Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-10
CHAPTER vi.
But Goes on Again Into the I'm

This final waiting for the chance of sue
cor seemed to be the hardest trial of
ALL The door had been hooked back to
keep it wide open, so wind and sea in
vadad the trim privacy of the cabin.
Spray leaped over the ship in such dense
sheets that a considerable quantity of
water quickly lodged on the port side,
where Courtenay's bunk was fixed. There
was no means of escape for it in that
quarter. and the angle at which the Kan
sas lay would permit q depth of at least
two feet to accumulate ere the water be-
gan to flow out through the door to the
starboard.
At the great crises of existence the
stream of thought is apt to form strange
eddies Courtenay, when the ship struck.
and 1t was possible that each second
might register his last conscious impress
sion found himself coolly reviewing vari-
Gus explanations Of the existence of an
uncharted shoal in locality situate many
miles from the known danger zone. Elsie,
strung half-consciously to the highest
tension by the affrighting PROBABILITY of
being set adrift in small boat at the
mercy of the sea roaring Without-a sea
which pounded the steel hull Of the Kan
sas with such force that the great ship
seemed to finch from each blow like
creature in pain-Elsfe. then, faced by
such an int olerable prospect. was a prey
to real anxiety because the wearing ap-
parel scattered by Courtenay on the floor
was becoming soaked in brine.
She actually stopped to rescue coat
which was not yet saturated beyond re-
demption. AS she lifted the garment q
packet Of letters tied with tape, tell
from Its folds. She placed the coat on
the writing table, and endeavored to stun
the letters into u pigeon-hole They were
too bulky, so she laid them on the coat.
In doing this she could not avoid seeing
the words, Your loving sister, Madge,
written on the outer fold of the last letter
in the bundle.
And hat brought memory of her
previcVs visit to tn captains stateroom;
the contrast betwef the careless chatter
of that glorious .slmmer aftern Don and
the appalling midnight Of this fourth day
of the voyage was something quite i'm
measurable; 1t was marked by void as
that which separates life and death She
was incapable of seasoned reflection. A
series o. mental pictures, q startling jun
BILE of ideas-trivial as the wish to save
the clothes from a wetting, tremendous
as the near prospect of eternity-danca ed
through her brain with bewildering clear
ness She felt that If she were fated to
live to ripe old age she would never for
get a single detail of the furniture and
decorations of the room. She would hear
forever the dolorous bowling of the gale,
the humping of the waves against the
quivering plates, the rapid. methodic thud
of the donkey engine, which, long since
deserted by its cowardly attendant. was
faithfully doing its work and flooding the
ship with electric light
She could scarcely believe that it was
she, Elsie Maxwell. who stood there on
the tremulous island of the ship amidst a
stormy ocean the like of which she had
never seen before. She seemed to poss ass
an entity apart from herself, to be a pas
sive witness of events in dream
presently, she would awake and find that