The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-06
BOOK, VII.
"0ut Of the Deep .
CHAPTER xxxVII.
The Woman Bereft,

.,.4.e.t $50 CHAPTER XX4Vti. t.:
The Woman eereft.
TO return to the Maidstone. She car
ried in her cabin a passenger-nay, two.
The frigates, while not daring to take
part in the action, had kept well up and !;
as near as they could to the contending
ships. Hatfield had naturally marked the
Torbay. He had seen the loss OF LIE |
Thesee, and had put his ship over toward |
the place where she had gone down. AS
he drew near he had ordered out his |
boats and at fearful risk-for it was a |
most perilous undertaking to launch a
boat in such sea-he succeeded in saw
ing some twenty people from her crew,
among them being the Countess Anne
and old Jean-Renaud.
There were neither accommod tion
clothing, nor any other conveniences for
the reception of a half-drowned woman
on the frigate, yet Hatfield had done his
best for her. He had given up his own
cabin to her and had made her as COM
Portable as possible therein, while he
beat out to sea during the awful night
| to save his ship.
Buckets of sand in which had been
! placed heated shot had raised the tenn
perature Of the cabin, and Anne's cloth
ing had at last dried on her person in
the warm room. She had been unable to
sleep, and had with difficulty partaken of
food. Her condition was indeed deplor-
able. She had seen her country's fleet
defeated; her grandfather had been most
certainly drowned, de Wire and de Ker-
saint likewise. The ship on which she
had been had gone, down. although by
Jean-Renaud's action she had been spared
What had become of her husband she
knew not, consequently she was filled
with grief on the one hand and appre-
hension on the other. .
Her state of mind, however, was not
quite so bad as was that of Grafton. for
he thought that he had lost her, and she
still cherished the hope that she would be
able to rejoin him.. If she were only as
sured of his safety and they could be
together again in the end, she felt she
could bear all the other hardships and
losses, terrible though they were.
She was ignorant, of course, of the
wreck of the Torbay, as was every. one
else on the frigate, and Hatfield, who had
soon discovered her identity, endeavored
to- reassure her as TO her husbands
safety. But. it was with a sick heart, In
deed, that she stood on the deck by his
side, in. spite of the storm, wrapped in
boat cloak which had belonged to Graf
ton and which her had left behind in
his hasty departureaEfor the Torbay a
week ago, while the..1faidstone was rum
j ming into the bay: With him she stared
hard at the broken; shattered ships
straining at their: cables in the storm
which swept them on. She marked the
three which had been wrecked upon LIE
-Four, two. Of them dismasted and ruined
with the ceaseless 9wgpes 7 still pounding
them to pieces. osSHeasHw farther ava,
! great bursts of flame and clouds Of smok,
B rising from the two which were on fir,
+ and burning furiously.' q = - -
/ Hatfield. whose treatment Of her hat
been perfect-she would never forget it
kept by her, supporting her on the uneas
deck, of the unsteady, ship, intently, sur
veying, the scene, too. He did not see tn
Torbay among those at anchor. AS h
drew nearer to the group, however, h
happened to cast a glance to leeward, an
instantly recognized the wrecked ship o
4 lie Four: The Involuntary start he gave
as the recognition came to him., attracte
4 the attention of Anne, who turned to hi1
4 as he stared at the remains Of the Torba.
). Intuitively she OWNED that soinethin
4 had occurred, and she gave him no ret
4 until he: told her the truth. ~
II 1t had seemed to her that fate cou]
\ have laid upon her no heavier burder
than those she had already borne, unit
this last blow came. She, would ha,
fallen to the deck had not Hatfield sui
ported her. He endeavored, of course,
comfort her, but without success. Thoue
the Torbay was wrecked, they could s.
4 that many of her men remained on he
and she still held together. It was qui
4 likely that Grafton was safe, he urge
in which event she would soon see him.
Nerved by this thought, she summon
her resolution once more, and leaning ov
the rail gazed at the wreck of her hu
bands ship, and possibly of her own no
and happiness, as they swept on. s
would know all in a short time, S
thought; meanwhile she must have
strength to wait a little. longer. III
i ~ ~l,1
and of all the demands upon her strene
made during the past week it proved
greatest and the hardest to be met.
Hatfield intended to send a boat off
the flagship at once, but when he reach
a suitable position for anchoring. the 81
were running so heavily and the sto
blowing SO hard it was impossible for h
\ to do anything all that day. Indeed,
had to- bring all his seamanship and exl
rience to bear to save his ship. Anne,
/ a fever of impatient anxiety,.had to W
L as best she could. Philip might be tn
on that ship, wounded. dying, she CO
e@ not get to, him; he might be dead, {
she, not knowing it, yet alive. Oh,
raging sea, the cruel storm!
81 She forgot the anger. Of men which
wrought such havoc and rallied in
heart against wind and wave and temp
She was almost beside herself. HAITI
whose anxiety for. his friend was also v
SlfollS HaQ the greatest QlI1CulIy In ca
ing her. Indeed, he had but little t
from his duties. He had to watch
), ship constantly. Great are the dema
Z: of duty, but great are it's compensate
as well. II Anne only could have
something to do she. could have borne
killing suspense BETTER alas, she had
to wait. The strength of woman Il
wait. Weakness IS passive, yet It {
quers, or dies, in the end. ~
For the same reason of the storm
help could be offered the men on
wrecked ships. Some Of them m
! RATS and escaped to the shore, wi
they were promptly captured, but n
of them chung to their vessels until
weather moderated, when they were
cued
Il 1t was not until the gale blew itself
) that Hatfield was able to communal
Y with Admiral Hawke, On the third
! after the battle, therefore, the wea
at last made it possible for him to
away one of his boats and repair to
- flag ship. Anne went with him, for
had insisted upon going in the first
- that left the firigate. The faithful j,
). M .Renaud-whose grief for the master
Two had abandoned Though by the mas
"a - orders) was not less profound than
In own for the husband she feared she
cras lost-accomp her. ! Indeed, the
800 man would not be parted from her.
- Sir Edward Hawke, hearing that t
was a woman In the approa ching