Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-08-17
CHAPTER VII.

r lust as the spin of a coin may
mean loss or gain in some
trumpery dispute or game of
~ the hour, in like manner ap.
parently are the graver issues of life
or death determined at times. 1t is not
so, we know. Behind the triviaIity on
which men fasten with amazement as
the governing factor in events there
lies an inscrutable purpose. Yet, to
those Watching the destruction Of the
splendid vessel, there was little evi-
dence of other than blind fury in the
fashion of her undoing.
The hoarse words had scarce left
Brands lips before third wave, high
er and more truculent than it's prede-
cessors, sprang right over the lost ship
and smothered her in an avalanche of
water. No doubt this monster swept
away some of the officers and crew. It
was impossible to be certain of aught
save the one thing-that the steamer
would surely break up before their
eyes. The wind, now blowing in fierce
gusts; the sea, rising each minute; the
clouds Of spray chasing each other In
eerie flights through space; the grind
ing, fncessant, utterly overwhelming
noise Of the reef, made all sights and
sounds indefinite, nebulous, almost fan
tastic.
But when the giant billow receded,
leaving the ship like dark rock in the
midst Of innumerable cascades, the ca
tastrophe took place which Brand
hi 20
less tumultuous. With the support of
the sea withdrawn from half its length
the huge hull must either slip back
into deep water or break in two. The
slender steel shell of an ocean liner is
not constructed to resist the law Of
gravity acting on full 5000 tons. -
the solid looking colossus cracked like
a carrot, and the after part fell back
into the watery chasm, there to be
swallowed instantly amid turmoil
which happily drowned the despairing
shrieks of far more than half of those
on board.
Constance and Enid screamed bitter
ly in their woe, but again they were
saved from utter collapse by the ex-
igencies of the moment. Brand, who
expected to see the remainder Of the
ship blown up by the inrushing Of the
sea to the furnaces, dragged them fore
fbly below the level Of the protecting
balustrade.
Yet nothing Of the sort took place.
A vast cloud of steam rushed upward,
but it was dissipated by the next
breath of the gale. This incident told
the lighthouse keeper much. The YES
sci had been disabled so long that her
skillful commander, finding the motive
power Of no further avail and certain
that his ship must be driven ashore,
had ordered the fires to be drawn and
the steam to be exhausted from all
boilers except one. Therefore her shaft
was broken, reasoned Brand. Proba-
bly, the accident had occurred during
the height Of the hurricane, and her
steering gear, of little use without the
driving force of the engines to help,
might have been disabled at the same
time
When the horror stricken watchers
looked again at the wreck the forward
part had shifted it's position. 1t was
now lying broadside on to the seas,
and the lofty foremast thrust its truck
to within 4 few feet of them.
They We're spared one ghastly scene
which must surely have bereft the
girls of their senses. The majority of
the first class passengers had gathered
in the saloon. Some clung like limpets
to the main gangway; number, most
ly men, crowded together in the draw
ing room on the promenade deck. Far
ther than this they could not go, as the
companion hatchways had been locked
by the officer OF the watch, the decks
being quite impossible.
When the hull yielded, the spacioaa
saloon w1s exposed to the vicious
waves. Finding this new cavern.opeued
to them. great LIQUID ton9ueA sozanz