out of the # diving suit, took a strong pull at the # brandy flask, and hauled in my line. * It had run out so rapidly, after fetch
 ing loose from the mast, that snarl had caught the other steel bar and # damned it under the outrigger. Other # wise-well, I didn't like to think of # that
 q It is curious what an affection one
 will sometimes feel for inanimate ob-
 jects. petted that coquina anchor as if it had been living creature. You < see, we had gone down into the valley T Of the shadow together, and but for
 direct Interpretation of Providence
 would have been likely to remain
 there. must have been altogether up < set by the experience, for, after haul ing the rock on board, held it in my # lap and almost cried over it.
 % The position of the proa, over deep
 water, was explained by the light & prifs of wind, which for an hour or two
 had shifted to the westard, as it will # sometimes do shortly before the
 change of monsoon. But in half an
 hour ii was again blowing steadily
 from the northeast, and l started on & my return to Agana.
 It was then two o'clock. Having
 the breeze we'll forward, calculated l that it would take me at least six
 hours to get back; but the witch of
 boat made good headway within five
 points of the wind, and sighted Tin
 iquio. bearing little north of east, ! at four o'clock. Holding on the same
 course for half an hour, Agana then
 lay to the southeast'ard; and l put the
 proa about for straight run in. I When about ten miles off shore, how # ever, discovered that had company;
 TOT bearing down from the north'ar
 was the biggest catamaran ever saw.
 he hull must have been at least
 hundred feet long, and the sail looked
 l'ke gigantic balloon. The instant
 noticed it, two words flashed through
 my mind-"Padre Sebastiano"-and
 was convinced that my oleaginous
 visit.
 Now, any companions, native or
 'panish, who might accompany the
 padre were likely to be either in his
 confidence or under his influence; and
 struck me that the sea chest might
 Aete more curiosity than was really
 fa'e. So l did considerable hard think
 ag over what had been told me about
 ne sparsely settled portions of the is-
 hd, in the effort 10 decide upon
 sfe place for the conceaimento of both