The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-11-30

LET'S Gle Win our eyes open, AZ,
how" chimed in q third.
But light flashed in the rolling orbs
Of the man who was already on the
stairs. Astounded he drew back
Constance stood in their midst, a mere
girl, radiant, smilingly unconcerned
addressing them in calm words broken
only by the fitful noises.
Sorry your quarters-so very un-
pleasant. Only last a-couple Of hours
Twenty-Five years-far worse gales.
Want any more cocoa?"
THANK you kindly, miss, we're quite
comfortable" This from the man who
wished to die with his eyes open.
please, miss, may we smoke?" said
he who couldn't stand it.
Constance besitated. Blithely uncon-
sclous that Whit Of mutiny had
swept through the storm tossed fold,
she pondered the problem. She saw no
harm in it.
YES" she said Smoke by all
means. 1 will ask my father, and if it
should be dangerous l will come back
and let you know. In a few hours it
will be daylight and if the sea falls he
will come and open the door,"
BY sheer inspiration she had uttered
the formula destined to annihilate the
necromantic buster of the hammering
waves. Open the door! So this pom
derous racket was mere tidal trick.
bogy, which each passing minute
would expose more thoroughly.
"All right, miss, an Gawd bless yer!
growled one who had not spoken hith-
erto. There was chorus of approval
Constance gave a little gulp. The cul-
tured and delicate lady lying in the
bunk above had not spoken So
Indeed" size gasped, God has
blessed some Of us this night"
Then she fed, further utterance fail
ing her.
Nearer the sky Brand tended the
lamp and discussed matters with Chief
officer Emmett. The sailor, with the
terse directness of his class, told how
the Chinook had made an excellent
voyage from New York until she ran
into bad weather about 400 miles west
of the Lizard.
at seems to me-" he said, "as If we
dropped ON to the track Of that hurri-
cane after it had curved away to the
norrard and that the blamed thing
swooped down on us again when we
were abreast Of the Bishop light"
Brand nodded. This surmise agreed
with his own theory of the storm as
indicated by the sea.
Mr.. Emmett held out q clinched fist
with thumb jerked toward the reef
81 wouldn't breathe word If he
wasn't gone" he said, "but the old man
was drivin' her too hard. l knew it,
and the chief knew THE meant the
chief engineer-"but he wouldn't listen
to either Mac or me. Fact is, he was
fair crazy to set up new record for
the boat. She's been crOssin' the At
lantic forty times a year for upward
of twenty years, and the recent alter
atoms, although they added fifty feet
to her length, only increased her en-
CINE power in proportion"
"You surprise me-" broke in Brand.
"You speak as IL the Chinook were
nearly as old as this lighthouse, yet
have never even heard her name be-
fore"
"You know her well enough all the
same" said the other ruefully. This
is her maiden voyage since she was al
tered, an they rechristened her, too
always an unlucky thing to do, 1 say.
Bless your heart, man, she is the old
Princess Royal. Eth? What's that?"
He guffawed mournfully at Brands
involuntary exclamation.
Certain! Well, surely ought to
know. l have passed most of my serv-
ice with the company in her, and when
l took n crew to Cramps to navigate
her to New York after she was smart
ened up little imagined l would see
her laid by forever the next time we
saw the lights Of old England. My
goodness, even what was left Of the old
girl ought to know her way better'n
that"
But what did really happenI
"Drlvin' her, / tell you-drivin' her
full pelt to land the mails at South
ampton twelve hours ahead of sched
ule. With that awful sea liftin' her
and q shaft twenty feet longer, what
could you expect? Poor Perkins! A
rare hard worker too. Now he's gone
down with his ship an over 200 passen-
gers an crew."
Judging by the number saved l
feared that more were lost"
Its the off season, you know. The
list was light. For the Lords
sake, think of what it might have been
In May or Junev'
at is bad enough as it is. All has not
ended with the disappearance of the
vessel"
The sailor shot sharp glance at
Brand
you can't be thinkin' any one was to
blame he commenced. But Brand
waved aside the fancied imputation.
"Blame!" he said. with broken
shaft! In that whirlwind! No, no. ]
sent for you TO talk over the new diff