Evening star., 1907-11-11

been literally wet to the skin without
knowing It. In truth. she had a momen-
Lary dread Of a fainting fit and ii was
not until she united the veil which held
her tam-o shanter in its place that she
learnt how the knot had come near to suf-
locating her
The prompt relief thus afforded brought
an equally absurd desire to laugh. She
yielded TO that somewhat, but busted her
self In procuring fresh clothing and boots.
The outcome Of the pleasant feeling Of
warmth and comfort was such as the girl
herself would not have guessed in week.
Ihe mere grateful touch of the dry gar
ments induced an extraordinary drows
ness. She felt that she must lie down.
just for minute. She stretched herself
on the bed. closed her eyes and was
straightway sound asleep. At the cap
tain's suggestion, Christobal had given her
a strong dose of bromide in the wine
1t was better So If the ship were
dashed to pieces against the rocks which
dnquestfonably lay ahead. Elsie would be
Whirled to the life eternal before she
quite knew what was happening. If. on
the other hand some miracle OF the sea
enabled the men to construct a seaworthy
raft In time. or the rising tide permitted
the Kansas to escape. in so far as to run
ashore again In a comparatively sheltered
position. she would be none the worse for
an hours sleep. And now that the ship
was afloat there were things to be done
which only men could do. The saloon,
the decks, the fore cabin were places of
the dead Fearing lest Elsie might pass.
Christobal, before attending to Boyle, had
thrown tablecloths over the bodies of
men slain in the saloon for Gray and
Tollemache had sternly but vainly striuen
to repress the second revolt. Tollemache
and Walker had dragged out of the
smotherfnS spray near the port davits
three men who seemed to be merely
stunned. These. with the chief officer,
and perhaps four survivors Of the explo-
sion, made up the list OF living but non-
effective members of the ships company.
There was one other, GulieImo Frascuelo,
who was bawling for dear life in his bunk
in the forecastle, but in that dark hour no
one CHANGED to remember him, and it
needed more than a human voice to pit
itself against the hurricane which roared
over the vessel. The unhappy wretch
knew that something out of the ordinary
had taken place, and he was scared half
out of his wits by the continued absence
of the crew. Luckily for himself he did
not appreciate the real predicament of
the ship. or he would have raved himself
into madness.
Walker, in his brief catalogue Of oc-
cupattons. had suppressed one. To
make sure. Christobal closed water
tight bulkhead door which cut off the
principal staterooms from the saloon.
Then he and his two helpers carried out
painful but necessary task. 1t was his
duty to certify whether or not life was
extinct. There were very few excep-
tions. The three men lifted the bodies
and threw them overheard. When they
reached the corpses of the second officer
and a Spanish engineer who had been
knitted in the defense of the jolly boat
his comrade had scrambled into one of
the lifeboatsTollemach che took possession
of such money documents and valuables
as were in their pockets, intending to
draw up an inventory when an 0pportu-
nifty presented itself.
Though they knew not the moment
when sicl1enng crash would herald the
final dissolution of the ship, they pro-
ceeded with their work methodicaly. In
half an hour they had reached the end. All
the injured men-seven nondescript sailors
and firemen-were carried to the saloon
and placed under Christobal's care
Walker dived below to the engine room,
where he had already disconnected the
rods broken or bent by the fracture of a
guard ring. which, in its turn. was in
juTed by the blowing out of a junk ring,
a stout ring OF forged steel secured to one
of the pistons. lie could do nothing more
on deck. Whether he was destined to live
fifty seconds or as many years he was i'll
content to hear his beloved engines knock
Ing themselves to pieces with each roll of
the ship.
Tollemache who undertook the firing of
the donkey boiler. which was situated on
the main deck aft of the saloon-for the
Kansas was built chiefly to accommodate
cargo-during his wanderings round the
world had picked up sufficient knowledge
of steam power to shovel fuel into the
furnace and regulate the water level by
the feed valve and pump. The small en-
gine more rslia Bile and quite as powerful
as hundred men, was in perfect order.
1t abounded in valves and taps but
Walkers parting instructions were ex-
plicit
Keep yo' eye on the glass. an pitch in
a shovel of coal evewy ten minutes; she'll
do the west
(To be Continued Tomorrow